Decisions Ch. 02

"I promise."

"Good boy." She said, smiling and giving me a peck on the lips. "Now that we got that out of the way, let's get to class." She led me off with a bit of an upbeat to her step. Coming into the C-Building (C is for classrooms. I know, I never would've guessed), we found Mr. Coppergut's class with relative ease. The bell ringing seconds later after we walked in, all eyes were turned on us.

"Mr. Williams!" Mr. Coppergut said in his upbeat manner that I remembered from earlier this morning. "You're almost late. I would've thought you were lost. What kind of class president gets lost in his own school?" He said, from his podium at the front of the class.

Stasi looked at me confused. "Tell you later." I mouthed, before turning back to Coppergut.

"I got held up by a certain someone." I said. Stasi nudged me hard in the side. "What he means to say is, sir, is that he apologizes for being so close to the bell and promises to come early next time." Stasi said, smoothly.

Mr. Coppergut looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. Stasi always had a way of talking or charming her way out of any problem. She didn't like talking alot, but when she did, people listened. "Apology accepted. Thank you, Ms..."

"Sokolov. Anastasia Sokolov."

"Anastasia... ah yes. Of course. Please take a seat here next to Mr. Sands. Chris, take the seat next to Ms. Sokolov... yes, that's the ticket. Ok, now everybody is here, yes. Let us begin! AP Statistics... one of the most useful math courses you'll ever take." He began the introduction to his course.

Mr. Coppergut was upbeat and appealed to everyone in the classroom. With the assistance of another student, textbooks were issued out, along with our first assignments. He gave us a quick lecture on how to analyze and read data before cutting us loose, advising us that: "the only way to really experience AP Statistics for what it is, is to explore it on your own. If you need guidance, feel free to approach the podium!"

Second period Law was the only class I had without Stasi in it, much to my dismay. When she wasn't there it was like half of me had been torn away. Thankfully, I had convinced Lucy to take Law with me, so that filled the void up for the next hour. Her chair was missing a back, modified to fit her massive carapace. It was positioned next to mine at the back of the classroom. When I walked in, Mr. Zasor, a manticore, gave me a curt nod with a "Nice to meet you, Mr. Williams." After no more than a quick introduction and a brief telling of what to expect, he dove right into the course, beginning to talk about John Locke's Social Contract.

I was enraptured during the whole lecture. I loved learning about the law. It was one of my real academic passions. I was decent at all other subjects, but it was something about history that really caught my attention. I was taking meticulous and careful notes, making sure to write down all bits of information I could.

"How was your Stasi?" Lucy whispered over to me over the droning of Mr. Zasor.

"Huh?" I replied, looking up at her. Did I hear her right? That sentence didn't even grammatically make sense. Her eyes, all of them, shifted over to me, a mischievous look on her face.

"I said, how was your Summer? You never sent me pictures of the trip you and Anna took to Russia. Me and Jazz were so jealous."

Oh, I misheard her. A smile broke out on my face at the memories. Sure, it was cold in Russia, but it was just the two of us (not including her family). There was nothing like exploring an unknown city with just you and a best friend. I continued to scribble down notes in my barely legible calligraphy. "It was fun." I said.

"Is that it? It was 'fun'?" She asked quietly, her voice growing quite worried. "Chris, you didn't do it did you? Dammit, that had to have been one of the best times ever to have told her how you felt. You just can't keep putting it off. One day, your chance is going to be lost forever."

You remember how I said that Lucy always had an ear open to me and was one of my biggest confidants? Back in tenth grade, I told her of my feelings for Stasi and she always gave me advice on what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and where to do it. I just always managed to chicken out at the last minute. Even though I felt guilty that I couldn't tell her of the next step me and Stasi took (I wanted to, but Stasi didn't) in our relationship, I couldn't help but feel that this was all a bit funny in a way.

"I know, Lucy." I said, smiling at the irony. "I just never found the right time to tell her on the trip."

She looked at me disapprovingly. "Whatever you say, Chris. I know how you feel about her and I just want you to be happy is all. Maybe if you got it off your chest, everything would work itself out, you know?" She looked back down at her notes, returning to the lecture. All the while, I was thinking about how right Lucy was. Once we get it off our mutual chests, everything did end up working into place, for the better.

I had a free third period with Stasi, Lucy, and Jazz next. Ricky, unfortunately, wasn't with us, being stuck in an engineering class. Free periods were something new, according to the Vice Principal, a Mr. David Anderson. He said they were a way for us to do whatever we wanted for a whole period. Well, I mean, we couldn't do whatever we wanted. We could just kick our feet back, relax, visit a teacher, or do homework.

Fourth period was English Literature with Ricky, Jazz, and Stasi taught by a young Dryad, a Ms. Palmer who had freshly graduated college recently. Unable to find a job due to what she was, her credentials were gladly accepted at Belcourt High School. Bully for her other employers, Ms. Palmer was young, pretty, and clearly a fan favorite of the male portion of the classroom, with the sole exception of yours truly.

Fifth and Sixth period were taken up by AP Biology and AP Government respectively. I only took AP Biology because I knew Stasi was going to take it and she needed a lab partner, having failed to break up Lucy and Jazz as lab partners. I hated science, but I hated disappointing Stasi even more. Besides, it didn't look all that bad. There were only 18 students that took the class in total. Mr. Carson, the biology teacher had told us that there wouldn't be a whole lot of testing in the class, but in fact, there'd be a lot more hands on activities. Optimistic.

My final period of the day, AP Government, was taught by an elderly Mrs. Olsen. It was a government class and also supposedly had a segment where we'd learn all about the different species of Monsters and their respective cultures. It wasn't just a segment to Belcourt, but rather, to every school in the district. They had to know all about the other species that co-existed with them. I didn't really know why I was taking the class. It wasn't required or anything. I just needed a fifth class to fill out my schedule, and the whole gang that they were going to take it with me so why not?

Our little group took up an entire table in the back to ourselves. Well, Ricky had his own little custom-made desk scooted up next to our table to accommodate him. With his girth and size, he'd never be able to fit a regular desk or table all on his own, it'd buckle under his weight. Classes with giants or other large monsters on their rosters were given special chairs, enlarged and reinforced with titanium to support him.

All in all, not a bad day first day at school. I could actually see myself liking it. The teachers were nice and passionate about their subjects, the classrooms weren't dilapidated, the curriculum was new and modern, and best of all, my friends were all here with me. Not my friends, my family.

I was with my family.

Chapter 6:

I'd like to be cliche and say that the school week passed lethargically and slowly, dragging on at a snail's pace, but in truth, it didn't. The week went by in the blink of an eye and before I even knew it, it was Friday. Everyone knows what that meant, game day. Yep, today was the day we were going up against Jefferson High School, my alma mater.

We were waiting.

It's indescribable. There was no feeling like it, waiting for a game in the gym, the silence so thick you could cut it like a hot knife going through butter. Every man was quiet and off in his own little area, either stretching or staring off into space. I was in the corner doing the latter, going through everything in my head.

Contrary to popular belief, football isn't all about the biggest dudes in the school running into each other at full speed, even if that's what it looks like. It actually requires a lot of mental thought and studying. On top of homework, practice, and time spent with Stasi, I always managed to put in at least an hour of studying film each night. I was starting to think that maybe it wasn't enough. Self doubt is a killer.

I was startled out of my thoughts when Ricky sat next to me, his pads already on and buckled in, the white #85 a sharp contrast against the royal blue jersey. "Did I scare you, amigo?" He taunted, patting me on the shoulder and nearly breaking the damn thing. I looked up at him, shaking my head no. My talkative demeanor was gone, I was always this quiet before game day. Of course, Ricky was always a goddamn chatterbox.

"It's ok to be nervous." He said. "Vik over there looks like he's about to throw up." He pointed his finger across the gym at Viktor, who indeed looked like he was about to throw up. He had the 1,000 yard stare of a shell shocked veteran, nervous about what the next two hours were about to entail. Our Junior Varsity team were already taking to the field. The score reports weren't a good sign. We were losing, badly.

"Do you think we're going to win?" He asked. I nodded. "Even though they've got some good players, we've got even better ones, and a better coach." I said, all my confidence behind it. Ricky bumped me with his shoulder pads, buying it. "You're right, amigo. They might have a better team, but we got you." I was touched at the last part. He finally lapsed into silence, closing his eyes. Just as I was about to say something, maybe some quick review on blocking schemes in case we were going to hand the ball off to Viktor, the door to the gym opened and Coach Freddy walked in.

"Gentlemen, it's time to get ready." He said to everybody. "Get your shoulders on and get ready to take to the field. JV's almost done." Almost as if we were soldiers preparing for battle, we methodically put on our equipment. I buckled on my pads, pulling down my jersey over them, the #14 becoming my designation for the next 2 hours. I had wanted #12, for, you know, Tom Brady and all, but it was already taken by one of our receivers. I could've overruled him, but I didn't want to become 'that guy'.

I tightened my straps, slapping my shoulder pads to make sure they were on right and swinging my arms to test my range of motion. I looked around at my team to make sure everyone was doing everything correctly and saw that Viktor was having a bit of trouble. I made a tsk sound, coming over to help him with his back strap. "Thanks." He muttered. "Don't mention it." I replied, nudging him on the shoulder.

He had impressed Coach enough to put him as our starting halfback, second string Cornerback, and starting kick returner. He'd be working beside me both on offense and defense, seeing as I was the starting quarterback and second string Free Safety.

Coach Freddy looked around at us. "Ya'll ready?" He asked. "Yes, coach." We chorused back. We had spent days preparing for this team, admittedly, not enough time to build up our chemistry, but we had prepared as best as we could. We were as ready as ever. "Men, before we get outside. I just want to tell you all that I am very proud of you. You all did a phenomenal job and we'll keep this going. You've been prepared, now it's time to show everyone what you guys can do. Everyone link up, and let's get outside."

I put on my helmet, strapping it in. After I heard the two 'clicks' telling me that I had locked my helmet on, I grasped Ricky's hand, my hand becoming engulfed in his. It was a tradition over at Jefferson that we enter the stadium holding one another's hand. Coach Freddy always said it showed unity and I wasn't one to disagree.

We were at the front of the line and Coach Freddy turned to look at us with a proud look in his eye. The two players he had coached since Freshman year had grown up when he wasn't looking. The quarterback who had entered the team as a 5'6'' undersized string bean had shot up to become me, a 6'3'' Quarterback who was still a bit of a string bean. The gigantic giant that had entered the team as a... gigantic giant, was still a gigantic giant. Just a gigantic giant with better catching abilities.

"You two are the captains going out for the coin toss. Everyone else on the team looks up to you." He said to the both of us. We nodded, replying: "Yes, Coach." He gave the entire team one last look, before nodding. "Alright... let's go." He said, leading us out of the gym, our cleats clicking on the asphalt and sidewalk as we began the long march to the stadium.

From where I was, all the way across the school, I could already hear the crowd. The stadium must've been packed. A lot of the student body had expressed interest in going, no doubt helped by the extensive week-long advertisements by the cheer leading squad and leadership team. Their families must've come too.

When we finally came into the stadium, I felt myself smiling. I loved football, the game, the way it's played, but I loved moments like these when we walked in. It made me feel like I was a hero. When the crowd caught sight of our royal blue helmets marching into the stadium, they jumped to their feet applauding like a thundering stampede of horses, the fresh memories of JV's defeat expunged from their minds, no doubt by the pretty dancing cheerleaders.

My eyes peeked into the packed stands, trying to catch any sign of Stasi and her family, but they were nowhere in sight on the upper levels. I knew they were there, I just wasn't looking hard enough. The stands were truly packed. I don't think i've ever seen so many different species of monster people all at one location.

The line finally came to a stop at our end zone and I let go of Ricky's hand to look at my team. "This is what we prepared for guys. Those are our people in the stands. Let's go make sure they don't leave here disappointed, yeah?" I shouted over the deafening din of the crowd. "Know what you're supposed to do, play hard, play fast, and let's have some fun. Alright, bring it in! Minotaurs on me, Minotaurs on three. One, two, three!"

"Minotaurs!" Everyone screamed.

We all broke off into our individual positions on offense. I was to warm up with the wide receivers and running backs for around fifteen minutes. Boosted by our home field advantage, we were ready to go to war against the maroon and black team on the opposite sideline. I had just finished completing a pass to Viktor when we were recalled back to our sideline for the coin toss.

As I was lining up next to Ricky, Coach tapped me on the shoulder. "Remember what I said about winning the toss." He yelled. I merely nodded at him. Always defer, let the opponent come to you, he always said. The ref at midfield signaled for us to come towards him, along with the other side line's captains. As we walked closer, I squinted at the numbers and recognized one of them (#2) as my old teammate, Jesse Johansson, my old backup.

He looked like a different animal. Still a bit shorter than me, but more muscle packed on him. He wasn't so much as a skinny kid no longer. The look in his eye was different too, his usually passive demeanor was replaced by cold hard aggression.

"Jesse, looks like Coach made you the starting QB. But captain? I never expected that one." I said diplomatically, when we came to the midfield. That was an understatement. Jesse's leadership ability was abysmal. Jesse grinned maliciously at me. "Yeah, ever since your pussy ass went and switched schools. How's the vampire bitch doing?" He always had a mouth on him, but that was uncalled for. No one says that about Stasi and gets away with it. "You little motherf-..." I began, angrily.

"Save it for the game, number fourteen or i'll flag you." The referee said, annoyed. "Jefferson, as the visiting team, you get to decide heads or tails." Just as the referee flicked the coin, Jesse confidently said, "Heads." The coin landed on the turf, me and Ricky leaning forward to look at it. "The call is heads. Would you like to kick or receive the ball?" Jesse thought for a moment. "Receive."

The referee nodded, signaling up to the box where the announcer was. "Jefferson has won the coin toss and has elected to receive the ball." I stuck out my hand, shaking the other two Jefferson captains' hands, but Jesse skipped over me and Ricky. "Good luck, pussy." He taunted. I was just about to retort before I was roughly pulled back by Ricky who guided me into the sideline. "Not worth fighting that little runt. He's trying to get into your head."

As we walked back to the sideline, I looked up at the stands, trying to catch one glimpse of Stasi. I was just about to give up when I saw her, wearing my white away jersey, #14. She was waving at me along with her parents, my parents, Elena, and a bunch of other people that suspiciously looked like businessmen/women. I thought I saw a few of them from somewhere, but I just couldn't put a name on it. I was still thinking about it when we lined up on the sideline and the national anthem was sung.

It wasn't until fourth quarter did things get really interesting.

Chapter 6.5:

I had my helmet off, staring at the field. Our defense was on our own twenty and doing their best to hold out Jefferson High School from scoring. My eyes flitted to the scoreboard, 21-14, we were in the lead with 1:53 left to go. All we needed was just one stop, one end to their drive, and we were going to win our first football game ever.

I was impressed, we've lasted this long so far and showed everybody that Belcourt High School Football was serious. More than that, we showed that monsters aren't inferior to humans, denying them the sweeping blowout that the people at Jefferson had predicted.

"Set, go!" I heard Jesse yell, as he dropped back, cocking his arm to pass the ball to one of his receivers. "C'mon..." I murmured. "Sack him." Our defensive line was wreaking havoc on his offensive line, breaking down the pocket. Jesse tucked the ball, scrambling to the right, with two of our were defensive linemen in hot pursuit, snarling and baying to take him down. I stood up to watch the ball, my heart gripped in fear as Jesse cocked his arm back and threw the ball as hard as he could at his receiver already in the end zone, who promptly caught it and dove to the ground. The referees signaled touchdown.

"Fuck!" I yelled, the stands groaning in disbelief that our defense couldn't step up for one, single drive. Ricky rested a hand on my shoulder. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy, amigo." He said. I looked at him. Like me, he was drenched in sweat, but more so. He had clocked in at both defensive end and tight end/fullback, having only been pulled out moments before because Coach Freddy knew we were going to need him rested up for an offensive drive. They put me at Safety and Cornerback for a few plays in the second or third quarter.

"We just needed one stop." I moaned, putting on my helmet, clicking it in, watching as our kick return took to the field. "Viktor Sokolov, vampire number twenty five and Valerian Hightower, elf number eighty three to return the kick." The announcer said into his mic, his voice magnified and resounding all around the stadium. Excited by the prospect of a comeback for the win, the crowd was on their feet, cheering, and I found myself yelling among them.