The Super Enrichment Programme

Hockey Match

We left combat training for lunch absolutely exhausted with the promise of a fitness session tomorrow.

‘Come with me to the canteen?’ Emma asked and I looked up from my phone, my answer at the ready, to find her looking at Nolan.

‘Sure,’ he said and they walked off hand in hand. I stood there, stunned, just staring at the retreating back of my best friend.

‘Gem?’ a worried voice whispered but I shook my head slightly. A pair of comforting hands rested gently on my shoulders, steering me off towards the table we sat at yesterday.

‘Gem, am I still coming round yours after school?’ Hale asked and I blinked confusedly as it registered that he’d spoken.

‘Huh? Oh yeah!’ I said and Hale chuckled at me amusedly.

‘What are we gonna do?’ he asked and I shrugged.

‘Not sure, it depends if Ethan’s over or not to be honest,’ I couldn’t help grinning slightly as Hale furrowed his brow in confusion.

‘My brother’s best friend,’ I filled in, laughing at him. We sat in comfortable silence, eating our lunch when we were joined by the happy couple.

‘Aww, thanks Nolan,’ Emma cooed as she sat down next to me.

‘Anything for my Em,’ he replied and I rolled my eyes at Hale, who sniggered.

‘OH Gemma!’ Emma yelled in my ear, deafening me temporarily. ‘You are going to come and watch my hockey match tonight, aren’t you?’ she asked and my jaw dropped slightly.

‘I’m so sorry, I forgot! Hales coming over so…’ I started but Hale interrupted.

‘We’ll come. I'm sure Nolan will want some company seeing as his girlfriend will be playing,’ he punched Nolan’s arm playfully. Nolan turned around to punch Hale but he held up his hands in surrender and backed away, ‘Whoa, your punches hurt!’ he said and Nolan sighed before lowering his fist.

‘Sure, I’ll meet you there at 5,’ Nolan grinned at Emma as me and Hale nodded before getting up and leaving the lover birds alone.

                                         *

Potions and poisons was an interesting lesson. Our teacher seemed to think he was a wizard and he dressed like one too; long robes, a cape and a pointy hat. He distinctly reminded me of someone out of Harry Potter.

Me and Hale practically ran to my house afterwards because we wanted to go on the Wii before my brother got home.

We flung our schoolbags on the floor and hurriedly grabbed a controller each.

‘While its loading I’ll get us some snacks,’ I said as I rushed out of the living room.

I searched the cupboards for something to eat. In the end I popped a bag of microwave popcorn and put some Doritos in a bowl. I even grabbed a bottle of fizzy Vimto.

‘Here we go,’ I said as I laid it out on the table. Hale gaped at me before holding up ‘Super Mario Bros’ with an embarrassed grin.

‘Can we play this?’ he whispered and I couldn’t help chuckling at him.

‘Sure, I love this game,’

We were playing for about half an hour when u heard Tom come home.

‘NOOOOOOOOOOOO!’ me and Hale yelled at the same time as we failed the same level for the third time.

‘What you doing?’ Tom asked as he walked into the living room. He stopped dead when he saw Hale.

‘Tom, this is my friend Hale, Hale this is my brother Tom,’ I introduced and Tom smiled at Hale. ‘We’re playing Mario,’ I finished and Tom nodded, sitting next to Hale on the sofa.

‘Can I join you?’ he asked and I looked at Hale, who winked, before chucking a controller in my brother’s direction.

‘We could do with your help.’ I giggled as he dived off of the sofa in an attempt to catch the controller, but missed dramatically.

When I turned the Wii off an hour later to go to the hockey match, I was amazed to see that Tom and Hale were best mates.

‘We’re going to watch Emma’s hockey match now,’ I said as I grabbed my phone and jacket.

‘Can I come?’ Tom asked and I nodded, grinning, as he ran to find his jacket.

‘You two seem to be close,’ I said to Hale as we waited for Tom outside.

‘Yeah, he reminds me of you,’ I blushed at that, it was such a cute thing to say.

We walked to the sport centre quite quickly. I didn’t say much, I preferred listening to the boys’ conversations about anything and everything.

Nolan was already there, looking quite lost among the crowds of people. I couldn’t see Emma anywhere so I guessed she was in the changing room.

Nolan waved at us and I saw that he’d saved some seats. Luckily there were four.

‘Emma said she’d come out before the match starts to say hi,’ Nolan said as we joined him. I introduced everyone again and Nolan seems to get along with Tom just as well as Hale did.

‘YOU CAME!’ a voice screamed from my right. I just had enough time to see that it was Emma before I was engulfed in a bone crushing hug.

‘We didn’t want to miss the game,’ I muttered as she finally released me.

‘Do you remember Mo and Adrianna?’ Emma asked, gesturing to the two girls stood behind her. The both had dark brown hair, except Adrianna’s is straight and Mo’s Curly.

‘Of course I do!’  I grinned, hugging them both. They go to the school me and Emma used to go to before the SEP. I lost touch with them during the summer, but Emma still does hockey with them.

‘Good Luck!’ I called as they walked onto the pitch to start the match.

The game was pretty intense, with neither side taking any chances. There were quite a few injuries: a few people were hit quite hard with hockey sticks, a few people were hit in the face with when the ball was chipped and one person even tripped themselves up with their own hockey stick.

In the second half Emma made a risky shot at the goal. The goalie comically dived in the opposite direction to the ball and it went in.

The screams from the team and their supporters were deafening.

Me, Nolan, Tom and Hale stood up to applaud, screaming and shouting with the rest of the crowd. Nolan even started yelling ‘THAT’S MY GIRLFRIEND!’ at the top of his voice.

I think Emma heard him because she turned around and waved at us. I shook my head at her and she blushed, turning back towards her team.

That was the only goal scored in the entire game, making her the most popular girl on the team.