Hello everyone, here's today's update. It's Casualty day tomorrow ahhhhh I'm so excited as I'm sure all you are too, I've been waiting for this week to be over but it's seemed to drag because of my excitement haha. Thank you for the review on my last chapter they are much appreciated as always. I hope you enjoy this chapter, please let me know your thoughts, thanks, Kayxxx :)
I'd rather be a Knight – Chapter five
Ethan nudged his sleeping brother with his good arm in attempt to wake him; he stirred slightly but remained asleep so he tried once more. Caleb opened up his eyes and realisation grew across him instantly, "Ethan!" He called frantically "how's your arm?" He asked.
The younger boy held up his right arm to show off his cast.
"Broken wrist in two places" their mother stated from behind him.
"Oh I'm so sorry Eth" Caleb sighed sadly but Ethan pulled him in for a forgiving hug.
"I'll leave you two to play but don't be jumping off any beds!" She warned as she kissed both their foreheads and left the room.
Ethan shut the bedroom door after their mother and turned back to Caleb, "y-y-you c-can sign, I-it" he whispered as he pulled out a sharpie from his pocket and held up his cast once more.
"Do mum and dad still not know you're talking now?" Caleb chuckled as he took the pen.
Ethan shook his head.
"Why not Eth? Imagine how proud dad will be of you" Caleb continued as he wrote on his brother's cast.
"I d-don't w-w-want him t-to, be" Ethan replied.
Caleb looked at him confused.
"Don't you- h-have, f-football, today?" Ethan asked changing the subject.
Caleb looked down, "yeah but I don't want to go" he sighed.
Ethan was now the one to look confused, "y-you l-l-love foot-b-ball?" He asked.
"I don't like it that much anymore" Caleb shook his head.
"That's a s-shame" Ethan sighed, "I-I wanted to watch y-you t-today" he added.
"What really? You wanted to come to the match?!" Caleb asked stunned.
Ethan nodded.
Caleb paused for a moment to think before he jumped up out of bed "okay then, let's go!" He called excitedly as he got his football kit on.
"Mum have you seen my boots anywhere?" Caleb called as he kneeled down checked under the couch, Ethan checked under the other couch.
"I think they're in the yard sweetie" she replied.
Caleb darted quickly out into the yard passing his father in the kitchen in the process, then hurried back through holding his blue studded football boots by the laces.
"We're going to football!" he announced as he grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge.
"'We'?" His father asked.
"Yep, Ethan wants to come" Caleb replied as he handed a bottle of water to his little brother.
"Why on earth would he want to do that?" His father scoffed.
Caleb shrugged "he wants to watch me" he replied.
"But why?" His father questioned.
"B-b-because I-I'm, p-proud of h-him" Ethan spoke out sounding confident though only he knew inside how nervous he was feeling.
Both their parents stood frozen in shock as they looked down at the five year old.
Ethan took hold of Caleb's hand and hurried him out of the house quickly.
"T-that shut h-him up" Ethan giggled. The pair laughed together as they ran down the street hand in hand.
They ran all the way to the local football pitches where a crowd of boys and their parents stood around.
"Ah here he is!" One of the boys called as they spotted Caleb hurry through the gates.
"Jesus Caleb we thought you weren't coming!" Another boy sighed with relief as he ran up to him and put an arm around his shoulders as they walked.
"Do you really think I'd leave you lot in the semi-finals?" Caleb spoke sarcastically.
"Ah here's our captain" his coach called as he high-fived him, "ready win another game?" He whispered as he put his captain band around his arm.
"As I'll ever be" Caleb replied confidently.
"We're two boys down today" his coach sighed.
"What really?" Caleb snapped as he looked around at his team mates who surrounded him, "who's off?" He asked.
"Ben and Simon" his coach replied.
"Oh great" Caleb spoke sarcastically, "we don't need them anyway" he added as he kneeled down to swap his trainers for his football boots.
"Who's that?" One of the boys asked pointing over to Ethan who stood slightly back from the group looking in awkwardly.
"That's my little brother" Caleb replied as he gave him a wave proudly.
"Call him over Caleb, I'd love to meet him" his coach proposed, he was so used to young Caleb coming on his own, he never did have any relatives to watch him play.
"Nibbles!" Caleb called and Ethan walked over slowly.
"Hiya kid, I'm coach Peters but you can call me Johnny, everyone else around here does" the coach introduced himself to Ethan with a handshake.
"Or coach JP" one boy chuckled causing the rest of the team to laugh, including Ethan and the coach.
"I'd rather you didn't call me that lads, it makes me sound like a rapper" he shook his head with a smile.
"So what did you do to your arm?" A boy asked as he poked Ethan's cast.
Ethan opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.
Everyone looked at the young boy confused.
"He doesn't talk that much" Caleb explained.
"Is your real name Nibbles?" Another boy asked.
Ethan shook his head.
"No his name's Ethan, Nibbles is just his nickname" Caleb replied.
"Nibbles is cooler" another boy announced causing Ethan to smile.
"Can we sign your cast after the game Nibbles?" A boy asked as he read Caleb's signings.
Ethan nodded enthusiastically.
Ethan stood at the sideline a few feet away from where all the parents of the other boys chatted amongst each other, he heard a few of them talking about him wondering why such a small boy was alone but Ethan was too intrigued by his brother's game to care what they said.
He ran back and forth on the sideline as he followed the ball being kicked at both ends, he cheered when Caleb's team scored and booed when the other team scored. The parents by now had found that watching Ethan was much more entertaining than watching their son's play.
He watched as one of the boys on Caleb's team got tackled and walked off the pitch crying, half time was called.
"W-what's h-happening?" Ethan asked as Caleb ran over to get his drink.
"I don't know but if Joe doesn't come back on the pitch we'll have to forfeit the game, we won't have enough players to carry on" Caleb sighed as he sat down on the grass.
"B-b-but it's t-the semis?" Ethan asked.
"I know, we'll drop out the league" Caleb sighed once more.
Johnny looked over and gave Caleb a shake of his head; Joe wasn't coming back out to play meaning they couldn't carry on.
"Great" Caleb huffed as he threw his water bottle to one side and held his head in his hands.
Ethan sat beside his brother and watched as Johnny talked with his team and the parents, all were looking over at them; suddenly Johnny started to make his way over.
"Hey kiddo" Johnny called as he reached them, "do you fancy stepping in for Joe?" He asked Ethan.
Caleb looked towards him excitedly "yeah Eth come on!" He urged.
Ethan looked at them in shock "I, I-I, d-don't k-k-know h-how" he stuttered badly.
"I've been watching you from the sidelines, you look like you followed pretty well, just do what you saw the other lads doing" Johnny explained, "you'll do fine kiddo, even if you don't touch the ball once it's fine, at least we can continue eh?" He whispered as he kneeled down beside him.
Ethan shot a look at the disappointed look on his older brother's face and then the same look that etched the other team mates face's too and nodded slowly, "yes that's the spirit matey!" Johnny smiled as he ruffled his hair.
"Yes Nibbles!" The boys cheered as Ethan walked onto the pitch sheepishly looking down, he wasn't at all prepared. Before today he'd never even seen a game of football in play, he was already wearing shorts and a t-shirt, luckily Johnny had some spare shin pads, socks and boots that were oversized. Ethan was small for his age whereas all the other boys were at least two years older than him and all tall for their age, he looked tiny and lost within the rest of them but he didn't mind, he was actually quite excited to share the pitch with his older brother.
Both teams took their places for the second half kickoff.
"Thanks Eth" Caleb whispered as he showed him where to stand, "you'll do fine okay?" He smiled.
"Right lads, we've got a player on the pitch with a broken arm so keep the ball low and let's not play rough yeah?" Johnny announced to both teams and every single pair of eyes on the pitch moved towards Ethan; he felt his heart jump into his throat.
The game continued with the ball staying on the other side of the pitch meaning it stayed way out of Ethan's way for the majority of it which was relieving for him though he kept eagerly following everyone's move; he didn't want to let Caleb down.
"Last minute!" Johnny called from the sidelines. Both teams were drawing, if neither team scored within this minute it would go to penalties.
"Nibbles!" He heard his brother call.
He looked towards Caleb and he kicked the ball right across the pitch to his younger brother's feet.
Ethan froze.
He saw a stampede of boys running towards him but he was frozen still.
"Nibbles turn and shoot!" Johnny called from the sidelines.
"I-I-I c-c-can't" Ethan shook his head; the pressure was far too much.
"Thirty seconds!" Johnny called.
"Ethan please, just try!" Caleb pleaded from across the pitch.
He took in a deep breath and turned away from the stampede of boys with the ball at his feet and head for the goal, almost tripping over a few times due to his oversized boots and the fact he'd barely kicked a ball in his life. He stopped before the goal and looked towards the giant rather intimidating goalkeeper who stood before him "there's no way he's under twelve" Ethan thought to himself as he swallowed hard.
"Shoot Nibbles!" One of the boys called reminding him of the reason he was before this goalkeeper in the first place.
He could hear the stampede getting closer. He closed his eyes and kicked the ball towards the goal; at least, he hoped it was towards the goal, there was no way in telling because he still had his eyes closed.
The end of game whistle blew. "Yes!" He heard people cheering, but was it his team or the other team? He was too scared to open his eyes.
"Did he do it?!" Caleb called; he had his hands covering his eyes as he too was too scared to watch.
"He did it!" Johnny called back.
"What?" Caleb asked in disbelief and ran towards his brother who stood covering his eyes.
"D-Did I-I d-do it?" He mumbled as he felt Caleb hold him.
"You did it Nibbles!" Caleb replied as he shook him.
Their team ran towards them to celebrate all chanting the word "Nibbles!" as they patted him on the back and high fived him. All the boys hung around to sign Ethan's cast so there was no longer any white left visible, it was completely covered in writing and doodles. Caleb and Ethan made their way back home both completely bursting with excitement; Ethan was wearing his 'Man of the match' medal proudly around his neck.
They both walked into their house and saw their father sat at the table doing work, their mother was in the kitchen.
"How was the game Caleb?" She asked.
"Amazing mum, we won 3-2 we're in the final" he announced proudly.
"Oh that's great news, well done son I'm very proud" she smiled as she kissed his hair.
"Guess who scored dad?" he spoke as he walked up to him, he would never speak to his father voluntarily.
"You?" His father sighed as he kept on with his working.
"Well yes obviously, I scored two" Caleb replied confidently.
"Great" his father replied sarcastically.
"But guess who scored the third?" He spoke mischievously, his father looked up at him warily due to the tone of his voice, "Ethan" Caleb announced.
"What?!" His father spat out as he looked towards his youngest son.
Their mother appeared from the kitchen once more.
"Yep, if it wasn't for him we would have had to forfeit" Caleb explained as he put his arm around his little brother.
"You let him play football with a broken arm Caleb?!" His father roared as he stood up and kneeled down before young Ethan, inspecting him as he held him close, "he shouldn't even be out of bed never mind running round a field Caleb you idiot"
"But dad he-" Caleb was cut off.
"You break his arm and then you put him on a pitch full of older lads to play football, are you out to hurt him or?" His father spat out as he hugged Ethan tightly.
"Dad he did amazingly, and he's fine look- not a scratch on him, why are you making such a big deal out of it?" Caleb asked confused.
"Because it might not have gone so smoothly Caleb!" His father shouted.
"Well done sweetie, looks like both my boys are going to be sports champions" their mother smiled as she kissed Ethan's cheek.
You could practically see their father's blood boil.
Caleb and Ethan smiled at each other knowingly.
"What's this eh?" He asked as he looked at Ethan's medal, Caleb opened his mouth to speak but his father cut him off.
"Man off the match?" His father read it; Ethan nodded and smiled at him.
"What a load of junk" his father spat out as he tugged on it, snapping it from around Ethan's neck, "junk like this won't get you into medical school Ethan" he huffed as he walked into the kitchen and threw it in the bin.
Tears built in Ethan's eyes as he watched his father, Caleb put his arm around him in comfort.
"Playing football with a broken arm, I thought you were smarter than that Ethan, much smarter." his father shouted as he shook his head, the tears now poured from the child's eyes. Ethan wasn't used to getting shouted at.
"Why are you crying?" His father asked, changing his tone instantly, "what's up son?" He whispered softly to the sobbing boy. He sighed deeply and went to retrieve Ethan's medal from the bin, he placed it in his hand and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"Why can't you just let them be kids?" their mother spoke out.
He stood up and grabbed his briefcase, "I'm going to work" he announced sternly and he left suddenly.
"Come on son let's get you your medicine" their mother led Ethan to the kitchen. Not only was he on his usual medication for his tonsils but also his broken arm now too.
