November 26th

Skye woke up bright and early, oddly eager to wake up despite her late-night call with Levi at three in the morning. She looked at her phone to check the weather, seeing that it would be brutally cold, so she decided to plan her outfit accordingly so she didn't freeze to death during the game.

After taking a brisk shower and going through the steps of her skin and hair routine, she hurried on back to her room in a towel, rummaging through her drawer to put together an outfit. It would be perfect to wear a sweater seeing as it was sweater weather during this time of year, so she pulled out one that fit with the school colors, even taking out a warm jacket from her closet to match.

Now dressed in warm clothing from head to toe, Skye headed down the stairs for breakfast while she waited for Nini to pick her up so they could head to the turkey bowl together. Her dad was already up as she had informed him in advance about the game, sitting in the living room with his cup of coffee like always.

To make Scott's life easier, Skye made herself breakfast, toasting two pieces of bread and slathering it with jam just the way she liked it. Although she was so used to her dad cooking everything as he was always the cook in the family, toast with jam was always a go-to that never grew old.

After her toast was done, Skye headed into the living room with her food and a glass of water, setting everything down on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch. Right as she sat down, her phone went off, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see a text from Nini saying she was just about to leave. Seeing as Nini lived in a different town from her, Skye didn't have to rush eating her food, especially since she was already dressed and ready to go.

"You ready for the game?" Her dad asked.

"Yeah, Nini's on her way already," Skye told him.

"Ah, I remember my first turkey bowl." He sighed, reminiscing on his once innocent past. "It's where I met your mother. She was a cheerleader and-"

"Dad, gross." Skye interrupted, not exactly wanting to hear about her mom right now.

"I know she's not the best, but it's a sweet memory." Scott shrugged.

"I know." She replied, then continued eating her toast, which she should quicken the pace on at this point.

"You got everything you need?" Her dad asked.

"Yup and my phone is charged too," Skye said. She even packed one of those battery packs in her purse, so she definitely wouldn't have to worry about her phone dying at all.

"Good, I know those games are long." He replied. Plus, since this was the last game, it would be way longer than usual. It wouldn't surprise Skye if there wasn't some sort of party after, even despite it being Thanksgiving.

"God, I know." Skye rolled her eyes. "The things I do for Levi, I swear."

Now, Skye would instantly regret saying that. She knew how much her dad would tease her about Levi, and this time would be no different. "You like that kid, I just know it."

"Dad, stop it." She demanded.

"I know, I know. You're "just friends." He groaned, doing finger quotations at the end.

"And that's all we ever will be," Skye said, looking back on her conversation with Levi last night, specifically when he called her a good friend.

After finishing her toast and guzzling down her water, Skye stood up and grabbed her dishes, getting ready to head to the kitchen before leaving the house. "I'm gonna put these dishes in the sink and wait outside for Nini."

"Text me if you need anything, okay?" Her dad said, just like he said on homecoming night.

"Don't worry." She replied, leaning over to kiss her dad on the cheek. "I'll see you later."

Skye carefully placed the dirty dishes in the sink, then pulled her keys out of her purse and headed out the front door, making sure to lock it behind her. She sat down on the front step and waiting, pulling out her phone to pass the time somehow. She hasn't been on it much this morning, so she figured that she'd get in some phone time before not being on it for the next couple of hours or so.

She decided to text Levi, even though she didn't expect any text back. Typing in "good luck, dummy" and sending it, Skye received a reply almost instantly, one that read "thanks, little good luck charm" with a smiley emoji. The message made Skye smile a little herself, but that smile quickly disappeared as she got scared by a loud car horn, which came from Nini's car.

"Get in, loser, we're gonna support the shit out of our friends!" Nini yelled out of the window.

"Nini!" Skye exclaimed, quickly standing up and running to her car. She opened the door and hopped into the car, surprised to see two cups of coffee in the cup holders.

"I stopped for coffee on the way." She said. "Levi texted me your order so I just went with that."

"Oh my god, you're the best." Skye gasped, grabbing her iced coffee and happily taking a sip of it. It was cute that Levi bothered to remember her order, but she was too focused on indulging in the caffeine to care.

"I know, now buckle up!" Nini ordered, which Skye immediately did after setting her coffee down in the cupholder.

After buckling up, Nini pressed on the gas, driving fast in a similar fashion to Levi down the road, now officially on their way to the turkey bowl. "To the turkey bowl, we go!"

•••

Once getting through all of the insane traffic, Skye and Nini managed to get a decent enough parking spot. If they had shown up any later they'd be parked miles away from the actual school, so it was good they found a good place to park somehow.

The two girls pushed through everyone to get the best seat on the Wintersville side aka the front row. If they were going to witness all of the action, it would be in the best view possible. They received some stares from people who wanted their seats, but they just laughed it off and sipped on their coffee.

The football game began shortly after their arrival, starting off with the coin toss, which the Brandywine Devils ended up winning. Speaking of them, Megan stood on the side of the field with the other cheerleaders, being able to be spotted easily from where Skye was. As long as Levi didn't pay attention to her whatsoever, he should be fine.

The rival team seemed to have gotten a million times stronger since the last time Wintersville played them, which feared Levi and his teammates. Levi attempted to shake it off though and tried his best to be a good leader and pump up his team. They thought they were screwed already, but how could they be when they had the dream team? Levi, Danny, and Hunter always pulled off the best plays, but they would have to pull off the greatest play of all time if they wanted to win.

"Are we screwed already?" Nini turned and asked Skye, whose eyes were glued to what was happening on the field.

"I sure hope not." She replied.

With a rush of cold air blowing towards their faces, both girls shivered in their boots, wrapping their arms around themselves to keep warm. "I kind of wish I got us hot coffee instead of ice coffee. It's freezing right now."

"Just think about how good it tastes. It'll be worth it." Skye said, reaching over for her coffee while still freezing cold.

"Yeah, totally." Nini shivered, doing the same as Skye.

The game continued with Brandywine still kicking ass, but Wintersville managed to slip in a touchdown thanks to Nikki's stupid boyfriend Victor. Skye could notice how angry Levi seemed on the field, which made sense seeing how risky the move was on Victor's part. At least the guy was sort of useful, but they still weren't winning yet.

"God, it's like your team is on steroids or something." Skye groaned. It would be perfect if there was some sort of doping scandal, but unfortunately, both schools are required to do a drug test, so there was no way that was possible, and Nini even proved it.

"Dude, they literally pulled the football players out of class to practice. How that is even allowed, I don't know." She said, which shocked Skye.

To think that Brandywine cared so much about winning that they took students out of class to practice was insane. The idea even shocked Nini who had been going to school for years, but they had never done this before until this year. Parents even complained, but the coach ending up winning them over no matter how drained and overworked their children were.

"What is this, Riverdale?" Skye scoffed. "I don't really need to experience the epic highs and lows of high school football now do I?"

"Right?" Nini said in agreement. "The teachers were so pissed every time they called for the team on the loudspeaker."

"Well, unfortunately, it's working out for them." Skye sighed. "Levi can hardly get any movement. It's like they're specifically targeting him."

So far in the game, Levi could hardly do anything on the field, hence his growing frustration. Nini didn't think of it that way, but now she could start to see how. "Ya think so?"

"Seems like it." Skye frowned.

In a surprising move, Hunter made it down the field without anyone coming after him. Skye knew the game was missing something, and that something was laughing at Hunter being tackled every five seconds! The game surely missed its hilarity, especially because it was full of too much fear. Thankfully Hunter managed to score for the team, so that was a start to the game becoming more exciting.

"Holy shit!" Both girls gasped.

"I can't believe Hunter pulled that off!" Skye exclaimed.

"I guess you were right about your theory that they're targeting Levi, huh?" Nini said. Even when Levi didn't have the ball they would come for him. It was like they had a group of people assigned to just tackle him all the time. Clearly, Hunter knew this was his time to shine.

"Man, I hope they don't hurt him or anything." Skye frowned.

"Don't jinx it, Skye!" Nini yelled. "We cannot afford that!"

"Yikes, sorry!" She said, turning her attention back to the game and keeping her mouth shut to avoid jinxing anything else. Skye would hate herself forever if she did that today out of all days.

With yet another touchdown coming from Brandywine, Nini grew pissed as they went for Danny, who she saw as way too fragile in her eyes. Her poor boyfriend had been injured in years past, and she definitely didn't want it to happen again as she would be to one to nurse him back to health again.

"Hey, hands off my baby!" She stood and yelled from the bleachers. Everyone on the Wintersville side glared at her as she yelled for her man, but she brushed it off and sat down, ignoring the stares.

"Okay, maybe my theory was wrong." Skye cringed, not wanting to be critical of Nini's passion for protecting Danny.

"God, I can't wait for some proper ass whooping," Nini said, cracking her knuckles in a moment of fury, which scared Skye as 1. Nini hardly cursed and 2. She was very scary when mad.

"You're really mad, huh?" She asked, letting out an awkward chuckle.

"Of course I am! I can't let Danny get hurt by some stupid jock again." Nini pouted. It was cute how much she cared, but still, she was so scary right now.

"Hey, he's still standing. Relax." Skye attempted to reassure her.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "Let me just sip on my coffee and chill."

Flash forward to the near end of the first half, the Wintersville Wildcats called for a timeout. Levi was the one to call for it, and since he was the captain, the coach allowed it. Skye and Nini patiently waited for the timeout to end so Wintersville could pull off one last play before the first half was over, and thankfully Levi had an idea up his sleeve that he wanted to attempt.

After the timeout, the players got back into position on the field, getting ready to resume the game. Once the whistle went off, the play went into action, but Levi's idea immediately went wrong, making the poor guy start to freak out big time. Stupid Hernandez had to mess it all up, so Levi decided to take the matter into his own hands, literally.

Finally having some leeway, Levi called for one of his teammates to pass him the ball so he could just go and run for it then hope for the best. After catching the ball, Levi started to sprint, jumping over people who were knocked to the ground. Thinking things were finally going his way, they, unfortunately, were not.

With a group of Brandywine players tailing behind him, they all lunge towards Levi at full force, all tackling him at the same time. Everyone on both sides gasped as Levi had a pile of bodies on top of him, and the referee immediately called for the game to stop. Those who tackled him get off of him, walking away as if nothing happened, but Levi laid on the grass, visibly in pain with his left hand clinging towards his right shoulder.

"Levi!" Skye screamed at the top of her lungs, praying to god he could hear her somehow. She totally jinxed it, and all Skye could wish for now besides that she kept her mouth shut was that Levi was okay.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

HAHA UM??

TOODALOO

THANKS FOR 3K READS BTW