A/N: Thanks again to my amazing reviewers!
Chapter 9: Butterflies
For some reason, my stomach filled with butterflies the minute La Push High School was in view. I could already hear the band playing, but that wasn't it. I saw the sea of red and silver on our side of the field, and the almost equal sea of purple and silver on the panther's side. It was definitely a rival game, but that wasn't the butterflies either. Rather, my dad and Seth being within one hundred feet of each other caused the butterflies. And, of course, just looking forward to seeing Seth wasn't helping my situation.
My Dad was singing along with the eighties music on the radio, being overly dramatic, and trying to make me laugh. He was an entirely different man when it was just me and him, no Lily, and no Mom. He actually listened to what I had to say and didn't snap at me when I did things he considered annoying or stupid. I tuned back into the real world again and listened to my dad relive the "good ol' days." He pretended to play the guitar on the steering wheel while driving. At stoplights, he switched to the drum. I couldn't help but laugh at how carefree he was.
We circle the block that contained our school desperately trying to find somewhere to park. In the end, we had to park next to the softball fields. This meant either a medium length trudge through a big patch of grass that made up the outfield, or an excruciatingly long walk around the huge block. In unspoken consent, we went through the grass. Unfortunately, the sight of the fields caused my dad to launch into his excitement over the possibility of me making varsity as a sophomore.
"I know you can do it Kay! We just need to work harder… Add a couple more work outs in, you know? Drop twenty pounds and you're as good as gold!"
I sighed. "We'll see Dad. Homework has been pretty easy so far, but it's only the first week of school… And my ankle still kills me any time I do anything more than walking."
"It'll be good practice! Balance your priorities and tough out the pain." He said cheerfully.
I started picking at my nails. "Dad… I haven't even decided if I want to play school softball this year. After the way Mrs. Gibbs treated me when I sprained my ankle…" Mrs. Gibbs was my Junior Varsity coach. I played diligently for her the whole school season. I also worked my butt off for her as my P.E. teacher. Then, the first weekend of tournament softball after the school season, I sprained my ankle. I had a boot, crutches, bruises, swelling, even a doctors note, but she kept lowering and lowering my grade because I couldn't run. Finally, I just had to drop the boot and crutches and run in extreme pain. It was either that or get a C in P.E., and I was not going to sacrifice my grade point average for something stupid like P.E. Thus, my unhealed ankle.
"But that was P.E. Kayla! This is softball!" He said with reverence. "Plus, if we get you on varsity you get a new coach." He pointed out.
"I know, Dad, but how do I know it won't be more of the same? What happens when it's my ankle a third time, or my rotator cuff? How do I know they won't take away my varsity letter?"
He scoffed. "Then I'll talk to the school about it."
"Like they can or will do anything. All they care about is raking in the championships." I said, sadly.
"Stop being a pessimist Kayla! Look, we can talk about this later, we're at the game!"
I looked up, and sure enough, he was right. We were standing at the ticket booth for the football game. I took out my wallet and executed a sweet FBI flip open to show security my student ID to get in free, since I attended the home school. After passing through the ticket gate, I had to wait for my dad to buy a ticket.
"Kayla!" I heard Aimee shriek behind me.
I whirled around to see her making a beeline toward me, pulling Levi behind her.
"Hi guys!" I said, the excitement starting to build.
"So, I know something you don't know." Aimee whispered in my ear.
"Really?!" I asked, trying to keep my voice low.
"Yep! But I'm not telling!" She said, gesturing that her lips were sealed.
I glared at her for a moment before my dad joined us. His eyes grew wide at the sight of Levi and Aimee's hands clasped together.
"Hi Mr. Scott!" Aimee greeted him cheerfully. "I'll show you where my dad is sitting, ok?" "Hey Aimee, sounds good." He started to relax a bit.
Dad and I trailed Aimee and Levi to the bottom, right hand side of the schools bleachers. I waved to Aimee's dad as my dad broke off from us to join him. Then, I followed the happy couple about four rows up from our dads. Remembering Seth's request to know where we were sitting, I sent him a quick text. Then I felt embarrassed. He probably wasn't even serious. Imagine my surprise when he came bounding up the bleacher stairs and sat down next to me, not even thirty seconds later.
"That was fast!" I exclaimed.
"I was waiting for your text. How long have you been here?" He asked casually.
"Maybe five minutes?" I said, curious. "I would've let you know sooner but I couldn't decide if you were being serious or not."
"Kayla, I'm always serious with you. I promise."
I smiled at him. "Good to know."
With the game rapidly approaching, the excitement started building in my stomach. I could almost feel the electricity in the air. The excitement of two rival teams, an impending storm, and for me personally, Seth sitting less than six inches away from me. Dark clouds were starting to accumulate above us, but they weren't putting a damper on anyone's spirit here. Except I kept shivering, causing Seth to scoot almost imperceptibly closer to me. I could feel his heat radiating through my coat. I turned to him.
"Do you have a fever or something? I can feel how warm you are from over here and all you have on is a sweatshirt."
He chuckled good-naturedly. "No, I'm just a hot person." He winked at me.
My cheeks burned, but I shrugged it off. The football teams came on the field then, each gloating and trying to appeal to the fans. The Wolves side all stood up with a deafening roar, trying to boost the team's moral to sky-high proportions. The band was gallantly tying to be heard over the screaming crowd, to no avail.
Across the field, the Panthers were trying to outdo our gusto. Compared to us, they still sounded like a motorcycle next to a semi-truck, and they knew it. Their football team stopped dancing around and started to focus. Ours did too, but with an upbeat feel that the Panthers just couldn't match.
The moment the ball was kicked off, the sky started to dump gallons and gallons of rain on us. Hoods and umbrellas went up across the field, but the Wolves side was completely covered, so we didn't have to worry. Levi had his arms wrapped around Aimee, so I was sure they were warm. In addition, Seth was warming the immediate area quite nicely, though I was the only one aware of it. The football players were sliding and splashing around in the mud, the ball flying everywhere. The stands were wild with enthusiasm, everyone jumping up and down.
Seth was finally relaxing and getting into the game, yelling and cheering like everyone else. At one point, we jumped up and threw our hands in the air at the same time, congratulating the team on a touchdown, and our hands brushed. Seth smiled at me as if he knew it and didn't care. Little did I know, the real excitement wasn't going to happen until halftime.
A/N: So, what do you guys think? Oh, and did you like the Twilight movie? Leave me a review! And if you care to look, I've updated my blog. :-) Also, If you go to my website, I've added a fun little picture of a mascot for my La Push High Wolves. Lol. I used clip art and paint program.