Ricky's stomach was spinning in circles all day, extremely nervous about joining rugby. He could hear Big Red's voice in the back of his mind telling him it was a bad idea. After an awkward 10 minutes changing in the boys locker room with the Year 11s whispering about him behind his back, EJ walked Ricky out to the field and explained the rules of rugby along the way. " So there are four ways to score in rugby. A try, A conversion, a penalty, or a drop goal try is where you..." EJ began to explain but Ricky was distracted by his emerald green eyes shining back at him. "You'll probably pick it up after a few games." EJ finished. "Right... I hope you're prepared for me to be absolute shit." Ricky told the boy who patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, you'll be great!". The rest of practice consisted of EJ showing Ricky the basics of rugby.
"Do you want to give tackling a go?" EJ asked him. "Tackling?" Ricky questioned, nervously. "It's not too hard. You just have to take the player with the ball down by grabbing them below their shoulders." The taller boy instructed. "Easier said than done. I am definitely way too weak to do that." Ricky stated. "Excuse me, where is your "can do" attitude?" EJ asked Ricky as he poked him, causing the boy to blush. "Give it a go. Just run at me. I won't dodge." EJ told him as he dropped the ball on the ground. "You got this, I believe in you." Ricky took a deep breath and nodded before running at EJ and knocking the boy down. Ricky and EJ both sat for a moment post tackle before Ricky quickly sat up after realizing how long he had been laying on the boy. "Um- that was perfect." EJ spoke sitting up. "It was?" The boy questioned as EJ stood up and reached his arm out to help Ricky up. "Yeah, the perfect tackle deserves a water break." He said as he made his way to the benches with Ricky following shortly behind him.
The week continued the same. EJ helping Ricky with rugby and Ricky blushing over every spoken word with the boy. "So... am I actually any good?" Ricky asked EJ after a week of practice. "What? At rugby? Of course you are! why?" He replied, looking over at the shorter boy who was staring at his shoes. "I'm just scared of letting everyone down and I don't even know whether they like me or want me on the team or not... I don't know, it's silly. All of the older boys kind of remind me of the people who used to bully me." Ricky told him. EJ sighed at the boy's story. "Well, I like you and want you on the team!" EJ said in a comfortable and cheery tone.
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In the locker room, EJ had trouble taking his eyes off of Ricky. Especially when he changed out of his rugby shirt and into his white button up school uniform. "Is there anything you think you want to practice a bit more?" EJ asked but got no response. "Ricky?" He looked over at the boy who was frowning at his phone. "Hey, you okay?" The boy asked. "Y-yeah I'm good. I'll see you later." Ricky said before leaving the locker room and leaving EJ standing confused.
