The High 5

Chapter 10: Weasels, Dragons, and...Vampires?

There were ten minutes until the soccer game commenced, and the sun had disappeared behind the clouds, but the weather was still quite humid.

Much to Aivie's discontent, she decided to be on time today. Sun, Rion and Mace had left and gone to the school about 30 minutes earlier than she and Colette had, which made Aivie feel even more discontented, because she thought they would all get a chance to walk to school together and discuss the excitement and nervousness about the game before separating to their respective teams.

The only reason Aivie was starting to feel a little less discontented, was because she had a V.I.P pass enabling her to see the four in their natural habitats. Colette was leading the stretches with The Jills, and Sun was leading the warm ups with the team. If they were happy doing this, then she guessed she could be a little happy with them.

And now, as Aivie was at the very back following along with the stretches, she noticed Somber Ridge's cheer squad doing some flamboyant stretches of their own across the field. She stared at them with crude wonder. It was hard to believe that Bel was actually so spot on about those 'toothpick hoes'.

And where was Bel?

Colette had informed the squad that Bel had to use the washroom. It sounded like code to Aivie, for something ridiculous like going to 'put on' her face. She contemplated for a moment, to wander into the school and frantically call her name until she answered and finally came out. It didn't sound like the worst idea, so she decided. She started backing away from the several neatly filed lines of the squad, who were gradually bending forward at the waist with their arms stretched out overhead.

But then, she bumped into someone passing by behind the squad, a boy about her age. Even in the sultry weather, he still wore a thick black hoodie, black track pants, black running shoes and his fingernails were also painted black.

"Watch where you're going," the boy muttered when Aivie tried to apologize. He stormed away, not making eye contact with her the entire time. She couldn't help but watch him as he did.

There was something antagonistically off about him, she thought.

"Alright, game's about to start! Let's get into position ladies!" Bel had finally reappeared, and was back to calling the shots. She ushered the girls to the sidelines as both the teams were getting into positions on the field themselves to begin the match.

The boy had disappeared from Aivie's line of sight, and now she wondered if he was some kind of omen sent to her by the mysterious force from above.

Colette came up behind her and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, show time."

                                                                                       ******

The crowd was finally arriving, and filling up the bleachers fast. Kalimity High always gave students the day off on game days so they could go support their team. Somber Ridge High usually had half days. The crowd, on both sides of the field, was looking like an even mix of Kalimity and Somber Ridge.

Sun called an end to the warm ups, as the referee called to alert that the match was to start in about four minutes.

Where was Hozei?

About eight minutes ago, he slapped Sun on the back and told him that he was in charge until he got back from the washroom. He tried to explain the dilemma to Rion and Mace, but all they did was smile at him, and the rest of the team had gathered around him as they waited for instruction in the warm up. And that's when Sun realized that Hozei had told all of them, before telling him. Then Coach Kiddman started yelling because everyone was just standing around, so he folded and took on the role of temporary leadership.