Letting Him In

Chapter-7

"And all my walls
Stood tall painted blue
But I'll take 'em down, take 'em down
And open up the door for you"

-Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeren, Everything Has Changed
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Elijah

Sitting in the bleachers, Elijah saw Riverhill High's team enter the field. Since it was the first game of the season, everyone was buzzing with excitement. The excitement doubled when both teams' captains shook hands before the match. Even from this distance, he could see the challenge in both Dean and Kaeden's eyes as they met in the center of the field.

This should be an interesting game, he thought, remembering the bet between the two of them.

Although he'd rather be sitting at home, eating pizza, it had become a ritual for him to attend the football games, and then hang out with Kaeden afterward, which ultimately meant hanging out with the entire team. It had started when he had first joined the team and had continued ever since.

He let his eyes slip out of focus as the match began; he had never cared much for football, unlike most of the student body, who would practically be jumping with excitement before every game.

He was snapped out of his reverie when his end of the bleachers collectively shot up and began cheering. He looked toward the field to see that their team had scored the first point. He let out a small cheer for his friends, trying to focus on the rest of the game.

After a few minutes, he realized that his eyes kept flitting toward Dean, who was playing remarkably well. By half-time, Riverhill's team was leading the game by eight points.

He looked toward the side, noticing Jason and Mike talking with the coach, while Kaeden and Jake stood together, deep in conversation. The rest of the team was also busy planning for the second half of the game. After about a minute, they all gathered together, talking for a bit before re-joining the field. Elijah hoped that they would make up for the lost points; he did not want to be stuck with a sulking football team for the entire evening just because they lost a game.

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Elijah was stuck with a sulking football team who had just lost a game. Or, well, he was about to be. There was barely a minute left in the game, and their team was ahead of Riverhill's by two points, when Dean suddenly seemed to come out of nowhere and scored six points by catching the ball mid sprint, making a final touchdown, and taking the win. His team engulfed him in a group hug, while Brendon High's team looked slightly shocked and let down.

However, after getting over the initial shock at the sudden change of events, Kaeden walked over to Dean and gave him a congratulatory handshake.

Ten minutes later, Elijah was waiting by his car for Kaeden to come from the locker rooms. He was scrolling through Twitter when he heard a voice speak up from beside him.

"Told you we'd win," said Dean, leaning against the car beside Elijah's.

Elijah looked up from his phone and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, now I have to deal with a moping team because of that." Standing up straight, he held out his hand. "Congrats on the win, though. That touchdown was pretty cool."

Shaking his outstretched hand, Dean said cheekily, "And the other ones weren't? I made quite a few."

Elijah shook his head. He took in Dean's tousled black curls that were plastered to his forehead with sweat, his hazel eyes still shining with adrenaline from the game. He was wearing his sweaty jersey, though he had thrown on a jacket over it.