I'm Not A Jersey Kind Of Guy

Chapter 6

Beckham O’Neil

Game Day. The two words that sent the whole school into a crazed state I like to call footballmania. Every single person in the school was showing their support for the football team. Even the nerdy kids that have no interest in sports were showing off their school spirit with t-shirts and face paint. The team, including me, was wearing maroon and gold jerseys.

The past few days had been uneventful. I went to school, went to practice, and did my homework. Lacy and I talked a few times during class, but we didn’t hang out after practice. Tyler, like the rest of the team, ignored me as if I didn’t exist, which was fine by me.

When I walked down the hallway, the red sea parted for me, literally. Kids saw the jersey I was wearing and immediately got out of my walking path. Just yesterday I was fighting the crowd to get to my next class.

During the last class period of the day, the school held a pep rally for the first football game of the season. As we entered the gym, the school of no more than five hundred students, burst into chants and cheers lead by the ridiculously peppy cheerleaders.

We took our seats in the stands on the opposite wall from everyone else. Mr. Young, the principle of Heritage High School, handed the microphone off to Paul.

“Hey there, everybody. As you may know, I’m Coach Westcott.” At those last three words the crowd started cheering again. He waited a moment for them to stop so he could finish speaking. “We have a great team this year, and we hope to go far.” I didn’t really pay any attention to the rest of his speech, but the entire school was on the edge of their seats the whole time. “Now, our team captain, Tyler Lock, is going to say a few words.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course Mr. Perfect gets to speak. Tyler got up from where he was sitting and took the microphone from Paul. “Students and faculty, I’d like to present to you, your 2011 Heritage Mustangs!” The crowd ate it up as we stood. Everyone was gong nuts, screaming, hollering, and popping noise makers. It was chaotic to say the least.

After the pep rally the team loaded up on the bus, which was decorated with maroon and gold balloons and a huge maroon mustang on the side.  I was the only one that had an empty seat next to them. I plugged my head phones into the beat up MP3 player I’ve had for years and quietly listened to the music blaring into my eardrums. After the hour long drive the team unloaded the bus and headed into the away team locker room.

After our Game Warm-up, which for some reason is different from our Practice Warm-up, we headed back into the locker room for a pep talk from Paul. In which we gathered around a white board as he drew plays we already knew. Yelling at players to do their parts and make runs and block. It all ended with the team yelling and screaming different cheers, looking like crazy baboons. Then everyone ran through the locker room hallway and out on to the field.

The stands were completely filled up. Everyone from Kingsland was on one side, supporting us by wearing maroon and gold. On the other side citizens of Elton (the town we were playing) were decked out in green and silver. Both sides were cheering for their team, making the field echo with noise. The whole county could probably hear the fans.

We all stood on the sidelines preparing for the game as Tyler walked out and greeted the officials along with Elton’s captain. They did a quick coin toss, and the other captain said something and then everyone walked away.

“They’ve got kick off.” Tyler reported once he made it back to the huddle.

“Right.” Paul answered, “Okay, I want Beck, Michaels, and Evans to receive. Everyone else knows what to do.” We broke the huddle with another ridiculous chant and then ran out onto the field.