chapter 14 : Monday night football (Olivia's pov)
Right, so after 15 years we had finally told our quileute cousins everything about ourselves, and we were at last about to meet our other set of cousins only to tell them pretty much nothing. It just felt great, especially considering that amongst these cousins there was Eleazar, the former Volturi with the uncanny ability to detect the special talent that other vampires are gifted with. So to put it mildly, it was not just going to be extremely uncomfortable, it was also going to be a humongous pain in the proverbial backside. My mom would say that we should always look on the bright side of things, so here is the not completely terrible part of things. Eleazar can only be absolutely positive about someone's power if they actually use it in his presence, which usually doesn't really make much of a difference since most gifted vampire have their ability running full time. But not my brother, like Jane and her burning stare, or Kate and her zapping touch, or even momma's way of communicating, he needs to actively trigger it. So worse case scenario, Eleazar would know that Mike has some reading power, which shouldn't affect the Italian's strategy if they were to march against us. Best case scenario, he wouldn't see a thing. Hey, a girl can dream. But either way, I was starting to consider making a call to Volterra and getting this thing over with already. Not knowing what will happen, when it will happen, and planning for the worst is nerve racking, not to mention extremely depressing.
But let's not dwell on the negative, especially since I was not really the one who had to be extra careful. All I had to do was not shift into anything other than a wolf. And in all fairness I wasn't even expecting a reason to shift, so I was kind of enjoying myself, I just felt super guilty toward my cousins. That's until Emmet had a brilliant idea, then I was just excited.
”Hey guys, you know how Esmee hates it when we fight, even if it's just for fun. Well we found a way to keep our battle skills sharp without engaging in an old fashion brawl. We play football, but not your regular NFL football, that's for wimps. No, basically the only thing we're not allowed to use are our teeth, anything else is fair game.”
I was so excited I could barely restrain myself, this game is so awesome it's like it was invented for people like us. And apparently I was not the only one interested, Kate tried to hide her glee but it was too obvious when she asked ”when you say anything else is fair game, do you mean anything?”
”Yes, anything, which is why it is important to make the teams carefully. You and I cannot be in the same team as Bella, it would just be unfair.” Grandpa said, clearly seeing right through her act.
”Well then there's just no point, our powers will be useless. We might as well play chess, at least we can pretend to work on strategy.”
”Oh trust me, there is a point. you shouldn't think of my shield as a sure thing. When everybody is running, including me and that Em tries to tackle me, it tends to collapse. Also, when we say anything, we mean anything. I don't know if you've tried playing football with your opponents turning into wolves to outrun you, and then shifting back to catch the ball. Well if the wolf part is slightly unsettling, trying to stay focused when a naked dude jumps for the football is not the easiest thing either.” Yeah, grandma is kinda shy that way, personally nudity stopped bothering me a long time ago. Obviously in public I try to stay decent, but otherwise I just don't care. I mean it's not like the other animals wear anything. And I spend about as much time in various animal forms as I do in human form. It probably doesn't make much sense to you regular human folks, but as far as I'm concerned, human is just one of my shapes. Or rather, my different shapes are not just convenient tools, I am just as much animal as I am human. Anyway, enough about me, it's time to play some BALL!!!
Being the one watching it on TV all the time, Em was even more excited than me ”Alright people let's make the teams. So obviously, we have Ed and Kate on one side and Bella on the other. Then, I've been giving it some thought ... it's not every day we get to play an 8-8 game, so I was anticipating. The way I see it, the teams should be : Ed, Kate, Garrett,Tanya, Eleazar, Carmen, Jazz and Carlisle against Bella, Jake, Liv, Mike, Nessie, Alice, Rose and me. Esmee I know you don't really like to play, but you could go in the Denali team.”
”No, I think I'll referee, something tells me it'll be necessary.”
”Am I imagining things or did you put the wolves in your team on purpose?” Tanya asked, her suspicion of Emmet not totally unjustified.
”Do you mean to tell me, cousin, that you, a vampire, consider yourself outmatched by shapeshifters?”
”Not exactly, but they are an unknown element to us. Plus this is a football game, and we're not going to kill our opponents if you see what I mean.”
”Well, they are pretty formidable on a football field, but as soon as Bella's shield collapses Kate is going to drop our players, and Ed is going to know our every move. So it sort of even things out a little.”
”Wait a minute, you still have Alice's visions, how is that fair?”
”With 4 hybrids in the game, my visions are glitchy, at the very best. So I'm pretty much as handicapped as Edward. Now enough with the bickering, Emmet go get the ball, and then let's go.”
Now, the problem with playing football in Alaska, especially in January, is that you're playing on ice. And even with our abilities, the only way to maintain a good footing is to use mountaineering crampons. I'm not sure Emmet thought about that when he suggested it, I sure didn't. In wolf form, that's OK, I've got claws; but I still had to shift back to catch the football, rolling naked on the ice ... well, that wasn't part of the plan. The good thing about Alaska though, is that there is plenty of room with absolutely nobody to accidentally run into. So we went ahead with a big towel to warm me up in between plays.
