Match

62: Flaring Up

Back and forth Cole goes. He may be a right defender, but he's realized how Tigers have met their match with Nebula. I don't remember them going this hard last time, he thinks. He feels relieved that the whole team is here, including Kacey to cheer them on. He takes a quick glance at Kacey sitting on a throne of blankets, waving and getting teammates hyped up.

Fweeeeeet!

The ball is thrown back in, resuming the game. Graham gets the steal. Joel zooms to an opening.

"Graham!"

A clean pass falls in between Joel's feet, giving him the surge to sprint. Cole takes a glimpse at the other defenders, who're moving up. He decides to do the same.

"Cole," Jordan nudges him. "Move up a bit more, we're gonna form a diagonal line."

He raises an eyebrow. "Diagonal line?"

"I'm predicting the ball is gonna land on your side, so we need to form a sturdy barrier. We can move faster that way."

"But what if it ends up on the other side?"

Their eyes follow the ball being fought between two players in the centre circle.

"It won't be far apart, Cole. We're not gonna give 'em space. Just trust me on this, everybody else agrees it'll help."

He runs his tongue along his bottom lip. Puzzled, he still obeys and moves into position. What do I do though? What do I do if the ball does come on my side? Thoughts swirl. Doubt rises. But he perseveres, presses on. Defend, duh.

As if Jordan has some kind of telepathy, his prediction is correct. Nebula gains the ball and charges down Cole's side. He studies the oncoming player as mere seconds crunch down the closer he gets. This guy is shorter, so he might be more agile. He bends his knees, then moves after. From the corner of his eye, he catches the other defenders forming the line Jordan suggested before. Be a brick wall. Be a brick wall. Don't scoop like a shovel.

The other player halts for a brief second, then makes a maneuver to deke around Cole. The same movement that Jonah does. Cole's seen this enough times. He lands his foot on the ball, poking it out of the player's grasp. Now that he has the ball, he lifts his head to search for a pass.

"Cole!"

His eyes lock onto Joel. He moves closer to the centre line, then makes a hard pass. Joel bumps the ball to his chest, making it land back to his feet. Cheers erupt.

"Good job Cole!" Coach Ryan hollers.

He pinches his brows together. It wasn't the cleanest pass to him, but enough to get it to the main striker. Then he remembers the formation Jordan talked about earlier. He sees it's now shifted to the opposite side. So he jogs back.

Then suddenly, he hears the cheers explode. Turns around. Joel scored a goal.

———————————

Jonah has a slight limp to his walk. He declines offers from his other teammates to help him walk to the sideline. As soon as he makes it, he lands on his butt in a disappointed thud. He pulls off the sock and tosses it to the side.

"Nash, pass me an ice pack from the cooler please." He says, clinging onto his foot.

Nash nods, retrieving one. "Fuck man, did you sprain your ankle??"

He shakes his head, trying to massage the pain away. "Took a wrong step and landed awkwardly on one foot."

"Shit."

Nash tosses the pack to him, to which he catches midair and applies it without haste. The cold sensation immediately cools off the pain.

Coach John kneels beside him. "How's your knee doing?"

Jonah pauses for a moment. "Surprisingly well."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just my stupid foot now," he says, applying the ice pack on it more firm.

All eyes lock onto the referee blowing the whistle in a more aggressive manner, followed by lifting a yellow card in the air. Boos follow after.

"Who has the yellow?" Nash mutters.

Once the mob on the field breaks away, it's revealed to be Ryder.

"Ryder??" Disbelief is clear in the coach's voice.

"Yo Ryder! What the hell?!" Nash shouts.

Jonah's eyes travel to Ryder, who also appears to be shocked. His hands are up to his shoulders as he backs away. The scene is puzzling to him. Nobody's on the ground, and nobody looks hurt, so what was the call for?

The game picks up where it's left off of, except Flare have the ball. Jonah checks his foot. It's pink, cold to the touch. No signs of a bruise or scrape. The pain has also died down. Relieved, he puts the ice pack to his side and returns his attention back to the game. It remains a back-and-forth battle, with no goals for either team. He half watches, half wonders how Cole is holding up on his game.

After a few more minutes, the whistle goes off, signalling halftime.

All of Thunder walk at their own pace to the sideline. Coach John claps.

"You did great guys."

Nash turns his head to him in annoyance. "Coach, aren't you forgetting?"

"Hm?"

He nods over to the one with the yellow card. "Ryder what the hell happened?"

Everyone stops, then stares at Ryder, who's scratching the back of his head.

"I only gave the guy a small nudge. Apparently that counts as a tackle to the ground."

Nash squints. "Ref's got some favouritism."

Wesley lifts a finger to his lips. "Shut up, dude he's right there!"

"Good then, he needs to hear that."

"Guys, enough," Coach John grabs back their attention. "Just be more careful next time, okay?"

While the coach talks to some of the teammates, Jonah notices Ben jog up to him.

"Yo that was a bit of a scare there," he says.

Jonah smirks. "Yeah, Ryder needs to watch himself."

"No, no dude not that," he points to Jonah's foot.

"Oh. Oh!" His expression turns sheepish. "It um, yeah, it was."

Liam comes up from behind Ben. "How's it doing Jone?"

Instinct makes him look down at his bare foot, that's beginning to warm up again.

"It's fine now."

The whistle goes off again as a warning that the game starts again shortly. Coach John then gathers everyone together.

"Drink some water guys. We're gonna have the same lineup as before, unless Jonah is good to go back on?"

Jonah looks down at his foot, then back up again. He shakes his head. "I think I'll wait to sub on a little later," then he turns to everyone else. "Sorry guys."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Ben smiles.

"Yeah buddy," Liam chimes in. "We're all a team, health comes before scoring goals."

A few others follow after with an 'it's okay' and 'we still got a chance to score'. Even Ryder, who's got a warning behind his back.

"Let's kick their ass this half!"

"Yeah!" Ben says with a clenched fist. "Let's score a goal!"

The soft 'it's okay's' quickly erupt to booming 'hell yeah's'.

Jonah bares a small smile. Despite this being the last game, he's more worried about injuring himself further rather than scoring a goal. If I fuck up, then I'm guaranteed to be bedridden for a week. No work. No activities. No fun.