First Game

"Laura! Hey Laura wait up!" Laura looked behind her to see her boyfriend Axl running towards her with a big grin on his face. "Hey babe." He swooped down to press a kiss to her lips. His arm resting around her waist once he pulled back. He high-fived one of his many friends as they continued to walk. "Hey man." He turned back to her and grinned.

"What's going on?" She asked, taking his hand from her waist and holding it in her own, peering up at him quizzically.

A sparkle entered his eyes as he grinned mischievously. "That my dear would be the first game of the season. Tonight, you will get to see your boyfriend lead our team to victory." He did a strange little fist pump and pulled her closer to his side. "I can almost taste the scholarships roll in."

Laura laughed at his enthusiasm. "How could I have forgotten." She bumped him away gently with her hip but he didn't get far before pulling her along with him. They made it to their classroom and he sat on her desk. "I'll be there. Want me to make one of those little poster things?" She asked sarcastically. His eyes lit up and he pouted at her, she laughed again and pushed at his legs to make space for her notebook. "I was joking, I'm not making one."

"But, but." She stood up and pecked him on the lips before pushing him off her desk. He took the hint and reluctantly went to his own seat on the other side of the classroom, just as Mrs Wakeman walked into the room.

"Today class we will be talking about 'Life of Pi', if you haven't done the reading you will be incredibly lost. Who wants to start?" Axl groaned and banged his head on the table.


She was sat inside one of the computer rooms working on her personal statement for college. Axl had his hopes set on a football scholarship but Laura didn't have the luxury of having a sport to be good at. The only thing she was remotely interested in was swimming but there was no way she felt comfortable enough to join the swim team. She just wasn't a fast swimmer and that was one of the main requirements.

She was glad Axl had a last minute practice so that she was able to concentrate because he definitely would have followed her here and then complained about it for the duration of her stay. Not to say that she didn't appreciate his company, she was pretty sure she was in love with him, but he did make it difficult to do any work.

"Laura, when you're done you can hand it in and I'll look over it before returning it next week." Mr Hawkins had allowed her and a few others use of the computer room during breaks so that they could get any last minute work done.

"Thank you. I'm almost done." She was stuck on her last paragraph and looked back at some of the key points Mr Hawkins had helped her with earlier that day. She grinned when inspiration struck and she typed away for another five minutes before victoriously hitting the print button.

Pausing before she logged off, her eyes were drawn to one of the other programmes on the computer and she hesitated.

It would be a good surprise.


The game was about to begin and they were running late. Laura had gone over to the Heck's house forty minutes before the game began and had hopes that they might get there early so that she could find a good seat. She had forgotten that Mrs Heck was notorious for never being on time, even if it was her son who was playing.

"Mom, we need to go! I have to get changed!" Axl shouted from his place in front of the TV, Laura tucked into one side.

"I'm coming! Give me a minute!" His mom's voice screamed back before she came running out. "OK, everyone let's go! Into the car!" Axl sighed in relief and tugged Laura off the sofa and through the front door. "Wait a minute! Where's Brick going to sit?" Axl banged his head on the roof of the car.

"We'll go in my car!" He shouted, running back into the house and coming back out holding car keys, he motioned for Laura to get into the passenger seat which she did so without a fuss. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?" He snorted, reversing out of the drive and heading towards the school. Laura laughed and got her phone out of her pocket, sending a quick text to Mrs Heck. "What are you doing?" He asked, reaching over to put his hand on her knee, his thumb gently rubbing soothing circles.

"Just seeing who else is going to be there?" She smiled over at him, putting her hand on his and interlocking their fingers.

Axl snorted. "Everyone's going to be there, it's the first game of the season."

They pulled up to the school car park and Axl quickly parked, kissed Laura before running off towards the changing rooms. Shaking her head in amusement, she went to go find his family.


The crowd was on their feet, screaming and cheering as the Orson Hens scored yet another point. Axl slapped the backs of his teammates and got back into position. He took the ball and threw it as hard as he could towards Sean who was open. Sean caught it and ran up the field. Axl followed, determined to make it past the defence and into the scoring line.

Laura didn't know much about football but she knew that Axl was very good. He was able to dodge around the other players well and catch and throw accurately. "Go Axl!" She shouted. She held up a handmade poster that read "Axl rocks!" She tried to make it as awkward as possible. He caught the ball and scored the winning point. Axl's hands shot into the air as he celebrated. He took his helmet off and threw it into the air happily, his teammates rushing around him and jumping on him. He laughed and shouted with them.

Laura was screaming loudly, but so was everyone else so she didn't care. Axl managed to untangle himself from the other plays and his eyes scanned the jubilant crowd until he spotted her. His grin got wider if that was possible and she held the poster in the air once more.

And she winked at him.