November, 2018

"Kaden, don't fight me on this, Nicholas and Diana Pierce are the best directors in Hollywood." I remarked. The end titles had just begun on an amazing movie we had just watched.

"I have to disagree with you there, they're talented, don't get me wrong, but Adam Patel has them beat." He shrugged. I threw popcorn at him.

"Were your eyes shut this whole time? This was literally a breathtakingly good movie, literally everything was perfect! How could you even compare them to Adam Patel?" I exclaimed.

Film was important to me, in fact it was a career I've been planning on pursuing since I was in first grade, so I paid attention the little details in movies, not just the acting. Which is why I had a lot of respect for directors, they saw the depth.

"Again, they're talented. I just think Adam's more original." He shrugged.

"Whatever. I'm right." My sarcasm earned a small laugh from Kaden, as usual.

"Actually, speaking of the Pierces, did you know Lauren is getting married in like, a month?" I added.

"Oh yeah, I think I heard about that, but I don't spend all of my time reading about celebrities personal lives."

"You should, it's very interesting." I joked. Suddenly a loud noise came from underneath me, which I knew was my phone. Reaching next to me, I looked to see who it was.

As soon as I saw the familiar contact picture appear on the screen, I groaned. Kaden gave me a concerned look.

"It's my mom." Was all I said before answering. I put my phone on speaker so Kaden could listen.

"Hello Avery. How are you?" Her voice was proper, as if this was a business call and not a conversation with her daughter.

"I'm fine. How are you?" That's how you normally respond to that question, right? You know, common courtesy. Well, not in my mom's book.

"Avery, I'm a very busy woman, I don't have time for small talk." As I listened to her response, I dropped my phone on the couch in frustration. Kaden gave me a reassuring look, as if he was saying "be the bigger person Avery, don't listen to her."

Nodding back to Kaden, I picked up my phone once again and took a deep breath in.

"I apologize Mom, what are you calling for?" I was surprised how calm my voice was.

"Your Father and I are coming home tonight and will be staying until the morning after Thanksgiving. We expect you to be home tonight for dinner."

"Sorry, I can't. I promised my friend that I'd go to his football game."

She huffed. "Avery, is a football game really more important than time with your family? I mean we never see you anymore." Her voice was the opposite of comforting. It was cold and annoyed.

"Who's fault is that Mom? I've had these plans for a week, I can't just cancel because you decide to see your daughter for the first time in two months."

"What has gotten into you! I did not raise you to have this attitude with me!" She began to raise her voice.

"Well because for the last five years I've raised myself! With all due respect Mom, I'm going to hang up now, I don't want to argue with you. I'll see you tonight, but not for dinner." After that, I hung up the phone.

"Wanna go to Mugs?" Kaden asked, as if he could tell I didn't want to talk about what had just happened.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Like I've said a million times, we always drive Kaden's car. It doesn't matter where we go, it's just a habit I guess.

But, it wasn't long before we could see the wood carved sign that read "Mugs Coffee est. 1976."

It was weird being here when neither Kaden or I were working, but it was also oddly refreshing.

As we walked in, the main area was completely empty, all the tables neatly cleaned and the chairs tucked it.

Since our entrance caused the bell on the door to ring, Kendall, who was learning on the counter playing on her phone, sprung up immediately.

"Hi, welcome to- oh, hey guys!" She smiled. Right on time, Cole walked out from the back.

"Oh hey, you guys still coming tonight?" He asked.

"Yep." We responded in unison.

"Cool."

"So, how may I help you two today." Kendall spoke in a way that was clearly mocking.

"Can I have a white chocolate mocha?" I responded matching her tone. It was weird being on the other side of the counter.

She nodded. "And for you?" She turned to look at Kaden.

He rolled his eyes in a playful way."Black coffee please."

"Of course thats what you order."

"Well sorry I like the taste of coffee without all of the gross artificial flavour." He defended.

Kendall laughed once again. "Fine."

Kaden and I received our coffee and sat down.

"Are you nervous about facing your Mom tonight?" Kaden asked, lifting the cup to his mouth and taking a sip.

"A little, but what is she gonna do? I'm more nervous about Thanksgiving."

"Why?"

"Let's just say the James's don't have a great Thanksgiving history. For example, when I was eleven my grandpa when on a rampage about how my Dad wasn't doing anything with his life, everyone was crying, and then the next year my Dad got my mom and him this job.

But this year, since we moved so far away, it's just the four of us and I can't decide wether or not thats a good thing or not."

"Four?"

"My sister, Olivia. She's twenty-six so I rarely see her anymore."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"She's not a big part of my life. We're so far apart in age that we never really grew up together. She was out by the time I was nine, ever since then she's been a phone call or a text. I see her maybe three times a year."

"At least you get to see her."

"Yeah, that's probably the one thing I'm looking forward too."

"Ave, just try to temporarily forget all of that. Just focus on what's happening to you right now, don't worry about the future, because in the end your actions right now affect what happens then. Just take it one step at a time."

"You're right."

After finishing, we said goodbye to Kendall and Cole and went back to Kaden's. We'd see them tonight anyways.

"Hey Kade, do you have a school sweatshirt or something that I can borrow?" I asked as we stepped into the house.

"Probably." He motioned me up the large staircase to follow him. Tall doors lined the hallways, all shut and spaced evenly. Towards the end, we reached Kaden's room.

As usual, it was pretty clean. A few books were stacked on his desk and his bed wasn't made. Kaden opened the door to his closet and stepped in.

As I waited I took a seat in his desk chair, rolling back in forth.

"Here." Kaden spoke as he stepped out of the closet, tossing me navy oversized hoodie that said "Pine Hill High School" in clean, gold letters.

"Thank you." I attempted to slip the large sweatshirt over my head, but couldn't find my way out.

Great job Avery.

Kaden laughed, grabbing the sweatshirt lightly and helping me get my head through.

"Thanks." I remarked sarcastically, attempting to hide a smile as I pushed my now messy hair out of my face.

"Anytime." He responds, way too amused.

"Wanna go?"

"Sure."

❦ Psychotic ❦

As we walked into the stadium, the stands were already nearly full. The loud murmur of conversations throughout spread through out.

Kaden and I both wore our school colors navy and gold, while Molly and Kendall wore their school colors, black, white and silver.

"Cole's so nervous." Kendall spoke as we finally found seats close-ish to the field.

"It was all he was talking about all day."

"I'm sure he'll do fine." I reassured her.

She scoffed. "Yeah, I'm not worried about him, I was just pointing it out. Go Ravens!" Her voice sounded as if she was trying to be convincing.

"Yeah, okay."

Suddenly, a loud voice spoke over the intercom. "The Knights have first possession."

"Shit." Kaden and I muttered, Kendall turned to us with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Isn't that a good thing for you guys?"

"No, that means you guys get possession at halftime, which isn't a good thing for us."

"Oh."

"What number is Cole?" I asked, scanning my eyes over the field to see if I could spot his dirty blonde hair.

"Fourteen." Kendall responded.

For the first quarter, the Ravens already lead by ten points and Coles stress was obvious.

"He's probably beating himself up over that missed catch." Kendall's voice hinted worry as she spoke.

"It wasn't his fault, it was Dawsons. That was a shitty throw." Kaden insisted.

"Yeah, but he won't realize that. He'll blame it on himself, he always does."

"Uh Kendall, aren't we supposed to be rooting for our team?" Molly asked.

"Yeah."

"Fourteen catches a twenty yard pass!" The announcer exclaims.

"Thank god." I hear Kendall mutter quietly to herself.

The game went on, the ball evenly spread between both teams. However, by the end of the second half, the score was still 14-28 in favor of the Ravens.

When it was halftime, we all got up to see if we could talk to Cole. Luckily for us, he was sitting on the bench, looking extremely frustrated.

"Hey Cole." I spoke hesitantly. He turned to look at the four of us.

"Hey." He muttered.

"Cole, stop stressing out. You know that when you do this it just trips you up more." Kendall said as she leaned against the bar separating the bleachers and the field.

"I can't! Did you see that catch I missed and the interception! I could've cost us this whole game." He spoke in a raised voice, raking his hands through his hair.

"Neither of those were your fault, they were Dawsons." Kaden now joined the conversation.

"Yeah, you can't go into the rest of this game with a "it's all my fault if something goes wrong." attitude. It's too much pressure on yourself." Kendall's voice was comforting but expressed clear harshness, as if she was trying to convince him.

"Listen to Kendall, Cole." I added referring silently to our conversation in the car on Halloween.

He gave me a knowing look and nodded. "You're right, thanks guys."

Slipping on his helmet, he rushed over to the rest of his teammates, preparing for the second quarter.

"I think it's gonna rain." Molly stated, looking up to the dark, cloudy sky.

"Great." My voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Come on Ave, you can handle a little rain." Kaden laughed, turning to me.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that."

"Guys, the game is starting again." Kendall spoke anxiously.

"He'll be okay." Molly spoke.

"I know, I'm just hoping he doesn't trip over his own feet and die." There she was, regular old Kendall.

As the clock ticked by slowly, stopping many times, the crowd boomed, the announcers voice was loud and it was clear he was just as engulfed in the game as we were.

"Can I take it back, I want our team to lose." Kendall stated after taking a quick look at her phone.

"What, why?" Molly asked.

"I just found out Jack Smith was the quarterback." She said in disgust.

"What's wrong with him?" Molly responded.

"There's nothing 'wrong with him,' he's just a hick."

"Okay Kendall, you do you."

I laughed before focusing my attention back on the game. The Ravens were good, I'm not gonna lie, their quarterback was probably gonna end up in the NFL one day, no matter what Kendall had to say about him.

Suddenly, I felt a thick drop of water hit the top of my head, then one became twenty and before I knew it, it was full on pouring.

"Ave." Kaden spoke.

I turned to him with a look that was the opposite of amused.

Kaden smiled, brushing his now wet hair out of his face, just for it to fall right back. "You look happy."

"I hate you."

"Guys!" Kendall exclaimed, pointing to the large scoreboard than now read 27:31, still in favour for the Ravens.

However, what really caught my eye was the clock.

Fourth Quarter.

Thirty seconds left.

On our twenty yard line.

We're screwed.

"There's no way we can pull this off." Kaden shook his head as he spoke. The rain continues to pour at a rapid pace, basically bouncing off the metal benches.

"The rain certainly isn't helping, I can't even imagine how slick that field is." I responded, nervously waiting for the whistle to blow.

Then it did.

Paying close attention, I noticed a player basically sprinting down the field towards the end zone while Dawson hustled desperately to escape he defenders.

Then, he chucked the ball down the field, while the player whose number I couldn't see clearly tried desperately to track it.

His defender slipped before he could reach him, and then the ball fell perfectly into his hands.

Coles hands.

The crowd exploded in loud screams as Cole continued to run at a sprint towards the end-zone.

Defender after defender dove in attempt to stop him, but they all missed.

Cole made it to the end-zone.

"Touchdown Knights with zero seconds left on the clock!" The announcers voice boomed.

In unison, we all jumped up screaming, cupping our hands around our mouths to enhance our voices.

"Go Cole!" We all yelled, getting a few confused looks from the opposing team, since Kendall and Molly were wearing their school sweatshirts.

From afar, I saw Cole getting praise from several of his teammates.

He ripped off his helmet, exposing his soaked blonde hair before his eyes scanned the stands.

Then, as he locked eyes with Kendall, he gave his usual overly-confident smile.

With the ball still in his hand, he tilted his head before lifting it up towards Kendall, he was mocking a cheesy romance movie cliche that she hated.

Kendall rolled her eyes, it was obvious that she was attempting to hold back a smile.

Authors Note

hey guys! so here's another update, sorry it's not the best:/ anyways in honor of the superbowl i felt like i should write a football chapter.

i personally hate the patriots so i am rooting for the rams all the way.

have a great rest of your day!!

also read city lights by @okaykendall