His Jersey

T W O

Grayson Lake

"Let's get good seats," Peyton grabs my arm and we jog around the crowd of students, "hurry, hurry, hurry!" She chants.

"Peyton, I don't play sports and I only took gym class in Freshman year, give me a break!" She ignores me and we jog down the rows of seats in the auditorium.

Our school is so big, during assemblies, at least, thirty people end up standing or sitting on the rugged floor. Usually, that happened to Peyton and me, but we knew today's assembly would be a hella long one considering it's about the tournament in Dallas.

"Hey! Those are the football team's seats, they get the first three rows," Jeff protests and keeps us from sitting down.

"Why do they get the first three rows? How else am I supposed to see over their meaty heads if I don't get the first row?" Peyton asks. Jeff looks uncomfortable when Peyton yells at him, probably because she's older. A few people look over at us because of her outburst.

"Because this assembly is all about them!" Jeff says.

"Pey lets go, there aren't going to be any open seats left," I whine.

"Hey Jeff," I grab Peyton's wrist and pull her away, "what's 12 times 15?" I drag Peyton away from Jeff so we can find new seats. I look over the rows and, unfortunately, there are only singles chairs left.

"180!" Jeff yells over the noise of the students.

I drag Peyton down a row and sit down. A freshman guy I have never seen before in my life is sitting between Peyton and me.

"Put your phone away Jeff!" Peyton yells back.

"Peyton, it's starting," I say. I lean back into my seat and glance at the freshman. He looks uncomfortable as hell.

"Everyone settle down or I'll start giving detentions out." Principal Markley says through the microphone. That causes everyone to stop talking and sit wherever they are. I look around and see the football players getting settled into their seats.

"As you all know, if you watch the news I mean, Copper Wright has made it into Texas' Charity football game." Everyone cheers, I clap, Peyton hollers. The freshman doesn't utter a syllable, I laugh to myself.

"Today, I received all the information concerning the tournament. Today, we are in 45th place." My mouth forms a circle and I look at Peyton. It's like she can read my mind when she looks at me too. How did we move back 2 places overnight? I voted last night and when I woke up this morning. I didn't check what place we were in because I was running late for school. I just voted and clicked out of the website. That's what school starting at 7:30 AM does to you.

"It is Thursday, and by Saturday morning at 11 am, we have to be in 40th place or lower in order to make it into the tournament. You can vote once a day on computers, iPads, iPods, phones, anything. The grand prize for whatever school wins is 75 thousand dollars in scholarships." Everyone cheers. I stay quiet in my seat like the freshman next to me.

This school is full of rich kids to poor kids. You could tell which one someone is by looking at them. The rich guys wore Vineyard Vines or Ralph Lauren every day. The rich girls wore Lily Pulitzer and PINK. That's how it is. I hope the students who actually need the scholarships to get into college will get it.

A football player stands up in the first row and walks towards the exit. He turns a little, it's the quarterback Paul. I wonder what his problem is for leaving. This whole assembly is pretty much about him. Everyone watches, even the Principal. Maybe he thinks he's too good for this. A gush of cold air comes in when the door opens . It is only September and the temp has been dropping by the hour. The door shuts with a bang.