FELL FOR MY BULLY

9) THE MATCH

I woke up with this weird feeling in my stomach and i know it's because, the day everyone has been waiting for at last arrived and for some reason i too was looking forward to this day. I was never interested in sports until now. Maybe that's the change Wellsbury made in me.

I pack only half of the books as we half day class because of the match. I pack my things and take  the bus to school. The school is less crowded today,seems like some of them actually took a day off. I know that I am selfish to wish that I could see Josh when I clearly know the players are at the ground, but I want to know if he is OK after what happened yesterday. I walk to my class room and get seated. I hope time flies as i can't wait.

As I walk to through corridors I see Lyla and Raven waiting for me by my locker.

"Match starts at 6, so we need to be there by 5:30"Lyla says to me.

I step between them to put my books and I hear Raven say "we need to get good seats, I am pretty sure good ones are taken by now"

"Well OK then I will be ready by 5 " I say to them. As I am pretty sure they will turn up a bit early than what we have planned. We say our goodbyes and i head to the bus stand down the road.

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It's almost time I close my book and pull out this dark blue oversized hoodie and light blue flared jeans. 

I hear their car's horn and head outside. I get in and I hear I Raven saying "oh I can't wait to kick Springfields ass. They have been rubbing our loss in our face. But today it will be our chance to do the same."

I laugh to myself on hearing Raven's and Lyla's conversation. I take my phone to see if Josh responded to my text. My heart drops as he leave me on read.

We reach the stadium and head to find our seats. The stadium is getting crowded with every second. After a while I hear announcement saying that it will start in 10 minutes.

" And from the left side of the stadium here comes the championships of the last league. Let's raise our heads to welcome team Springfield. Here comes the team captain Rockwood" I hear loud screams as I see a large figure coming out from left side followed by rest of the team.

My head automatically turn to the right side as I know our team will enter from there.
" We now welcome the team who has set record for winning championship for 5 continous years. Here comes the captain Max Hastings of Wellsbury." I hear the crowd cheering and yelling.
At this one moment most of them stand up to cheer and yell. The stadium is ringing with voices and it feels like my ear drum is going to explode. I too stand up with the others to get a good view and I see Auden entering the stadium and he is the last one on the line. I see Springfield people giving each other looks of utter surprise. "Seems like they didn't realise Auden's ban ended" i hear Raven say.

"Captains shake hands"
Rockwood shakes hands with Max and it seems like they are crushing each others hand. "God they are glaring at each other" I hear Lyla say. The game begins and the ball is now in possession of Springfield. And then Yaxley from my batch takes the ball from them and passes to Marcus. Marcus to Max and Max to Josh. Josh nears to the goal post and everyone in the stadium holds their breathe and then Wellsbury sit back with sad sighs while Springfield yells in joy as Springfield takes the ball from Josh. Now the ball is with their captain Rockwood and with every second he nears to the goal post he then spots his team mate who has an opening to score a goal. He passes the ball to him and the ball is taken by Auden. Everyone seems to be lost as no one saw him coming.

""That was a clean save and it is performed by none other than the ex captain of Wellsbury who brought the team to victory for continous 5 years. Seems like he didn't lose his touch after the ban. The spectators seems to be lost as no one saw this coming.""

The stadium rings with cheers of Wellsbury. I see Auden pass the ball to Andrew, Andrew to Yaxley, Yaxley to Flint. Flint to Auden and its a GOAL!!!. The stadium fills with cheers of joy and cheerleaders stars doing their thing. The score board changes from 0:0 to 1:0.

The match continous and the score is 3:3 , 2 goals by Auden and 1 by Max. The stadium fills with tension as only 5 minutes remain. The ball is with Rockwood and as he passes it to one player and Auden takes defence of that player and through this gap Max takes the ball and passes it to Jeremy and Jeremy to Andrew. Andrew to Flint and Flint to Josh and its a GOAL.

I jump from my seat and start jumping up and down calling his name and cheering for him. Lyla and Raven joins me and we do this group hug thing between our cheers.

"That was a spectacular goal by Joshua Miller. The times up and the score is 4:3. And the winner is Wellsbury." The stadium fills with roar of laughter and yells. I see the cheerleaders doing complicated steps to celebrate our victory. I see the team rounding up on Josh to celebrate their victory. My heart fills with joy to know that Josh is fine and whatever it is it didn't bother him.

I notice that Auden barely joined them. He is busy talking with the goal keeper who I notice to be Miles. I don't know but I feel like Auden is angry about something. I mean like they won what else does he want. Maybe his plan to demotivate Josh didn't work.

All the players next move to their rest room. "What's with Auden?" I ask them.

" I don't know but he seems pissed" says Raven.

"Maybe he is not happy with Miles, like he let 3 balls in right " says Lyla

"I don't know, Miles played really well. Maybe he thinks it's an easy match not worth celebrating." Says Raven.

Any ways we will be waiting for you" says Lyla nudging me.

"What do you mean" I ask her confused.

"You would want to congratulate Josh, dummy" says Lyla winking at me.

"Ohh" I say. I bet my cheeks are turning pink now.

They move to the exit while I decide to wait for Josh near their rest room. I reach the rest room and wait for a few minutes. Some of the players walk past me except Josh. I text him that I want to see him. And my heart sinks as he replies saying that he already left and is heading towards a party. I feel like a joke and I want to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"Hazel?" I hear him calling me as I'm heading out.

"What" I say turning around.

"What are you doing here?" He asks me and he is really pissed.

"I...umm I lost my bracelet, here" I say.

He raises one of his eyebrow and folds his arms to get a very daring look. And I know he didn'tbelieve it. "Did you find it then" he asks me.

"Yes" I say smiling and show him my bracelet that I never lost. "Bye" I say and walk fast to the exit.

"Wait" I hear him say and I stop dead on my tracks. I know I'm in trouble. I turn around and I see him coming nearer and nearer. I walk back to keep distance between us. After two steps my back hits against a wall and he comes so close that I see the green of eyes. So close that I can hear his heart beat maybe its mine.

His green eyes are glaring at me. I feel a shiver run down my spine. I can slightly feel his chest raising up and down.

"Don't come cheering for others at my game." He growls at me. And I see fire beneath those eyes.

"W- what?"

"Don't stand there calling another guys name in my fucking presence"

"Why do you care" I ask him as I don't know what else to say.

"Call it an obsession or foolishness or fucking madness." He grunts and I feel like his eyes are piercing mine.

"But you keep your eyes on me" he says loudly and walks away. He leaves me stranded and I take that time to sink all these in.

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