nick robinson is neil
With my head rested in my heads and my phone battery drained to 20% from boredom, I decided to actually watch the guys practice. I didn't want to awkwardly sit on the bleachers by myself and watch them throw a football and tackle, but Colt informed me that if I go in right now, I don't have to pay $5, and I only like to spend my money on food and gas, so I sadly complied.
The boys took a five minute break, and I slyly watched Neil. When Colt and I finally pulled into the school, he jumped out of the car, while I was still driving (he's a dumbass), and Neil was leaning against the side of the building waiting for him. He yelled at him for being stupid, saying he could've hurt himself. Then, the best part, he waved me at me and said, "Hey Autumn", with the cutest smile. Thinking about him saying my name over and over, made me giggle to myself quietly.
I looked at my phone again, and it dropped another 3%. I shut it off and wished I could go to my car to charge my phone, but once I leave I can't come back in without paying again. I leaned back against the steps and watched Colt laugh loudly with Chris. In a split second, Colt spun around and scoffed at me to see I was not paying attention.
"Autumn! Watch!" he called, drawing the attention of some of his teammates.
My cheeks turned bright red, and I sunk down on the seat. I wished I had my hoodie to hide myself with. There was only 15 minutes of their practice left before they head back to the locker room, so I decided I'd spare my attention to Colt.
He called the play and before he could throw the football he was tackled to the ground. My eye brows rose at his horrible mistake. I thought he was supposed to be good? The coach had him redo the play, and this time Colt had the chance to throw the ball, but it was such an awful throw. The ball did not fly spiral and flew out of bounds. Colt was clearly anger has he slapped his helmet. The coach scolded at him, and so did his team mates. Jay, especially, was trying to give tips, but Colt wasn't having it.
The coach had them try the play one more time, and this time Colt's throw was in bounds, but it was still sloppy. Luckily, Neil managed to catch the ball and ran past all the defenders and ran pretty close to the touchdown zone before he got tackled. The coach still criticized Colt, but gave Neil a nice pat on the back.
I was confused to why Colt did not play well, but I guess you can't be perfect all the time. Neil, on the other hand, seems to be just as much of a star as Colt. The coach dismissed the team to the locker room to give them a pre-game speech. I walked down the bleachers to greet Colt who was calling me over.
"You sucked," I said bluntly. I didn't mean to sound rude, but it just came out like that.
"I know," he muttered and pushed his sweaty hair back.
We kind of just stood there silently, with just the fence between us. I wanted to wish him good luck before his game, but before I could, he called a girl over. I turned around the see who the girl was, and it was the wasted drunk who throws water bottles at every game. I stood up straight and watched the two flirt in front of me. I didn't know whether to wait for Colt to finish, or just leave, so I did the latter.
"Wait!" Colt called before I could walk up the steps. For some reason my heart skipped a beat, and I was partially happy that he chose me rather than Hailey, who goes by Holly for some reason.
"Holly, do you mind doing her face paint and have her sit with you during the games. She doesn't go to many games?" he asked and winked.
"Sure, what's her name?" Holly asked Colt instead of me.
The worse part is, he didn't even bother answering her, he just shrugged and ran to catch up with his teammates. I bet Neil would've told her my name.
"Autumn," I retorted, "My name is Autumn."
"Oh! Like the season?" she giggled. Why does she feel the need to drink before every game? Her best friend, Andrea Martinez, came running behind her to us. She had white handprints on her leg and arms, with white war paint under her eyes. She still had white paint on her hands and began pressing them on Holly's legs and arms. Andrea wrapped a white boa around her neck, and Holly wore a white tutu. You'd think they were being extra, but my whole school is so extra on football games. We get hype.
Andrea was getting ready to pat my arms, but I stopped her, suggesting just to do war paint on my checks, simple as that. Did she listen? No. I ended up with two hand prints on one arm, and three on the other. They wrapped a white bandana around my hair, and double war paint on my cheeks. I looked at my reflection against the metal fence. I looked like one of those girls who go to every football game for the sake of watching the players and having an excuse to be drunk. I dealt with it anyways.
I looked down at Colt's #34 jersey. Andrea insisted on painting my cheeks with the number 34 on it, but Holly begged to have his jersey number on her cheeks. She also wanted to wear his jersey. I didn't really care, so we switched. She wore his jersey, and I wore her white hoodie on top of my blue t-shirt. I doubt Colt would care either way, since he doesn't even know my name.
The games started and the stand quickly filled. I saw a random sophomore bring a cardboard cut out of Harambe the gorilla, not sure why, but it was there. The football players ran on the field, and the stands stomped, clapped and screamed. As soon as Colt's name was called, the noise level turned into hollers and shrieks. We sat in the front row, and Holly's already drunken state was dancing on her stand.
"I believe.. I believe that.. I believe that we.. I believe that we will.. I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win! I believe that win!" the student section chanted along with the students. One of the senior lacrosse players held up a sign that read "Freshman, you are pissing me off!" for not cheering loud enough. I scoffed.
It was close to halftime and we were down 3. Holly had thrown two water bottles in the air, and Andrea had began scolding our team in Spanish. She had repeatedly called them dumbasses. The dance team did sexual dance moves, and the baseball players behind me were not being appropriate. Our cheerleaders are the worst, and the girl fell of from the pyramid, but, thankfully, landed safely. Our marching band is the best, though.
There was ten seconds left in the fourth quarter, third down. We had a chance for two more plays. If we score a touchdown, we win, if we don't, we loose. The play began and Colt frantically searched for an open player, but all of them were blocked by the opponent's defenders. He did the only choice he had left, to do an unexpected running game. So he did. He ran and we cheered. He made it to the end zone, but he fucked up. He fumbled. He fell on the ground, and began punching the ground in anger.
"That's hot," Holly slurred watching Colt's anger.
The stadium gasped. Colt screwed up. We had four seconds left, and one chance left. Coach called a time out, and Colt was benched. For the first time since Colt's football career, he was benched. Even I was surprised. Colt tossed his helmet on the ground and watched the second string quarterback replace him: a junior. The play began and the ball was thrown to Neil. He sped his way to the end zone, and scored a touchdown! We won! We're still undefeated!
But, Colt screwed up big time.
Colt clapped and cheered, but not as enthusiastically as his teammates. Why? He was benched, and didn't get to be on the field during the winning play. Life sucks sometimes, Colt.
The football players walked to the locker room, and I waited for Holly to give me back Colt's jersey, so I can give her the sweatshirt, but every time she said, "give me a second," it took a good five minutes to finish her oh-so important conversations and picture taking to "post on the gram". I rolled my eyes. I got a picture with Holly and Andrea anyways. I figure I might as well post this picture on social media because I haven't posted anything since the summer. Plus, I looked pretty decent.
Turns out, she was waiting for Colt to see he in his jersey, and, boy, was he furious. I don't know if it is because he was benched or because his jersey is on someone else. I think it's both.
"Hey," he turned to Holly, "Why the hell are you wearing my jersey?"
"Auttie let me!" she pointed to me with my new nickname, apparently, "I don't see what the big deal is, babe."
"Holly, stop drinking," he sighed.
"It's fun," she giggled.
Colt simply shrugged and asked for his jersey back. I gave Holly her sweatshirt and turned to walk to my car, until the devil himself pulled me back.
"Why didn't you wear my jersey?" he didn't seem upset, just disappointed.
I shrugged.
"Autumn," he pressed.
"Oh, so, now you know my name," I rolled my eyes.
"I need a ride to the party," he muttered.
"Hell to the fucking no," I stammered, "I need to go home, I'm not your chauffeur or your uber driver, I'm a person, named Autumn, incase you forgot, and it's dark and getting late, and I want to go home." I should have watched my mouth, but quiet frankly I was tired of driving him back and forth places, this was too much in one night.
"Please-"
"No!" I pushed him back a little bit and walked quickly to my car.
"Please, Autumn, please! Neil will be there, and if you really want this homecoming-"
"Shut up!" I muttered, "I hate this homecoming thing."
"Please, Autumn, please!" he started begging, "I'm having an awful night, and just dropping me off to this party will help."
"Why can't you get one of your friends to drive you?" I asked.
"Well, I need a ride back home-"
"No!"
"We'll be home before midnight I promise, I cross my heart, I swear!"
"Colt-"
"Please!"
"Fine, for fuck's sake!"
"Thank you!"