Cecelia

I bounce my knee nervously as I sit in first period biology, why did I enjoy doing this to myself. Whyyyy I scream in my head as I think of all the things I had to be nervous about; seeing River and klowi in the halls, rejoining my friends at lunch after making a complete fool of myself, dealing with seeing Tate again after kissing him on the cheek which was waaaay more than either of us had planned...at least what I had planned or expected from this friendship, and also not to mention the boys being geared up to legally injure eachother at trials.

The only piece of comfort I find in taking my mind away from what was going on at those trials was imagining Archie Andrews miraculously appearing on the field and giving them the run down on the Epic highs and lows of high school football. I smile to myself at the thought  as Ms.Lee makes her way into class.

Tate

We were in the fourth quarter tied off which NO ONE had expected,  myself included. After watching the guys train I hadn't expected them to be this decent, all they needed was some guidance which I was more than happy to provide if it meant showing River the quarterback's job is to work with the team to make us all better, not just how he can use them to make himself look good. We had four minutes left to get the final touchdown.

🏈💨...

Rivers about to make the winning touch down in the last 30 seconds and is almost stopped but as River does, he gets away with it and makes it in the end. Coach blows the whistle and the red team pile up on River hitting his helmet as they cheer.

I make an effort to hide my disappointment as I walk through and high five each of my team mates.

Coach calls us in to close off and my brother has a more than cocky grin as we make it back to the sidelines and come to face eachother "Can I just say that might have been some of the best football I've seen played at one of these trials in a LONG time" he says with a huge smile on his face "I thought having fresh meat might disturb this beautiful balanced we've established over the years but hewwwwwweeeee" he says still visibly excited " I can't wait to see you boys out there on the field as a team" he claps his hands together "I'll be posting the list of players who made it to the second trial today after school outside my office so make sure y'all come to check that before heading off home" he says tipping his hat "Second trial information will be emailed to those it concerns" he says before dismissing us.

I walk back over with Cole to our stuff and begin packing my bag " I didn't realise how good you'd be considering you didn't even want to come" I say to Cole as we begin taking our gear off "That's nothing compared to what I just witnessed where have you been playing all these years, northdale would've been defeated if they played you" he says with a low whistle " last I checked I was just defeated so yeah no I don't think so" I say shoving things into my bag "yeah you had like one senior on your team and two barely decent players and still managed to draw the game out to the last minute I think we all know who the better player is and I'm not the only one who thinks so" he says nodding behind me, I turn around just in time to see Coach walking towards me with a big smile on his face "Son I don't know where you've been hiding for me but boyyyy am I glad you're here now" he says shaking my hand "You are going to be a HUGE asset on this team" he says almost shouting "Thank you sir" I say returning his firm handshake "Keep playing like that and we'll have scouts from all over the country coming to watch you" he pats my back "you too Bateman great arm you got" he says nodding at Cole before walking off "Looks like we'll be seeing each other at the next trial" I say reassuring Cole he was better than half those guys "Ill probably see you at lunch" he laughs before walking off to the showers.

I on the other hand decide to go home for a shower, I did not feel like doing any team bonding any time soon.

🧼🫧

After my shower I drive back to school just in time for lunch. I pull into the parking lot and head towards the cafeteria. I contemplate where I was going to sit, I didn't want to sit with my brother and his friends. I think to myself as I enter. Surely Elena wasn't sitting with them either. I huff scanning the cafeteria for her.

There she stood with Cole in line talking and laughing without a care in the world. I smile and make my way over to her. As I approach her eyes flick to meet mine as she begins smiling at me "Hey I heard you did great at trials" she says as I cut in the line "Decent" I say with a small smile "That's not what Cole said" she says raising a brow before judging Cole "I'll tell you more over lunch" he says as he places food onto his tray.

We fill our trays and make our way to an empty table. Unlike Rivers group we didn't have a designated table. We select one towards the back and sit.