"Unexpected Rise of Events"

10:33 am

"What time are you gonna be at the game?"

Aerith checked her watch. "Around three-ish probably. That's when it starts, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Try to come a little earlier so you can get your seat."

There was a quiet pause before, "So where were you last night?"

I froze on my way to the bathroom. The dreaded question spawned from Hell. I slowly turned around to face Aerith. She sat on my bed with a curious look in her eyes.

'Tell her the truth. She'll understand.'

'Think so?'

'Hell no. Are you an imbecile or something? Lie, fool. Lie till it hurts and then lie some more.'

"I was just out." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Thinking. Doing some light training before the game. You know…"

She nibbled on her bottom lip in thought as her green eyes studied me. I maintained eye contact for as long as I could before I glanced away out of fear of being exposed. "Okay," she finally said.

I couldn't be sure if she could tell if I was lying or not but she seemed to accept my answer regardless.

"So, anyways..." She got off the bed and slowly approached. "When do you start again?"

"Um… the actual game isn't till three but I gotta be at the stadium by noon for warm-ups and some signing sessions or something."

Aerith checked her watch before circling her arms around my neck. "That means we still got about an hour and a half." Her smiled widened as she winked. "Can I interest you in some late morning dessert?"

Two reasons why I cannot partake in this "late morning dessert":

'Because you're coming out of the closet and because your penis is detachable.'

'Piss off.'

'Admit it, owning a detachable penis would be sick. I mean think of the possibilities. You could store it away so that when you're playing soccer some dumb cheating S.O.B doesn't low blow you. You could also whip it out when lacking a proper weapon in a brawl and be all like, "Yo, this here is my super durable and deadly detachable penis! I'll bludgeon anyone who gets closer with it." And let's not forget, you could also give it to a girl to wear as a strap-on so she could-'

As I was saying, two reasons why I can't engage in a little late morning dessert:

1. CJ is still a little sore from yesterday. Yes, ladies, it does actually take some time for the unit to recharge its batteries. We're not all the marathon men we make ourselves out to be. All those guys who claim they are, are secretly downing large doses of Viagra.

2. Because the overriding guilt consuming me right now would make naughty time with Aerith very, very disturbing. Imagine trying to balance a myriad of emotions while getting intimate with a girl. One moment you're moaning in pleasure and the next you're crying after it's all over, making the girl wonder whether it was really, really good, or if she was just that terrible.

'There's no ambiguity here: in your case it would be the terrible option.'

"Cloud!" Aerith grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Anyone home?"

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it," I blurted out.

She giggled and pinched my cheek. "You're so so silly. Now..." She checked her watch. "We still have over an hour before you have to leave."

"Yeah..." Cue awkward, Cloud induced silence.

"Just what're we gonna do?" she almost sang, like she was teasing me.

I shrugged. "We can play chess."

And... that's how you lose a girlfriend in 0.5 seconds, folks.

'Chess? CHESS? What the fuck is wrong with you?'

Aerith grunted in amusement. "You wanna play chess? Like, actual chess? You got an hour with your horny girlfriend and you wanna play chess?"

I gulped. "Um... maybe?" Honestly, I wasn't so sure anymore. I just felt anxious about everything.

She watched me for a second before her lips tugged upwards. "Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"Take off your goddamn pants and get in bed or I'm taking them off for you."

'I LOVE THIS GIRL!'

Well, it looks like I'm gonna be super sore later on this afternoon.

12:04 pm

The stadium was already packed with fans and media scouring the field, trying to get pictures of or with players. Cameras flashed at every turn like excited light bulbs going off.

Some things were predictable:

-Barret anxiously going over the game plan with his assistant, Palmer, and appearing on the verge of a breakdown. Hey, a huge game involving two of the state's top teams will do that to you.

-Sephiroth being swarmed by a horde of reporters, all eager to get their mics closer to his face so he could just suffocate and die from the lack of oxygen. Jesus, I was really starting to feel sorry for the guy more and more each day. Despite the rabid crowd, in typical Sephiroth fashion, he kept his cool and composure, answering anything possible with little to no emotion on his face.

-Loz surrounding himself with large groups of girls, all jumping up and down eagerly like a pack of sorority kittens. He kept flashing them smiles as he signed autographs on pieces of paper, shirts, panties, parts of their body… You get the idea.

I watched as he let out an emphatic chuckle and slung his arm over a girl, a girl who had this awestruck expression on her face as her arm circled his waist, a girl who eerily resembled the annoying brat known as Yuffie. Wait a minute...

I froze and the noise around me died out as I squinted to get a better look.

That wasn't someone who looked like Yuffie. That WAS Yuffie! Sonnuva… BITCH!

My blood began to boil over as I stormed over to them, pushing my way through an angry flock of women who didn't hesitate to let me know just how rude I was being.

"Yuffie!" Had it been any other time, I would have paid to freeze the look of horror on Yuffie's face right now. As for Loz, the big oaf quickly removed his arm from her shoulder and actually started to blush.

Yuffie raised both hands. "Cloud, listen. I want you to listen bef-"

"Yuffie, what the fuck?" I yelled a lot louder than I'd intended. Several of the girls crowding us hushed down immediately, now interested in the drama unfolding.

It was Yuffie's turn to get upset, pushing herself away from Loz and storming up to me. "Cloud, what the hell? I told you, let me talk first before you go all blowing up."

"Damnit, I don't care! I get on the field and you know what the first thing I see is?" I shot Loz a venomous look. "You, with him! With him!" This was the same idiot who, just the other day, instructed us on how to 'properly treat a lady'.

"So what, Cloud?" she screeched. Part of me was glad for the surrounding ambient noise that drowned us out. Only the people close by were currently capable of hearing us. "So what?"

"So what?" I cried incredulously. "So what? Yuffie, he's a player!"

Loz immediately reacted to this, taking a step forward. "Hey now, come on, man."

"You…" I pointed to him, not caring that he was practically twice my size, "SHUT UP!"

To my surprise he did, raising both arms in defeat before stepping away.

"Cloud!" Yuffie shoved me. It hurt. Not so much physically, but in the realm of seeing her get so angry at me. "Cloud, this is my damn life! You have no right to come in and tell me who I can and can't fucking see!"

"Yuffie, you two were at each other's throats the other day!"

"And now we're not!" she yelled back defiantly.

"Yeah, you go, girl!" another chick in the crowd shouted.

"Quiet, bitch!" Yuffie screeched, prompting the other girl to shut her mouth in horror. Yuffie could be quite scary when she wanted to be. I guess we both could. "Cloud…" Her tone dropped from DEFCON 5 to 4. "We've been hanging out since that day we first met, okay? We've started going out. I like him and he likes me. Deal with it."

"What about Zack, huh? How the hell do you think he's gonna deal with it when he finds out?"

Yuffie's voice suddenly dropped to almost a whisper. "Cloud, Zack already knows."

I felt as if I'd just gotten clubbed in the gut with a bat. She'd told Zack and not me? Why didn't she tell me? "Wh-why didn't you tell me?" My voice cracked just a little. Damnit, stupid emotions.

She sighed. "Because I knew you'd react like this."

"He's not good enough for you," I blurted out. I knew I sounded pathetic but it was all I had.

"That's not for you to decide." Her eyes had become slightly... watery?

Now I know how an angry father feels when his daughter brings home that shaggy and questionable rebel. My breathing slowed down, as did my beating heart. "Yuffie, I just want you to be happy… I don't want you to get hurt."

"I am happy, Cloud." She moved back to Loz and wrapped an arm around his waist once more. He followed suit by draping that giant arm of his around her shoulder. "Let us decide if it'll work out or not, not you."

Feeling defeated, I turned around and stormed away, this time not needing to push anyone out of the way since everyone watching knew now to get in my way.

12:57 pm

I continued sitting on the far end of the bench on the sidelines, away from the media and everyone else. Every once in a while I'd shoot a glance over at Yuffie. Once in a while she'd catch my eye and we'd both quickly look away. I pretty much kept to my own until a pair of slender, smooth legs in flip flops, accompanied by a pair dressed in designer jeans stopped in front of me.

I glanced up, not in a million years expecting to see Tifa and Rufus looking down at me.

"Tifa?" What the heck was she doing here?

"Hey," she said with a soft smile. "How's it going?"

"Um…" Well, I'd definitely be lying if I said this didn't feel awkward, especially with Rufus here. I figured that as long as she was around, as well as hundreds of spectators, then nothing was bound to happen. "What're you doing here? I thought you were back home for the weekend."

She blushed just a little before looking down and kicking the turf with her toe. "I, um… I wanted to see you play, actually. I kept hearing about this big game so here I am."

Okay, people, it definitely does not take a genius to realize that something is going on here.

'Congratulations! That means even an idiot like you now get on with life.'

Rufus kept shooting me a grim look. There were two messages being conveyed by his eyes:

Either the 'I want to fucking kill you right now but can't because my girlfriend is standing right next to me' thoughts, or the 'I want to kill you right now but I'd rather let the opposing team do it first' ones.

I couldn't distinguish between the two.

"Hey, Cloud…" Tifa's face was as red as a tomato now. "I know this is gonna sound weird but, um, could-do you think I'd be able to get an autograph?"

I stared at her in disbelief. Tifa wanted my autograph? Tifa?

'I know. She must have you mistaken for someone else.'

"Why?"

She shrugged like she was embarrassed and said, "I just… I want one from my favorite player."

Her words made my day. Even with Rufus standing there, I smiled back genuinely as I took the small, tight red shirt she handed me with our team logo on it and initialed my signature before handing it back. "There you go."

"Thanks." Her smile lit up the stadium. "Good luck out there today, Cloud. We'll be rooting for you." She gazed at Rufus expectantly for a second before nudging him in the ribs after he didn't respond.

Sighing, he cleared his throat and said, "Good luck, man." Whether or not he'd meant it, he'd done a good job masking his anger.

"Thanks," I said, unsure of what else to say.

He nodded and with that, pulled Tifa along with him as they made their way back towards the crowd. Before they disappeared, Tifa turned around and threw me a smile followed by a wink.

I suddenly felt ready.

2:26 pm

The atmosphere was electric.

Over 80,000 roaring fans really ups the ante. It was even crazier than last week's turnout. Even the stairs were occupied as the stadium was packed with a sea of red shirted fans.

Standing out there on the field with your football gear on, minus the helmet, you really feel part of something something greater. It's probably one of the most spectacular experiences and quite adrenaline inducing. Now I knew why professional athletes always got pumped up before competing. Hundreds, if not thousands of flashing bulbs went off at every instant and I shut my eyes for a moment, simply losing myself to the feeling and the hypnotic sea of chants and screams.

One of the most anticipated games of the college football season. The No. 1 ranked Turks versus the No. 3 ranked Cosmos.

It's rare enough as it is to have two top five ranked teams come from the same state, but to come from the same district? If we win this game, we actually shoot up to the no. 1 spot and they drop to no. 2, so as you can see bragging rights are on the line.

Now, a little 411 before we get going…

The Turks, led by Zack, are a defensive powerhouse. They can score if needed to but their main emphasis is on knocking the cream stuffing out of opponents and never letting them score. They're coached by a highly respected guy named Dyne, who apparently was once a close friend of Barret's before the two had a falling out and became rivals. Like I said, they're defensively minded but it doesn't mean they can't put up points.

Secondary offensive weapon: Tseng. A rich, cocky, cool and calm under pressure quarterback who controls and dictates the offense. From what I've heard, he's like the athletic, football version of Rufus. I wouldn't be surprised if they're friends.

Primary offensive weapon: Rude. This guy is a mammoth killing machine who's basically an offensive clone of Loz, only a little quicker, more agile and way, way faster on the straightaway. Apparently he's ranked first overall at his position and is easily projected to go somewhere in the top five of the draft this upcoming year. Defenses have tried to stop him but he seems to score at will, flattening anyone who gets in his way.

And last but certainly not least is Zack, their captain and best player on the team. My brother, if you can you believe it, isn't just considered one of the best defensive players in the district, but in the nation. My brother (sometimes I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around this) is slated to go second overall in the draft next year.

Care to guess who's projected to go first overall? Yep, you guessed it. The best college player not just in the country, but in the world:

Sephiroth.

If each person's skill could be measured in terms of gravitational pull, Zack and everyone else would be giant planets while Sephiroth would be the sun. Everything ultimately revolves around him.

As far as I go, I'm more like a tiny moon.

'Actually, if we're equating talent to gravity, then you have absolutely none. In fact, you repel people.'

2:33 pm

"Ladies and gentleman…" a booming voice over the microphone shouted out over the deafening cheers. It was Dio, the announcer. "Presenting to you, once more, your beloved mascot for the Cosmos… Red XIII!"

The crowd noise rose to ear-drum splitting levels as the same fiery dog from the week before trotted out. I peeked over at the snack and concession area. This time a beefed up security detail guarded it, just in case Red decided to raid it again like last time. But Red didn't seem interested in that, in fact, Red surprised everyone by trotting up to me and wagging his tail.

"Um, hey," I said, not exactly sure what to say to it.

Its fiery red fur almost seemed to glow and the end of his tail was so bright, it seemed like it was on fire. Red took several more tentative steps towards me. The crowd, along with Bugenhagen, watched in anticipation, waiting to see what the dog would do. When it was inches away, it stopped, looked up at me, lifted its leg, and...

The stadium let out a collective groan, before erupting into a frenzy of cheers.

2:39 pm

"So..." Biggs began from the sideline as we all finished stretching. "How's it feel to get pissed on by the school mascot?" Several team members laughed.

"Shut up, Biggs," I muttered. "Stupid dog." The nerve of that creature, using my leg as a fire hydrant. I was going to get it back, guaranteed. No one ever humiliated Cloud Strife and got to live to tell about it.

'What about that kid in grade two who nudged you in the schoolyard and after you told him to stop he just did it again and again until you cried like a little pussy and ran away?'

'First of all, I was like 6, okay? Second, I didn't just cry like a little pussy and run away.'

'Yeah, you're right. You tried to tattletale on him first, and when that didn't work then you cried like a little pussy and ran away.'

'You… stop talking.'

'I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to you getting concussed. I'm just praying that it happens.'

2:48 pm

While Barret went over the game plan with the defensive unit on the sidelines, I watched an interesting scene unfold just minutes prior to kickoff.

Sephiroth walked out onto the center of the field, being met halfway by none other than Zack. They bumped fists and exchanged a few words before quickly hugging one another. The flashing cameras caught the whole thing.

When Sephiroth returned to the sideline he came up to me and said, "Hey."

I looked up at him. "Hey. What's up?"

"He wants to tell you something."

"Who?" But I already knew who.

Sephiroth motioned with his head towards the lone player standing out in the middle of the field.

With the vomit fairy threatening to return, I started to feel extremely anxious and self-aware as I made my way out towards Zack.

It was a strange, if not extremely emotional moment as we both stood out there, alone but at the same time under the scrutiny of thousands of eyes.

We were brothers, but today our jerseys also added another layer to our already complex relationship: we were rivals.

There was so much I felt like I wanted to say to him at that moment but I knew it wasn't the appropriate time.

Zack extended a hand and when I took it he forcefully pulled me in, enveloping me in a protective hug. His lips came up to my ear and despite the thunderous roars of the crowd, I could still hear his whisper. "Today's the day. You've been given an opportunity. Make what you will out of it."

That's it. No 'Good luck, Cloud.' No 'I hope you have a good game and don't get injured.' No comforting words, no inspiring tips, nothing. Just some cryptic remarks.

But I may have spoken too soon because he then quickly added, "Watch your back today. I'm not supposed to be telling you this but they're gonna have two guys on you for double coverage. They're quick, they're agile, and they hit hard, so they will knock you on your ass if you let them. Don't let them. Keep your head up at all times, okay? I don't want you getting hurt." He pulled away and gazed at me sternly. "Okay?"

I just glared at him.

"Say something," he said.

Okay. "Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"Just how many licks DOES it take to get to the Tootsie roll center of a Tootsie roll pop?"

He stared at me blankly for a second before rolling his eyes in exasperation and shaking his head. "Don't start, Cloud. Just don't." After he trotted back to the sidelines, I did the same.

Was that, like, weird? Sorry, whatever. Cue drum roll please, the game's about to start.