Misfits

thirteen

The next thing I perceived was the shrill sound of Redmille's whistle, indicating that the game was about to start. My heart froze for a second when everyone suddenly became quiet. Then hell broke loose.

I didn't know who was shouting louder, our own team or the other when we left the hallway. My ears were filled with the audience's cheers as I walked with my teammates, not even realizing where I was going and what was happening.

And suddenly Asher appeared next to me, simply smirking as we walked. And I remembered that I was at the game, an actual football game, my first one ever, and that we had to kick the other team's ass. Metaphorically, not literally, or they'd kick ours. Got it.

We moved to one side of the field where the Coach was already waiting. Once we had reached him we automatically formed a circle, and he bent down a little to be as close to our heads as only possible.

His gaze was serious as it wandered over us. "Before you go out on that field, I want you to do two things," he started, the seriousness of his voice perfectly matching the one in his eyes. "First, I want you to look at yourselves. Because you and only you decide if you will leave your all on that field today. I can't do it for you. Your mom and dad can't either. Only you decide if you give your heart and soul for the cause, or crawl back home as a loser."

He paused to let his words sink in before starting to speak again.

"Secondly, I want you to take a good look at each other. Because the faces you see today, the ones looking back at you, belong to the only people that can make you a winner today."

I looked up and my gaze met Sam's who just narrowed her eyes.

"I don't care if you win or lose the game. Sometimes sport is cruel. But if I see any of you give anything less than a hundred percent, you've lost respect from me, and you should lose it from yourself."

Wow, that wasn't dramatic at all.

The others erupted in cheers that I quickly joined, not wanting to be the one left out. Even though my knees were still buckling I felt stronger surrounded by these people, as if their motivation did somehow take over me as well.

"Let's go!" Redmille shouted.

"Let's go!" everyone on the team repeated.

As we all got into position Trevor jogged around, giving a few encouraging words and patting people on the shoulder. I felt sick and briefly wondered if anyone would notice me running off so I could throw up. I hadn't expected this to be so... big. There were people everywhere, not only on the field but also on the stands, and I knew that somewhere hidden in the crowd was sitting Michael, probably just as nervous as me.

And then the game began.

The other team was dressed in green while our jersey was a shade of bright orange. It was a blur of colors as people started running, all chasing a ball that was recklessly kicked around time after time. I tried to stay focused, to pay attention to the game, but it turned out to be a real challenge.

The ball passed me once or twice before the first half ended, and I managed to kick it towards a teammate before one of the opponents could get to it.

It was different with Asher. Being the skilled player he was he seemed to be in constant possession of the ball, easily dribbling it across the field and managing to move around other players.

That quickly became a problem though, because Asher wouldn't pass the ball.

He was close to making a goal three times, but when trying to shoot a goal got too risky and he was supposed to let another player from our team try, he just kept running. Eventually some opponent managed to get the ball from him before he could actually shoot a goal, what had been predictable right from the beginning.