A couple of days had passed since Cassandra's confrontation with Max and Kara. She was walking around the school, pleased with the progress she had made. She had admitted a couple more students; a prep named Eric, two nerds: Dylan and Nyla, two more jocks: Ross and Seamus, two student govs: Jessica and Jacob and two gamers namely Taylor and Ashley.
She had gotten to know each one individually and talk to them. Whenever they needed her help, she offered it. No questions asked and no strings attached. That was the best way to build a rapport with each of them and make them feel welcome. She had held a Lightning Bug convention at the school and at Jessica's suggestion, began decorating the school to 'give it that pizzaz' as Jessica put it. She'd also helped Seamus compete in the Iron Warrior competition and he'd won, which had left Cassandra with that warm fuzzy feeling of being a part of someone's success.
Cassandra was walking with Jessica and Jacob who were giving her a run of things when Autumn stopped by. The other students weren't fazed by Autumn's presence in the school. They had become accustomed to it and they treated her like one of their own.
"Hey, Cassandra," Autumn called out as she ran over to the trio. They stopped and Cassandra told the two student govs, "I'll catch you two later."
They went off, leaving Cassandra and Autumn alone. "Hiya. What's up, Autumn?" Cassandra asked.
"I know we need to recruit more students to keep this place open...and I just thought of someone else we could recruit."
Autumn looked excited and Cassandra motioned for her to continue with a wave of her hands. "His name is Julian and he happens to be a star football player at Hearst. But he's been having problems there of late. I can go get him and meet at the benches. Sounds good?"
"Sure. Meet y'all in a few." Cassandra nodded. She went and sat at a bench which was near the water fountains. She loved watching the water flow and she put some music on her phone as she waited for Autumn to bring Julian over. After a wait of ten minutes, she spotted Autumn walking with a tan guy with spiky black hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a green jersey and he had a football in his hands. They came over to where she was sitting and the guy offered his hand in greeting. "The name's Julian," he introduced himself in a deep voice. "Autumn tells me you're recruiting people."
"That's right, " Cassandra affirmed as she took his hand and shook it.
"Remember Max?" Autumn spoke up.
'How could I forget him?' Cassandra thought darkly.
"He joined the team a couple weeks ago and the principal is insisting that he plays Julian's position," Autumn continued, a sad expression on her face.
"That sucks," Cassandra remarked, a dark expression crossing her face.
"Look, I didn't sign up for a share circle where we talk about our feelings," Julian scowled. "This is my problem, no-one else's."
Autumn looked at him and said, "You shouldn't have to be treated like that. No-one should. You can join Cassandra's school."
"Yeah? Well, here's the million dollar question; how's your football team?" he asked Cassandra.
When Cassandra heard this, she shuffled her feet on the ground uncomfortably and sighed. There was no getting out of this one.
"We don't exactly have a football team right now. We're just starting out as you can see," she explained, her cheeks getting red from embarrassment.
Julian gave her a look of disbelief, "You're kidding me." When Cassandra said nothing and looked at the ground, he snorted and turned to Autumn, "Autumn, you don't know me that well but I'm a football guy. What would I do here? At Hearst, I get some time at the field."
He turned to leave and Cassandra blurted out, "Doesn't mean we aren't going to start one. You could start up the team you know."
Julian turned around and quirked his eyebrow at her in interest. "Oh yeah? Know a lot about football?"
Cassandra strode over to him and placed a hand on his chest and said with a smirk, "Sweetheart, I am football."
Julian's handsome face lit up with a smirk of his own and said, "Oh yeah? Then you ready to go long?"
Cassandra jogged a few meters away from Julian and yelled back, "Always ready!"
"Then go!" He threw the ball in a perfect spiral and Cassandra ran after it and caught it effortlessly. She jogged back to where Julian and Autumn were standing and handed the ball back to Julian.
Julian took the ball and commented, "Not bad, Cassandra. But I have to say there's not enough room to throw a ball around here. I may not be Hearst High's biggest fan, but at least they have a field."
"But...," Autumn tried to interject but Julian cut her off.
"Sorry, Autumn. Gotta head back. There's a game today and there's gonna be a college scout there. You coming?"
Autumn looked unsure, "I don't know. Not a big football fan."
Julian's face looked crestfallen at this. "Oh, I get it."
Cassandra noted this and nudged Autumn, who got the message. "But I could come by, take some pictures."
His face lit up and shot her a brilliant smile. "Great, I'll see you there," and he walked off.
Cassandra watched him walk away and in a disappointed tone, said, "Sounds like he's out."
"No, I actually think we still have a shot of recruiting him. But he was right about not there being enough space," Autumn noted.
"Well, if he actually bothered to tour the place, he would have found a football field nearing completion, along with other sports facilities," Cassandra smirked.
Autumn shrugged and said, "Too late for that. We'd better buy tickets to go see Julian play."
Cassandra nodded and invited some other students to go watch the game with them at Hearst. In the afternoon, Autumn met them at the front of Hearst High, tickets in hand. She handed each of them a ticket and asked, "Ready to watch the game?"
Cassandra grinned widely and replied enthusiastically, "You know it, sweetheart!"
She put an arm around Autumn's shoulders, who laughed and they went towards the field and found seats at the bleachers. The game started and Cassandra watched the game with interest and she had to give credit where it was due; Hearst was really good. Then she noticed Julian was not on the field and took a look at the benches and noticed Julian was pacing up and down in an agitated manner. He said something to the coach and the coach shook his head.
"What's going on? Why won't the coach put him in?" Cassandra wondered.
Autumn answered sullenly, "My guess would be that the coach wants the spotlight on Max. No chance of that if Julian plays."
Cassandra narrowed her eyes and muttered, "That's bullshit."
"Don't I know it." Autumn agreed with a roll of her eyes.
They saw Max jogging towards Julian and gloat in his face. By Julian's angry expression and Max laughing, they presumed that whatever Max said had riled Julian up.
"Why do I have a bad feeling that some shit's about to go down?" Cassandra asked uneasily.
Cassandra was proven right when Julian lunged at Max and tackled him to the ground. Punches began flying and the crowd started jeering and hissing.
Autumn gasped and shouted, "We need to stop this!"
Cassandra was already on her way down to the benches and she pushed her way through the bleachers and reached where the two were, with her friends behind her. Cassandra used her strength to pull Julian off Max and the others held him back from trying to rush Max. Max stood up and tried to get at Julian but Cassandra pushed him back and she shouted at him, "Enough of this!"
"Nobody asked you to get involved! Who do you think you are?" Max demanded.
"A concerned citizen," Cassandra replied.
The referee blew the whistle and the crowd's jeers grew louder. Max yelled at Julian, "Thanks a lot, Julian! You just cost us fifteen yards!"
The coach's expression was livid and he yelled at Julian, "Vega! Hit the showers! Now!"
"Aww, got to watch that temper of yours, buddy!" Max taunted.
Julian started, "I... "
Cassandra interrupted him, "You don't need to take this. Let's get out of here."
She took his hand and led him out of the field, shooting Max one last withering glare.
They went back to Cassandra's school in sombre silence. They went to the jock hangout and then Autumn spoke, "Julian, you really shouldn't have done that. What were you thinking?"
"Okay, maybe going after him wasn't my finest moment. But Coach doesn't play me for the entire game then Max decides to laugh in my face about it?" Julian rants.
"I know you like to be this brooding, muscular guy but honestly you shouldn't have done that!"
"We can debate the past later, Autumn," Cassandra said and shot her a meaningful look to let the matter go. She nodded and sighed.
Julian took out his phone after it binged with a text and his face darkened at the contents of the text. "Great! The principal told my dad what happened and he's livid," he seethed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at Cassandra and continued, "I can't go home right now, Cass. You have a place I can cool down?"
Cassandra nodded and led him towards the bench near the fountains and he sat. She said, "Stay as long as you need. Holla if you need anything."
"Will do. I appreciate this, Cassandra. You aren't so bad," he complimented.
Cassandra gave him a smile and went off to the admissions office to see if anymore students had enrolled. She found that she had two varsity students, Sean and Aaliyah, a female jock, Contessa and a class president, Alexia. The lady who worked there also told her that the football field had been completed and also the presidential hangouts were ready.
Cassandra rushed to the field and admired the view. She went by the Class President hangouts and greeted the new students with a hug and ensured they were settled in. After all that was done, she went back to the jock hangout and heard Autumn and Julian talking.
"You really should enroll here at Avalon. They make sure you're welcome her from day one," Autumn pressed.
Julian sighed and said with uncertainty, "I don't know Autumn. Like I said, I'm a football guy. What will I be doing here if I won't be playing football. I need to be on a team that scouts will consider."
Cassandra then cleared her throat and the duo turned around and faced her. "If I may," Cassandra started, then she faced Julian. "Julian, you'll be starting the team. I have guys willing to play but they need leadership. Give them a chance. Give this place a chance," Cassandra appealed.
Julian looked at her then Autumn who nodded earnestly. He sighed and agreed, "Okay. I'll come by tomorrow and I'll see what you guys got."
"Great," Cassandra beamed. "See you tomorrow."
The next day, Cassandra in her jock uniform led to Julian to the newly opened field, where the other players were waiting on him. Julian was awed by the size of the field and whistled. "Whoa! Not bad, Cass. You sure know how to impress a guy. But I'll be even more impressed once I see whether you guys are all talk or you can actually play ball."
"Why we standing around, then? Let's do this thing!" Cassandra enthusiastically shouted. The others cheered and Julian began arranging them into positions and ran the practice drills with them. After an rigourous hour of training, Julian called a break. Cassandra was panting heavily but she and the others went to where he was and he began making his remarks, "I have to say, I wasn't entirely sold on joining this school but I'm impressed you guys managed to keep up with me. Good work and quick thinking, especially you, Cassandra. You could be quarterback material."
"Heh, thanks," she said.
"Now, we still have a long way to go. A couple athletes running a few plays is a long way to go from a football team that can bring home a win," he continued. "You still have to work on your stamina, speed not to mention your footwork. But you know what I see in this team? Teamwork. Something Hearst forgot a long time ago. Together, we can make this school a winning team. And we'll take Hearst High down."
"Un momento," Cassandra piped in. "Does that mean that you're enrolling with us?"
He nodded, "I'd be honoured to join your school."
They all cheered at this and Cassandra gave Julian a huge hug which he returned and they laughed.
"Welcome to Avalon High, Julian. Home of the Knights." Cassandra said happily.
"Thanks," he beamed.
She led him to the admissions office for registration and Julian became the newest student of Avalon High.
Author's notes: So, I decided to change the name of the school team from Wildcats to Knights. I wasn't sold on the whole Wildcats thing. I also admitted my students in groups of two; boy and girl, hence the whole duo thing. As always, reviews and ideas are welcome but no flames. I apologize for any grammatical errors or typos. See you next update. Bye bye! Canary out! : )