1𝑥2 ~ 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒
___________________________________
"Remind me again, why the hell you didn't try out for the lacrosse team this year?" The coach asked as we walked out onto the field,
"Because I'm not feeling it," I told him with a shrugged as I watched the players from the team run around and set up everything,
"Not feeling it?" The coach asked as he looked at me with a awestruck face, "Prince, I'm in my 30's and the only reason I'm not married with at least four kids is because-"
"You lost one of your testicles in the woods," I joked but that only caused him to glare at me,
"That! And the fact that I never found a woman who could handle all this energy, but you now..." The coach said being way to dramatic, "I get that you like boys, I have no problem with that, you know Danny our goalie is gay right?"
"I did know that," I said rolling my eyes as I started to lose interest in this conversation, "and?"
"The point is Prince, your dad was a legend at the school, every kind of sport he ever played he succeeded at, and now its time for you to be a legend too, but that can't happen if your sitting on the sidelines twiddling your thumbs," he said and I could genuinely hear the disappointment in his voice,
"Yea I know but..." I started to say but I felt someone pump into me, I looked around to see who it was, only for my eyes to land on set on blue ones staring back at me, Jackson smirked at me before walking over to the benches, "...it's just not something I want to put up with, that's all,"
"I know that losing your parents, is something that most kids never recover from, but I just want the best for your Leo," The coach said in soft voice as he turned to face me head on, "your mom and dad were special people, and you are too, but to see you waste away your talents like this, it's not good,"
"Coach..." I muttered softly,
"I know, but please just think about it, and know that there will always be a spot for you on the team," he told me as we continued to walk over to benches, I saw Greenberg run over only to trip over his stick, and face plant, "please think about it, please don't leave me Greenberg, he is-"
"A literal, walking, mess," I finished the sentence for him,
"See even you see it!" He said with a laugh, before clapping me on the back, "alright stay safe kiddo,"
"Laters coach," I tell him as I walked closer to stand and walk the first few moments of practice,
After a while I noticed Scott walk up to start line, and from where I stood I noticed the silhouette of someone standing near the tree line. It was man from the height and shape, he looked familiar but I couldn't familiar out who he was exactly, suddenly a loud thud made me look back to the field to see Scott laying flat on his back and coach running over to him.
Scott got back up, and went back to the starting position and something about his stance made a red flag go off in my head. He ran down the field and this time Jackson was sent flying onto his back, which made me laugh out.
My laughter only died down when I saw the other players and the coach hoard around him. I looked over at Scott to see Stiles pulling him away from the field towards the lockers, then I looked back to see the man in the tree line was gone.
•••
The days slowly passed by, with each seeming more and more like a means to an non-existent end. Each class was nothing but a volley of emotions, going from happiness when I'm with Lydia, curiosity when I'm with Allison, sadness whenever I'm near Danny and have to hear him talk about his boyfriend and constant pain when I have to suffer through each class I shared with Jackson.
"Hey Leo," I heard him whisper as I tried to stay focused on the geography teacher, he hissed trying to get my attention, but I didn't answer, "I know you can hear me,"
We sat across from each other, which at first didn't bother me, because I wanted to sit near people I knew but now his presence was only annoying me.
"I need your opinion on something," he whispered again as the teacher started to write on the board, "which do you think I'd look better in?"
Well, they did say curiosity killed the cat. I glanced over to see him holding up his phone with two pairs of men's underwear on the screen.
"I think I'd look good in both, but I know Lydia would prefer the red ones," he said sounding nonchalant as ever, "which would you prefer to see me in? The red? The blue? Nothing at all?"
I glanced up from the screen to see him smirking, and I wanted to do nothing more but smack it off of his face. I bit my lips and I started to taste iron as I repressed the feeling of wanting to scream at him.
He was so toxic, like some kind of freaking snake. Jackson was kind and sweet whenever Lydia was around but the moment she wasn't looking, he turned into a little gremlin that was fed after midnight. I couldn't stand being around him, but I suffered through the pain from the sake of Lydia, and Lydia alone.
The thing that makes all of this so much worst is he fact that I can't tell anyone how I really feel, or what happened. If I did it would break Lydia's heart and probably make her stop talking to me, Danny would side with Jackson because their best friends, and Allison would be indecisive and probably distance herself from me.
Everyday I walked through these hall ways and saw everyone's happy faces, it made this swelling feeling in my chest become larger and larger. It was suffocating and exhausting. Each day I kept a smile on my face for the sake of others but not for myself.
I ignored him as much I could until class was over and I forced myself to get through the rest of the day. After school I went to visit my Aunt at work. She was a doctor at the hospital, I didn't know what her job actually was, and not because I didn't care, but because I would always forget whenever she told me.
"So you didn't hear this from me but..." my aunt started as I walked into her office and sat down across from her desk, "...down stairs in the morgue is the bottom half of corpse,"
"I know I heard about it at school, from the teachers," I said rolling my eyes as I pulled over my textbooks and started to do my homework,
"Oh! Well...now you've heard it from a professional," she said as she sat down in her chair,
"Hmm," was all I said before I put all my focus on the work before me,
"So how is everything going? So far? School I mean?" She said stuttering over her own words, I looked up to see her looking at me with a calm expression,
"Things are fine, I guess, no trouble, The coach keeps trying to get me to join the lacrosse team though," I said I fixed my hair and sat further into the seat,
"See I'm not the only one who think so, I need to meet this man and give him my thanks," She said gleefully as she leaned back in her chair,
My Aunt Marcy was a kind woman. She loved helping people which is one of the reasons she became a doctor in the first place. She never married and never had kids, which never really bothered her, due to the fact that she always thought of me as a son, and now I am, technically.
She was fairly tall and very beautiful. Her hair was the same raven colour as mine, but while mine was more slick back hers had waves. Simply put, my Aunt looked like Snow White if she was modern, had long hair and not so pale skin.
"He's also rude, obnoxious, mean, and when he tells you the story about how he lost one of his testicles in the woods, I'm a thousand percent sure you'll think differently," I said to her I looked back at my homework,
"He lost a testicle in the woods?" She muttered to herself,
"Yep," I answered popping the P,
" Fascinating," she said as she started to type away on her computer screen,
I chuckled as I put all my attention now back on my homework. It wasn't much but it was something that could distract me long enough, so I didn't have to think about all the bad stuff in my life.
•••
"Lydia, Leo, this is my dad," Allison said introducing us to her father,
"Nice to meet you both," he said with smile, "are you two brother and sister?"
"No we aren't, but people always assume that because our names and us being inseparable," I said trying to be enthusiastic,
"Yup, he's just my gbf," Lydia said and I could feel the smile on her face as I rolled my eyes at the statement,
"Gbf?" Allison and her father questioned at the same time,
"Gay best friend," I answered with chuckle, I looked over at Lydia who was only smiling back at me, "I told you stop calling me that,"
"Never," was all she said before planting a kiss on my cheek,
The four of us walked onto the crowded field and found some spots on the bleachers before the game started.
"Excuse me, but I have some words of wisdom I need to spread," Lydia said as she walked over to Scott and said something to him, then she went to Jackson and gave him a kiss, once she had pulled away he looked directly at me, with a smirk, before putting on his helmet,
The game soon started, with the other team scoring a point. Then Jackson got ball and scored a goal, and everyone started to cheers, with Lydia being the loudest. I cheered too but more so for Danny and the team, and not her demon spawn of a boyfriend. Then Lydia held up the sign and Allison helped her raise it higher.
The match continued but the opposing team was in the lead, and the tension in the air was thick. The players reset and I watched Scott started to breathe heavily, so heavy in fact you could almost see his breathe.
"Which one is Scott again?" Allison's dad asked as I winced looking at Scott pull himself from the ground,
"Number 11. Otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball this entire game," Lydia told him with full attitude, before standing to her feet and with her god awful sign she made for Jackson,
"I hope he's okay," Allison said softly,
"I hope your earth, did you see how hard he hit down?" I cringed as I watch they start again,
"I hope we're okay. We need to win this. Allison, Leo? A little help here?" Lydia asked before she and Allison got up and held the sign,
The match started again with Scott getting the ball and pulling off some amazing moves, only for Scott to score a moment later. This continued with Scott scoring another goal. The timer started to tick down and Scott got the ball once again, but like clockwork he scored the winning goal.
Everyone ran out onto the field to cheer on the players. I ran out with Lydia who ran into his boyfriend arms but I put my attention Danny who came over and engulfed me in a tight hug.
The more he hugged the more I felt and smelt the sweat on his body, to which I didn't know was good thing or bad thing. However, I did know the feeling of having his arms wrapped around my body, felt surprisingly nice. The only down side was that to him it was nothing more than a hug, and for me I was hoping it was something more.