Ticktock Love

[16] Sixteen Scandals

I watched the footballers shake the opponent team's hands, the white and purple jerseys like a duo of wiggly lines hugging and intercepting. The Gilbert Tigers' quarterback gave Aiden a sour smile, prompting me to believe there was history between them. Or maybe I was making it up, desperately searching for distractions, thinking that if this was how my life was going to look like from now on, I would have rather been in a coma until college.

I opened my mouth to say the exact same thing to my friend, but the sports commentator chose that moment to announce the national anthem. The cacophony of howling laughter and screaming chorus slowly piped down, a decrescendo of jungle noises now replaced by thundering, patriotic singing. Nothing said 'I love my country' like belting words out of tune.

"Fine," I relented, grabbing the other side of the banner Amber had pulled out of her backpack. "But be prepared for dumb questions."

⁂

When the referee's whistle signaled the end of the final quarter, the roles were reversed. It was Amber now who wanted to strangle me.

"Is it over?" I asked her, pure glee radiating from my face. She scowled.

"Remind me never to ask you to tag along again."

"Thank God," I joked, "because I was going to question you what the numbers on the ground meant next."

It wasn't like I bugged her every time a player got tackled down at the fifty-yard line or passed a ball to someone else. I just wanted to understand the terms like 'great coverage' or 'approaching the endzone'. I knew when to cheer, mostly because Amber would get up and start hopping like a frog on steroids, and I was pretty familiar with the concept of a touchdown. The points system still confused me. The Bulls somehow ended up beating the yellow-helmeted Tigers with forty-eight to thirty-five, which was apparently a fine score.

It was interesting to see Amber so invested in a sports game. I knew she and her parents were avid fans of the national team, but until an hour ago, I had never gotten a chance to witness her exuberant excitement firsthand. To me it was fascinating but foreign, almost like sitting through a space rock opera. I had understood it approximately the same, checking the time every five minutes and wishing it would be over soon – yet once it was done, I was grateful for the experience, if only because I could now definitely say I wished never to repeat it.

"You're coming with, right?" Amber asked me as the cheerleaders showed off their winning routine. I noticed Mel perched on Naomi's shoulders, grinning like she was on top of the world instead of a wobbly pyramid of thin limbs.

"Where?" I finally answered when I saw her raising an eyebrow at my silence.

"Some of the guys from the team are going to celebrate at McDonald's after the game. Troy asked me to join them."

"Seriously?" I whined, remembering the excruciating mockery during the Liz-is-a-meme period. "Amber, we have nothing in common."

"What about Aiden?"

"Aiden? I wouldn't do it if Harry Styles himself invited me."

She eyed me in annoyance. "Most of the cheerleaders will come, too. If I can handle Naomi, you can handle some crude football humor."

I shook my head, irritated by the predicament. It was so typical of Amber to make plans without me and then expect me to just roll with it. If I had been sure she could get home safely afterward, I would have left her to catch a ride with Troy, but I still didn't trust him completely. My thoughts made me scan the stadium for the person in question, if only to send him telepathic thoughts to get his ducks in a row and finally ask my best friend out.