Goals

"It's been so long."

Tobin is nowhere to be seen when I walk into physics class the next day. This doesn't surprise me, but it does make me feel as though there is a hole in my chest for the remainder of the period. As my instructor drones on about thermodynamics, I pull my notebook out of my backpack and look over a particular page.

Operation Save Talex

Phase 1 - Receipts

Two thousand people attended the football game on Friday night. Of those two thousand people, a quarter of them were there to support the opposing team, which means that they were situated on the other side of the feild. Of those who were there to support the Diamond Bar Stingrays, exactly one hundred of them were staff members who spent the entire game on the sidelines. Their job was to make sure that everything ran smoothly, but it was no secret that they didn't take this task very seriously. They usually just set up lawn chairs and focused on the players tackling each other for the entirety of the game, as they enjoyed football just as much as the people in the stands.

Kelly and Christen had suggested that we exclude these irrelevant spectators from the group that we labelled as potential witnesses. This group consisted of everyone else who had attended the game, as it was very probable that at least one of them had seen what happened behind those bleachers. Everybody had phones these days, and just maybe somebody had caught Servando forcing himself upon me on camera. All we had to do was extract some evidence from a pool of roughly one thousand and four hundred people.

It was not going to be an easy task, but we had no alternative course of action to take. We needed to prove that Tobin's actions were justified, and exposing Servando as a jackass was the only way to do that. I was clinging onto the small possibility that this plan would work for dear life.

My physics instructor jumps when the bell rings, and the class lets out snickers as they pack up their belongings and head into the hallway. Instinctively, I look for Tobin as soon as I pass through the doorway, but the realization that I'm not going to find her leaves me sulking as I head to my next period.

●  ●  ●

"Come on, Morgan. We'll be alright."

The second game of league is starting in less than ten minutes. I shouldn't be nervous, as our opponent is Montclair, and their soccer program is currently going through a rebuilding season. They lost quite a few talented seniors last year, and their team is now composed of underclassmen who lack the skill and experience that it takes to be legitimate contenders for the league title. We had the superior team, which meant that a victory wouldn't be hard to earn if we kept our heads in the game.

Still, I couldn't rid myself of the anxiety that kept creeping into my mind. Tobin would not be on the pitch tonight, and I hadn't played a match without her since she had acquired a bad case of the stomach flu in ninth grade. I knew that the team could survive without her, as Kelly could easily fill in for Tobin while she was serving her punishment and play her position with sufficient proficiency. I just didn't know how I would fare without my favorite number seventeen on the feild. A lack of chemistry between Tobin and I had thrown off my ability to deliver last week, and I didn't know how I would perform without her presence.

I shake my head in response to Kelly's comment. "I'd feel ten times better if she was here."

She rolls her eyes. "I know, homo. We all would."