Call Me A Freak

Ridiculous

"He's bringing that hothead, Jay, in from the Isle of the lost and that little guy, Carlos, can barely hold a shield!" the announcer explained, while Jay dragged Carlos onto the field with him.

Evie shrieked next to me, turning to shake my arm in her excitement. We were also standing next to Lonnie, who was cheering so loud I thought my right eardrum would burst.

It was hard to focus as they ran across the field. I kept trying to keep track of their jersey numbers, 8 and 101, but in all the excitement of the game, I got lost.

I tried to keep track by listening to the announcer, but I couldn't even concentrate on that.

As I had expected, I didn't get too much sleep the night before and all the energy I had spent worrying about the spell and getting through all my classes for the day without raising suspicions had left me exhausted just in time for the tourney game.

"Hey, you okay?" Evie asked me.

I nodded quickly. "Just tired. But the game's almost over."

"Jay, hurdling maneuver in midfield," the announcer yelled. "He's in the clear! The ball goes back to Jay. He passes to Prince Ben. He scores!"

The entirety of the bleachers erupted into cheers. I covered my ears, afraid I might go deaf as Lonnie and Evie screamed at each other.

"Prince Ben has won it!"

Carlos and Jay wrapped their arms around one another, dancing victoriously. As they spun, Jay grabbed Ben, too, all celebrating their big win.

And I had never seen any of them: Jay, Carlos, Evie... I had never seen them so happy about something.

I crossed my arms, trying not to think about it too much. What was one tourney game compared to taking over the world and making our parents proud?

"Excuse me!" Someone new called over the speaker. "May I have your attention please?"

I didn't really think about it until Evie stiffened next to me.

I looked up and there he was. Ben was climbing onto the dragon fire shooter, microphone in hand.

"There's something I'd like to say." His eyes looked right into my soul

Hell no.

"E, we need to go," I insisted, trying to push past her, but she wouldn't let me. Her eyes were fixed on Ben, hand over her mouth.

Everyone was silent for a minute. I was pretty sure Ben had no clue what he wanted to say, and that was fine with me.

"E," I tried again. "Let's go!"

"No way." She looked at me, a smile crossing her face. "I need to see this."

"I don't!" I argued, but it was too late.

"Give me an 'M'!" He cheered, throwing his hands over his head in an 'M' like shape.

Everyone around was quick to follow, chanting his words back to him.

"Give me an 'A'!"

"A!"

He better not-

"Give me an 'L'!"

"L!"

"What does that spell?" he asked.

And suddenly, the entirety of the bleachers was shouting at me, "Mal!"

"Come on! I can't hear you!" he prompted.