"Maverick" I said as I rushed to his side. "What the hell did you do man?" I asked him.
"I was going to Allie's house to help her with something. Then this idiot ran a red light and I smacked into him. I'm fine though. Just a couple of bruises I can still play football just have to rest for a few days"
"Don't you ever scare me like that again" I smacked his head.
"Hey mom can you give us a minute? You too coach?" Maverick asked. They both nodded and silently left. "Man I'm sorry I actually believed that you and Kathy were dating."
"No dude I'm sorry. I would never do anything to hurt Aria."
"You better hope that's true because next time you won't have a concussion and you'll get your ass kicked."
"Trust me I know. I don't want to be the next Daniel Moore."
"Please don't bring that up. I was in fourth grade," he groaned.
"You punched him for holding a door for your crush." I laughed.
"I saw the mischievous look in his eyes"
"We were in fourth grade there was no mischievous look"
***
A few hours later I was sitting in my bef doing nothing, as always, and I realized I never told Aria everything was fine.
"Hey," I said into the phone.
"Are you okay? What happened? Is it your granny?" She asked immediately.
"Everything's fine it's just Maverick and his dumbass got himself in a wreck"
"Oh no is he okay?"
"Yeah he's fine just a couple bruises. It wasn't his fault though this idiot decided it was a good idea to run a red light and Maverick smashed into him."
"Okay i'm glad everything's alright."
"Me too"
"Well I gotta go mom's calling me for something. Bye."
"Bye"
***
Finally Friday rolled around and it was the first game I wasn't gonna play. I walked around the halls and orange was everywhere like every other Friday. It all felt weird. All these people were getting hyped for the game and I couldn't enjoy it. I can't be hyped for a game I'm not playing. As always I put on a fake smile and pretended that everything was okay.
"Hey guys" I said as I walked to the team. "I know I won't be on the field with y'all tonight but y'all better work your asses off"
After a minute or two of talking the team split up different ways. I walked to my locker which happened to be our unspoken meet up spot.
"Hey" was the first thing said to me. I grabbed the books for the first few classes. I hugged the girls.
The warning bell rang signaling class starts in five minutes. Allie and Maverick went to their classes. Aria and I just stood there.
I don't know where we're at. I haven't asked her out yet because every time I try I either get nervous or get interrupted.
Our classes are in the same direction until I turn and she keeps walking. We usually walk together as far as we can then part ways.
We got to our normal split up spot and I kept walking with her.
She looked up at me. "What are you doing?"
"Walking you to class" I grabbed her hand and interlocked our fingers. I saw her blush slightly.
"Why? you're gonna be late for class" I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Can't I just be nice to you for no reason?" I asked.
"Yeah... no not you"
I fake gasped and put my hand over my heart dramatically. "I'm offended"
"you're so dramatic," she laughed. I held her hand again.
A few seconds later we arrived at her classroom. "We're here" I announced.
"Thank you captain obvious" she said sarcastically. "Okay bye see you at lunch"
"See ya" I said before turning away and making it to my classroom with seconds to spare.
***
"Adrien?" Aria asked.
"Hmm?" I replied.
"Are you okay?"
The truth is not really. I haven't been injured since freshman year, well I haven't been injured enough to miss a game or two for that matter.
"Yeah, this is just the first game I haven't played all season." I only half lied. Inside I was depressed. I don't know if depressed is the right word but right now it feels like it is.
I won't get the rush of throwing the ball right before I get tackled. Or the excitement of screaming to High School Musical before the game. Or the sound of the crowd after I scored, or helped score, a touchdown.
I feel alone.
I know that's not the case. I have Maverick and the rest of the team behind my back awaiting my comeback. But somehow I still feel lonely.
"Adrien? Adrien?" Maverick was waving his hand in front of my face.
"Huh?"
"You okay man? You spaced out for a while"
"Yeah I'm good dude" I shook off the weird feeling inside.
"The bell rang a minute ago"
"Than I better get to class" I flashed him a fake smile before grabbing my backpack and heading to my next class.
***
"Let's get this pep rally started!" Coach yelled. On cue the team ran out going crazy. I walked in with a fake smile on my face, high fiving students as we made our way to our places. "Who's coming out tonight to watch us beat these bulldogs?" The crowd went crazy. "That sounds like maybe five people. I said who's coming to watch us beat those bulldogs?" The crowd somehow got even louder. "Okay now that sounds like a whole lot of you. Who wants to see the cheerleaders?" The gym went crazy. I don't think there was a single person in the gym who was not yelling.
It honestly made my head hurt a little bit. Thankfully it didn't hurt much.
The cheerleaders were amazing. I couldn't help but notice Maverick was eyeing Allie the whole time, smiling of course. He is whipped.
Once they were done the gym burst into screams. They did a cheer and went back to their spots. Now it was time for Duke and Andy to make their speeches.
"Hey everyone," Andy said. The crowd screamed. "Today is our first game without Adrien. I've been a part of this team for two years and he has been such a role model to me, not only has he been a role model but also a friend and brother. I'm here to assure you that we're gonna fight for you Adrien and we won't let you down." The crown erupted in cheers. All the girls were in awe. Andy hugged me and I hugged him back.
Andy is only a sophomore but he's good. He has a chance to be great one day. I'm glad I can be a role model to him.
"Wow I'm not sure I can top that" Duke laughed nervously. This earned him a laugh from the crowd. "Adrien, we are sad you can't fight this one with us bro but you'll be back. We're gonna go out there tonight and pull out the W. I know all these guys have my back. I hope y'all guys can come out and watch us beat the bulldogs." The crowd Burt's into cheers. Duke has never been the emotional type. "Let's go Jaguars!" The crowd went crazy.
***
I opened the door to my truck. "Adrien?" A voice called. I knew the voice instantly.
"Yeah?" She jogged up to me.
"Don't get discouraged, okay?" Aria said and hugged me which I undoubtedly hugged her back.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I know this is the first game you're not playing in this season-"
"Since freshman year" I corrected.
"What?"
"This is the first game I missed since freshman year"
"Oh wow. Anyway I know how much football means to you and I know it sucks seeing other people do what you love and you probably feel lonely and feel like you're depressed even though you know that's not the right way to describe it."
How does she know exactly how I feel?
"How do you know?"
"It's happened to me before." I looked at her with a shocked and confused expression. "No one ever told you?"
I shook my head.
"I used to dance." She looked down sadly.
"Hey, it's okay" I gently lifted her chin with my finger. "What happened?"
She took a deep breath before continuing. "My spine is messed up. I could walk and run, and everything, just fine. We never knew it was messed up until I started dancing when I was seven. At first we thought it was just sore but as the years went on it got worse. But I was absolutely in love with dance; it was my passion. Eventually I grew immune to the pain in my lower back."
Her eyes held pain and sadness as tears brimmed them. They were darker than her normal blue color. I pulled her into a hug reassuring her that it was okay. We broke apart and she took another deep breath.
"Two years ago during the dance championships I was dancing on stage. Right before I finished there was a crack in my back but I pushed on thinking my back just popped. The pain was excruciating but I didn't show it. I was in the top three for the championship. I wasn't going to give up. I finished the dance and immediately fell to the ground in pain. I was crying and screaming in pain." She paused and took another deep breath.
I couldn't imagine her in that much pain, I didn't want to.
"The medics rushed over to me as well as my dance teacher and the team captain. My parents rushed backstage along with Xander. They called the ambulance and rushed me to the hospital. When I got to the hospital they did some x-rays and MRI scans. They figured out my spine has been messed up since I was born but I wouldn't have been injured if it wasn't for dance. Dance messed up my spine even more and I ended up fracturing it. I had surgery and was told I could never dance again.
"For those two years I watched every single performance that our school dance team put on. I felt alone. I felt depressed but didn't think that was the right way to describe it. I was depressed at least at first I was. I never left my room, mainly because of the surgery. I watched dance movies and old dance videos of me. I was this way for months. My family and close friends were worried about me, especially Xander and Maverick. Then I realized I was lucky to have experienced the gift of dance.
"I never got to go back to dance. You can go back, you just have to wait one more week. Be thankful you can do what you love. Don't be discouraged, be proud."
This time she hugged me.
"Thank you"
"Anytime"
"Do you have a scar? From your surgery?" I asked.
"Yeah? Why?"
"I wanna see it," I said.
"What? why?" She asked.
"I wanna see it," I repeated.
Why did I want to see it? I don't know. Maybe I wanna see her past. I already know how this affected her. I know that the scar was the flaw she cared about most, that I know of.
"I want to see it because I know this hurt you. I can see it in your eyes they're darker than your normal blue. I can see the pain and sadness in your eyes."
She took a deep breath before turning around raising up her shirt. There was a long horizontal scar across the bottom of her back. I reached out slowly to touch it. She flinched when my fingers came into contact with her lower back. Her body tense as I traced it softly with my fingers.
"It's okay. Trust me" I said quietly.
"I do"
I traced it once more before spinning her around keeping my hand on her scar. "I love it"
"You what?"
"I love it"
"Why? It's ugly."
"I think it's beautiful just like you. It makes you who you are. Who knows you might not even be here without it."
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, which happens to be very cute. "What do you mean?"
"If it wasn't for your spine problem you would have never fractured your spine then you wouldn't have quit dance then you probably could have won the championships then got accepted to a fancy dance school then would have never met."
"I don't know. I probably still would have met you through Maverick."
"That's a possibility but he never introduced us before."
"That's true"
I want to ask her out so bad right now. Why don't I? I don't know. Maybe because I have a fear of being rejected. I've never actually asked someone out before. So I guess technically I've never had a girlfriend.
After a few minutes of debating in my head I spoke up. "Aria?" She hummed in response. Her eyes were locked on her phone. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah of course" she said eyes still locked on her phone.
"Aria, look at me," I said softly. I put my hand over her phone and she looked up at me. She must've seen the seriousness in my eyes because she looked at me intently. Her eyes captivated me. Without even thinking I leaned down and kissed her. She was shocked at first but kissed me back.
We broke apart both breathing heavily. She rested her hands on my chest. "Now what did you want to ask me?" She asked breathlessly.
"Be mine?" I said nervously.
"W-What?"
"Be my girlfriend?"
"Umm..."
"Let me do this right" I mutter. "Aria, will you go out with me?"
"Yes" She said. I kissed her again, this time she wasn't surprised and kissed me back immediately.
***