Pride

Chapter 1- Jordan

If there's one thing I've learned from high school that I'll remember for the rest of my life, it's this: football players and basketball players do not get along.

Not how to graph quadratic functions, or write a five-paragraph essay, or what parathyroid hormone does, or who wrote Leviathan- I doubt I'll remember any of that in twenty years. But this irrefutable lesson about football and basketball players? Unforgettable.

I'm currently sitting outside the principal's office, glaring at the boy sitting on the other side of the hallway. A teacher- conveniently, the one that saw me attempt to land a fist in his face- is watching us carefully, like we might jump up and start brawling at any second.

I'm the quarterback of the football team. He's the captain of the basketball team. We've been butting heads since at least grade ten.

Initially, I thought that all jocks were kind of the same, because they're all physically fit and generally classified as 'dumb'. And then I got into football, and once I got into high school, I got sucked into the rivalry. Football vs. basketball. Our school has a team for each, and the student body is pretty much divided in half in terms of support. The teachers all try to tell us that it's 'not a competition' but we're all into competitive sports, so you can guess how well that went over. Our coaches just tell us not to get into fights so we don't get booted off the team.

However, that hasn't seemed to be going so well either. I'm pretty sure he has convinced his entire team to antagonize my team to provoke us into fighting, so that they can bring a teacher around at just the right moment so we get in trouble without anyone from his team actually getting hurt.

Seriously, he's that manipulative. And he's really smug about it, too.

Fortunately, this teacher is on my side (the teachers aren't supposed to take sides in the rivalry between football and basketball, but some do anyway). So even though this teacher did see me attempt to hit him, I'll probably get the benefit of the doubt. To an extent.

The door to the principal's office opens, and my best friend walks out, followed by the devil's first mate. Nathan makes brief eye contact with me that tells me that my situation is not good, but not the worst case scenario. Which is good, because I really don't want to be kicked off the football team.

"Boys." The teacher gestures to the open door to the principal's office, and I shoot the one more glare at the Source Of All Misery before getting up and going in. He follows me, and I can practically sense his villainous presence behind me.

The principal raises her eyebrows at us as we enter, then sit. The chairs are disgustingly close together. The coaches of both teams are standing in opposite corners of the room behind the principal, and Coach Johnson (AKA: the good one) shoots me a look that tells me just how much of a lecture I'm getting after the principal is finished with me. Which implies that I'm not being kicked off the team. Good. I can deal with whatever punishment they've devised.

The principal sighs, breaking the tense silence. "Well boys, here we are." Pause. "Again."

That's fair. We have had more than our fair share of incidents over the years.

"Now, let me see if I have this straight. Jordan, you attempted and intended to physically hit Chase, correct?"

I nod tentatively.

"But you were stopped by Nathan."

"Yes."

"And this was provoked?"

"Yes." I resist the urge to glare at He Who Shall Not Be Named.

Principal Marks eyes us both for another moment, then sighs. "I'm not going to beat around the bush. After this many... incidents, in the name of your teams' rivalry, I'm seriously considering taking both of you off of your teams."