jordan
i took deep breaths, the loud chanting outside of the locker room was driving my anxiety insane.
"you guys need to get your head in the game! those suckers out there shouldn't stand a god damn chance against y'all. we're here to bring our great college justice! when this game is done, kennesaw better be wiping up tears and blood on that field! do y'all understand!"
"yes coach reeves!" we all shouted at once. i grabbed the gold necklace pendant with alexis' name on it from around my neck and pressed the cold metal against my lips before holding it in my hand tightly.
my parents were finally able to attending another game and i was so fucking nervous.
sweat dripped down my torso. i rolled my shoulders backward and shaking my dreads out before putting my football helmet on.
"aye, jordan, you good?" asked destin. he put his hands in my shoulders and leaned his helmet on mine. i shook my head.
"you got this jordan. remember if anything goes wrong, no matter what, i'm here. c'mon man," he said, pushing on my patted back as the rest of the team members walked out the locker room.
strong, fresh air seized my nostrils, making me breath easier. i heard the whistle blow loudly, signaling for the team to get in our positions.
i tried my best to mute out the piercing screaming from the crowd and focus on the opponent in front of me.
our college hated kennesaw and we always lost to them. but that's not gonna happen today. i would make sure of it.
••
"alright! get 'em off each other! help break them apart!"
some kennesaw nigga, stokeley, used all his weight to shove me on the ground. i was about to punch him before someone grabbed my arm and a coach pulled stokeley off of me.
"if we weren't on this field nigga i would fuck you up! deadass!" stokeley yelled, trying to get in my face again before destin and another one of my teammates, miles, stepped in front of me when some other kennesaw players walked up.
"i know y'all niggas ain't thinking about jumping," spoke miles when the other players took off their helmets. i sighed and put my head down when destin took his helmet off, getting closer to the other players.
"oh my fucking god - ALRIGHT! everybody split up! we taking a break," yelled a frustrated coach who look like he was seconds away from tearing his hair out.
did i mention that we were winning?
the rest of the pissed kennesaw players walked back to their benches. i sat down in our area, taking my helmet off before letting it drop to the ground.
i was already so fucking stressed out from work and school and i thought a game would help but it was making it worse.
i blew air out my mouth harshly, clenching my jaw as i looked around for my parents in the crowd.
behind me, a few rows back, stood my parents. my mom looked worried as she held alexis in her lap who was the complete opposite, full of joy. my dad, however, looked disappointed.
of course, he is.
i watched him shake his head out of anger before whispering in my mom's ear. he kissed alexis cheek and walked away from them, trotting upstairs before turning a corner where i couldn't see him again.
what the fuck man. we're winning against kennesaw for once and this nigga just decides to dip?
anger and sadness arrogated the rest of happiness i had left. my head was pounding.
i turned back around and bit the inside of my cheek, tears brimming my eyes. i felt like punching something.
destin walked over to me quickly and handed me a towel. i put the towel over my head, patting my eyes with it as tears began to fall down.
"jordan... come here bro," i heard destin say, wrapping his arms around neck when i sat up from the bench. i put my head on his chest, pressing the towel against my face while destin rubbed on my back and moved left to right softly to calm me down.
"is he okay?" i heard a rough voice ask destin. i didn't hear destin's answer but i felt him move away from my body and saw coach reeves' shoes step in front of me from behind the towel.
"jordan, son, do you wanna continue to play? i've known you for years and i've never seen you this stressed out. the way you're handling it ain't healthy either," stated the coach, who lifted my towel above my head.
i sniffled and sat back on the bench. coach bent down and gave me a sincere glance, looking above me and at the crowd.
"he left again jordan?" i clenched my jaw righty before nodding my head. coach took his hat off, scratching his bald head before standing back up.
"fucking dickhead. you still wanna play carter? you know you don't have to," i shook my head immediately at that. football was one of the only things that was keeping me sane as crazy as it sounds.
if i left, it would be a sign of weakness. i didn't have time for that.
"i still wanna play," i answered, giving coach direct eye contact. he squinted his eyes at me.
"are you sure?"
"i want to." i answered, putting my helmet back on and standing up. destin grabbed my hand and squeezed it before heading back on the field.
coach patted my helmet and walked with me back to the center of the field. "you got this jordan. we just need one more point then the game is ours."
that was the last thing coach said to me before he walked back to the side of the field with the others and waited for everybody to get in their positions.
coach blew the whistle again. jahmier ran around a couple of players before throwing the ball towards me. i ran backwards, catching the brown ball in my arms tensely.
"go! jordan, go!" coach yelled from the sidelines, moving his hands around crazily. i started running to my team's goal post and fast. i dashed around players that were trying to tackle, focusing only on the task in front of me.
the closer i got, the louder the crowd yelled. stokeley tried to tackle me, pressing up harshly against my body. i quickly twisted my body around making stokeley fall harshly to the ground.
i dashed a little bit further before jumping over the goal line, throwing the ball agaisnt the floor. cheers around me got louder. i took my helmet off and shook my sweaty hair out.
destin gave me a tight hug. other players gathered around me, giving me a high five or gripping my shoulder in support.
"jordan! jordan! jordan!" the crowd and my teammates cheered for me loudly. coach reeves gave me a pat on the back.
"you done good today carter. i'm proud of you. your mom is looking for you by the way," he said before walking away to talk to other teammates. i saw my mom walking down the stairs from the crowd.
alexis sprinted towards me with her little arms out. i quickly picked her up, moving her body side to side to make it seem like she was flying. she giggled at me, putting her small hands on my cheeks and grimacing.
"jordan, you're sweaty," she wiped her hands on my shirt and laughed when i pecked at her neck. she shrieked, holding on to my face so i could stop moving.
"stop ittt. that tickles," she whines, wiping her neck off. i rolled my eyes at her.
"jordan, you did amazing out there baby," i heard my mom say once she reached the two of us. she kissed my cheek and gave my hand a squeeze.
"thanks ma. where dad go?" i asked with anger obviously present in my voice. my mom stopped smiling and sighed.
"his stubborn ass left. i told him to stay but you know, he doesn't listen," she responded, not giving me any eye contact.
"i thought daddy went to get food," alexis leaned her head on my neck.
my mom shook her head. "i'm sorry jordan. just know i'm proud of you. so proud." she ended her sentence by brushing my dreads out of my face.
i gave her a small smile. "where's coach reeves?" my mom asked, looking around the field. i pointed in his direction. she put up her pointer finger, letting me know she'll be right back, and walked away.
i put alexis down and held her hand, walking back to the bench. destin was sitting down talking to steve while megan and her friends, symere, syd, and some other guy surrounded them.
the other guy wrapped his arm around symere. i felt a slight pang in my chest, watching symere press his body closer to the dude. i scoffed to myself.
is that why symere cancelled our session today? to hang with the painfully corny ass dude?
"wassup y'all," i said to everybody once i reached them. alexis stood on the bench and got in megan's face.
"you're pretty," she says which makes megan coo. she let alexis touch her, cheesing at how adorable she was.
"aw, jordan! you brought your sister," said symere, putting his hand out to give alexis a high five. the guy with his around symere decided to talk.
"jordan, right? wassup, i'm miguel," he put his hand out for me to dap him up. i eyed his hand before sitting next to destin on the bench beside my little sister's standing feet.
destin tried to hold a laugh in. "why you do bruh like that," he asked once he finally turned away from steve. syd whispered something in steve's ear which made him shy away from her.
"because he's the reason symere cancelled today," i smacked my lips. symere turned his head to me and made a apologetic expression.
"sorry jordan, i'm busy," he replied, rubbing miguel's arm. his response made me scoff.
busy my ass.
"somebody's jealous," muttered destin, making me roll my eyes at him. he looked unbothered as he turned back to steve who smiled the second destin started paying attention to him again.
"i want hair like this," commented alexis, who was still admiring megan. which reminded me...
i turned around on the bench and faced megan, holding her hand to help jump over the mini rail so she could sit in the bench with me. alexis continued to lean on the rail, talking to syd.
"hey sweaty," she said to me, brushing her hair behind her ear. we both smiled at the same time, completely comfortable in each other presence.
"i wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the museum this saturday. they having this cool event there where you have to find clues to some treasure chest there and i thought it'll be cool if i took you," i say in one breath.
megan smiles widely at me, trying not to look impressed but was failing. i gripped her hand and rubbed my thumb over the soft surface. i leaned my head into hers and touched noses with her.
"eww, jordan. putting yo' sweaty ass nose on me," she playfully pushed away my face.
"is that a yes?" i asked, squeezing her thigh. she nodded her head happily, kissing my neck.
"aww, look at the little lovebirds," commented destin, who was heading back to the locker room. symere looked at me and megan, slyly rolling his eyes before walking away with miguel, syd, and steve.
is he mad or something?
"i should head back to the locker room real quick. i'll see you later," i stood and grabbed alexis in my arms again.
"bye jordan! and bye lexi," she said, playfully tickling alexis.
as everybody started to walk away, my mom came back to grab my sister. "i'll see you later today baby, okay?" she questioned with pleading eyes.
"yeah ma," i gave her a side hug and started trotting back to the locker room.
••
jamal is the only reason why i watch on my block lmaoo