Today has been odd.
Actually, the past month has been weird. One odd mishap after another.
Now, I know that means nothing to you, and I really wish I could somehow let you live my experience of all that has happened the last few weeks, but I can’t. So, I’ll do my best to explain it to you.
It was a Friday, which let me start my day in a good mood. For most, Friday just meant it was the last school day until the weekend and believe me, I look forward to my weekend as much as the next person. But for me and a few dozen others, it was more. It was gameday.
My name is Jason Grey. I’m 18 years old, and a senior in high school. It was still fall but man let me tell you, I was already crawling through the school year day by day. Senioritis is real son.
I stepped out of my apartment and felt the cool Cincinnati air hit my skin. Backpack in tow I took the elevator down to the ground floor and walked over to my car. Starting the engine and getting in I sighed, then began the drive to school. Like most other high school seniors, by this point I was just going through the motions at school. Easy classes, laid back teachers, and of course, absolutely no desire to make the daily early morning drive to school at 7 AM.
Luckily, I had some pretty good friends to get me through school for now. I pulled into the school lot and parked.
“Hey, Jason!” speaking of which…
“Sup man,” I say as I step out of the car. The guy currently jogging up to me is my best friend at this school, Riley. He was tall, 6’4 to be exact. He had medium length blonde hair and was wearing the same varsity jacket as I was, with a pair of jeans. He came over and thumped me on the back.
“Ready for the stats test today?” My eyes briefly widened. Shit.
“Yup.” I replied as quick as I could. I got a chuckle in return.
“Yeah right, when have you ever been ready for a test?” I gave him a sideways glare.
“Then why ask?” He shrugged.
“I don’t know, habit, I guess. You know, it isn’t even that hard of a class, but if you keep failing like you have coach won’t be able to come up with any more excuses to keep you eligible.” I grunted in response. That was the thing about Riley, he might stick his nose in your business, but it’s kind of handy to have to someone like that around.
“I’ll figure it out, if I need I can- “I suddenly stopped walking. “Aw, crap.” Riley stopped too.
“What?”
“I left my damn apartment door unlocked when I left, and there’s not any time to go back.” I said dragging my hand down my face. Riley looked over at the front of the school where other students were filing in.
“You want me to talk to Mr. Stevenson? I could tell him why you’re late.” Mr. Stevenson was our principal. Described as cold and grumpy by most, he was decent to me. I guess that’s one advantage of being one of the best athletes at his school. Still…
“Nah, it’s not worth it, I’ll be fine.” I continued walking towards the school motioning for Riley to follow me. “Nobody has ever tried to break in before, and there’s not anything worth stealing anyway.” I chuckled for a moment. “And I’ll put money on that nobody picks today to try it for the first time.”
RIIIIIIING
The bell for 5th period rang throughout the school. I sat at my desk twiddling my pencil through my fingers as the last few students wandered in. I had no friends in this class to screw around with, so I always spent this period in the back on my phone going over game film. Since we had a game tonight, I’d definitely be putting my earbuds in and zoning out in the film.
At some point the teacher started talking, but it was everybody’s guess but mine what he was saying. He never left his desk, so I’d be in the clear. Around halfway through class and one chewed up pencil later I vaguely picked up the sound of someone saying my name. I ripped out my earbuds as fast as I could and stuffed my phone in my lap I looked up and expected to see the teacher ripping into me about not paying attention, but instead I saw he was still at his desk using his computer to show something on the board. I looked around a little bamboozled and then heard a giggle come from my left. I looked over and saw the girl next to me holding a hand over her mouth to quiet her laughter. She leaned towards me.
“You having trouble over there Jason?” She whispered. I was at that moment I realized in my haste to make it look like I was paying attention I had attracted the stares of most of the students around me.
“Uh, no…I’m good.” I said quietly as I picked my phone up and put it back on my desk. She giggled again.
“If you say so.” Much to my ire, she leaned over and looked at my phone. “Oooh, you getting ready for the game tonight?” She batted her eyelashes. “You’re so dedicated.” I cringed a little bit before reaching for my earbuds again. The girl’s name was Claire, she was one of the most popular girls in my grade. A brunette with a great body, most guys eyeballs pop out of their head in the halls when they see her. To me she was just another one of the distractions from my season I didn’t need around.
Not to mention she was one of the girls that willingly leaked her pics around school on purpose for attention.
”Yup.” I said, putting one earbud in. Before I could put the other in though she grabbed my arm.
“I’ll be there tonight, maybe you’ll see me?” I turned back to my desk.
“Probably not.” But before I could get my last earbud in, she grabbed my arm again.
“You know, me and a some of my friends go hang out at my friend’s house after games, drink a little, wanna come? It’s a great time.”
Now don’t look at me like some saint for not wanting to do this. Hey, me and my friends have done plenty of shit that’ll make for some great speeches at their weddings. But being the antisocial worm I was, the idea of a large party brought a cringe to my face. Realizing there was no getting her to leave me alone until I agreed, I gave her the best response I could without agreeing to go.
“I’ll think about it,” I lied. Hopefully that was enough to get her to leave me alone.
“Ok, hope you’ll be there, I promise you won’t regret it.” She gave me a predatory look as a I finally got my last earbud in. I nodded in response.
The rest of the day went by uneventful, with the occasional ‘Good luck tonight’ from passing students and fist bumps to my teammates passing by. Finally, the last bell of the day rang.
RIIIIIIING
I couldn’t have gotten out of the classroom faster. Earbuds in, I jogged down the hall towards the stairs. I hopped up on the railing and slid down it to the first floor. A few hallways later I reached my destination. A banner with GOOD LUCK PANTHERS on it hung over the door, painted by the cheerleaders earlier that week.
I gripped the handle and swung the heavy metal door open as I entered one of the most infamous places in any high school. It was feared by many, stories of smells that could kill and of band kids that never returned. The place where underclassman boys became men, and where personal space was nonexistant.
The locker room.
The second I opened the door the smell assaulted my nose, but it was no matter. After four years one’s nose just gets used to it.
“OW! WHAT THE HELL?!” I looked to my right to see one of my teammates on the ground being assaulted by a violent towel whipping. He jumped up and grabbed the other guy by the neck and the two laughed as they shoved each other around. As I looked around, I could see a lot of guys already getting into our pregame attire, while others were chilling on their phones, and there was even a group in the corner playing cards. I felt a smile tug at my lips. Once you got used to being in here for so long, this place felt like a second home. And after four long years in here, that’s exactly what it was for me.
Before I could grab a chair though I was put into a large chokehold from behind and receiving a noogie as well.
“IT’S GAMEDAY!” A voice shouted from behind me before letting me go. I laughed, knowing exactly who it was.
“It was gameday all day today Riley, what’s with the sudden enthusiasm?” He grinned.
“Cause school is a bummer on these days, but now we got the game tonight, then the whole weekend is ours.” He held out his fist.
“You got that right,” I responded, bumping his fist with mine. I walked over to my locker (In the back corner mind you) and pulled my chair out. At the beginning of the season the other seniors protested me sitting in the back corner near the underclassmen, but I liked it that way. Quieter with less attention drawn to me. I patted the freshman next to my locker on the back and sat down. Riley was still behind me.
“Come on man, where’s the enthusiasm? We’re gonna kick some Eagle ass tonight!” I just shook my head, lightly grinning.
“You know I’m ready, I just choose to get ready differently from most.” I began taking my gym shoes off to put my slides on. A voice yelled out behind Riley.
“Oi! Riley! Listen to the man and let him get ready his own way, yeah?” Said another one of my fellow seniors, who walked up behind Riley. He wrapped an arm around my best friend’s shoulders. “Hell, if everyone had your loud obnoxious way of getting pumped the school would have to install soundproof walls in here.” He said laughing. Riley rolled his eyes and brushed his arm off.
“Yeah, yeah, maybe you could use some of that energy, might make you tackle a bit harder Dennis.” Dennis was another one of my closer friends on the team. A bit smaller like me, he was one of our safeties on defense. He was 5’11 with short cut black hair. At Riley’s comment he scoffed with a small smile.
“I see how it is, just because I don’t have scouts looking at me every game like you and Jason, I’m automatically trash.” He patted Riley on the shoulder. “I’d check the stats man, cause first team all-conference is coming this way,” he said pointing at himself.
“WOAH hold up now!” Another guy came around a row of lockers. He sported a goofy grin and playful mirth in his eyes. He stood at 6’2 and had messy red hair. He gave a fake incredulous look at Dennis. “First team? The day that happens is the day a kicker wins the MVP for the conference this season.”
“Hey! Watch it!” Another voice shouted from across the room from our kicker. The rest of the guys laughed. Dennis turned to the guy who made the comment.
“Hey, I wouldn’t be talking trash if I were you Mark, last time I checked you’re close to being the first senior to ever loose his spot to an underclassman!” Most of the locker room got quiet at that with a few ‘Oooooo’ here and there. Mark jumped on Dennis’ back and wrapped him up in a chokehold.
“Yeah but I could still whoop you and you know it!” The rest of the locker room cheered my friends on as they went at it. I smiled as I continued to get dressed. While my friends traded their daily insults and banter, I had put my earbuds back in and gotten dressed in my pregame attire. My friends might be a little wild, but these guys were the people who got me through these last four years, especially when times got really rough for me. We were a tight knit team, and us seniors treated each other like family. I ignored the loud commotion for a minute before a voice loud enough to get through my earbuds rose up.
“HEY!” Immediately every guy in the room stopped what they were doing and looked to the door. Our coach was standing there with his hands on his hips. Our coach acted like the stereotypical loud angry coach, but in reality, he was awesome with us. “I understand the excitement, but we’ve still got a few hours before we head out to the field, so chill out a bit.” He began to turn and head out of the room before stopping and turning back around and pointing at my friends. “And leave my Quarterback alone! He’s getting focused!” With that he turned and walked out of the room. The team looked over at me in my chair, then filed back to their lockers and let me sit in silence.
A couple hours later, once we had eaten our team meal and gone over last-minute adjustments with our coaches, we all sat in mute silence waiting for coach to tell us it was time to march onto the field. At the front of the room by the door were all the seniors and the other starters. Further back was the JV, and behind them were the freshmen.
I was sitting behind all of them.
Nobody dared to look at me or say a word as I sat there twirling a ring around between my fingers. I did the same ritual right before every game, and everyone in that room knew especially not to bother me at this moment. I let my eyes fall over the shiny polish of it as I studied every detail. I admired the gemstone in the middle, the engravings on the side, to finally the markings on the inside. I closed my eyes and made a fist around the ring over my heart before I stood up and placed it back in the top of my locker. I eyed the envelope in the back, then deposited my earbuds and phone as we would we heading out any second now.
As expected less than a minute later our coach swung the door leading outside open and stuck his head in.
“Show time boys! Let’s get it!” A loud cheer rose up as every boy in the room stood up, clanging their helmets against the lockers, making a noise like thunder. Shoulder pads knocking against each other, the team quickly filed their way out the door. I could already hear the distant sound of our drumline and the cheers from a packed stadium. It brought a familiar rush to my senses. Adrenaline. I kept a serious face as I exited last outside the locker room. My coach grabbed me by my shoulder pads as I passed him.
“You got this Jason. Be confident in who you are, and everyone here is behind you, show them who you are.” I nodded, put my cyan blue helmet on, and broke out into a jog.
I had a job to do.
Three Hours Later
The locker room door was thrown open.
“YEAAAH!”
“LET’S GOOOO!”
The team poured back into the locker room shouting cries of victory, pumping their fists in the air and knocking loudly against the lockers. Celebratory chest and fist pumps were traded by everyone and there wasn’t anyone without a smile. I finally came through the doorway to be met with a loud ovation.
“There he is!”
“Atta boy Jason!”
“Way to give it to ‘em!”
I nodded in response as I walked by, even letting a decently sized grin grow on my face. We had destroyed them. Riley and Dennis came over to my locker while they were removing their shoulder pads.
“Oh man, we really gave them hell, didn’t we?” Dennis cheered. “Those Milford chumps are gonna have to wait until basketball season to try to get any dignity back after that slaughter!” Riley grinned, putting his pads on the ground and began to take his cleats off.
“Yeah, good luck to them with that, they’re lucky Jason here doesn’t play basketball or that’d be a wipeout too!” I looked up at him with a deadpan expression while removing my own pads.
“Are you kidding me? I’m five foot ten. I have no business around a basketball court.” He shook his head.
“Nah, that doesn’t matter. You’re still the most athletic kid at this school.” I spared a smirk at that.
“I wouldn’t be if I didn’t have you blocking for me. These high school kids take one look at you and shit their pants.” He let out a hearty laugh.
“You got me there, if”- he was cut off by a loud cheer rising up from the other side of the locker room. The three of us looked over to see Mark standing up on a chair, shirtless and a wild look in his eyes. Thing is, if you know Mark like we do, you learn to recognize when something good is about to happen. He reached behind in his locker and pulled out a couple pieces of paper.
“Hey! This is a story the local news put out a couple days ago! Talks about how we’re overrated, that we had a decent shot of losing tonight! I’ll show them what we think of that, someone pull their camera out!” The room responded by half of its inhabitants immediately pulling their phones out. Mark reached behind him and when he opened his hand, there was a lighter sitting in it. He pointed at our guys recording him. “Hey! Who’s overrated now?” he opened the lighter and set the papers aflame. The team cheered and shouted as he dropped the smoldering papers to the concrete floor. The room was going wild, everyone crowding around Mark.
“And someone get some music on in here! It’s time to celebrate!”
When I finally walked out of the locker room for the final time that night, I had my backpack hanging from one arm, and my dirty clothes from the other. I let out a loud and audible sigh. The adrenaline had begun to wear off, and fatigue started to take its place. I walked to my car in silence, and when I got there, I opened it up and carefully laid my stuff in my trunk. In other parts of the parking lot, students were piling into friend’s cars, excitedly chatting about one thing or another. I opened my driver’s side door and got in, and when I closed it, it was finally silent. I let out a deep breath and softly smiled. This was one of my favorite parts of Friday nights. The calm that followed the storm after a wild game. I put my car in drive and began to drive.
Time to get a nice big meal, and then ice bath here we come.
As I drove, I let the day’s events recollect in my mind. I chuckled to myself when I realized I could be at Claire’s about right now, in for a wild night. I smiled to myself.
Nah, a quiet night to myself is waaaay better.
It had been a good day. Actually, it surprisingly been a great day. And I was exhausted, my bed sounded great right about now.
An hour (And one full stomach) later, I pulled into my apartment’s parking lot. As I pulled into my spot, I started to notice a few bruises here and there forming at various places on my body.
Ok, first that ice bath, then I can hit the sack.
I grunted as I slung my backpack back over my shoulder and grabbed my clothes. I pondered taking the stairs, I only lived on the second floor after all, but decided against it. I was tired. As I stepped into the elevator, I took a look at my phone for the first time since early that afternoon. I furrowed by eyebrows together when I saw I had four missing phone calls. I clicked on the phone app and was even more surprised to see who the number belonged to. All four missed calls were from the same person, my landlord. I considered calling him back right there and then but decided against it. I just wanted to get into my room, I’d take care of it in the morning.
The elevator door opened, and I walked over to my room. Internally scolding myself I realized I didn’t need my key to get in, I had foolishly let it unlock this morning. I opened the door and dumped my clothes and backpack next to the door. I yawned and trudged over to the fridge. It was when the light from the fridge cast over the interior of my apartment, I noticed something was off.
A dark shape stood right where my couch usually sat. In my sleepy state, I simply walked over to the light switch without a concern, expecting to see my vacuum cleaner I had left out, or a pile of clothes stacked on my couch.
That was not that case.
When I turned the light on, I was no longer sleepy. I was no longer deprived of energy. And a nice ice bath was now the last thing on my mind.
No, my wide eyes and complete focus was now on the young woman standing in my apartment, wearing my clothes and staring back at me with equally wide eyes. I responded only how any other normal member of society would when faced with the current situation.
“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?”