Privilege

CHAPTER XI: The Player

Beep. Beep.

Eurgh. Who invented mornings and when can I kill them? I had been talking to Max until 2:00am and I could feel myself going brain dead. I could hear Aimmée singing in the shower and was surprised when I couldn't find any dead cats in the room. Opening my phone to turn my alarm off, I noticed I had a text from Max.

Max: We're still on for today right?

Confused as to what I'd agreed to in my tired state, I looked through the last few messages we had sent last night.

Me: ugh. My classes are so dead tomorrow, lunch isn't until 12:30
Max: how long is your lunch?
Me: like an hour, why?
Max: it's my lacrosse practice then, you should come watch!
Me: and why would I want to watch a bunch of sweaty teenage boys prance around a field with their big sticks on display?
Me: actually, I'll be there! sounds like exactly my kind of thing ;)
Max: you're weird.
Me: you love it tho <3

Why the fuck had I agreed to watch lacrosse? If it was soccer or some kind of athletics maybe I'd understand but I don't think I've ever seen a game in my entire life. Before I replied with some kind of an excuse, in order to keep me in the warm and far away from dodgy sports, I thought back to the conversation I'd had with Max the other day.

"You're the closest friend I have right now," I said, I turned to face him, "Thank you Maximilian." I smirked.

He chuckled, "Anything for you."

He said he'd do 'anything' and here I was about to ditch his stupid lacrosse game. Ugh, I hated being a good friend.

Me: of course, how could I forget?

Here goes.

I got ready for school, making sure to wrap up warm, the weather was supposed to be better today— we were even told to expect to see the sun—but I couldn't risk getting pneumonia.

My timetable was alright today, in the morning I had English language, Government and politics, French, and Math, and after lunch, I had a free period, followed by Biology, and Ethics and Philosophy.

The morning dragged on more than I wanted it too but luckily, I'd done some reading for the courses on my way from California, so it wasn't too hard to understand. By the time lunch rolled around, going outside didn't sound too bad, I was ready for some fresh air, as opposed to that of inside a classroom. So, I grabbed some fries and a slice of pizza from the canteen, which I started eating on my way to the bleachers. I got outside, surprised by the sudden warmth— I wasn't exaggerating when I said that seeing the sun would be a shock. Taking a seat on the bleachers, I looked around to see if I could find Max's familiar face. I sighed and just hoped he would find me.

As I finished off my fries I concentrated on the game, trying to work out what was happening. Eventually, the coach blew on her whistle, calling the boys in, they crowded around her taking their helmets off and listening intently to what she was saying.

As soon as their helmets were off, I noticed Max straight away and stood up to get his attention. "Maaaaaax!" I yelled, hoping to embarrass him in front of his teammates.

It must have worked because straight after he turned to wave at me, a guy stood next to him slapped him on the shoulder and ruffled his hair. I watched a little longer, waiting for them to finish standing around and actually do something.

Eventually, they all slipped away and started stretching, Max took the opportunity to run up to me. "Hey!"

I walked down to meet him at the barrier between the pitch and the stalls, "Hey Maximilian."

"How's it going?" He asked, giving me a heartbreaking smile.

"Not too bad, apart from being totally confused as to what Lacrosse even means?"

He chuckled, "You'll just have to start watching me play, if you're going to learn it from someone, you should aim for the best."

"Cocky much?"

"Do you want to find out?" He asked, winking at me.

I hit him on the shoulder, shocked. "Max! We'll have none of that, thank you very much!"

He laughed at me and I cracked a smile, I'd noticed he was good at making me do that.

"Well, I better get back, coach wants to take us inside to talk about team tactics or whatever. You can leave if you want, now I've seen your pretty face."

"I'm good thanks, think I might sit around for my free lesson, may as well take advantage of the first bit of sunshine I've seen in this god forsaken state!" I sighed dramatically.

"Well, I'll talk to you later then?"

"Sounds great." He nodded his head, walking away from me. "Bye Maximilian!"

I continued sitting down, deciding to take out some work to distract myself. A while later, I heard shouting on the field. I looked down to see a new group of people dressed in soccer kits.

I set my work down, not needing to concentrate as intensely on this game to get it. My eyes followed a player with '01' on his back, transfixed by his speed and dexterity. He sped in and out of of all of the other players, knocking a few of them down.

He was clearly the teams greatest player and I could tell he wasn't even playing at his best. There was something familiar about him, something that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

It wasn't until he was running towards the side of the field that I was on that I realised who it was. Hunter.