Mischief ▷ Carlos De Vil [1] #wattys2016

06. game time

Clara's POV

Clara was pretty smitten with Carlos and supposedly that's what urged her to storm down the bleachers towards the bench near the end of the game.

"Jay, you're on." Coach said, gesturing for Jay to stand up as Clarissa reached them.

"I think you should put Carlos on too." Clara spoke, earning surprised and confused looks from everyone around the bench. "What? He's been practicing, Ben told me he isn't too bad."

"Uh, Clara, I'm not that good."

"I agree with Clara, we're a package deal. If you want me, my buddy has to come too." Jay agreed, giving Clara an appreciative nod and pulling Carlos up with him.

"No, guys, I'm really not-"

"Mm, okay Clara," The coach shrugged, "don't make me regret this, Carlos."

"He won't." Clara instantly replied, before swiftly pressing her lips to Carlos' cheek and whispering "Good luck," in his ear.

"Y-yep." Carlos stuttered back with bright red cheeks, causing Jay to snicker before running out onto the field with Carlos close behind.

"You know I like you, kid. You've got a certain aura about you that's hard to dislike, but if he loses this for us, it's on you."

"He won't." Clara repeated, smiling confidently as the play began. "They've got this."

"Well, I sure hope you're right." Coach muttered, chewing on his nail as he watch it all unfold. As expected, Jay played a key part in the play, but Ben was right, Carlos really had improved and without him, Clara was certain they wouldn't have stood a chance of winning.

Jay darted down the field with the ball and Carlos proved to be valuable as he blocked and helped Jay get to the goals. The crowd was cheering wildly as Jay prepared for the shot, Coach holding his breath as he nervously watched on.  Time was quickly passing and just as Jay threw the ball into the goals the siren sounded, declaring the end of the game.

"We did it, kid!" Coach exclaimed in relief, pulling Clara into a hug. "We won!"

"Sure did! It was a great game, Coach." Clara responded politely, trying to pull away. She was eager to go congratulate Carlos on not only his first game, but his first win. She couldn't explain it and she didn't know why, but suddenly he was constantly on her mind and she just wanted to be with him.

"Give me an M!" Clara heard her brother shout as Coach released her.

"M!" The crowd shouted back.

"Now how about an A?"

"A!"

"L!"  Ben yelled, waiting for everyone to say it back to him.

"L!"

"Now what does that spell?" He asked, seemingly searching the crowd for someone.

"Mal?" Clara mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes as everyone excitedly called it out to Ben and almost as if on cue, music started and Ben started to sing.

Despite being sightly annoyed that Ben had kind of just stolen her whole singing thing, Clara's eyes easily fell on Carlos who was dancing beside her brother. With an amused expression, she clapped along and continued to watch him. It didn't take number 101 long to feel the princess's eyes on him and with him being in his element dancing, he confidently sent her a wink causing her to laugh.

As Ben was reaching the end of the song and nearing Mal, Carlos came up to Clara and began to twirl her around and forced her to dance with him, which only made her laugh harder.