If Red Means No, Invert The Color

Chapter 8

3rd Person POV

It's the night of Ridgemont High's homecoming game. The stands were filling quickly with student's raving with excitement to watch their football team score another victory. All wearing their school pride, faces painted, school hoodies, and hair tinted with red and gold, all showing off their pride for their school, but one student was not dressed like the rest. Kieran James was sitting in the back of the stands, his leather jacket wrapped up tightly around him, protecting him from the chilly fall air. He was now off of his crutches, a walking boot now shielded his left leg from harm. But he was grateful for it.

It had been over a month since that night with Everest, they hadn't spoken much sense. Only a casual text message or a nod at school. And it was killing Kieran. He wondered if it was hurting Everest as well. He had noticed that Everest was straying away from him and it hurt. At school he stuck with his usual crowd, including Monica. But the day before today, Kieran had received a text from Everest simply saying, "See you at the game."

So, here he was, waiting for the game to start. He had never been to a football game before, he had no idea what to expect or why he had even shown up. Or why Everest wanted him here after weeks of not talking. They hadn't talked since that dinner.  But nonetheless, there he sat on the cold bleachers, waiting patiently for the game to start. He could hear the marching band beginning to play, his eyes looming over to the wide open football field as they marched on in two separate lines, playing their school's fight song. They were small, and quite pitiful, but he still watched. Soon the cheerleaders pounced onto the field, carrying a banner with their school's name on it, he could spot Monica right away, she was the tallest and the skinniest out of all of them.

He watched as the football team flooded out onto the field, their uniforms shining a bright gold and white. He couldn't spot Everest, not right away, but he knew he was somewhere out there. He saw the other team come onto the field and he watched as the game began. He wasn't sure how the game worked, or how exactly you win, but he watched. He hear a voice speak from a microphone announcing that the game was beginning and he leaned forward, waiting for the game to begin.

After about ten minutes, Kieran felt nothing but confused. All he knew was that Ridgemont was ahead by 6 points and the first quarter was coming to an end. Everest had scored one touchdown, according to the moderators.

The game had ended 48-12, Ridgemont had won, of course, and now Kieran stood leaning against his car at the back of the parking lot, cigarette in his mouth, puffs of smoke floating into the air. He checked his phone several times to see if Everest had texted him, it was 20 minutes after the game had ended so he was probably still celebrating his victory or in the showers. But Kieran still felt confused, why did Everest want him here? He had made it quite obvious what his intentions were, as far as Kieran was concerned. Not to mention, Everest was embarrassed of him. He sighed and put his cigarette out, pulling out his phone from his jacket pocket to find a notification. It was a text from Everest.

"Meet me behind the opposing team's bleachers in five"

This only made Kieran more confused, but he obliged, locking his car and heading towards the opposite side of the field. The stadium was deserted now, the other school's bus and audience were gone as well as the hometeams. From the looks of it, so was the marching band and cheerleaders. The parking lot was practically deserted, but it still made Kieran feel nervous. What did Everest want?

He soon found himself behind the opposing team's bleachers, hidden by darkness, the only light were those of the stadium's behind him and out of view, he stood in the shadows, using his phone's flashlight to light the area around him.

"Turn that thing off" he heard a voice say from in the shadows, he flashed his light forward and saw Everest, out of uniform and in a simple pair of sweats and a t-shirt, sitting down in the very back of the bleachers.