Being A Fangirl

Six

Tori was late. She was late to the game.

She quickened her pace and made her way around the field where the soccer game was being held. Back at home, she had been lying on her bed, staring at the painted Hogsmeade on her ceiling and also deciding whether she should go or not. On one hand, Tori didn't want to get out of bed. But then she remembered she had promised Logan she would come. Reluctantly, she had quickly changed from her pajamas and T-shirt into a sleeveless black button-down shirt and black skinny jeans. 

Tori quickly climbed the steps and sat on the very top right corner of the bleachers, beside a guy wearing glasses who she didn't know and sighed in relief. It was the only place left where she could sit. The game was still going and she hadn't missed it completely. The guy beside her looked at her for a brief moment and then back at the game. 

Tori looked over at the other students. The turn out was great, nearly the whole school was there to witness the game. But there was something off, Tori noticed, most of the people weren't cheering or hooting. They all kind of looked sad and defeated. Some were even holding their heads in disappointment.

The guy beside Tori suddenly spoke up, his eyes still fixed on the ball being kicked among the players. "They never win against Crowcrest High. We have pretty good players and we always reach the finals. But somehow we just can't beat them. We always end up coming second. Every freaking year."

Tori nodded. "W-what is the score?" She didn't know much about soccer, but she had a rough idea.

"It's two to zero. The other team is in the lead, of course." He sighed and went back on watching their school hopelessly lose to the other team.

Tori located the scoreboard on the left side of the bleachers and nodded her head once more to no one in particular when she saw that Crowcrest High was in fact in the lead with two goals. There were only ten minutes left till the end of the game. A couple of players from their school kicked the ball back and forth, making their way out of the opponent's players. One of them quickly kicked the ball to another fellow player before one from Crowcrest High would be able to take it from him. The player kicked the ball attempting to shoot it straight into the net, nearly all the people seated on the bleachers stood up in anticipation, but the player had failed to see one of the opponent's defender coming in the way and blocking his goal.

The Crowcrest High player quickly passed on the ball to his teammate and with swift and smooth coordination, they led the ball near to their side of the goal. Tori spotted Tyler coming in to block the player's attempt at making a goal, but the ball passed from under his leg as he tangled it with the other player. Before sliding down on the ground, probably scraping his leg along the way, Tyler's head turned to look at the ball. So had everyone else's who was watching the game. The goalkeeper jumped and attempted to block the goal, but it slipped past merely a few centimeters away from his gloved hands, hitting the net behind him.

The opponent team went wild with joy. The players jumped around, patting each other on the back. All the students slumped back into their places, some even holding their heads in their hands. Tori saw their school's coach making a 'T' sign with his hands from the sidelines, signalling a timeout to the referee. The referee nodded and blew his whistle, calling for a one minute timeout.

All the players gathered onto the sidelines, towards their respective coaches. They had only a minute. Tori scanned the group of players standing with Coach Peterson to look for Logan and after a few seconds her eyes landed on him. Sweat gleamed in the sunlight, trickling down his temple. His eyebrows were furrowed and there were creases on his forehead. There was no hint of a smile on his face which he usually had. He was standing with his hands on his waist, wearing a worried expression. The coach kept talking to the team and the other members nodded their head, but Logan didn't seem to be paying attention.