(note from mwah: comment "WHAT TEAM" every time you see the word wildcats. i want a comment chain so bad pls)

September 25th

The school day went by almost normally today. Almost normally because all the football players were riled up in excitement for the game later tonight. Cheerleaders came to school in their uniforms that the teachers refuse to dress code them for because they're freaks, the football players wore their jerseys, and the majority of students repped the maroon and gray school colors today. Skye, as per Levi's insisting, came to school in a pair of burgundy ("close enough" she told herself) corduroy jeans, a gray top, and a denim jacket because of the weather, blending in with everyone else that day.

Levi of course showed up to school in his jersey, being the star of the show. But since he and Skye were friends, she was in a bit of the spotlight too, which she wasn't all too comfortable with. It was something she was going to have to get used to if it meant being friends with Levi long term, which Levi counted on doing, but Skye was questioning it a little. They weren't on the level of friendship she and Nikki were on, but the two were definitely blossoming into something.

After school, Levi drove Skye home as she wanted to rest a bit before the game, which he understood. Even though he was kind of going out of his way to do it, he didn't care. Levi just drove back to school to prep with his teammates like it was no big deal. Of course, Hunter teased him about the ordeal when he came back, but Danny made him stop, which Levi was thankful about.

Fifteen minutes before the game, Skye arrived at the school only to be met with a huge crowd of people swarming in to get to the bleachers. Of course, she had to follow them, so she just made her way into the crowd and found herself a seat. She couldn't seem to find Xavier anywhere though, but she found him a few minutes later in the craziest getup she had ever seen.

"Xavier?"

"Hey!" He waved.

"What are you wearing?" Skye asked, trying to decipher what the hell he was even wearing.

"I'm the mascot now!" Xavier yelled. Yeah, he was the mascot. It was a pretty crazy story, one involving the original mascot in crutches, and Xavier being the chaotic person he is, he said he'd do it. "I shouldn't be out here yet, but Levi wanted to make sure you made it."

"Well, tell him I'm here in the second row." She replied.

"It's just you right now?" He questioned, and Skye nodded.

"Yeah..."

"Oh, so she's not here yet," Xavier said. Who was this person that everyone failed to mention their name? Skye would find out soon.

"Who are you talking about?" She asked frustratedly.

Not paying attention to Skye, Xavier looked in a completely different direction, nodding randomly and pointing at Skye, signaling that she was right there. "That's my cue to leave!"

"Xavi-"

"Hi!" Skye jumped and turned to see a petite, umber-skinned girl with effortlessly braided hair and flawless makeup. Now, this was the mystery person Skye had yet to meet, but she wasn't aware of it whatsoever.

"Hi?" She raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

"Oh my god, did nobody tell you about me?" The mystery girl asked, and Skye nodded yes. "I'm Nia, Danny's girlfriend! But you can call me Nini."

"Oh!" Skye said. "Danny mentioned you once!"

"I heard this was your first football game?" Nini questioned.

"Yeah, um, Levi and I had a bet and I lost, so here I am." She replied. Big mistake bringing up Levi, and Skye would immediately see why.

"Oh my god, is he your boyfriend?" Nini asked enthusiastically. Right upon meeting her, Skye got the vibe that Nini was very happy-go-lucky, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The only bad thing was her thinking Skye was dating Levi, which a lot of people were assuming these days.

"God no." Skye laughed. "We're just lab partners and all that."

"Awe." She frowned. "From what I hear, you guys seem perfect for each other."

Skye's brain was basically hitting the pause button a million times right now. Perfect for each other? Please be joking! "Uh, why do you think that?"

"I hear what goes on from Danny!" Nini exclaimed. "I may go to a different school, but I know everything."

The mention of Nini not going to the same school as them sparked quite the concern from Skye. From what she remembered, Levi told her that they were playing Megan's school next week, and Nini went to the same school as Megan hence the concern about the game next week. "About that... are you not rooting for your school next week?"

"Nope, I'm always rooting for Danny. Plus, our team sucks anyway." She giggled.

"Oh, well, I probably won't see that," Skye said, which made Nini immediately frown and protest that she has to go to next week's game.

"What? No, you have to go next week! I need a girl buddy from your school! I know we just met, but I can tell we're gonna be great friends."

Hearing the potential of being friends with Nini didn't sound like a bad idea to Skye. She was actually kind of glad to have someone, especially a girl, by her side at the football game, so she was going to give it a maybe since the game was just starting. "Uh, we'll see how this game goes, which is starting right now."

The student announcers hyped up the ground in anticipation of the home team coming out onto the field. The opposing team hadn't arrived onto the field yet, but they were bound to get booed by the home team. "Everyone, give it up for the Wintersville Wildcats!"

Overpowering the other school's boos, the Wintersville side stood and roared for their team, and that included Nini despite kind of being the outcast. She was more rooting for Danny than anything, but she had the spirit.

"Woo!" Nini cheered, applauding until her hands stung. "Go, Danny!"

The only one sitting, Skye let out a sigh and pressed her left hand against her face, leaning her elbow against her thigh. She was definitely going to get some sort of headache later on from all the noise, which she didn't prepare for. She would have to make a mental note to bring ibuprofen if she were to go to the next football game. "If only this were High School Musical."

While Skye moaned and groaned, Nini looked over and noticed her not cheering, and she definitely wasn't going have any bit of Skye moping around. "Hey! Why aren't you cheering?"

"Woo." Skye rolled her eyes, letting out quite the monotone woo.

"Hmph," Nini whined then started to boo once the opposing team walked out onto the field.

"To be fair this is way out of my comfort zone!" She yelled over all of the noise.

"Well, it's time to get even further out of it!" Nini replied, which she wasn't wrong about. Skye really needed to step out of her comfort zone. All the shenanigans with Levi so far have been quite out of her comfort zone enough, but she would continue to step further away from it as time goes by.

Everyone sat down once the game began, and Nini gave Skye a few comforting words during the coin toss. "Trust me, I didn't like going to these games at first, but then I met Danny, and now it's not so bad."

"I wish it could be like that for me." Skye frowned.

"Don't worry, it will be eventually." She insisted, low-key referring to Levi, but Skye didn't catch on. "Also, I should mention that I have no idea how football works besides touchdowns."

"Me either." Skye laughed, and so did Nini.

"Twins!" Nini beamed, playfully elbowing Skye a little. "See, I told you we're gonna be great friends."

"Yeah." She grinned, then her facial expression changed once she heard a whistle blow loudly, which came from the referee. "Wait, what's happening?"

Nini squinted in an attempt to get a better look at what was going on, but she couldn't quite get a grasp on it. It wasn't anything positive as nobody around them were showing any sign of happiness, so there's that. "I don't know, nobody's cheering so I don't think they scored."

"So how will we know what's going on?" Skye asked.

"Whatever the crowd does will give it away, trust me." She said.

"Okay then..." Skye replied, turning her attention to the game and not conversing with Nini the whole time, although she wouldn't mind it.

The game went on some more with plenty of whistleblowing and complaints from the crowd, but the Wintersville side grew very excited as Levi zipped across the field. "Look at Levi go!"

"Holy shit!" Skye exclaimed, eyes wide in amazement as he ran practically as fast as Usain Bolt.

"Touchdown!" The student announcers yelled, and everyone rooting for them went nuts in excitement. It was the first touchdown of the entire game and also the season, so it would make sense for them to be excited.

The two girls stand up and cheer, Nini being hyper like she always is and Skye actually having a bit of excitement in her. "Woo! And the crowd goes wild!"

Recognizing Levi's jersey number, Skye sees the familiar number twelve wave at the crowd. Thinking he was just waving to all the people sitting on their side of the bleachers, Skye was very, very wrong. Levi was actually waving at her, but it would be way too hard for Skye to actually figure that out.

Down below, Xavier could be seen hyping the crowd up in his getup, and all the two girls could do was laugh their asses off from the second row. They knew Xavier was chaotic enough, but it was still so unexpected for him to be the school's mascot.

"Xavier looks so silly in that mascot costume." Nini giggled, covering her mouth with her left hand as she couldn't contain her laughter.

"God, I know!" Skye exclaimed. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw him in it."

"So, there's really nothing going on between you and Levi?" She asked, bringing up her question from earlier despite Skye insisting she and Levi were just friends. "Sorry if I'm being a bit of a pest."

"No, you're fine. Actually, you're a saint compared to Xavier and Hunter." Skye reassured her, letting out a laugh at the thought of Xavier and Hunter's antics.

"Ugh, those two." Nini rolled her eyes. She's been around them longer, so she had been subjected to the craziness more than Skye has. "They can be nice, but jeez they can be quite the pair. I can't imagine what they'd be like without Danny."

"He and Levi are kind of like the parents of the group. More Danny than Levi though." She shrugged.

"Exactly! You get it!" Nini exclaimed. "Man, there's really nothing going on between you two though?"

"Nope, nothing going on." Skye denied once more.

Nini let out a sigh as Skye denied having any romantic involvement with Levi, giving up on the chance Skye would slip up, but there was really nothing going on between her and Levi in Skye's eyes. "Man, I was hoping you'd slip up or something. It's fine though. Nothing wrong with a guy and a girl just being friends."

"My dad would think otherwise." She giggled. "Levi came to my house and-"

"Oh my god, he went to your house?" Nini interrupted. Now, this was juicy to hear.

"Yeah, just to finish a lab report though," Skye replied, crushing Nini's dreams once more. It was made apparent that she wanted to see the two together already, and Megan wasn't exactly in her good graces after she dumped Levi the way she did. Plus she went to school with her, so that was a factor as well.

"Oh, darn."

"But after Levi left, the first thing my dad tells me is "you should date him." She said, trying to do her best imitation of her dad, but his voice was so deep it was impossible to do.

"Even he ships it!" Nini gasped. "Sorry, but I ship it too."

"God, I feel like I'm a walking Tumblr tag." Skye cringed.

"What's that?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Skye brushed it off. She definitely didn't want to explain that to her.

While the two girls became engrossed in their conversation, the crowd on their end began to boo and complain about whatever was going on, so they got a look at what was going on. They saw Danny laying on the ground, which immediately grew concern from Nini, who was fearing that he got hurt.

"Someone tackled Danny!" She gasped, then her mood immediately changed once she saw he was okay. "Oh, he stood up though. Nothing to worry about."

Skye looked at Nini in amazement, furrowing her eyebrows at her as she sat down. The game had hardly started, and Skye found herself wondering when the hell this would be over, but there was a long way to go. "When's halftime?"

"Wish I knew, girl." Nini sighed.

Correction: a long long way to go.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

this was definitely a challenging chapter to write, but considering i've never written a football game for a book in my life, i'm proud of the outcome! although the game will continue in the next chapter, i gotta give myself a pat on the back for this.

although a good amount of chapters have been written in advance (i'm currently writing act two as i post this), i would love to hear feedback! of course i am able to receive negative feedback, but don't like straight up be rude. there is a way to provide criticism without being a bitch.

once again though, don't forget to vote!! success doesn't come from silence!! DAMN WAIT THAT'S A GOOD ASS QUOTE- catch someone quoting me in a couple decades 😳

see you next year (lol get it cause the year is almost over) 🥰