The Final Season

Chapter 19

Note: I'm so tired and exhausted from school and just life in general and I wish I had more time to update bc I miss it but hopefully this chapter is good. Sorry guys! Comment, vote, fan(:

Chapter Nineteen

I remember the senior class last year and what they said about their last season with the team. I can replay the image of me sprawled out on the track right beside our turf and laughing at how overdramatic I thought they were being. They practically sobbed as their parents were walked onto the field by our underclass men. Even now, with the fact that this is the last time I'm going to be stepping on this field for the actual season, I still haven't hit a depression. Apparently, according to prior seniors, it's coming though, and I'm ready for it. I'm ready for tonight.


I've daydreamed about my senior night. I want to end the season fighting. I want to spend as much time with my team before we have to go our separate ways. I think if I do go into this "depression," it will be more of missing the girls, because soccer will always be there; playing on a team will always be there, but having a team like this will be the one thing that I know I won't get back. There's so many teams that build this bond; a sort of chemistry, but we surpass that. We're more of a family(dysfunctional but a family).


"Hey Iris!" I heard someone call out and turned to see Austin jogging toward me. I smiled, happy to see him because I was sitting in the school parking lot because Davis didn't allow us seniors to be up on the stadium while they put everything in place. What is there to do other than hang posters?


"Hey," I replied and smiled when he placed a kiss on my temple after pulling me into an embrace. I think we've hit the stage where we can initiate some things without feeling awkward about it. I don't know when we transitioned, or how, considering I was like a five year old on training wheels when it came to relationships. Not that we're in a relationship...not that I want a relationship.


My teeth chattered and I smiled at him. It was nearly five thirty and it was freezing outside. Thanks to this October weather, I thought to myself sarcastically.


"Are you cold?" Austin asked and I nodded sheepishly. He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I snuggled into him his warm body, it must have been his hoodie that kept him so warm, which didn't make sense because I was in my warm up jacket and pants. "Better?" he asked and I nodded, subconsciously inhaling his scent as I closed my eyes.


"Why'd you come so early? The game starts at seven," I asked just out of curiosity because I wasn't complaining that he was here. I was glad I got to see him.


"I wanted to be here for your senior night, and I know you guys start that a little earlier," he said and I smiled. I looked down at my phone and realized that it was five thirty now and Davis told us we could come in by then. I hadn't even noticed the other girls(there were only four seniors: Maggie, Beth, Val, and I) but they were already headed into the stadium. I grabbed Austin's hand and walked up the slight hill driveway until I reached the stadium. When walking in, you could see thousands of balloons hanging all around the bleachers. They also scattered them all around the fences and banners were everywhere. The fence that was behind our bench that surrounded the track had cups stuck into them that said Seniors '13.


The first person I noticed was Davis rummaging through his bag near the bench. I told Austin I'd be right back and jogged over to Davis with a huge grin on my face. I should still be holding some sort of hostility towards him but I had something better. I had something to gloat about. The Manchester Derby was last night, meaning that Manchester United and Manchester City faced each other--Davis's team against mine. The game was amazing. City killed United. They took control of the entire game and ended up winning 4-1. I was ready to brag about it to Davis because he always had something to say about City--he called them Man-shitty.


"Davis," I called out and couldn't help but break out into a grin. He turned around and narrowed his eyes in my direction. "How are you?" I asked innocently.


He rose an eyebrow in my direction before he answered with a hesitant fine. I nodded pretending to take note and replied with a cool. He stared at me, obliviously confused to why I would care about how he was. I guess the gears weren't turning in his head yet, or maybe he wanted to play dumb so we didn't have to talk about the game yesterday.


"Well it's good to know you're fine, if I were you after that embarrassing way United played yesterday, I'd feel like shit," I said resisting the urge to smile as I said so.


Then the glare I was expecting came. "City got lucky," he replied and I scoffed.


"Please United got lucky that it wasn't 6-1 like before," I replied and he ignored me so I added, "I mean did they forget how to play soccer or what?"


"I can bench you tonight," he threatened and I laughed.


My work here was done so I looked around for the girls and noticed that they were all surrounded by each other in front of the fence that was by the bleachers. There were four posters with balloons hanging on the fence and I went to find my poster. I looked at Maggie's first and saw how they wrote "track star" on her poster. We cheered her on with that name when she would run for anything(even when getting the ball out of bounds) and we mostly did it to make her laugh. I passed by Beth's and Val's and then reached mine. It was more than I expected. The coolest poster I've seen since my freshmen year.


It had a cutout of a foot from the knee below with a cleat on it and a soccer ball right next to it taped on the poster. The cutouts were huge and amazing and I wondered if the person actually drew it or traced it. My last name was drawn in box letters in the top right corner and the G was filled with red glitter while the rest of the letters were painted black. The number sixteen was in the bottom left corner and the middle was filled with pictures of the team and I. I smiled slightly. I wanted to thank the underclass men that did my poster because they put a lot of effort into it.


"Hey Zo who did my poster?" I asked.


"Oh Davis did, he didn't let anyone else do it," she replied and I pursed my lips and looked back at the poster. I would have never thought Davis was the one who did it. We fought this entire year, we fought practically all last year too, and still he does my poster, and he makes it this great.


Then I saw it.


On the top left corner of my poster was my grandmother's locket. I don't know how he did it, but the drawing was amazing, almost an exact replica. I grabbed the locket that hung around my neck and clutched at it, I could feel a sheet of tears filling my eyes and I blinked, trying to push the sensation away but it did the opposite. I groaned internally, I was worse than those overdramatic seniors last year, I was already crying and it was only the poster so far. Damn it Davis.


I looked around for Davis again but couldn't find him anywhere. I frowned slightly and turned to see if he was up in the press box setting the score board up but he wasn't. I looked around again and then noticed him walking back on the field with Meg right next to him. I maneuvered my way around the team and jogged slightly towards him. He saw me coming and sighed.


"If you're coming to brag abou--" he began but I cut him off by hugging him. He stayed still, probably shocked that I was hugging him but then slowly I felt his arms wrap around me slightly. He rubbed my back and I shut my eyes tight so that I don't cry in front of him considering he's already seen it more than he should have. Now that I think of it, he's the only one that has really seen me cry. Not petty little tears like now, but actual uncontrollable sobs and he never mentioned that again, and I was glad for that.


"Thank you," I finally said quietly not just saying thank you for the poster or the fact that he understands how important the locket is to me, but because he's put up with me for this long and he didn't just kick me off the team or shove me aside when he easily could have(I've given him plenty of opportunities to).


"You're welcome Grey," he replied and I pulled back just in time to see that smile that was barely ever directed towards me. I smiled back and then said hi to Meg who was just standing there with her hands in her jacket and a friendly smile on her face.


"Good luck today Iris," she said and I smiled and thanked her.


I then remembered Austin because he was still standing by the fence waiting for me. I cursed internally and jogged over to him.


"I am so sorry, I forgot completely I was looking at my poster and---"


"Iris it's fine," he chuckled, "standing by a fence and sitting on the bleachers are practically the same thing."


I smiled and hugged him once more before I had to get back to the team. They were all bunched up together still by the posters and hugging. I walked over to them and noticed Val crying. She was the last one I'd expect to see her crying. I think I was more likely to cry before she ever would. I walked over to her and hugged her slightly before I pulled back and asked what's wrong.


"It's just this is our last game," she said wiping at her eyes.


"We still have sectionals,"


"You know what I mean Iris, this is our last year and the last time we'll all be together. You're probably going to go away as far as you can for college and well I'm staying here because let's face it I'm not the smartest person, and I just feel like we're all gonna lose touch. It's so inevitable," she let it all out in a single breath and I tried to gather as much as I could through her sniffling. I hugged her again, I didn't know that Val would be so affected by the fact of us all separating. Ís not like we're all the best of friends, we have arguments, and sometimes they aren't pretty, but I guess I never considered how other people were taking this.


"You guys were there for me," she continued now as more girls came around her, "when everything happened with James, a-and I felt so depressed when I found out about him c-cheating but you guys made me feel s-so much better. I don't think you guys even know how much you helped me and I n-never thanked you," she starting to cry again and I pulled her into a hug and told her how the team was so much better with her on it, and how we loved her.


"Aw come on guys no crying," I heard Davis say and I pulled back and wiped under my eyes, "I'm so not cut out for this job," he added and we all chuckled, including Val. He looked over at me and winked and I shook my head but smiled. "Alright lets start our warm up, the other team just came in," he said and we all looked over to the gate to watch the Spartans walk in. I nearly scowled just watching them walk by. I hated this team, really hated them, almost as much as the Warriors, maybe even more. I couldn't really hate the Warriors for being good and beating us, I hated them more for how smug they were, but the Spartans just made my blood boil. Their style of play was dirty, and they didn't care who they had to take out in order to get to the ball. Our football teams were even bigger rivals, when they went against each other, the scores went in the newspaper, and there was never an inch of bleacher that was empty.


"Man I hope we kill them," Beth said beside me.


"Hope?" I asked, "we will."


We began our warm up, and I didn't want it to be too serious or too easy going. This is our senior night and it doesn't really matter if we lose or not, both of our teams are going to sectionals, so we should just play for fun or it, but I knew it wasn't going to end like that. There was going to be a good amount of people here tonight from both sides, especially since it was our senior night and it was considered "school pride" if you went. It was also the Spartans though, and the boys team was gonna be here, and I'm not going to let them push us around out there. Not in front of my classmates, not ever.


Just before the game started, the music stopped and was replaced by the boys' soccer coach. He was going to be doing the announcements for senior night and our starting lineups. I didn't really want him reading my senior write up. I wasn't good at expressing my feelings, especially not on paper, so it was going to be a train wreck.


"If you haven't noticed, tonight is the Red Devils' senior night," Coach Giles began and we all cheered, "we'd like all our seniors in the middle of the field and all of the parents up in the front," he said and Beth, Val, Maggie, and I stood in the middle of the field. I looked at Austin and he smiled and waved at me. I waved back quickly and then watched all the parents come onto the track. There was an underclass men hooked on each side of the pairs and when they called out our names, and read aloud whatever we wrote on our write ups, we'd hand our parents a carnation and stand in the middle with them.


I watched everyone else go first, Beth...Val...Maggie, then there was me and then there were my parents standing with Zo and Bella. As soon as Couch Giles called out my name and then began reading my write out, I cringed slightly but met my parents half way.


"Iris plans on moving to St. Louis and attending their community college. She hopes she can continue on with soccer even after the torture she's had to endure with Davis," Giles paused and chuckled and everyone else laughed including Davis. "She wants her team to keep playing strong and remember that they're more than just a team. Oh and there's a P.S," Giles commented, "she says that even though it may seem like Davis doesn't know what he's talking about, he probably does so don't try to correct him or you'll end up like her," they laughed once more and I rolled my eyes when Davis exaggerated and said its been a long four years.


We gave the seniors on the other team their own carnations and before I knew it we were all huddled up, our arms around each others shoulders forming a circle around Davis who was crouched down on one of his knees in the middle with a clipboard in his hand.


"Alright this is the last game of the actual season. I want you to go out there and enjoy yourselves, play together, play like you have been this season. Once you start playing their game, once you start letting the frustration from their shoving and pushing, which we know will happen, you'll start forgetting how you can play and you stoop down to their level. Don't let them happen, play your own game, be the first to the ball, always on your feet and moving and you shouldn't have to worry about any pushing, understand?" He asked looking up and we all nodded. "Alright team on three," he said and brought his fist out, and we all followed and shouted team when he reached the number three.


I jumped slightly in place, grabbing onto the sleeves of my under armour and slapped Beth's hand when she jogged passed me and took her place at the middle of the circle for kickoff. I looked at the refs not sure if they were going to be good or crappy(you can never know with them) and waited until he blew the whistle. The ball was passed back to our center back and I went out wide for her, she passed the ball out for me and I turned with the ball and a midfielder from the other side charged at me(nearly taking me out as she did so,) and then ran with the ball in our direction. The refs called nothing and right then I knew what kind of game this was going to be.


I sprinted back in her direction, until I finally caught up to her, and we ran shoulder to shoulder(more like her elbow to my rib) but I didn't expect less so I was right there elbowing her back as I did so, and silently letting her know that she wasn't going to get away with that shit around me. I kept my eyes on the ball and as soon as she tried making a move, I was there to take it away from her. I dribbled my way up the field and looked up to see Beth making a run. I crossed the ball but put too much on the pass and their goalie reached it before Beth could. Tight lipped, I ran over to my mark so that she wouldn't have any open pass.


This game was beyond dirty. I think calling their style of play dirty was being generous because it was so much worse. The ball doesn't have to be near one of us for them to find a reason to "accidentally" clip us. What was even worse was the fact that these refs were terrible. Well actually one isn't that bad, but the main one who makes most of the calls(or doesn't make most of the calls--when it comes to us) was complete trash. He did nothing but jog around the field, ignoring all the elbows and terrible slide tackles. I think I even heard him warning the other team to not forget about offsides. I almost lost my cool when I heard him compliment one of the player's defense. I stopped and just stared at him, blinked a few times, and wondered if I was hearing things or if he really just complimented them.


The ref then called a foul on Maggie and I was right there questioning what the call was, because Maggie got the ball on that challenge. He put a hand up, as if to tell me he didn't want to hear it and told me it was an obvious foul. I turned around in the direction of Davis and put my hands up and let them fall back to my sides.


"Sir what's the call?" Davis asked and the ref ignored him. "She got the ball," he said.


The referee laughed and turned toward Davis, "no she did not, are you kidding me?"


"Then how did it get all the way down their field sir if she didn't touch it? You're telling me that they kicked it down there instead?" The ref said nothing and turned his back toward Davis, "exactly because you know I'm right."


The game continued on just the same and then they scored on a corner... and I kicked our goal post in frustration. I watched them hug the girl that just put it in the back of the net and jog back in the starting positions while we walked back with our heads down. Normally at a time like this, Beth or I would be telling the team that it's okay and that we need to pick things up, but neither of us were talking, because we were both frustrated, and I think Beth was more than I was. This entire game she's been fighting through three defenders surrounding her, pulling at her jersey, and obstructing her path to the ball. She was shutting down, and I was nearly there with her.


The stands were mostly quiet, except for the annoying Spartan supporters who were being obnoxious and rude, but I could hear Austin's voice, some how even with all the noise, even with Davis's yelling, I could hear him telling me I was doing great and that it was okay. I rearranged the pre wrap holding my hair back and was ready to take the ball once Beth passed it back to me.


After the first half finished the score was still 1-0 but Davis wasn't disappointed. He wasn't upset at all actually, he was cheering us on and saying it was okay. I looked at him as if he were on some sort of drug, because he should be yelling at us right now and telling us what we're doing wrong. By the time second half came around, my frustration was beginning to dwindle, but I knew that once that whistle was blown, it would all come back.


I wish it didn't have to be like this. If people actually played the game the way it should be played--no dirty tactics--no corrupt refs, just twenty two players on a field together where the team who wants it more works harder wins, there wouldn't be this much frustration. I shut my eyes and took deep breaths in and once the whistle was blown, it was like a game mode button was switched on inside me.


Like the first half, this half was just as dirty and grimy, but I tried not letting my frustration overpower my love for the game. After all, this is my senior night, my last official game of the season and I set out to kick some ass. I passed the ball to Valerie who instantly received an elbow in her back from a Spartan fullback that sent her to the ground. The ref thought nothing of it and signaled for the game to go on.


"Come on ref, if you're gonna favor one team don't make it so obvious," I heard Davis call out and the ref stopped the game and turned to Davis. I couldn't help but notice that Davis and the refs haven't been on the best terms in past games lately.


"Look coach I've heard enough of you all game. I'm not going to give you a yellow card but I'm giving you a warning. Let me do my job you do yours," the ref said stepping closer to Davis, who held his own ground.


"I'd do my job fine if I didn't have to worry about you doing yours correctly," Davis replied and I heard an "oooo" from the bleachers.


"Are you done yet? Can we continue with the game now," the ref practically mocked.


"Go ahead I'm not stopping you, just make the right freaking calls or people are going to get hurt," Davis said turning toward Olly slightly who was trying not to laugh. Olly always found it funny when Davis got in an argument with the refs.


The game presumed and I was hoping that the official would actually start doing a good job now that Davis talked to him. Of course the exact opposite happened, Davis had pissed the ref off to the point where he wasn't giving us any calls. I mean how this guy received his credibility to ref was beyond me. He was a complete idiot, and on top of that he was incredibly rude.


Once we retained possession again, Zo passed the ball up to Beth who was met by two Spartan girls pushing and shoving her and out of frustration and no doubt anger, she grabbed each of their jerseys and pulled them behind her. The ref blew the whistle immediately and I quickly told Davis that he needed to sub Beth out before she did something. I knew her well enough to know that she wasn't one to be messed with when she was angry. I walked over to the ref and Beth, she was shouting at him and I jogged over to them trying to calm her down.


"They've been fouling me this entire game and you've done nothing about that," Beth said her face red, and her eyes filling with tears. Once the sub was called for Beth she gripped the hem of her jersey and walked off the field. I was ready to walk back to my position, when I heard the ref mutter how she was being a cry baby.


"Excuse me what did you say?" I needed clarification because surely any sane person wouldn't call somebody a cry baby. Especially when they're an adult and the person they're speaking to is way younger than them.


"Excuse me?" he asked.


"Did you just call her a cry baby?" I asked and he didn't take ownership to it, "I'm pretty sure I just heard you."


"Well you must be hearing things now are you done with this or do you have something you want to complain about?" It may have been a simple question but I took it as a challenge from him. He was testing me, seeing how far I would go, seeing if his so called "superiority" of being an official scared me off, but he must have not heard about Iris Grey then, because I don't back down. Especially not from an ugly middle aged man who demands respect when he can't give it to anyone else. He wasn't going to disrespect my team further.


"Actually no I'm not. For one I don't think you've made one good call all game, for either teams. I think your rude, disrespectful, and honestly you think you're all high and mighty because of that whistle you blow. Well I'd like to shove that whistle--" I was cut off by a hand covering my mouth but the ref was already reaching in his right pocket of his shirt and reaching in for a card. I expected a yellow, which only temporarily took me out of the game but instead he pulled out an instant red. A red card meant that I was ejected from the game, had to leave the premises, and my team would be left to play with ten people against eleven.


"I'm sorry what's the red card for?" A voice behind me asked and I soon realized that the hand covering my mouth was Davis's(of course who else knew well enough that I'd be mouthing off to the official right away).


"She's as disrespectful as they come," the ref replied looking at my jersey and writing my number down on the card. I turned to Davis and told him everything that happened. Davis's eyes snapped toward the ref and he grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me behind him, in a protective manner. I was ready to tell him that I wasn't threatened by this guy at all, but I doubt he'd listen to me.


"If you have anything you want to say about my girls you can say it to me, when I'm standing inches away from you because then it'll be the last thing you say," Davis said his voice dangerously low, even lower than the tone he uses when I piss him off. I stood in front of him because I didn't know how far he'd go, usually I could read him so well but right now I had no clue. If this were any other moment, I would have loved to see Davis punch this guy but we needed him for sectionals. My back was toward Davis and I was facing the ref, glaring at him as I did so. Davis's hands found my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. I stumbled slightly, and my back rocked against his chest until I found my balance.


"Is that a threat?" the ref responded the whistles dropping from his mouth.


"Take it how you want, just remember what I said, and she may be disrespectful,"


"Hey," I interrupted but Davis's hands squeezed my shoulders and I let him speak.


"But she's also protective of her team and she has more heart than most, and I'd rather have someone like her more than the most abiding soccer player on the planet," Davis finished and I turned my head toward him and he smiled down at me slightly before looking back at the ref.


"Well that's great, you can have a red card too then, she must get the disrespect from you," I watched the ref pull out a red and hold it in the air, Davis's face gave nothing away, but I could see that his eyes held all his anger. Man if looks could kill...


Davis turned me around and we walked off the field. Davis handed over his clipboard to Olly who now had to take over control, and the girls on the bench cheered out: you go Olly! Davis rolled his eyes but smiled slightly telling the team that this better give them some fuel to kick some more ass because he didn't just get himself kicked out for no reason at all. I grabbed my bag, Davis grabbed his and we walked out of the stadium together. I resisted the urge to look over to the stands because my parents were probably having a heart attack, either that or dying of embarrassment because of how I was acting. Of course the one game they come to, I get red carded, of course.


"We can go up on that hill, it gives a decent view of the stadium, unless you just want to leave?"


"No way," I said. "This is my senior night, a stupid little card can't keep me away," I told him and he smiled and shook his head.


"God Grey I'm gonna miss you, I'm not going to miss the trouble you bring along though," he said as we climbed up the hill and I laughed slightly. We reached the top and sat side by side. I watched the two teams go head to head, my team obviously with an even more disadvantage now that they were down a player. That's the only thing I felt bad about. I didn't care that I was kicked out on my senior night, I didn't care that I wasn't able to score, I cared that my teammates were okay and talked to in the right way. So I wasn't mad that I got a red card, I was only frustrated that I could do nothing but sit here and watch.


I groaned out loud laying down on the grass. I hope I didn't ruin this night for the rest of the girls. If they lost tonight I'd obviously blame myself because I'm out here watching as they try to make something out of nothing.


"I swear that ref is going to get a call saying he's fired. Calling one of my players a cry baby? Who does he think he is?" Davis said looking through his papers until he reached the officials name and typed it into his phone, probably a reminder for later. "Did you see him get in my face? Like I wouldn't say anything?" he scoffed and tucked his phone back in his pocket. I smiled slightly, as strange as it was there was something attractive about the way Davis was acting right now. Maybe it was the fact that he was so angry that made him attractive or maybe it was the fact that he didn't allow that referee to talk to me in any way he wanted(even if I was ready to threaten him with his whistle).


I wanted to thank him, but he stood up so abruptly. "Yes, go go go," he chanted and I stood up as well and watched Beth maneuver her way through the Spartan defense. Davis grabbed onto my hand(my guess was subconsciously) and tightened his grip as he watched her inch closer and closer to the goal. We watched as their goalie came out of the goal to defend the area and Beth chipped it over her head and the ball met the net. Davis shouted in triumph and let my hand go only to give me a high five right after.


"YEAH YOU GO BETH! KICK SOME ASS YOU CRY BABY!" I said hoping that both her and the ref heard. Beth turned around and looked up until she saw Davis and I cheering like maniacs and she waved. I laughed, feeling better now that I knew my red card didn't ruin the game after all, and that Beth was able to get the best revenge possible: a goal.


Davis and I sat back down, both of us with in an instant change of mood. I sat there humming and Davis sat there texting Olly. I replayed the events back in my mind, smiling as I did so, and then remembered what Davis said. How he wouldn't trade me for the most abiding soccer player, I reminded Davis of this and asked if I could get him to write that down and sign it and he rolled his eyes.


It's funny how this entire year, Davis and I have argued like a pair of raging lunatics and this was the first time we ever directed our anger at somebody else other than each other. I voiced my thoughts to Davis and he laughed.


"That's sad," he said and I nodded, "but I don't think I would want to argue with anyone other than you," he said and I narrowed my eyes at him, not sure if that was a compliment or not.


"What a night," he mumbled shortly after.


"You know what makes this all better?" I asked and he replied with a hmm, "the fact that City killed United yesterday," I said and he groaned and covered half of his face.


"You are never going to get over this," he said sighing.


He was right. There was no way I was ever going to get over this. This meaning yesterday's game, and tonight.