Beside You

The First Game

I hear the sound of a car on the gravel of my driveway and look out the window. The first thing to come to my attention is that it has stopped raining. Second, my mom is home. 

 I turn back to Ryder, "you need to go. Like now."

 I hear my mom go in to the kitchen as we descend to the main floor. I go in to talk to her while Ryder leaves the house."Hey mom, what's up?" I ask. 

 "Hey sweetie, not much. Want to help me put the groceries away?"

 I hold back a sigh as she smiles at me. "I'd love to." I lie. I set out to put all of the things she bought in their proper places. When we finish I excuse myself to my room to do homework.

                                             ~*~ 

 The next morning at school I attempt to get to my locker only to find a crowd of boys gathered around my brothers. It's the senior soccer team, talking about their game later, the first of the season. They're playing against a private school in a neighbouring town- Blair Academy- last years champions, and the highest ranked team of the year. It's a home game and it is expected that most of the school will be there to support them. My mom and I are even going to try to drag my dad out of his office to watch.

 I push my way through the crowd and open my locker. I check the time on my phone and see that I have two minutes before class starts. I grab my functions books and head to the library for my free period. 

 I sit down at one of the empty tables and open my functions binder to attempt to figure out what on earth I'm supposed to be doing. As confused as I am I always manage to do well by working backwards to figure out the correct process. By the time I have the equation down there are only a few minutes left in class. I gather my things together and wait for the bell to ring

.                                       ~*~ 

 It feels like days pass before the day is finally over. The hallways of the school have been filled with a combination of nervous tension and excited chatter all day because of the upcoming soccer game. The most common tumour is that the coach, Mr. Hill, predicts that this will be the year that the Preston Phoenixes win the soccer championship.

 After returning my books to my locker I text my mom and ask her where she wants me to meet her. While I wait for her response I head down through the commons to Maddi and Arya's lockers. As the lockers are organized alphabetically by last name I have to walk a fair ways through the grade 11 class to the Rs and Ss to get to their lockers. Luckily, Ryder is already gone to prepare for the soccer game. It has been awkward between us since yesterday at my house.

 "Hey, you guys ready to go watch the game?" I ask when I meet them at Maddi's locker. "It's going to be an awesome game."They both nod in agreement. 

 My mom texts me and tells me that she'll be a few minutes late and to just save her a seat in the bleachers. We go out to the soccer fields to see that the teams are already getting warmed up, the maroon and gold of the Phoenixes on one side and the blue and white of Blair Academy. We find seats in the bleachers and watch as the teams run short drills and take practice shots on the net while Mitchell and the backup goalie, Josh, take turns defending the net.

 My mom and dad join us just as the captains meet at the centre line with the referee for the coin toss. Preston keeps the captains a secret until the first game, so now it's time for the unveiling. Two bodies break free from the team huddle on our side of the field to meet up with Blairs captains. I look at the names and numbers in the back of the jerseys as they walk towards the centre line: Dryden, 8 and Shaw, 13. 

 The crowd murmurs in shock. Grayson and Ryder are the captains. This is the first time that two grade 11s have been the captains of the team. After the initial shock, most of the spectators cheer in congratulations, especially my family and friends.

 Blair wins the coin toss, meaning that they get first ball. Grayson, as our centre forward, looks concerned at their advantage. Grayson and Ryder make their way back to the team for last minute discussion before taking the field. 

 Mitchell puts his gloves on and walks to our net while Grayson takes his position at the centre of the field with the other forwards on either side of him. The three midfielders are a few feet behind them and between them and the net is the four defenders, with Ryder on the left side.

 The linesmen and referees get ready and then the whistle blows, signalling the start of the game.

                             ~*~ 

 With seven minutes left in the second half we're up 1-0. Blair is starting to get rough in their attempts to score on our net. Two of their players have already been yellow carded in the second half. One of their played takes a shot, but misses by about a foot. The referee calls for a goalie kick and Mr. Hill requests for a substitution. He puts Grayson and Ryder back on the field for the last few minutes of the game in hopes to strengthen our lead. 

 They high five the players going off for them and get into their positions. Mitchell takes his goalie kick, kicking the ball as far as he can, out of our half. Grayson gets the ball and takes a shot on their net. Unfortunately Blair Academy's goalie catches the ball and kicks it back towards our side. 

 A forward on Blair's team gets the ball and dribbles towards our net. He makes it past the midfielders and passes the ball to a team mate who continues toward the net. Luckily, Ryder steps in front of him in an attempt to get in front of the player and regain possession of the ball. Then the player from the other team crashes in to Ryder, knocking him to the ground- hard.