-Sky-

Oh, Lord... I couldn't remember if I had ever been as angry at anyone as I was at Stephanie. It was obvious she thought bad things about Gwen. There were two things that made it worse. First, Gwen realized it right away since Stephanie wasn't hiding her disgust, making her feel bad. All she wanted was to enjoy watching her son play, but the mood was ruined from the get-go. And second... there was something in Troy's eyes when they left us to go change their clothes. I had no idea why Stephanie was here, or what she meant to Troy, but it was obvious he got hurt.

On top of that, everyone in our big group gave ugly glares at Stephanie, who was following us, but keeping her distance. What was supposed to be a fun night out with our families had turned into this awkward, hateful event in a heartbeat. If I was this upset, I knew that Troy, Max and Luke were also upset, taking all the fun out of their game.

All just because of one woman who couldn't tolerate other human beings. Yeah, I was pissed.

There was a cafeteria at the side of the field, so we went there to get something to eat and drink. I stayed outside while my parents went in, and I wasn't the only one. Gwen stayed behind as well, and I assumed it was because Stephanie went in. I saw Gwen looking after her for a moment before she spotted me.

"Are you excited?" she asked with a smile.

"Yes, although I don't know much about the game," I said truthfully.

She nodded and peered back in. "So... That was Stephanie..."

"Yeah... I've never met her before, though," I said quietly. "I'm sorry," I added.

"Don't worry about me – at least she was decent enough not to say anything out loud. It's Troy I'm worried about. He seemed... hurt," she said.

"I don't think Stephanie knows about Troy and Luke," I said. "And I'm guessing Troy wished she wouldn't mind..."

"Yeah, Luke has told me a lot about him, and what's going on in his family. Poor boy. It must be horrible to have a family like that. It was for me..." Gwen spoke. "Having no family to count on is one of the worst feelings a child can live with. The fear and uncertainty eat you up, and what makes it worse is knowing that if something bad happens, you're on your own. A child should never know what that feels like."

I listened quietly while she spoke, and once she was done, I sighed slowly. "Sometimes I hate humans..."

Gwen patted my shoulder and smiled at me. "Thankfully, there are a lot of good people too."

"Yes," I nodded, trying to cheer up.

I turned to look around in the crowded yard. It was getting dark and cold, but no one cared. Everyone around me seemed hyped and excited, and the atmosphere was so strong it affected me as well. I really wished our team would win because then everyone would be in the highest of moods for a very long time. My dad, for one, would be moping for weeks if we lost – I knew that from experience. Max and Troy and Luke would probably be devastated, and because I was, well, me, I would exhaust myself trying to cheer them up. I didn't mind, of course, but... it still was just a game. But I had learned not to say that out loud. Whenever I said that, I got ugly glares.

Once my mom and dad returned to me, they handed me a big soda and a bag of peanuts. We already ate before we left, so I stuffed the peanuts into my pocket.

"Have you seen Freddy yet?" Mom asked.

"Nope."

Freddy and his girlfriend, Stacey, promised to meet us here before the game started. Freddy loved football as well, so I knew he wouldn't bail on us this time, like he often did nowadays. He wasn't doing that to hurt our feelings or to be a rebel or anything like that. He just wanted to be with Stacey. I understood him perfectly, but I still wasn't allowed to do half of the things he was. Mom was starting to like Max again – thank God – but apparently, I wasn't allowed to grow up, like Freddy was.

My thoughts were interrupted when Stephanie stepped out of the cafeteria. She stopped just outside the door, hugging her coffee. Everyone in our group gave her short looks before turning their backs on her. I kept my eyes on her, though. It seemed like she had noticed the not-so-friendly attitude she was drawing to herself.

Everyone kind of acted like she wasn't there as we walked to the bleachers. I would've felt bad for her if she hadn't brought it upon herself. Once again, I felt bad for Troy, and suddenly I wasn't upset with my mom anymore for reacting the way she did when she found out I was dating Max. At least she was mad because she thought Max was a fuckboy or something. It was ridiculous, of course, but I couldn't have been happier that she wasn't angry at me for being gay. I would be absolutely miserable if she or my dad hated me for who I was.

"Hey guys!" I heard my brother's voice close by, interrupting my thoughts.

"Freddy! You came!" Mom's voice was so delighted I knew she'd doubted he would show up.

"I told you I'd come," Freddy said with a frown.

Mom didn't miss a beat when she turned to look at Stacey, whose hair was bigger than usual. "It's so nice to see you Stacey!"

I sure hadn't seen either of them much, so it was nice they both came to see the game. I did, however, have the feeling they wouldn't be hanging out with us – they both were ridiculously popular and had a huge crowd of friends. I found it funny how different Freddy and I really were. Even now he looked so damn cool in his ripped jeans and light jacket, with his hair styled like a gentleman from fifties. It probably sounded lame, but he made it look cool. Meanwhile, I still looked like a kindergartener, no matter what I was wearing. I had only jeans and a dark-green jacket over my old jersey, so I had basically succumbed back to my old habits. I was sure I had a hole or two in my pants around the knees, but I didn't bother to check.

Our little crowd found a place to sit in the middle of the bleachers. I had to give it to Stephanie for still following us, even though no one wanted to even talk to her. She was sitting alone in the row below us, while Luke's parents sat behind me and my family.

The game wasn't going to start anytime soon, but thankfully, it wasn't raining. There was a big mass of clouds hanging above us, but it didn't look like it would rain. It was a bit windy now, but nothing too bad.

"So, how's it been with you and your..." Freddy smirked, and leaned closer, lowering his voice, "...stud?"

I groaned and hit him with my elbow. "We're doing fine, thanks," I said dryly.

"I never thought my baby brother would be dating a jock," Freddy laughed lightly. "I'm not surprised that you like boys though."

"He's an athlete," I corrected. "And why not?"

"Because you're such a flower child. You care only about souls and spirits and feelings and whatnot," Freddy spoke with a smile. "But I think that's cool," he added, raising his voice when he continued, "Especially since Max is such a respectful guy and would never hurt you or treat you badly."

I started laughing, since I knew he wanted Mom to hear that last part – she did, and rolled her eyes in amusement – but then I almost choked when I remembered Stephanie. I quickly turned to look at her, but she was talking on a phone, and was sitting a few feet away from us, so I hoped she hadn't heard a thing. At least she didn't seem like she had.

"Thanks," I muttered to Freddy. "But please don't mention our relationship while we're here. Troy's stepmom is here, and she probably hates gays..."

"Oh, shit – sorry," Freddy hurried to say. "Where is she?" he asked with a whisper, and I pointed at Stephanie as discreetly as I could.

Freddy nodded, and turned to whisper something to Stacey, and I assumed he warned her as well. We continued talking about completely different things, and then Freddy went and asked about our project.

"We got an A+ for it!" I squealed in happiness. "Our teacher loved it! He said we did a fantastic job! And here I thought I was terrible during our presentation, but he said we did a really great job!"

And for the next ten or fifteen minutes, I couldn't stop talking about the owls. Freddy didn't stop me from blabbering on and on, so they listened until I had to gasp for air.

"You really should stop me when I do that," I laughed breathlessly. "Or I'll talk myself to death."

"I think it's funny," Freddy said, while Stacey was looking at me with wide eyes. She had never witnessed me getting excited before.

"It's funny to watch me suffocate?" I repeated with a laugh. "You're awful."

He was about to say something, but then we heard someone's voice coming from the loudspeakers. "Welcome everyone!"

It was our principal, who proceeded to welcome us all with a lengthy speech. I tuned out when he started to talk about the game, because most of it was just him going on and on about how amazing both teams were and the history our schools shared. After he was done, a marching band appeared on the field, followed by cheerleaders and mascots. There was dancing and singing going on for a moment, but then.

It was time.

Even I got excited when the teams ran out to the field, and the crowd around me went quite literally wild. It really wasn't just a game to these people. I got it at that moment. I thought my dad would cheer the loudest, but I was wrong, even though he was being extremely loud.

I tried to spot Max, but since they all were wearing the same outfits, and I was too short to see behind the wall of people jumping in front of me, I could only see a glimpse of his number. At least I knew he was there. I had to settle with that for now. Freddy was right about Max. He was so wonderful I had to stop and wonder why he wanted to be with me. It made no sense, but I couldn't have been happier that he chose me. Me, for crying out loud!

I lost myself thinking about him. I forgot where we were and what I was supposed to be doing. When people sat down and the cheering faded away, I finally saw him. I was barely aware that I had a huge smile on my face as I watched him.

My boyfriend.

I snapped out of my daydreams when people around me suddenly started cheering again, and I looked down at the field. The game had already started! When? How?! I was looking at Max the entire time and I didn't notice they had started playing already!

I started laughing. Max... Whenever I thought about him, I seemed to lose myself completely.

I tried to pay attention, but watching Max was more fascinating to me than focusing on the game. The outcome really didn't matter to me since things would go back to normal right after it ended. I would be able to spend more time with him since they wouldn't have so many practices in a while. But since I didn't want to be the weirdo, I mimicked my father. He was rooting for our team, so it was safe to cheer whenever he was cheering.

Once I'd had enough of staring at Max, I turned to watch how Troy and Luke were playing. Luke was easy to spot by his sheer size, and Troy by his running. He really was the fastest, and it was fun watching him go. He could slip past even the tightest spots, and it seemed like no one could catch him. He did get stopped a few times, but it was still amazing how good he was.

But as the game continued, even I started to notice it wasn't going awfully well for us. The scoreboard told me we were behind the other team, and the people around me confirmed that by going through the mistakes our team was doing, and how well the other one was playing. I felt sorry for Max and the others, but... still... It was just a game. Our team had done their best to practice hard, so no one could blame them because of that. It just wasn't their day, I guess.

The game was getting more intense though, or that was the feeling I got when I listened to others. Being so far behind seemed to make it more interesting for people to watch the game. They kept squealing a lot, at least. I found it actually funny to watch them instead of the game. My father was getting increasingly anxious by the second. He was clutching onto his cap, waving it around while yelling, shouting and screaming, and at some point, I was worried he would have a heart attack. He wasn't the only one in the audience behaving like that. Sometimes I wondered if they realized they were watching kids playing a 'friendly' game.

By the time half-time started, it seemed like the spectators were almost as exhausted as the players who left the field to catch their breath. I held back my laugh when I turned to look at my dad, and saw his pale, sweaty face. He was breathing heavily, like he had just run a marathon.

"You all right, Dad?" I asked.

"This game is killing me," he breathed out. "It's so awesome!"

"Does anyone want something from the cafeteria? I need to walk around a bit," Mom spoke while digging her purse for a wallet.

We told her what to get for us, and Dad went with her for help. I stayed behind with Freddy and Stacey, but since they were talking about the game – no surprise there – I tuned out and turned to look at the field. The marching band was back, but I started thinking about Max again. I hoped he was having fun, even though their game wasn't going as well as they probably hoped.