By Your Side; Ksimon

Chapter Five

Simon's POV

I walked down the hall, going to my locker before I felt my body slam into the side of them, there loomed JJ over me.

He leaned in, pressing his forehead against me. I could feel his breath, it traveling down my neck and into the small of my back.

I reached out, wrapping my hand on his neck, moving my fingers back and forth on his soft skin.

He leaned in, his lips brushing mine. I leaned in, going to connect our lips...

"Fuck!" I said as I pushed up from my bed. I was in a cold sweat, goosebumps lined my skin as sweat dripped down my forehead.

I put my hands to my lips, almost making sure JJ's weren't against them.

I felt my heart pound so hard against my chest, like it was going to burst through.

The pit in my stomach kept growing a growing as I sat in my bed, wide-eyed thinking about what I just dreamt.

I dreamt about a man kissing me. A MAN!? What the fuck is wrong with me! I'm straight! I've always been straight and I will ALWAYS be straight, what hell am it thinking.

I got up from my bed, my heart still threatening to burst through.

Looking at the time I realized it was almost time for school, "Shit." I muttered, I must of slept through my alarm.

I threw on football shorts, football socks and my Leeds shirt. They said they would give me the kit top when I get there, and wear black with the rest.

I threw on some shoes, grabbed my things, and rushed out of the house, still having all my jewelry on.

When I got there, I quickly dumped off my jewelry and ran inside, checking my phone it was 08:59, in a minute I put on my shin pads, my boots, and changed my top.

"Cutting it close Minter." Says Ethan as he stares at me. I shrugged, unsure of what to say. "You're here at 9 and ready to go, that's all that matters. Let's get started."

We started to warm up and I felt like I was making a million mistakes. Not scoring every shot, some bad passes, honestly I was playing like shit.

I could feel many eyes on me, everything I did was being judge. I refused to look at JJ though, not after my dream.

JJ'S POV

Watching Simon was incredible. He was absolutely amazing. I'd say he is our best player by far. He sank almost every shot, and was a non-selfish player, and we hadn't even started the match. He was going to be huge for us.

We started the lineup, Simon was benched, along with Cal. The rest of our group was starting. I thought that was insane though, benching those two.

I sighed going out anyways, and soon the game was starting. We were loosing 2-0 during halftime, and he still hadn't put Simon in.

"Coach put Simon in. We're losing badly, we need a new striker." I said my eyes glaring at the tan boy, his name was Jake, and I hated him with all of my guts.

Jake protested, but they put Simon up top, next to Chris. Chris shook hands with Simon, introducing himself. Looking at their handshake, I could see Simon's hands were shaking. Just by looking at him you could see how nervous he was.

The whistle blew and we all started jogging out. I was playing a offensive center mid. Simon was going to the top of the circle, but I grabbed his arm first.

His head whipped around to look at me, and I could see the bags under his eyes, and I could feel him shaking under my grip. Now I could tell his whole body was shaking, not just his hands. He seemed like he was trying to hide it, but was doing a terrible job at it.

"Simon, don't sweat it, you're going to do great. And even if you don't, we're already losing this game, we've got nothing to lose."

The whole time, he doesn't look me in the eyes, acting even more standoffish then before. Usually I would of gotten a thanks, a smile, or a nod, but nothing.

I patted him gently on the back, but that made him jump in his skin. I gave him an apologetic look as he jogged off, damn Simon was jumpey.

The second half had just started, and damn Simon was making a difference, he seemed to get more and more comfortable. Simon and Chris kept pressuring up top, but Simon would pass it to Chris, to scared to take a shot.

On Chris's third attempt, he sank a shot. We all cheered, running to Chris as we high-fived him. It was 2 with 25 minutes left.

Simon has the ball at the top of the box, me behind him. He looked to pass, but I screamed, "SHOOT!" Maybe a little to harshly, but he for sure heard me.

He did a move around the defender, making our bench cheer. He raced around them, striking the ball beautifuly. It was the perfect amount of power, and I've never seen better placement.

It landed as top corner as it could possibly go, the entire bench screaming. We were back into this match.

We all swarmed Simon, giving him high-fives. Luckily Jake was benched, I didn't know how he would react.

Simon was smiling, high-fiveing everyone back. When he high-fived me, I could see his hands weren't shaking anymore.

It was now the 90 minute mark, we were running on hurt time. Simon goes to take the thrown in, confusing the defender, but he does so. "G-Go to goal!" He yells unsurely. We all looked confused, how the hell was he supposed to throw it that far? But we did reluctantly.

He braced himself, swinging his arms and throwing it hard, not even seeming to be as hard as he could. The throw lands towards the back post, and Chris goes for the header, but just misses, causing a defender to hit it out.

We all got ready for the corner, but all I was thinking about was that throw, damn he had power.

We all rushed the box, in a mass of people. The defender thought the ref couldn't see them.

Simon ran for it, going for a header, but suddenly he was grabbed by the jersey, utterly thrown to the ground. The ref blowed the whistle, giving it a pentalty.

Simon's body slammed into the ground in an awkward position, causing a hush over the ground. The boy who did it stalked back, clearly embarrassed.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" I rushed foward, swinging and connecting with his jaw before our teammates rush forward, splitting us up.

He swung at me, but I dodged. The ref was now in our mash pit, finally splitting up. He held two red cards for me and the guy on the other team.

My eyes wondered to Simon, he was rubbing his foot as he stared up at me, utterly confused by my actions.

I was fuming, who the hell did this guy think he was to pull a move like that, he so deserved to get punched.

I walked over to Simon and held out my hand. He looked at it, like he wanted to take it, but instead he just sat there, hurt spread across his face.

He pushed off the floor himself, lowering his head so he didn't have to look at me and walked past, crushing me.

I stood their frozen, not sure what to do. The ref was ordering us to get off the pitch. I clenched my fist as I stormed off, not mad about leaving, but about what happened with Simon.

Was he mad at me?

The penalty went, Simon was stepping up to take it. I was supposed to leave, but I stood behind my parents, who let me watch anyways. Simon took a deep breath, closing his eyes, when he opened them, I could see a look of determination in them.

He runs up, smashing a beautiful one in the bottom left corner, low on the ground, it was a banger of a pent.

The entire team cheered, racing on to the pitch, growing into one huge group hug. I just stood their numbly.

The smallest smile spread across his lips, but it quickly disappeared.

Simon won us that game...he was incredible. And I just keep fucking up. I walked out of the pitch, with my head lowered as I lumbered home, not waiting for my parents nor my younger brother.