Beauty is a Disease

𝕋𝕎𝔼𝕃𝕍𝔼

"Zane," I greeted, "what are you doing here?"

Zane. Are you kidding me?

"Well, there were posters all over the school about the game," he chuckled and I resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "And I saw you guys leave from the back."

Now, you might be wondering why I'm being so cold towards Zane. After what Brandy had told me about the best friend intuition thing, I have just wanted to steer clear of Zane altogether. But, that's a bit hard seeing as he is my neighbor.

"Who's jersey?" he asked, nodding to the number on my chest.

"Sam's," I replied, pride hiding under my words.

He nodded and turned to look at the field. It was nearing 7 and the stands were full to the brim. The announcer for the game came on.

"Good evening, Cougars!" the crowd erupted in loud cheers, claps, and whistles. "We are going against the Bulldogs!" A series of boos echoed around the field. "That's what I'm talking about! Cheer hard for our Cougars everyone and let's take home a win!" Again, the crowd screamed and yelled for our team.

I was watching Sam the entire time, as he focused on the outside of the team huddle, listening intently on what his coach was telling the players.

Then, the ref blew the whistle and each team went up to flip the coin which I thought was kind of cool, something only our school does.

We ended up not getting the ball, so defense started and Sam jogged out onto the field, and then I realized I didn't even know what position he played but soon found out that he was free safety, one of the farthest back player on the field.

The ball was punted and the game was off. Not even two seconds into the game, the quarterback for the opposing team threw the ball and one of our players caught it for an interception. The crowd screamed and hollered and whistled. The defence jogged off the field, being replaced by the offence.

Sam threw a glance up towards the bleachers, but it wasn't in my direction, his eyes scanned the people, like he was looking for something. Or someone.

I continued to stare at him until his gaze met mine. He smiled at me but I didn't smile back. I wanted to know what he was looking for.

His face fell and I know that he knew why I wasn't smiling at him. He knew he was going to have to explain what just happened. He sat on the bench and put his head in his hands.

I sighed. This wasn't exactly supposed to go this way. But I focused back on the field, our quarterback throwing the ball about 15 yards, caught by who I think is Ben, and earning us a first down.

An hour and a half later, it was half time. I contemplated running down to the field quickly and talking to Sam, but Brandy pulled me down the bleachers and to a snack stand that our school had so generously setup. We bought a few bags of chips, three Pepsis, and I wanted a cookie.

I could see Sam watching Brandy and I walk back onto the stands and up the stairs. The Cougars were winning 21-10, but there was still the burning question in my mind about what Sam was looking for.

I know, I might be completely over thinking this, people look in the stands all the time, but the way Sam was doing it, he seemed hopeful, like someone would appear and it would be the happiest moment of his life.

"Hales," I snap my head to Brandy who is opening one of the bags of chips. "You're being kind of quiet, something up?" She put a couple chips in her mouth.

I shook my head, "I'm fine."

She narrows her eyes, knowing I'm not telling the truth, "fine."

I smile a small smile and look back onto the field.