Match

17: Red Flags

Cloudy skies threaten the moist land below. Yet, not a single drop has hit the ground ever since the rainstorm from the night before. One can never predict summer weather in this brittle environment.

Cole walks onto the turf, hearing wet sloshy sounds of muddy grass and dirt coating the bottom of his cleats. Great, I'm gonna have to really scrub these at home, he thinks. He's thankful they're waterproof, at least. On the other side of the field is Team Hawks. They look gritty and hardheaded in blue jerseys; quite a few of the Hawks players are six foot four trees like Cole. He knows he's going to be up against at least one of them. Earlier Joel told him about his "arch-enemy", Tanner.

"If he shoves you," he said, "shove him back. He needs to get his ego pushed in the dirt."

The blaring noise of a whistle reverts Cole back onto the field. He's playing as a defender again. To him, being a defender fits more of his comfort zone. He can't quite carry the ball, but he can act like a brick wall pretty well for oncoming opponents. From behind, Ashton strolls over to his net. The goalie on the opposite team does the same on the other side. Tigers get the first ball this time. As usual, the "dynamic duo" Kacey and Brett are in the centre with the referee.

"We got this, Tigers!" Coach Ryan shouts.

Kacey shifts all his weight to the knee in front. As soon as the referee drops the ball, the game begins. Kacey dribbles it up, then passes it back to Axel. Despite there not being many people today to cheer on the sideline, the cheers are still erupting. Axel ends up battling the ball with an opponent until it gets kicked out of bounds. The assistant referee lifts her flag, then points it to Tigers.

"That's you, Cole." Nathan shouts.

Cole nods and swallows. He jogs up to the ball, picks it up, then awaits the referee to give the OK. His eyes scour the field for any openings, until he catches a glimpse of Tanner nudging against Axel. The whistle is blown, and Cole takes aim at Kacey up ahead. If he can carry the ball into the wide opening, it'll be all clear, he thinks. He gives the ball a firm toss and it lands right ahead of Kacey. Kacey sprints ahead with the ball and takes a hard shot. The ball slams against the pole and bounces out of bounds.

"Awww," goes the crowd.

Since it's the same field that the Tigers practice on, there's more fans cheering for them. The goalie grabs the ball and rolls it to a defender. Once the whistle gets blown, the game resumes. An opponent passes it up to another, and it becomes a back and forth match. Tigers scramble to steal the ball, but the closer they get, the quicker and wider Hawks' kicks become.

"Here here!" Nathan shouts as he goes in for the kill.

The ball bounces over him and the Hawks carry on into Tiger turf. Finally it's Jordan to the rescue. He snatches the ball away then passes it up to Graham. Cole readies himself in case the ball ends up retaliating back. Graham tries to pass it to Kacey, but it gets stolen by Tanner. He comes barreling towards Cole, scraping just along the sideline in bounds with clean carrying.

"Go Tan!" A guy from the crowd shouts.

Cole feels his brows furrow, like he's a turret locking onto its target. He charges forward to attack. What catches him off guard is this guy has the same expression as Jonah, only more sly. He doesn't let the intimidation stop him this time, and he manages to deke the ball out of Tanner's grasp.

"Yeah Cole here!"

He passes it to Brett in an open space. Coach Ryan claps and shouts.

"That was great Cole!"

"Good job buddy!" Ashton hollers from behind.

Cole feels a smile form on his face. A genuine smile, at that. Suddenly, he feels someone brush against his shoulder. It's Tanner. He shoots him a glare then jogs back to his home base. Joel wasn't kidding, he thinks. This guy's a dick.