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Three: sidekick and mute

Liam's P.O.V:

Lacrosse try outs were that day and I couldn't be happier. I was pretty sure I could make it to first line. According to Mason, my only real competition on the team was the current captain, since his co-captain and a bunch of other good players had left school or whatever.

I wasn't sure I could beat a junior, but I'd surely do my best.

Mason wished me good luck before I went to practise. I waited until last minute for Mia in her locker but she never appeared. I started to panic, thinking she missed school on purpose but then I texted her and she told me her sister was born that day and that we could meet later.

After a good luck text from her, I went over for practise.

Now, Mia was surely something. There was something about her that made me want to stay and talk. Or just look at her; she's just that pretty.

I had only had this seventh grade girlfriend and due to my little problem... it didn't end up well. The point is that this was all new for me.

Mia made me feel things I never experienced before. Like how much I wanted to be accepted by her or how I couldn't get tired of staring at her. I wasn't sure if I liked her that way but I definitely enjoyed her company.

She thought I was a jerk...and maybe I was, but no because I wanted to.

It was that fucking disease that screwed everything up for me in my old school.

Maybe if I told Mia about it, she'd be scared too. I might as well act normal for once.

"Liam!" Garrett called out for me as soon as I stepped into the field. "Come meet everyone!" he added, passing an arm around my shoulders when I got closer to him.

He introduced me to everyone else trying out for the team and made sure to tell them 'how good I was.'

"Why don't you play goalie?" One of them asked me. "Let's see if you're that good."

I knew he said it in a friendly way but my inner me wanted to show him I was indeed that good.

And so I played goalie. Everyone threw balls at me and I made sure to catch every single one of them. Sometimes it was hard to do, but I managed to catch them anyway.

Then all of them congratulated me.

This was going good so far.

I had maths before the real try outs and the thought that Mia wasn't going to be there made me frown. Less than one week and I was already used to see her everywhere; mostly during maths, where she seemed to already know everything.

I dragged myself to the locker room so I could change into a clean shirt. I couldn't even put it properly when I heard someone coming towards me. I turned around to face the one and only captain and his sidekick.

"Hey, Liam," he said. "Want to explain what that was out there?"

"What do you mean?" I asked him in confusion.

"That little display; your little circus act."

"What circus act?" I thought I knew what was going on, but I decided to play dumb. This kid was really weird.

"You got every shot." Obviously, I did.

"I was in goal..." I tried to explain him. Maybe he had mental disorders. But then again, so did I.

"Yeah, but nothing-not a single shot-got past you," he insisted. Did he even know what the point of the goalie is?

"Yeah, I was the goalie," I explain once again, getting tired of these two. "Have you guys played this game before?"

"You're a freshman, right?" the captain asked me.

"Yeah," I smirked. The sidekick was a junior and I was proud to say I was better than him on lacrosse.

"But you weren't here last semester," sidekick said. Holy balls, did he always have to know everything?

"I transferred from Devenford Prep," I said, not really wanting to touch the subject; especially with them, who were scaring the shit out of me.

They were that creepy.

"You transferred?" the captain asked, turning his head to the side, like a dog that heard something outside.

"Yeah," I lied.

"No, you got kicked out, didn't you?" now, how the hell could he possibly know? I hadn't told anyone, not even Mia. I thought Mason was the only one that knew, but he didn't know why.

"Alright, look; transferred, kicked out...why do you guys care? I came here to play lacrosse," I stated. It seemed like lacrosse was the only thing I was good at and I wasn't letting this opportunity go just because they saw me as a threat. "The team could use a few good players, right?"

"No, we don't need any more good players," the sidekick immediately answered. Why did he hate me so much?

"Actually...we could sort of use a couple," the captain said. I decided I liked him better, although he was still creeping me out.

"Okay," the sidekick insisted. "How'd you get this good? Have you always been this good? Or did it suddenly happen just overnight?" how the hell you become good at it overnight? "Have you ever been in the middle of the woods on a night of a full moon..."

"Stiles," the captain cuts him. So his name's Stiles. Is that even a name?

"Look, I learnt from my stepfather, alright? He made team captain when he was a sophomore; like you," I added, looking at the captain. Even though he was some awkward outcast, I still felt admiration towards him. I'd like to be captain so badly.

It'd make my stepfather proud.

"And yeah." I took my backpack and hoodie from my locker. "I guess I'm just that good."

And with that, I was gone.

They were really, really weird. And they were hiding something.

I made my way to class, finding my usual spot. I made sure I had the tickets and the money for later that day; I was taking Mia to the movies. It was probably the worst idea for a date ever, but she said she liked movies.

Besides, I was taking her to that "theatre under the stars" thingy.

Whatever, maths went by really quickly, even though I didn't understand shit. I seriously need help with that.

Try outs came faster than I had anticipated. Saying I was nervous was an understatement. I didn't think anyone understood how important this was for me. How happy my mom would get. And my stepfather; if I made it to first line, their scared expression would disappear every time they saw me.

They would forgive me.

I was a monster to their eyes and sometimes I felt like it, too. Images of my actions haunted me everywhere I went; they didn't let me sleep at night.

That wasn't me...that just wasn't. I refused to believe I was the one doing such a thing.

It was the disease. Like someone else inside of me, using me with no mercy, no compassion. It was using me, turning me into a beast; an awful, dangerous and heartless person.

I didn't want to be that person. I wanted to be Liam Dunbar. The happy kid my mom raised and was so proud of. That kid I wanted to be; the healthy Liam. Not this fucked up, dumb and dickhead Liam.

New text message from Mia: good luck at the try outs, Liam! You totally have it, you just have to go and get it. See you later!

I could do it. I had it. I just had to go and get it.

Then, I could see her later.