Daydream Believer

xciii. football games and school spirit

xciii. football games and school spirit

"I don't get why we have to go to this thing," Justin said. The game hadn't even started yet, and I could already tell he was bored. I didn't know why we went either. It was cold out, and none of us even liked football.

"I only came so I could make fun of the parents who take high school football way too seriously," Aaron said. That seemed like a valid reason to me. There were tons of people like that. In fact, there was one guy next to us that was screaming for them to get the game started already.

I shivered, still wondering who though it was a good idea to come here. The metal bench was cold and wet from the rain that morning. The weatherman said that it might snow later, but I doubted it. It wasn't cold enough for that, but it was still freezing. At least I brought a coat, unlike Aaron.

Finally, the cheerleaders and the marching band came on the field. Rebecca was the cheer captain and Aaron had a few friends in band, which I suspected was the real reason we were here. I looked around. Almost everyone else was older, even though they said that freshmen were welcome to come.

I did see one person I knew: Michelle. I had forgotten that she was going to Odiosis this year. It was a bit disorienting to see her outside of bowling. She spotted me and started scooting over to where we were.

"Hey McKenna," she said. "What's up?"

"Not much," I said.

"I hope the game starts soon," Michelle said.

"Me too," I said. "I really just want to get this over with."

"Are you kidding? This is going to be so much fun," Michelle said. "Right, Aaron?"

Aaron nodded. "Mark said that the half-time show was going to be really good tonight."

"Who cares?" Michelle said. "Go Odiosis!"

Aaron smiled and started cheering. Michelle and Aaron cheered the entire time. They had a good time, but Justin and I were still pretty miserable. I did what I did best: pretending to care when I didn't.