Shy

Chapter 4: The First Game

Rose gave a half grin when she stepped into school on the morning of the second Friday of the school year. T.C. Williams High was definitely a sports-centered school, and their main sport was obviously football. Players and cheerleaders had talked of it nonstop on the bus as it pulled in and there were several flyers scattered around in the hallway. A few posters had even made their way to the windows. The entire hullabaloo reminded her of Riverside, whose sport had been basketball; though Rose had only been to one game.

'At least people aren't as uptight about the whole integration issue anymore,' she thought. The crowd of angry picketers had thinned a bit over the last two or three days, as if they were beginning to realize that their efforts weren't getting anywhere.

All the students whooped at the end of morning announcements when the principal said "And be sure to be there tonight to support the Titans in their first football game of the season, against the Hayfield Hawks!"

Classes were cut to about thirty-five minutes that day to allow a pep assembly and early let-out time and hardly anyone wanted to concentrate on school work. The teachers gave a valiant effort though. Rose spotted Alison with her sketchpad out during Spanish II and Religion classes. The students were a little rowdier than normal in the cafeteria lunch line, and many were outdoors cheering.

Rose thought they didn't need the pep really, as they were already peppy enough without it. Although, what student didn't like shortened classes and getting out of school early?

Rose was a little caught up in all the excitement as she sat down at her and Alison's table. She voiced her greeting to Alison a little louder than normal, partially because of the crowd and partially from the enthusiasm in the cafeteria, then asked if Alison was going to the game. Alison gave a reply, but Rose asked her to repeat it as it had been lost in the noise. Alison sort of rolled her eyes and both girls leaned closer so as to be heard better.

"My sister's a varsity cheerleader, so I'll probably be going to all of them."

"Ah! I'll see you there then!"

Alison shrugged and went back to her sketchpad. Rose wondered how she could concentrate with the racket all around them, but shrugged it off. Eating faster than normal and abandoning her reading material to her locker, she went out side to work off her own animation. Several students, many of them football players, were hollering and whooping at the top of their lungs. Rose didn't bother to hide her wide smile.

She found the pep assembly absolutely pointless, but other people seemed to enjoy watching the cheerleaders perform and the football players show off. Rose easily picked out Gerry and a few of his friends in their jerseys and shouted along with the rest of the crowd when her cousin's name, number, and position were called out.

After the assembly many students went home, as the junior varsity game was first and the varsity game wasn't until six-thirty. Rose decided to stay for the junior varsity game, though she read A Wrinkle in Time throughout most of it, glancing up occasionally when the small T.C. crowd of mostly parents cheered loudly. Many of the varsity players, including Gerry, were seated along the first row, cheering on the younger players and picking out who was really good and how the jv players would help out the varsity roster next year.

After an extra loud cheer, followed by the P.A. system announcing that the Titans had won fifteen-to-seven Rose cheered with the rest of the T.C. crowd. She noticed that the varsity boys were no longer in the stands and realized they had probably left earlier to prepare for their own game. Several moments later they took to the field and began warming up.

Even though Rose had no idea what was going on throughout the entire game, she was able to generalize enough which end the Titans wanted to get the ball too. Mostly, she just cheered and clapped when the T.C. fans did. She had a hard time trying to keep track of her cousin, his number forty-two not always visible after someone on the field yelled "Hut!" and most of the players ran into each other.

Rose did find it rather amusing to watch a young, curly blonde-haired girl rant the entire way through the game. "Ooh! We're moving like molasses out there, for crying out loud! I mean, come on! Uh! Ooh! You guys can do better than that – uh!"

One specific Titan seemed to have trouble staying with his opponent, who was too fast for him to catch and numerous times (or so it seemed to Rose) the Hawk got the ball and scored because the Titan was a mite too slow.

A few moments later and a white boy's father began yelling at one of the coaches because his son had been taken out; the same Titan that was having trouble keeping up with the Hawk twenty-three.

A black player took the white's place, and though he seemed to Rose to not know what he was doing, he did well, tackling the Hawk twelve that got the ball. The same black boy made a few more tackles that seemed to play a key role in the game.

In the end, the Titans were victorious with a twenty-six-to-seven score. Rose had no idea if this was a "really good" score or "average" score, but she applauded loudly with the rest of the fans.

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Ok, short chapter, sorry. I didn't really have much to go on… mostly I just wanted to cover the game.

Rad