The Underdog

Prologue

The first kid to greet me in my new town looked like early 2000's Justin Timberlake and insulted my Cleveland Brown's jersey.

"You know they're like the worst team in the NFL right?"

I paused with a huge box of my stuff in hand just to glare at him. "I'm kinda trying to move into my house here kid."

"Are you from Cleveland? I guess you must be, that's the only way you could possibly stomach that team."

He wore a neon green t-shirt with the sleeves cut off that said "My shirt is brighter than your future". Maybe this kid was just out looking for a beating. "I'm from Brooklyn," I said loading another box out of the truck.

"New York? So you're telling me you've got the Jets and the Giants, but you chose to root for the Browns?"

"Yup."

He started to protest but he paused with a smirk. "Oh I get it."

I dropped one of the boxes with a huff and glanced up at him. "Get what?"

"You think their players are cute. Or maybe you just think wearing the color brown makes you look pretty," he said crossing his arms with a triumphant grin.

Let's just say my mom couldn't have chosen a worse time to walk out the door. After she separated us JT had a black eye and a bloody split in his lip. My mom started walking him home and he yelled back to me, "Nice tackle! Meet me at Turner's field at 7 if you want to join our football team!"

Weirdo. But a weirdo with an offer to play football in a new town.

I scarfed down my dinner as soon as my mom set my plate in front of me. "Can I go mom? Please?"

"Angela we just sat down, and we have so much unpacking to do."

I shifted my pout in my father's direction. "It would be good for her to start making friends this summer..."

"Thanks dad I'll be back as soon as the games over!" I yelled sprinting out of the house.

It took me a bit to find the park but when I did I skidded my bike to a quick stop and ran over.

"Hey Cleveland you made it!"

The boy with the curly blonde hair ran up to meet me. Behind him there were a few other kids sizing me up and suddenly I felt a bit nervous. "Uh, yeah I had nothing better to do. And its Angela, Angela Bulgari."

He stuck out his hand. "Mike Darby. I'll introduce you seeing as the other team still isn't here."

There were 9 other kids all hanging around on the field. Most just gave me a head nod or a handshake. I noticed they were all wearing brown t-shirts with "Flying Squirrels" written on the front, with their name and a number on the back.

"Flying Squires?" I asked.

Mike rubbed the back of his neck and his face went pink. "Uh, we kind of got stuck with the name. All the other teams have jerseys. I'm trying to work on it and hopefully change the name when we get them."

"So, we're like a team of misfits huh?" I noted looking around and the, uh, diverse array of kids. 

"No! We're a good team! Just because we're not some stuck up, popular-"

"Hey! I'm a Brown's fan remember? I love underdogs."

He gave me a genuine smile instead of a smirk this time. We walked over to what appeared to be the only other girl on the field. She was sitting on the grass playing on her iPod.

"What?" she snapped, when Mike tapped her on the shoulder.

"Chill Ronnie. I just wanted to introduce you to Angela. She's going to be Dante's replacement."

She jumped up and wrapped me in a hug. "Oh thank God another girl! I'm only here to learn the game for cheerleading. I don't want to be clueless about the game I'll be at every Friday night in high school."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Can we get through middle school first."

"Middle school's a joke. I know a girl going into seventh grade, and she said they don't even do cuts for the sports. Are you going to North Point?" She asked.

"North Point?" I repeated back dumbly.

"Whoa crazy accent! Where are you from?"

"It's one of the middle schools," Mike said to me. "She's from Brooklyn, and she's not a cheerleader."

Ronnie raised a brow. "How do you know? Anyone can be a cheerleader. Are you going into sixth grade this year?"

"Yeah," I said, much more aware of our different accents.

"Us too! See, she'll tryout with me."

"In your dreams," Mike said leading me to a new group of people.

Before he could introduce me I stopped him. "You don't think I could be a cheerleader?"

"No way," he said.

This kid must have wanted another black eye. What was I not pretty enough? Not cool enough? "Why the heck not?"

He didn't miss a beat before answering. "Cuz you'll be on the football team. You can't do both."