The meaning of Z

The meaning of unhappy

(This chapter is written in Jonah's pov)

—5—

'The first time I saw him was at a soccer match a while ago, and I could tell just by his body posture, his actions, and his face that he was unhappy.'

-flash back.  J.F's point of view-

Sports are a strange topic, how can a person find them enjoyable? You kick a ball, throw a ball, hit a ball, tackle people, hurt people, punch people. In conclusion sports are just ways to hurt people and be around balls, which is also why most of these sports are for a male demographic.
Well, I can't blame them in all honesty.

But here I am sitting on the scorching hot bleachers watching a sport where they, like I said, kick balls.

I look over at the others who went with me, Dylin and Kyan, Kyan eating some popcorn he, well i, bought at the concession stands. And Dylin intently watches the game, keeping track of his favorite members and his least favorites, acting like this is a real professional game. "Get the ball!! Come on!!" ranted Dylin, me and Kyan both looked at him before shaking our heads.

"You know Dyl, this isn't a real game, it's a highschool game no need to take it so seriously.." Kyan mentioned while munching on the popcorn.

He just huffs in response before going back into the game. I try to get into it but I never can. It all just looks so messy to me, I look over to the bench to see some players sitting out.

Each one of them are still paying attention to the game, to be prepared for when they might get called back in. well everyone but him.

He sat there with his hands in his lap, looking down at the ground not paying attention at all. He looks up a couple times and each time he does I see the same bored and exhausted face. Unhappy almost. "Hey dylin?" I nudge him a bit to get his attention, he hums in response. "Who's that guy on the bench? Number ten.'' He looks at me for a second before looking at who I was talking about. "Oh! That's Zed, the team's captain. And star player." he said in an excited tone.

"Oh?" I whisper. Kyan looks to where we are looking. "isn't he Bryan's brother?" he questions, i look at Dylin, i don't know who they're talking about really, i didn't even know they knew a 'bryan'. "Mhm, that's zed mitchell, bryan's little brother....i still cant believe that he goes to our school!!" I blink a couple times before it clicks, there talking about the soccer player Bryan mitchell. I don't follow soccer but I know of him, Dylin never shuts up about him ... .but I do wonder how I never heard of his brother being here? "I never heard of him really?" I mention and Kyan shrugs  "no one does much, he's a quiet guy. Keeps to himself and no one tries to bother him really....he isn't his brother so no need in bothering him about it." he pops another piece of popcorn in his mouth.

Our conversation dies from there. I stared at him for a while noticing he never looked up once since he first did, he just sat there, staring at the ground, hands in lap with no emotion.

He looks.... Lost? Like he doesn't know where he is or why he is here. And this intrigues me.

A whistle blows loudly and abruptly. "Change of players" mentioned Kyan. I see the coach head over to the bench, he talks for a moment before I see the boy, Zed, slowly gets up from his spot and switches spots with a white haired guy.

I get a better view of his face, I see eye bags under his eyes, very apparent ones. With every step he makes it looks like has a bag of rocks on his back weighing him down, still looking at the ground. He walks past these two adults, a woman with dark brown hair tied into a long ponytail and a man with honey blond hair that lays flat on his head, they watch him get into his spot. I assume they are his parents.

He looks at them, it looks like he's waiting for them to do something, maybe a smile and a thumbs up for good luck, but instead receives serious looks and crossed arms.

The game starts and that's when I notice it for the first time, he is lost. He is unhappy. He wants to go home.

It's been almost a whole year since that game, and every game since then or even when i see him in class or in the hallways, he still looks the same.

Unhappy.
Dead.
Tired.
Lost.