Shifted

3 - You're Dead Greenberg!

On the way to Lacrosse practice that afternoon, Stiles kept trying to convince Scott to forget about his plan to make first line. The one good thing about being benched at every game was that he wasn't alone. He and Scott could watch all the players and make bets about who scores and who gets clobbered. But now that Scott was determined to play, being a bench warmer would be a whole lot miserable. He supposed he could talk to Isaac Lahey who was also stuck on the bench, but it wouldn't feel the same.

Scott was determined though so he walked to the field while Stiles stayed and sat on his patented bench. He didn't know why, but the boys sitting next to him smelled worse than usual. Like they spent the night in the boy's locker room while sleeping in the pile of dirty laundry where a family of skunks were hiding. Casually, he took a step away from them and made a mental note to get Coach to put up air fresheners in the locker room. Or issue gas masks for everyone.

When Coach made Scott stay in goal, Stiles crossed his fingers and hoped for the best. Scott's future in Lacrosse would be determined by how well he guarded that goal, he'd love to say that Scott's determination wouldn't be enough to get him a spot on the team, but he couldn't. Not only because Scott was his best friend, but also because he's seen Scott improve drastically over the summer. He may not be a star player but Stiles was pretty sure his summer practice would be enough to get him on first line.

The Assistant Coach blew the whistle and Stiles cringed as he covered his ears. What the hell was that? It was like a banshee screaming right into his ear. Shaking it off, Stiles turned his attention to Scott as the first player threw the ball.

The first save was terrible and Scott got hit in the face, but the next shots were surprisingly better. Of the nine players that aimed at the goal, Scott blocked six of them and the crowd cheered for him. Each time Scott caught a ball, Stiles cheered the loudest. Happy that his best friend would get his wish.

Then Stiles watched Jackson Whitmore step forward and prepare to take his shot, he could have sworn he heard Scott mutter 'Oh God'. But that was impossible because Scott was all the way out in the field and Stiles was stuck in the bench.

Predictably, Jackson scored. But Stiles was sure that Scott's performance was enough to get him on first line.

Then it was his turn to get on the field. Scott stayed in goal and all the players not on first line prepared to shoot some goals. Stiles was fourth in line with Isaac standing behind him.

"How did McCall get that good?" Isaac asked him.

"He's been practicing all summer." Was all Stiles said, "He really wants to make first line."

"Well I think he's got a pretty good chance."

In front of him, Greenberg was doing some weird warm up thing that had Coach snapping at him and asking if he was having a seizure or if there was just a spider in his pants. Everyone laughed at their unfortunate teammate and laughed even more when he horribly missed his shot. The ball actually went into the cheering stands straight into some guy's nose.

"You're dead Greenberg!" Screamed the guy while holding on to his bleeding nose.

Coach just shook his head and asked himself for the millionth time, why that boy was even on the team in the first place.

When it was Stiles' turn, he flexed his fingers and lightly turned his lacrosse stick. He looked at Scott and the goal. More specifically at the top right corner.

Stiles was never able to explain how he did what he did. It was like everything got quiet and the only thing he could see was that corner of the goal. When he threw the ball, it looked like it was heading for the left side of the net so Scott dove for it, but the ball curved midair and went into the top right corner of the goal instead.