Royal Wood's High School was not a sporting school. Not in the fact that they didn't have sports programs but more that the larger community was rather disinterested by their teams in general. They won here and there but not the unstoppable winning streaks that perpetuated strong feelings of pride in a school. So it is a surprise that they still had a rival school. Perhaps it was just something that the faculty decided years ago and corroborated with another school to create in order to fuel excitement. Either way, this game was going to be packed for no real reason other than it was their rivals.
Advertisements and chants filled the hallways during the week encouraging involvement in the upcoming game. Flyers telling about a dress code of school colors decorated every whiteboard in the school. Urged by all the excitement the group had followed the flow as to not cause disruption. Luckily for the group the school colors were red and white.
Lincoln went simple, borrowing a red hoodie from his sister Lynn. It was an official Royal Woods High School hoodie and even had the white college lettering of RW in the front. Cristina had no such hoodie and instead simply found a red shirt from a nameless bargain sale from a major retailer.
By sheer coincidence both Quinlan and Winter wore the same shirt in the same size that day, but by looking it was hard to tell. Like Lincoln's hoodie a white RW was the main logo on their shirts but underneath was the full name of 'Royal Woods' below. What made it hard to tell they wore the same shirt was their figures. Winter had a slender figure that to her dislike meant she lacked in the chest department. The women, medium sized shirt was a bit loose on her form and she wished she had gotten a small instead.
On the other hand, Quinlan needed a large. The medium sized shirt was without a doubt too tight for her chest, squeezing her breasts almost uncomfortably. She found that many shirts did this and tonight she had forgone her bra to compensate. Instead she used a disposable nipple concealer, or pasties, to hide the fact she was without. Another issue of the shirt was that it didn't go down all the way. A good three inches above her waist line. If the curvy teen raised her arms even a small bit her belly button and midriff would be on display. Paired with her acid wash jeans she was a sight to behold.
The four with colors on display entered the stadium. For this game in particular the schools had rented a larger stadium: one cause they didn't have to clean up afterwards, two because more seats meant more money, and three because the likelihood of destroying the opposing teams stands was very high during these games. The one cool thing it did allow for was a giant jumbotron that hung high above center court making it feel like a pro game for the aspiring the game it would display the score, highlights, and audience reactions live all adding to the crazy atmosphere.
The stadium was already a buzz of activity and with only forty minutes to the game, energy couldn't be higher. Teenagers, and a few adults, filled the halls chatting or cheering for their respective teams. To identify the other team their students wore dark green and a logo of a white-tailed deer, the Michigan state animal. Not one for sports or rivalries, no one in the group even knew the other school's name.
"Sis, I have to go to the bathroom." Cristina tugged at Quinlan's hand. At her angle the girl could almost see a bit of her sisters under-boob but paid it no mind. QT briefly looked over the crowd until she saw a sign for the bathroom. Holding Cristina's hand she lead the way only giving Winter a nod to signal to her about the departure.
"Well, great." The teen looked down to the white cowlick of the boy standing with her. "Uhh...What's your name kid?"
"Lincoln Loud, miss." This was the first time Lincoln had met one of Quinlan's friends. He had a desperate want to make a good impression so he stuck out his hand to shake hers. The girl looked at the boy with eyes wide in small awe. Kids weren't usually this polite.
"Oh, uh, call me Winter." She took the boy's hand and gave it a shake. His grip was firm yet gentle enough not to hurt her.
"It's nice to meet you, Winter." His eyes looked straight into hers.
"It's nice to meet you too, Lincoln." This boy was nice. At least one boyfriend around her was respectable. Quinn's little sister was a lucky girl. "Well, Lincoln, how about we go grab stuff from the concession stand."
"Lead the way!" The boy gave her a smile and gestured with an open palm towards the ordering windows.
Her black hair contrasted his white as she passed the boy. Matching her pace he followed closely behind. There was a decent line in front of them and another group of people waiting for their food next to it. This was going to take awhile. They stood side by side and waited to order. Lincoln looked at the menu with a discerning eye while Winter checked her phone again for any info from her boyfriend. Nothing.
"I'm going to get some unsalted popcorn, some plain pretzels, and some drinks." Lincoln words frightened Winter into hiding her phone though she wasn't sure why. Why would the boy care what was happening to his girlfriend's older sister. "What are you planning to get?"
"Hmm?" The teen looked at the menu quickly. "Actually some nachos sound pretty tasty."
"A cheat day then?" Lincoln inquired.
"Cheat day?! How'd you know?" Winter looked at the white haired boy with a shocked expression.
"I figure all of Honey Bee's healthy friends are on diets. I had her help me with one too." The boy spoke while still looking at the menu. Winter's gears in her mind spun. Honey bee? Oh! Quinn's little sister. What a cute pet name.
"Well, it's part of a healthy lifestyle." The girl flung her black hair back a bit. "Exercise isn't enough alone. Diets are key. Although..." The teen paused a bit and lent to the boy's ear to whisper. "I have a really fast metabolism so it's not such a big deal to cheat."
"Don't worry, I won't tell. I'd honestly want a hot dog."
"Ooo, that sounds good too."
"You trying to torture me?" Lincoln asked.
"Maybe a bit." This kid's pretty fun actually.
"So..." Winter stood back up straight and checked the line. Still had a long way to go. "How long have you and 'honey bee' been dating?"
"Three months, going into four." Lincoln responded. Pretty good for an elementary school couple, thought the teen.
"Dang, how'd you meet?"
"Her sister introduced us." Wow, Quinn's a matchmaker. Who would have thought? "After seeing each other a few times I gave her a love letter and she said yes."
"Aww~, a love letter? Smooth Romeo." This kid was such a sweetheart. "Good on you, even though you're so young."
"Thanks," Lincoln gave her a genuine smile. "My family was against it at first because of our ages."
"Being young doesn't matter, love is love. That's all that matters." His family must be real sticklers on dating. I mean they're just kids. Let them be.
"You really think that?" Lincoln had a sparkle in his eyes as he looked up to the black haired teen. Winter could only think that his parents must have given him a lot of trouble for him to be looking at her like this.
"Yeah, of course. You just do you little man." Winter rubbed her hand into his white locks. What did surprise her was Lincoln's arm giving her a small hug around her waist. Her heart was melting a bit but she thought it would be weird to give him a hug back but she did give his back a few pats.
"Thanks, Winter." Lincoln was so glad QT's friend was so open to their relationship.
Lincoln's white hair acted as a beacon for the two sisters returning from the bathroom. From a distance Quinlan could see the boy giving Winter a hug. Her eyebrow subconsciously raised and she noted to ask him at a different time what it was about. The hug was released in the matter of moments and they returned back to standing in line. Still, QT found it odd. Holding Cristina's hand, they made their way to the others in their group.
"We're back." Cristina announced their presence.
"Welcome back." Winter greeted them as Lincoln simply smiled at them both. They returned the smile. "We're almost to the front want to order together or separately?"
"I'll handle us three," QT spoke only loud enough so they could hear her over the crowd. Some things couldn't be conveyed just through gestures. "You can go before us."
"Alright cool." Winter was heading to the available cashier. With them left alone, Lincoln turned to QT.
"Winter's actually pretty cool. I'm glad I got to meet her." Quinlan was only more confused but let it go to get everyone's order. Lincoln's order actually included what she had planned to share with him and she praised him for sticking to the diet. Cristina on the other hand wanted some nachos.
They waited for their food making idle chatter standing to the side as they listened for their numbers. Eventually they were called up and received their food. Winter relented somewhat and only got a hot dog instead of both but she looked over to Cristina seeing her with nachos. Geez, make your boyfriend eat bland popcorn as you enjoy cheesy goodness. How was Quinn's sister a honey bee?
As they made their way to the stands they discovered their seats were incredibly close to the front rows. In fact, they were only two rows back from the front row. Adding onto that, their seats were right next to the stairs that led out and down to the camera area while also being near their home teams entrance tunnel. Prime seating for the avid fan. Lynn was going to have a fit when Lincoln told her about it.
Having the first four chairs next to the stairs made it so for easy access in and out luckily. Cristina moved in first sitting in the fourth seat, Lincoln scooted into the third seat, Quinlan took the second, leaving the aisle seat to Winter. This allowed the couple to sit together and allowed Winter the ability to comfortable still speak with her classmate.
Waves and jeering at one another schools had already started with ten minutes to the game. While they did not participate with the cheers they did stand when a wave came by even when it was annoying with their food in hand. It was hard to escape the group mentality. A small vibrate alerted Winter to a text message. It was from her boyfriend. She turned away from the group to check it.
The message read:
Freaking out much! Lol, everything's cool, my friend will come up to you guys during half time. Don't worry, you will know him when you see him.
Winter gave a small grr, still not much to go on.
A possible professional announcer's voice boomed over the stadium.
"Ladies and Gentleman. Please get ready to welcome you teams!"
Loud boisterous roars of cheering nearly blocked out the sound of announcer. With every players name came more applaud from the home school or boos from the opposing school. Emotions were high, the sound loud, and everyone was crazy. But with all players on the court silence prevailed over the audience as they were asked to rise for the national anthem. Only for those moments could you consider the place quiet, until a rockets red glare that is. As always the patriotic hooted and hollered at that point in the song but as it returned to the end of the song everyone stomped their feet creating a miniature earthquake throughout the stadium.
Teams went to their respective benches, Royal Woods' bench happened to be right in front of their seats actually. Just behind the benches were several pro quality cameras. Some above some below all streaming it to a sports website that sponsored the event. The cameras also fed images to the jumbotron and for those not close to the court displayed players faces every so often when not in some crazy animation.
Lincoln was not that into sports and he wasn't even that into moving in general. Still he found the event exciting or at least interesting. What probably was the more exciting part was how much Quinlan was getting swept into it. She wouldn't cheer but she was very active. Lincoln quickly learned to duck when her arms swung out. The thing is amateur games can be way more exciting than professional games as there's more mess ups, interceptions, and misses. Not layup after layup. It's basically an emotional roller coaster and QT was in it for the ride. Her arms would swing, she'd stomp her feet, and wrap Lincoln into bear hugs often. Honestly dangerous. Unfortunately for him, the Timber sisters were alike. Cristina matched her sister to a tea but luckily with less strength.
Lincoln had been threatened by Lori to being turned into a human pretzel countless times before, but right now he was afraid his girlfriend was going to do it unintentionally.
The game was close. Which only made matters worse for him.
But eventually through a difficult first half, Royal Woods was six points ahead.
The teams went back to their locker rooms to form strategies about the second half. In the meantime, the crowd was entertained by a half time show from dueling marching bands and cheerleaders. Some of the audience went to the bathroom or to get more food but the group of four remained seated as they had gone during the first two quarters. Unbeknownst to them a player from the Royal Woods team, hooded, went to talk to a cameraman.
"Hey you." The hooded teen called to the camera operator. The man turned to boy trying to hide his identity but the man already recognized him. This was Royal Woods' top scorer and he was told earlier to keep his camera on him for the best shots.
"Yeah, what's up?" The man spoke to the boy.
"Did the couch tell you about the plan already?" Oh so he was the guy, thought the camera person.
"Yeah, I know about it. Who am I looking for?" The boy peered out to the first rows of the stands then pointed off.
"Okay," He started. "You see that kid with the white hair? Next to him is the girl I'm going to ask out."
"The one with the big knoc- I mean the one with the brown curly hair or the Asian girl at the end." Hopefully not the little girl next to the boy.
"The one with the rack man." He pointed again, "Second seat in."
"Alright, alright. I see her. I'll just keep my camera trained around her."
"Good, I need to go get ready. Don't mess this up." The teen retreated into his team's tunnel.
"Alright, whatever. Little prick." The jab was under his breath and couldn't be heard over the marching band. As the last song simmered down, a crack of the camera man's radio called out.
"Kiss Cam is next. Find a couple and radio back when you find one, over." The voice on his walkie talkie told several crew members.
"Shit, forgot about that...hmm..." The man focused the camera. "Got mine, over."
The timer for half time was approaching ten minutes and many students returned to their seats. Cheers went back and forth softer than before but steadily picking up as more people joined in. As the clock ticked down to six minutes some music began playing with a more sensual sound to it compared to the bubblegum pop from before. The jumbotron suddenly filled with hearts and red haze edged around the screen. The words 'kiss cam' appeared in bold letters at the top of the screen to the oohs of the crowd.
The screen suddenly cut to a live feed of the audience focusing on a young couple in matching green hoodies. They looked at the screen like deer in headlights before turning to one another. They looked at each other before locking lips in a brief yet meaningful kiss. Loud hoots from both sides of the stadium could be heard.
Another camera's viewpoint turned on revealing an older couple, most likely enthusiastic parents. The man's arms were folded in a gruff way. The woman saw the screen first and poked at the man while fixing her hair. While he had looked stern before his expression softened as he saw the screen and his shy wife cleaning herself up. The man lifted her chin with a hand and planted a long kiss onto his bride. More cheers could be heard.
"Oh! Look at that!" Winter pointed at the jumbotron. "Wish your boyfriend was here now, Quinn?" The girl gave her a nudge with her elbow in a teasing fashion. QT's mouth gaped only for a second but she couldn't respond as the black haired teen lent forward to address Lincoln and Cristina.
"Hey Romeo, maybe you'll get lucky and they'll show you and honey bee on the cam." Lincoln went wide eye as he looked at the screen and saw the words kiss cam with a picture of another two lovers currently indulging in a public make out. His eyes glanced to Quinlan with a blush as he fiddled with his hands.
"I don't think it's likely but it would be nice..." He lent into himself some shoulders slumped.
"Geez Romeo, don't get too embarrassed over it. It's super unli- never mind." As Winter said that she turned to the screen and once again the camera's origin changed.
Framed by many hearts and the words kiss cam was a white haired boy twiddling his thumbs and a red brown girl with a yellow hairband drinking her soda. Said girls eyes flicked upwards for a moment then with a spit take looked up to the jumbotron in shock. Cristina's spit take caught Lincoln's attention. He turned to the girl and saw her jaw dropped as she looked up, her face was increasingly becoming red. He finally looked up and saw why.
Him and Cristina were on the Kiss Cam.
Not knowing how long he began hearing chanting of 'do it, do it' from the crowd behind him. His face turned red and his pupils dilated as he tried to find the source. The white haired boys arms waved in denial and crossed forming 'X's which only caused the crowd to boo. Cristina was speechless and continued to stare at the monitor, not knowing what to do.
Should she go for it?
Loud boos radiated from the crowd under which was a continued pressuring of 'do it, do it' chanting. Lincoln's arms waved wildly begging for the camera to switch but it did not relent. The people in the box were loving it.
The audience saw a hand reach into the shot and tap the boy on the shoulder. With still the look of shock, and his arms in an 'X' formation, his head turned to look to his side. The camera man had enough intuition to pan to see what it was.
Now in the shot were Lincoln and Quinlan.
Many of the men in the audience, in their minds, went 'who is that babe?!' The sudden appearance of the ten out of ten hottie caused the boos and chanting to quiet down considerably but a rumbling of excitement still permeated the stands. They were right to be so.
Quinlan looked into the boy's eyes for just brief moments. Lincoln returned her gaze and knew what her look meant. Still, for the sake of entertainment QT played a mischievous role. She raised her eyebrows twice like a cartoon character. She waited. Lincoln gulped then nodded.
QT's hands grabbed the boy's hoodie, getting two fist fulls of cloth in her hands, and brought him to her eye level. A grin graced her face as with force she pulled the boy in an exaggerated kiss. She held it for a brief second before releasing the boy with an audible 'mwha' for added effect. Lincoln collapsed in his chair with huge, goofy smile on his face.
The crowd erupted in the loudest cheer yet. Shouts of 'you go man' and general 'whoops' came from both sides of the stadium. All enjoying what they believed was a hot babe taking pity on a young couple and making a boy's night. It had to be some joke, right?
It was enough to cause the camera to switch.
The next person was alone but was switched to for another laugh. The guy in question was a fat teen painted in red and white, Royal Wood school colors, with his stomach exposed. He noticed the camera and gave a shimmy causing his fat to giggle getting a laugh out of the crowd from the crazed fan.
"Geez, Quinn." Winter poked fun at her friend. "Don't go stealing your sister's boyfriend now."
QT rolled her eyes at Winter's comment but Lincoln had a look of sadness on his face.
"Wait a second, didn't Quinlan tell you?" Lincoln asked the teen in the aisle seat.
"Tell me what?"
A new song came over the speakers. A rousing song that encouraged good feelings. The kiss cam was gone and a camera followed a teen walking down a hall in red hoodie and sweatpants. The boy began to remove the hoodie to reveal he was wearing a black tee shirt with printing that gave the illusion of a tuxedo. At the end of the hall another boy handed him flowers, Winter recognized the boy passing them as her boyfriend. Her heart sank in fear.
The boy was now visible to the group from their seating and he began making his way up the stairs towards them. QT did not notice the boy though she was too busy looking in wonder at the screen. She bet it was one of those big prom proposals. Some girls loved them, but if it was Lincoln she wished he'd just ask them alone with a bouquet of flowers.
The camera switched.
The picture was now centered on her and she saw the boy was standing at the end of the aisle. Winter dodged out of the way to stand on the stairs out of frame. The boy scooted into where she had been sitting and stayed standing. Winter's boyfriend followed behind with a microphone and placed it between them. Quinlan rose from her seat in surprise.
The boy spoke.
"Quinn, would you go to prom with me?"
The jumbotron screen flashed with the words 'Will you go to prom with me, Quinn?' With both of them framed in the picture. QT was still staring at the monitor as he held the flowers to her. The brunette was speechless and so was the white haired boy next to her.
"Perhaps this will convince you." A hand wrapped around her and placed itself on the small of her back pulling her close. The teen's face slowly lent in.
Finally, his lips touched... the back of Quinlan's hand.
QT was not a dullard, she knew what the boy was up to and it ROYALLY. PISSED. HER. OFF.
She recognized him.
This guy was the best player on the team but also he was her lab partner. He was always so chummy with her. She could tell he was into her. Into her body that is. Now this asshole had the gull to pressure her into going to prom with him by asking her out in public.
Her eyebrows narrowed.
The basketball ace pulled back and looked at the girl realizing he wasn't kissing her. He saw her furrowed brow and her left hand covering her mouth. The guy was in shock and stupefied by the situation. His surrounding faded away and he didn't notice anything around him, like Quinlan's right hand.
To her side, QT's right hand was balled into a fist. Her knuckles gripped so tightly that they turned white. Her long fingernails dug into her palm almost drawing blood but the pain was nothing to her rage.
The team's star player watched as the bombshell broke from his grip around her.
QT's arm reeled back and came up from below.
With a strong, singular motion she threw the strongest uppercut of her life aimed directly at the boy's chin.
*WHAM*