"See you boys later. I spy Kate up there on the higher bleachers," he waggled his eyebrows accordingly. He'd been eyeing the brunette with the colourful dress for most of the game, and all the others had taken it to mean the she was his newest fancy. They all wished him good luck in jest, as it seemed like it was no secret that he intended to come back with Kate in his arms, or possibly not come back at all.
It had been a successful game for Derwent-Leighton, as they battled out with bats, wickets and ferocious over-arm throws at lightning speed, bowling over not only the ball but Devonlea's scores too.
Jonny was a quite the skilled fielder, diving all over his designated area to protect the ball from touching the ground. And nine out of ten times, he succeeded, though he didn't think of this statistic as the only numbers flying around his head were the scores. He played with firm concentration throughout the whole game, only faltering ever so slightly when a particular left-handed player came up to bat.
For those minutes that the boy was batting, all he could concentrate on was the marvelous arms on the verge of tanning, and the sculpted body that came with an avid love for sport. Every time the boy turned his body, or when his shirt flew up, Jonny nearly let an easily ball slip right past him, his eyes shining and cheeks flushed, not only due to the physically demanding aspects of cricket.
Although blond hair blue eyes Christopher was indirectly distracting Jonny, taunting him with his body like that, Jonny was after all known as the best player of the cricket team, a title that he did not have for no reason. He put all his thoughts of contact and Chris aside using his gigantic willpower and went on to dive heroically for all the remaining bowls, ultimately aiding the team in winning.
Chris had regarded him with cold eyes while they begrudgingly shook hands, with no sentimentality, just out of pure duty. Jonny was not fazed, looking back at Chris with exactly the same venomous expression.
Each knew the hardness was merely an outside protective cover for their feelings. It made their romance game a lot more fun. It was a love-hate relationship on an intricate level, one where the love and the hate was simultaneous on both sides.
Now walking away from the DLS crowd, apparently to find Kate, he lingered around in front of the refreshment stand and got himself some lemonade. While sipping the cheap industrial premade stuff, he found himself looking frequently to the opposite side of the field to his team, the side where the enemy were standing around. He made accidental eye contact with some of the Devonlea team, flipping them off and shoving the bitter air of victory in their faces. They flipped him off just the same.
If they weren't so engrossed in the task of dutifully showing signs of hatred, the most perceptive of them would have realised that Jonny was in fact subtly cocking his head around, eyes scanning out for someone in the crowd.
He couldn't stand it anymore, so he walked a few metres closer to the group of boys, but he stopped short of the actual crowd, almost like they had an anti-DLS force field around them that he just couldn't penetrate.
After a moment, Jonny strode forward till he was right next to them, deciding that he couldn't care less about their attitude towards him. He needed to see his boy.
Roughly grabbing one of the boys by the shoulder,
"Where's Christopher?" he spat. The boy eyed his uniform straightaway and developed a distasteful look, as if there was a dead animal around. He went into the defensive, firing back at this DLS boy who had all too comfortably dared to ask for one of them.
"Oho, what? Christopher? You stuck up loser. 'Christopher', 'Christopher'. How do you even know him? Been beaten up once or twice by him?" the boy jeered back, trying to fire Jonny up, but this angry first encounter was quickly interrupted by another boy.
He was also from Devonlea, Jonny realised, as he recognised the green uniform from the corner of his eye. The boy ran towards them with an ugly look towards Jonny's uniform.
"Eh? What's an animal doing out here? This is a cricket field you know, not a zoo." the boy, whose overgrown blonde curls were bouncing up and down, called out to Jonny as he slowed.
Jonny turned around, and as he locked eyes with the boy, his heart practically burst with realisation. The blonde boy's eyes went wide and he mouth gaped a bit, but in a split second was masked by his ugly expression again.
"Oh Chris you're here just in time, the enemy wanted a chat, or maybe a fixing up too," the other boy explained, unaware.
Curly haired boy, Chris, the boy Jonny was looking for, was close to six feet tall, the same height as Jonny. This made it that when Chris stepped right in front him they were at eye level. Chris's and Jonny's eyes periodically softened and hardened in their gaze, trying with all their might to keep the intense staring from straying into friendlier territory with the other boy there.
Both of their chins were tilted up, looking at each other with as raging expressions as they could manage, challenging each other. It wasn't much a hard feat considering they were both at the same, high up position of their respective schools, a position that guaranteed them an upper hand at any fight.
"Yeah I know him," he continued to spitefully train his eyes on Jonny, "you're that stupid waste of space who's apparently king of DLS, am I right?" Chris looked smugly at him, eyes flashing with spite.
Ah, so Chris had chosen to put on the hate mask. Jonny could only reciprocate.
"Not to say you aren't a waste of matter either, and king of Devonlea you think you are?" he was leaving Chris no chances, "Well with those kind of curls like a bleached clown wig, all you need is some pretty little stockings and lace and you'd be all set for joining a girls' school, wouldn't you, princess?" Jonny shot back snidely, smiling sweetly at Chris the whole time.
The Devonlea witness boy, as Jonny had mentally named him, was getting agitated, as Jonny was insulting his hero way too much for his liking.
"Oi, leav-" he angrily tried to intervene, sticking his arms out and ready to sock Jonny in the eye,
"Back off, idiot. Christopher needs to learn a lesson of his own." Jonny pushed him away with force, and the boy did feel it, rubbing his pained shoulder. Not really because he was angry, more because he didn't want some random kid getting caught up in him and Chris.
"Anthony, run along yeah? You wouldn't want to be around such a piece of dirt for too long. And I'll deal with him, don't worry."
Even as he said those words about Jonny, Chris' heart was screaming guilt with every single beat, about to fly out of his chest and take off into space. Jonny seemed emotionless at this, lips pressed together bemusedly. He was just focused on trying to telepathically take control of Anthony's feet and walk him away.
He hoped that Chris's words would do the trick. Chris did too.
Thankfully, they did.
With Chris being a master of hiding true feelings to keep his reputation, Anthony soaked up his reassuring words like a wet sponge and walked away to let the two duke it out, though not before discreetly mouthing some sailor-worthy vocabulary at Jonny.
Jonny didn't take any notice of course, he was now alone with Chris. Not some Kate sitting up at the bleachers. Chris.
