[27] Happy Family

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NOAH

"Ok guys today is the day!" Coach looks up at the squad excitedly, his eyes landing on mine. I wish I could say that I was in the same state of mind but that would definitely be lying. Instead, I was coming up with an emergency plan to either sabotage myself or deal with Harrison if I won the spot. Unfortunately, I had nothing in the form of any plan at this point.

"It's on Rosenworth." Speak of the devil. He
said it in a low voice and had that small fraction of menace to it that scared me to this day. What would he do if I won? I had no idea, a fact that terrified me. I looked back at Coach.

"So, I know that Harrison and Noah are definitely looking to try out for the captain position – is there anyone else that wants to join them?" He paused, scanning the team of and they all collectively stared at the ground. Just him and I then. "Ok then. This is how it's going to work:"

I looked down at my boots in the soft mud of the pitch and thought about Via. She'd been in my head constantly from basically when I met her, but obviously now we were dating, she has a sort of area of my brain dedicated to her. I know that sounds really weird – not to mention creepy – but whenever I think about her, I'm immediately put at ease.

"We'll play a game – with each of you a captain of half the team – whoever wins will obviously get bonus points but won't necessarily fit the position. I'll judge that on this game, of course, but also on what I've seen of you from your time on the squad. Is that clear?"

Shit. Coach loved me – too much sometimes. He was always looking for me to help out somewhere or do some job for him. This was not looking good.

"You're going down!" He smirked and I attempted to give the same expression. For some reason every word that came out of his mouth made me feel sick and that was yet another thing I was trying to hide from him and the rest of the team.

XXX

We played the first half fairly quickly after picking players – I was playing ok but definitely not at my best by quite a bit. It consisted of me half-trying to get the ball off of the other team's players and then not really giving one if I didn't make it. As a result I was trailing behind Harrison which I thought I was absolutely fine with.

That was the point right? For me to lose so that Harrison wouldn't get aggravated, work out that I was dating Via and then hurt any more. I'd always wanted to be captain ever since I joined the squad in year 7, but sometimes you just had to make sacrifices I guessed. Having Harrison as team captain was never going to be great, but it was far better than knowing that he would hurt Via in the same way as he has been doing for the past year.

But at the same time, it frustrated me so much. I wasn't annoyed at Via – I could never be – I was annoyed at Harrison for thinking that he could get away with what he did. I wished that he would finally grow a conscience and realise he wasn't really as great as he thought he was. I wished that Via would have told Mrs Porter about it, and still didn't quite understand her reasoning on not doing, but that wouldn't be necessary if Harrison just didn't exist. It made me so angry.

Usually both of these sentiments are in balance. Today the latter was winning.

What was a try-out if not a football match between the two alpha males? I came back into the second half feeling more and more aggravated - every one of Via's words kept popping into my head, her explanations on Harrison making me more and more so.

Letting Harrison win would just be saying that what he did was ok wouldn't it? It would be showing that I was scared of him, that I couldn't protect Via, that I'd given up. I hadn't given up by a long way.

I think the other players caught on early on that Harrison's rule needed to end, over this football match first. I just couldn't let him win, couldn't bear to think of his grin if his name came out of Coach's mouth when announcing the captain. It was selfish but at the same time I didn't care. I'd already brought back all of the harsh feelings I'd felt when Via first told me what was going on with her and Harrison and they couldn't just be put back to where they'd been hiding all this time.

They fuelled me further and further, slowly becoming more and more overpowering. Harrison's face changed shortly after I scored my first goal, his smirk replaced with a look of colossal determination. It was officially on then, everybody could sense it: this was it.

I tackled one of his defenders easily, 'taking possession of the ball' as Coach was always saying and I should have seen Harrison's face or something because before I knew what was happening, I was on the wet grass again.

"What the fuck man?" What did he think he could achieve by pushing me over? He was really pathetic, but it was also evident that he knew my thought process as well. He knew that I was going to let him win. He knew I was hiding something – a fact that made my blood run cold.

"No need to use that language Rosenworth!" Coach warned me before turning to him "Harrison what do you think you're doing?"

"It was an accident." He muttered rolling his eyes "Wasn't it Noah?"

Ugh why did he have to exist?

"Noah?" Coach looked at me with a face that I knew too well. He was disorganised but you couldn't fault him on understanding situations and seeing things that others might not have. I was suddenly aware of all the eyes on me and what should I do? What could I do?

"It was an accident" I barely whispered. Why did I just do that?

"Are you sure?" Coach asked again and Harrison rolled his eyes again, his chest still puffed. "Because it didn't look like an accident to me."

"I don't know what it was if I'm honest Coach." It was the truth at least.

"Fine. Harrison I'm sorry but Noah's the new captain." He said it plainly all at once and it took a minute for it all to sink in. Was that it? Harrison and I looked at each other at the same time, forming a type of eye contact that only made me more nervous.

"Good game, loser" He whispered to me after shoving past me to the changing rooms. This was not good. Not good at all.

VIA

Katie still hadn't told me about what had happened with Mackenzie, which was slightly unnerving considering that they'd agreed to be friends. There'd been so many opportunities presented to tell her that I was there when they had that conversation, but it never felt right, not to mention it sounded a bit creepy. I didn't know how I felt about the whole thing if I was honest; becoming friends again meant that Katie would have the chance to ditch me, but at the same time she had stood up for me without me actually being there, which helped my paranoia. I pushed the thoughts away as I looked up to see Noah coming into the classroom.

"Hey!" He smiled, but immediately I could tell that it wasn't so genuine.

Hi! Are you ok?

"I'm ok I guess?" He paused for a minute "What are you doing tonight?"

Well, this was new. But good new? I couldn't tell

Nothing – why?

"I just... need a distraction right now." He replied and smiled limply.

Do you... want to come round to my house tonight? It was a long shot and I had a feeling he would say no, but at the end of the day my mum had been begging for me to have him round to meet him and why not tonight?

"Oh sure!" He said and brought his lips to mine. He tasted like everything I loved and for once I wasn't thinking about what I would be doing if I wasn't me, I was just thinking about this moment, in this body. I wasn't miles away, I was right here and it was a fact that I was delighted with for the first time in forever.

XXX

"So what time's he coming round?" Theo looked at me with amusement and yet again I would have used unsavoury language if my mum wasn't in the same room. I was meant to be helping her dry the plates again but I was being distracted by this little menace. "You know, your boyfriend Via!"

"Theo we have gone over this countless times" Mum came to my rescue "If you insist on teasing Via about Noah I'll just tease you about Phoebe instead!"

"Yeah but it's different this time!" He pointed out "Noah is actually Via's boyfriend!"

Is Phoebe still going out with Garrett? I asked him after finally finishing the plate I was on and setting it down on the worktop. Not being able to sign and do the dishes was slightly annoying but it was the way it was.

"Shut up Via!" He made a face and I laughed "Leave me alone!"

Have I got to remind you again that relationships don't matter at your age?

"I know but she broke up with Garrett!" I raised my eyebrows at him "So I asked her out and..."

And...

"She said no." He looked down at the floor

"Oh come here you!" My mum wrapped her arms around him "I'm sure you'll find someone better than Phoebe later on!"

"NO! Phoebe is the ONE mum!" I refrained myself from laughing for a second time. It wasn't that I didn't feel for him – it's just that he's only ten years old and already dealing with his love life like people double his age. It was hilarious.

The familiar sound of the doorbell sounded not long after this and we all looked at each other, my brother especially excited at this. I was more on the nervous side.

"Go on Via – get the door for your BOYFRIEND!" He whispered loudly, not being able to sit still. This was either going to go really well or horrendously, I decided, and couldn't figure out which.

I opened the door hesitantly, but all of my anxiety suddenly melted away as soon as I saw him. I still didn't understand how simply seeing somebody could have that effect on you, but his smile shrugged off all my worries and all I could think about was him. How his smile forced one onto my face.

"Hey," He said softly and I blushed. Yes, that's right – I actually blushed. Who was I?

Hi, I paused before my brother poked me violently in the back, deciding to remain unseen behind me yes! come in.

"HI you must be Noah!" I didn't think my mum's smile could get any bigger – it genuinely took up half of her face and my thoughts again went back to the core idea that this all didn't seem real. Like I was showing my boyfriend to my family. A few months ago, I didn't even think I could do that with a friend.

"That's right!" He replied, showing his pristine white teeth that I'd grown to love and they shook hands. I looked around for Theo, who had mysteriously disappeared somewhere. That was weird – maybe he was just being shy. I had no doubt that he would pop up sometime. "It's really good to meet you Mrs Mason!"

XXX

Theo did pop up quite a bit later – that is after my mum had told Noah every single embarrassing story from my childhood, which wasn't great.

"And Via just stood there like nothing was wrong!" She laughed along with Noah and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It was a story that I'd spent the entirety of at least a year trying to forget whilst being constantly reminded with my parents telling everyone they knew. That was before everything went to shit though, so I wasn't really that angry.

"You were so cute when you were younger!" He told me and I couldn't help but smile. He put his arm round me and my mum looked like she was going to explode in her seat on the opposite sofa.

"Oh hi Theo!" She said suddenly and we turned to see him at the door, a big grin on his face.

"OMG Via your boyfriend actually exists!" He exclaimed and Noah laughed, a sound that immediately put me at ease.

Did you actually think I was lying?! I asked playfully and he took his place next to my mum.

"Yeah I thought that he'd be really ugly or something!" I made a face and he laughed "Hi by the way!"

"HI, Theo isn't it?" Noah asked with an amused smile on his face.

"Yes and don't worry – I'm at least 100 times cooler than Via!" He reassured Noah and I shook my head, trying to resist the urge to smile again.

"Theo don't be so rude!" My mum warned him "You know what we always say about this!"

Yes Theo, we can easily talk about Phoebe! I reminded him and then turned to Noah Theo really really likes this girl called Phoebe but she just rejected him

"Via – you don't have to tell him this!" He crossed his arms and I gave a small smile

"Well it sounds like Phoebe must be very stupid to turn you down!" Noah said, pulling me closer into his chest again. It felt so cosy but exhilarating at the same time.

"EXACTLY!" He replied matter-of-factly "It's fine – by the time we're in High school, we'll definitely be together!"

We laughed and I decided that this was perfect; there wouldn't be one thing about this that I would change. I wanted the moment to last forever, for us to be stuck in time repeating this conversation over and over again. It could never become boring.

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