IDIOSYNCRASY // Soccer

Ch. 25

Ignoring Parker was the hardest thing I have done in my whole entire life. Especially, since we have an almost exact schedule. Throughout the week, Parker tried to talk to me every second or chance he got. It hurt me to walk faster or turn my head and stay quiet.

Eventually, Parker gave up. He stopped trying to talk to me completely. The team noticed what was happening. But thankfully, they all kept their mouth shut.

The ignoring game Parker and I were playing didn't just effect us. The mood in practice is awkward and dreadful. There was no sound, no talking, nothing. To top it off, our performance in practice was horrendous. All of us were out of our heads and not paying attention.

But here we are, sitting in the locker room. San Fran was going against the Tigers. Stupid name, I know. As far as I know, we could beat them. Now, that would only work if we started to talk again. But, how could I even speak? The air is so thick, I could barely breathe.

The referee looks at both of the teams. "Call it." The referee says. He was referring to the three captains. The Tigers only had one captain, but San Fran had two.

"Heads." Parker and I say in unison. We give each other a short look before refocusing our attention.

"Tails." The Tigers captain says. I was almost positive his name was Brent. But, I wasn't very familiar with first names. I could only see their number and their last name.

The coin flips in the air, and the referee slaps it on his hand. The hand uncovers the coin, revealing what the coin landed on tails. Brent was correct. I mentally curse in my head, I should have gone with Tails.

I sigh and go into my position. The referee blows his whistle, signaling the game to start. The Tigers take off with the ball. I see the Mid Fielder pass it to Brent, and he takes off running.

Soon, Parker catches up with Brent and his teammate. Brent's teammate hip checks Parker, my eyes go wide at the scene. Brent passes the ball to his teammate, the ball was soaring in the air. The teammate successfully retrieves it and passes it to the nearby teammate. Parker was in the middle of the three teammates. One of Brent's teammates runs into Parker, making Parker lose balance. I watch Parker's body lean forward in front of Brent's teammate. The teammate didn't realize what was happening, so he lifted a foot to kick the ball that was in the air. Instead, the teammate kicks Parker in the stomach. My eyes go wide and a pang of guilt and pain hits my chest. Brent's teammate was still running into Parker, and Parker hits the ground. The sound echoes through my ear.

"Parker!" I yell. I run towards him and slide onto my knees. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" I ask him, but there was no response. Parker lay still in shock, his body position was weird and looks uncomfortable.

I stand up and hold my hand up, signaling the referee to get the paramedics. "Comon Parker, what hurts?" I say, caressing his cheek softly. The waterworks were coming in fast. The tears start to roll down my face as I watch Parker's face. His expression was hard to look at. Parker's eyebrows were scrunched, his mouth opening and closing as if he couldn't speak.

"Dont cry." Parker says. The words were very robotic.

"I can't help it." I joke.

"I'm fine." Parker says.

I shake my head in response. "No, Parker. You are not fine. If you were, you would be standing up right now and playing." I say softly, scared if my tone was too harsh.

"I'm sorry." Parker says.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for! It wasn't your fault." I say.

The paramedics rush to his side, asking him various questions. Moments later, a substitute came in Parker's spot. But, Tigers kept playing dirty. Our three substitutes were injured, and only seven players in were on field.

"We can win this! The score is tied, all we need to do is get one more goal. Are you going to let this dirty cheaters win after they hurt our teammates?" I yell at my teammates.

"No." They mumbled.

"I can't hear you!" I scream.

"No!" They yelled.

I smile in response. "Good." I say before we run back onto field.

The referee blows his whistle. Tigers start to pass the ball around. The soccer ball flew into the air, the Tiger next to me was going to go for the head. So, I head the ball too. Our heads collide but only one person got the ball, me. I pass the ball to Bryson.

He chests the ball before dribbling the ball away. Bryson passes the ball to Chris. Chris runs with the ball. The Tigers were looking at each other, as if they were contemplating what they were going to do next.

I see the Tigers almost next to him. Chris looks at me and I nod my head towards the player behind him. Chris panics and sends the ball flying to me. I breathe in and out frantically, I had to make this shot.

I swing my left leg back and aim for the goal. If I kicked with my right, I wouldn't be able to do a curved shot. The ball curves around the players and into the goal.

When I see the ball hit the net, my smile grows larger. I turn to Chris and high five him. I furrow my eyebrows when I see a figure coming closer and closer. It was a cleat. What would a cleat-

The next thing I know, I feel major pain in my forehead. My hand goes to my forehead and black dots cloud my vision. I try to turn my head and walk, but It felt like I was walking sideways. I stand still, and feel my body tip to the side. My arm and side hits the ground, and I let out a whimper of pain.

I couldn't hear a single thing. My ears were ringing and I couldn't see. The referee's whistle screeches through my ears and I hear a few words through his dialogue. "Tigers... Disqualified... Injury." I hear the man call.

So, my teammates get injured, and the referee doesn't do anything about it. But, when I get injured, Tigers get disqualified?

That was the last thought I had before everything turned black.