Not So Bad // Jay

4 - Give it a Try

Jay had dragged me to this "tourney" thing he and Carlos were talked into trying out for. I was only paying attention to him and Carlos (mostly him) as I drew them in the jerseys they had them throw on from my seat in the bleachers.

A coach blew a whistle and began yelling things at the boys. I had no clue how this game was supposed to work, but when I heard there was a shooter and Carlos came out with a shield in hand my interest was piqued. The coach started yelling at Carlos again but I could barely hear from my spot on the bleachers, plus I had the headphones I took from Jay on overtop his beanie I was still wearing.

The coach blew the whistle again and the game started. A ball was passed around with sticks and immediately Jay began pushing people down. I was enjoying watching him push around these Auradon kids.

He ran down the field and got to a section that was painted red when the shooter guy started, well shooting, discs at Jay. To dodge, he began doing flips and tumbling and was doing a great job at avoiding them.

Jay got ahold of the ball being passed around as he came up to Carlos. Carlos threw the stick he had in his hand at Jay and covered himself with the shield he had as he fell to the ground. Jay tossed the ball up and used the shield Carlos was cowering under to propel himself up to hit the ball past the goalkeeper and into the goal. Not before tackling someone who I assumed was supposed to be on his team because they were wearing the same jersey color.

I stood from my place on the bleachers and set my sketchbook down to cheer for Jay. "Wooo!! You were great, Jay!" I yelled in hopes he could hear me.

I'm not sure it worked because Jay began chasing down the goalkeeper. I took the headphones off my head and placed them around my neck. He threw down his stick and took off his gloves and helmet as he began to do a victory dance.

The coach blew the whistle again and called Jay over to him. I sat back down and continued with drawing. I heard the cheerleaders cheering on the side of the field but I saw one familiar brunette who stood there looking annoyed.

The team huddled around the coach as they discussed something I couldn't hear, but I stopped paying attention to them and started to draw again.

—————

Jay, Carlos, and I walked back into the school after they were done on the field and we met up with Evie and Mal at Mal's locker.

"I mean for something named "tourney" it was more interesting than I thought it would be. Definitely didn't expect to see someone shoot discs at Jay but there's a first for everything." I said as we were all huddled together.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Audrey, Ben, and one of the guys from the tourney field walk out of a class room nearby as they glanced in our direction and began whispering, no doubt about us.

"See ya, M." Evie said as we all parted ways, her and Carlos went one way as Jay and I went another.

"So can I see what you were drawing in your little book?" he asked as we walked away to where we had to be next.

"Hmm... depends. Why should I let you?" I asked back, trying to keep him from seeing.

"Well, for one I'm your best friend," he said, and for some reason hearing those words weren't exactly pleasant to me. "And two, I got you those headphones that help block out noise. Not to mention one of my hats."

I smiled and sighed, as I reluctantly opened the sketchbook to the first page and handed it to Jay.

"The first few I did after our failed heist at the museum when I got back to my room," I told him as he flipped through the first few pages. "The next three were prompts given to me in art class. The magic wand was for magic."