White Teeth Teens

6. Get Lucky!

At the game the next day, Logan gives me payback when I park Mom's SUV at the high school by shouting, "IT'S OVER! WE'RE ALIVE!" I reach around from the driver's seat to smack him but he slides out of the car before I can get him.

Mom, Dad, while carrying Colin strapped to his chest, Logan, and I walk from the parking lot to the bleachers. The bleachers are packed and it's obvious right away where everyone's supposed to sit. The other team's fans are given a small area of the bleachers beside the Duncan Valley parents and the rest has been taken over by the students. Everyone's covered head to toe in gold and blue. Marie and the Kaylas stand at the top with three other girls and they're all wearing white sports bras and their stomachs each painted with a different letter to spell out "DUNCAN". I put my hand into my jacket pocket and press onto my stomach through to fabric. I don't think I could pull off their shirtless look.

Once we get to the bleachers, a woman calls out to Mom and waves. I'm going to assume she's some lady Mom met at that cocktail thing last weekend. Mom is already halfway up the bleachers to greet her, so Dad looks at Logan and me and says, "See ya after," then carries Colin up the metal steps.

Logan flips up his hood and scans the bleachers. The crowd looks like a flock of geese, rustling their feathers.

"Your buddy Pat hasn't shown up yet?" I ask Logan.

"He doesn't do 'school pride'." He squints in the afternoon sun, and smirks. "But I have other friends, believe it or not." With that, Logan walks past me and climbs a few stairs to a group of people that all greet him warmly, including the petite girl from the Film Club.

I put on a smile in case people are watching me and walk over to the sports-bra girls on the furthest column of bleachers. Ronnie and Shane are sitting with some guys in lettermen jackets, probably football teammates. When I wave to the boys, the beefy guy next to Shane gives me a once-over and winks. I snap my head forward, pretending not to see, and slide into a bench in front of Marie and the Kaylas.

I spin around and tug at Marie's Ugg boot. "You guys look great!"

Marie blows me a kiss, "Thanks girl. Can't wait to see your brother play!"

"Where's Dani?"

"She's at her dad's this weekend." Marie explains, then continues to hop up and down on the seat.

A horn sounds and the teams line up on the pitch. One by one, the announcer calls out the line-up. Each player runs out, waving at the screaming crowd, and shakes hands with the opponent coach and captain before running back. When it's Dean's turn, the announcer shouts "Center-forward, number seven, juuuuuunior, DEAN MYERS!!!" The boys in Ronnie and Shane's row all stand up to cheer and the girls behind me shriek like he's Cristiano Ronaldo. I notice the rest of the fans are just clapping politely.

When Ben gets announced as Right-defender, I start clapping. "GO BEN!"

"Ben?" Kayla #1 asks, sounding really confused. I ignore her and keep cheering until he's back in formation.

The game isn't particularly exciting because we're playing a piss-poor team, but Dean's building up his reputation with two goals before halftime. It's hard not to keep my eyes off Ben, who was the closest player to the bleachers and incessantly running back and forth over the halfway line. I can't imagine having to run that much, but he never looks out of breath.

At halftime the girls and I get in line for the snack booth. I scan the bleachers for my parents and find them chatting with a couple and then see Logan talking with the petite girl, making her laugh. That's a first. I've never seen Logan talk to a girl for more than five minutes, let alone make her laugh. Most girls at Scofield only talked to him to get closer to Dean. They did the same with me. Jess was the only friend that ever liked me for me and couldn't care less about either of my brothers.