the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 95: Here's to the Music

Jenny said, when she was just about five years old,
"You know, my parents are gonna be the death of us all,
Two TV sets and two Cadillac cars,
Well, you know, ain't gonna help me at all";

Then one fine morning, she turns on a New York station,
She doesn't believe what she hears at all;
Ooh, she started dancin' to that fine, fine music,
You know, her life was saved by rock'n roll;
Yeah, rock'n roll...

- "Rock & Roll" The Velvet Underground, 1970

Thursday 15th June 1978 — The Final Day of the Tournament

As promised, the Hawkings football team beat out their second opponent in a nail-biting 2 to 1 match. The team from Aberdeenshire was still guaranteed a spot near the top of the podium, but no one was celebrating yet. To win, Hawkings' first-ever co-ed team would have to beat out Brentford in the final game. The boys team had managed it the year before with no meagre amount of effort, but so far Brentford had been dominating on the field, with a startling 6 to 1 win over their previous opponents. Now with a few girls now thrown head-first into the fray, the championship game went from being about school pride to self ego—which in their current state, was worth far more than any ruddy trophy anyway.

Unfortunately, ego often made sickly monsters out of everyone.

"It's bloody ridiculous. A mockery of the sport!"

"They can't even place! Who would give up the chance for a first place trophy just to have a bunch of manky girls on the team..."

"Brentford's gonna ground those henpecked bastards into the dust."

"Bunch of bloody contrarians... They must think it's gonna get them noticed, but no league scout wants a player who's gonna break the rules just to for the hell of it. Pointless..."

"Yeah, plus they all look like blokes!"

"Ha! Maybe these lads like blokes."

"Heh! They should change their name—instead of Hawkings they can be 'Arsemongers'."

Remus wasn't entirely sure but he almost thought he could feel his blood boiling. The slander had been going on ever since their school's team had taken to the field the day before, but now that it was confirmed that Hawkings was to be playing in the final game, all bets were off. Every player in the tournament—loser or not—had come out to watch, and the stands were packed nearly to their bursting point. As James and Marlene led their team in a warm-up, Remus stood off to the side of the players' bench with Peter, helping him as he refilled water bottles. Down from them, a group of boys from another school had formed a circle at the edge of the pitch, mostly to shit-talk the other teams. And Remus might've been able to handle it, were they not speaking loudly enough that anyone within a twenty feet radius could hear them.

"If you had to pick one, which would it be?"

"Mm, one on the end I think, with the brown hair."

"Her? She's got shoulders bigger than my Pa. And no tits."

"Alright then, the one next to her. Though, might have to put a bag over her head first—heh."

If Remus had sleeves, they would've been pushed up to his elbows by now. Peter must've noticed this, as he came around the bench and got between Remus and the boys.

"Don't listen to them, Lupin. They've already lost, they just wanna run their mouth."

"Yeah? And how easy d'ya think it'd be to run their mouth with two fat lips?"

"There's like five of them and one of you, plus you know James'll kill you if you got kicked off the field for fighting right before their final match."