Being on the track team had some perks. Deke was officially a "jock" and even a few girls who flocked around the team.
"Show us how fast you are" a brunette stick-like girl cooed, "You're so graceful, like a beautiful butterfly"
"Come off it, Snowflake" her friend nudged her, "Deke doesn't want to do all that, show you how fast he is, do you, Deke" the girls giggled as they headed past the track to the bleachers.
Deke blushed beet red. Nobody had ever really paid attention to him like that.
"Show us how fast you are, Deke!" the football players jeered him from just off the track, Grant shoved his teammates and they made exaggerated kissing sounds at the track team.
"Forget about them" Virgil waved away the football jocks' insults, "They're a bunch of brainless morons"
"And we're what?" Deke looked unsure
"Go Grant!" Daisy cheered from just off the field as the football players pummeled into each other during their pre-game festivites. The game was starting soon, but the guys were still ramming each other, ready to win. The track team had their first real meet happening before the game. A scheduling error had both games on the same day, barely hours apart.
"Oh no" Deke sighed, and gazed longingly at Daisy, in her black jeans and t-shirt. "She's so pretty" he grinned, "I'd like to put my mouth on hers and move it around a lot"
"What?" Virgil laughed
"Only if she wanted to, because that's what makes it good" Deke wasn't really listening to his friend.
"Hey, Trevor and Sequoia came to watch us!" Virgil pointed up at the bleachers, "and aren't those your parents?"
"What?" that snapped Deke out of his daydream. "Nana and Bobo, here? I can't perform like that. What if I mess up – or what if-" his thoughts spiraled out of his mouth.
"What if you win, and then that Daisy chick will love you, right?" Virgil threw an arm around his teammate.
"Yeah" Deke grinned widely
Just then, Principal Carter strode onto the field, a wireless microphone in her hand
"Good afternoon parents, faculty, students" she began, "It is with great sorrow that I have to announce that the track tournament will have to be canceled today as the football team's game had been scheduled prior"
"No" Deke shouted, "This was my one chance to show who I am!"
"Awesome!" Grant Ward whooped with joy. He raced from his teammates and scooped up Daisy in his arms. He kissed her hard, all the while eyeing Deke, who slunk away from the track team.
"Where are you going?" Virgil called out to Deke, "You don't know what's going to happen now"
Deke hadn't missed a thing, "I don't care anymore" he mumbled and made his way into the school building.
The football team set up on the line of scrimmage against the opposing team.
While that was happening, Deke had raced up the school's staircases to vent off his anger until he'd reached the top floor. He flung open the rooftop doors and shrugged his way to the edge of the roof. From that vantage point, he could see the entire scene down below, the track, emptying of the teams, and the football players ready to beat each other into a senseless pulp.
He stepped one sneakered foot out onto the ledge and peered down. Everyone looked tiny, meaningless, just like how he felt.
Down below, Trevor Khan looked up at the school and noticed his best friend perched atop the roof, "Holy crap, Deke's on the roof!"
A crowd rushed from the bleachers and the field to see the spectacle
Elena Rodriguez rushed to where Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons sat in the bleachers, "You're his guardians", she pushed a loudspeaker into their hands. "Go talk to him"
Jemma and Fitz made their way down the bleacher stairs and over to the field, "Deke" Jemma began, holding the megaphone, "You don't have to do this. It'll be alright"
"It'll never be alright!" Deke shouted from the roof top. "I'm going to jump" he wiped some tears on his warm-up jacket sleeve, "Then everyone can go on with their lives, happy again"
"I'll handle this" Fitz smiled at his wife and took the loudspeaker from her, "Deke" he began, "Do a flip" he shouted through the megaphone
Deke put his other foot up on the ledge. He didn't feel afraid anymore.