The Struggle of the Underdogs

Friday came at long last, bringing with it the jubilation of the first football game of the season. Students everywhere in Noodle High were chattering excitedly about hosting their school’s big rival, the Beverly Beavers, whom had lost to Noodle High in football for the last 10 years in a row. The Beavers were never taken seriously by the Noodle High Warriors, because they were known for being the weakest team in the conference. Thus, everybody, both faculty and students, expected an easy win the following night. The atmosphere in the school was full of loud talk about how wimpy the Beavers would be compared to the Warriors of Noodle High.

Maggie, who was a senior cheerleader, was leaning against one of the pillars of the entrance hall, silently fuming over the apparel she was being forced to wear for the day. Like all the other cheerleaders, she was in her cheer uniform, which consisted of a brown and white top with a warrior symbol on the front, her name on the back, as well as a brown skirt that hardly went to her knees. Maggie despised the uniform because of how much of her skin it showed, causing many a teenage boy to give her hungry looks as they passed by. She constantly wished that her skirt was longer, but to no avail; her coach was adamant that it remain at the current length. Only two other girls on the squad shared her views, a junior and sophomore who both hated the kinkiness of their uniform.

Riona walked up to her while she was pondering the events later than night, and asked her “Why do you look so ticked, Maggie? I thought all cheerleaders love what they do!” Maggie huffed and told her friend “I can’t stand wearing this...this THING! I feel like a whore because of all the looks I get from every single guy that passes me while I’m in this dumb skirt!” Riona held a hand to her mouth, struggling to not laugh aloud at Maggie’s unusual display of irritation. Maggie sighed and asked “Excited for the game tonight?” Riona shrugged indifferently and replied “I guess. I’m going with Carl to support you, and you alone. I couldn’t care less about what happens to the players tonight.” Riona paused for a moment in thought, and then muttered “Also, that reminds me...there’s something I must do before the day ends...”

Glancing at her warily, Maggie hesitantly asked her “...and what would that be?” Riona looked at her and sneered to herself, saying “There’s something I must discuss with Jeff, something that should, as the saying goes, ‘knock his socks off’”. Instantly, Maggie knew what Riona was talking about and retorted “Riona, you mustn’t! You swore that you would tell nobody!” Riona calmly said to her “Ah, but Jeff needs to know, don’t you agree? If he finally realizes why Carl hates him so, perhaps he’ll stop being such a jerk.” Gritting her teeth in frustration, Maggie took a few moments to ponder what could result from revealing the information to Jeff. Finally, with a huge groan, she relented, telling Riona “So be it. You’re right, it just might change him. But Riona...beware of the consequences.” This warning only caused Riona to laugh mirthlessly, and she walked away, shouting over her shoulder “What consequences?” Maggie sighed to herself and silently prayed that nothing bad would happen when Riona talked to Jeff later in the day.

For Riona, Friday was like any other day. She patiently endured all of her classes, including both Gym and History, drowning out Jeff’s voice by contemplating what she would say to him. Finally, the end of the day bell rang throughout the school, and all of the students rushed out to the buses and cars, shivering with excitement for the game that night. Riona calmly walked down towards the student entrance, which was right next to the athletic wing of the school, with Jeff close on her heels. Like all of the other players, he was wearing his jersey, which was white with “Warriors” on the front and his name and player number, 9, emblazoned on the back, all in brown. Riona noted to herself that the jersey fitted him tightly, which no doubt gave Jeff unending pleasure, because all of the girls had stopped and stared with longing at him as he had walked past them today.

Jeff was going on and on about how he would be playing left tackle for offense and also cornerback for defense, when Riona interrupted him by telling him “I have something to tell you...that is, if you’re willing to listen.” Instantly, Jeff gave her his full attention, no doubt thinking that this would be something romantic. “You wish, moron” Riona thought with disgust. She looked up into his blue eyes and coldy hissed to him “I know why Carl hates you so much, and the reason why only serves to make me despise you even more!” Jeff blinked in surprise and shakily asked her “W-what? Why does he hate me?” His sheer ignorance was revolting. Riona said “It’s simple, you fool. You betrayed him in 8th grade, all because you were jealous of his relationship with Maggie. You’re a scumbag, Jeff, and I hope this knowledge fills you with shame.” With that, she walked out the student entrance, leaving Jeff to stand in shock, not only at Riona saying his name for the first time, but also because of how severe this revelation was.

The rest of the day passed by quickly, and at 6 in the evening, Jeff was in the locker room with his teammates, in full uniform, preparing to head out to the field for some last minute practice before the game. All around him, the other guys were huddled together, snickering about how this game would be such a joke, seeing as they always beat the Beavers by at least 20 points every time their teams clashed. While they talked, Jeff pondered the disturbing news that Riona had given him earlier that day. He had truly not seen that coming; he had expected her to finally profess her immense love for him, not for her to reveal why Carl hated his guts. Jeff had never realized how deeply his actions in 8th grade had wounded his former best friend.

The team walked out to the football field, where the Beavers and fans from both teams were waiting. The Warriors lined up on the end zone and did several warm-ups, including running back and forth rapidly, push-ups, jumping jacks, and others. While they warmed-up, images flashed through Jeff’s mind, images of what used to be: him, Carl and Maggie chatting about the drudgery of Math, he and Carl walking together to lunch, Carl and Maggie holding hands while Jeff looked on with longing. Jeff shook his head and tried to focus on warming up, but to no avail; the images assaulted him throughout the warm-up, preventing him from concentrating on ensuring that his body would be prepared for the game. After 45 minutes of warm-up, the team ran back inside for a pep talk before the game.

They stood around their head coach, a short man in his 40’s who was beginning to bald badly. He sternly commanded them all “Don’t take the Beavers for granted. This is the first game of the season, and the last thing I want to see happen is for us to start the year off with a loss to the weakest team in the conference. Now get out there and win!” The players cheered and whooped in excitement, put their helmets on, and ran out towards the field to start the game. As they ran, Jeff’s mind processed more images of the past: Carl walking up to him in the hall with a sorrowful face, bearing news of Maggie leaving for New York; he and Carl waving goodbye to Maggie on her last day at Noodle, watching her exit through the front entrance, both of them assuming she would never return. Jeff sighed as he and his teammates walked onto the field, knowing that the images would continue to bother him throughout the game.

To his left, Jeff could see the Noodle fans, decked out in white-brown gear, cheering as they saw the Warriors walk on. To his right, in the visitor section, were the Beaver fans, wearing purple-gold spirit wear, the school colors of the opposing team. He watched the two team captains walk up to each other in the middle of the field, with a referee standing with them. Everybody in the area watched the referee flip the coin, and then announce that the Warriors would start off as offense. Jeff lined up with the other starting Warriors and did his best to keep the images from bothering him, knowing that if he succumbed to them, he could very well cause his team to lose the game.

Carl watched the cheerleaders do their part in keeping the fans supportive of the Warriors, watching Maggie move with an obvious air of loving what she was doing. He and Riona had come for the sole purpose of watching Maggie cheer; neither of them had any interest in the game, because both of them had a strong dislike of the football players. The pair watched the game go by in boredom, not caring that the fans around them were getting stressed out by the score. For some reason, the Beavers were beating the Warriors by 3 points, which was a shock to everybody in the stadium because of the Beavers reputation for being a weak team. The 4th quarter came quicker than expected, with the Beavers leading the Warriors with a score of 24-21.

Carl discussed the game with Riona, telling her “This is weird, Riona. Generally, we always cream the Beavers. But they keep tackling our quarterback before he can throw the ball!” Riona shrugged in indifference and told him “Well, that’s the fault of whoever should be protecting the quarterback then.” “That’s whoever’s playing left tackle” Carl mused. In front of them, the players who weren’t on the field were watching the game, all of them shifting around nervously at how it was going thus far. Number 9 was receiving dirty looks from the players around him. Carl looked at the player and asked himself “Who is that?” The player suddenly turned around, and Carl went rigid in shock as he found Jeff looking around at the fans, as if he was searching for somebody.

Riona snorted beside him and muttered “So he’s the fool who hasn’t been protecting the quarterback...of course.” Carl didn’t answer her, his thoughts bent on silently urging Jeff to not look his way. Unfortunately, Jeff did just that, and his weary gaze settled right on Carl. Carl gritted his teeth in frustration, and wished that he was somewhere higher up in the stands where Jeff couldn’t find him. He acknowledged that Jeff, who was right in front of Carl, was looking at him with an expression of sheer regret and shame. Carl turned around 180 degrees so that Jeff couldn’t look at his face, while wondering “What’s with him? He always gives me a dirty look whenever he sees me! What the heck caused that to change?” Then, the answer came to him.

He turned to Riona and asked her “Riona...what did you say to Jeff today?” She looked at him and bluntly told him “I revealed to him why you despise him so much.” Carl groaned and complained “Why, Riona? What reason would you have for doing that?” He got a smirk in response. Riona was apparently amused by what was happening. She said “I figured that he needed to know. And Carl, it was the only way to get him to stop bothering you.” He sighed and muttered “Fine then. I suppose you’re right.” “But now, I’m gonna have to deal with him trying to be nice to me. Ugh. Why can’t he just get out of my life and stop causing me so much pain?” Carl thought bitterly. He turned around and watched Jeff take his place as left tackle on offense, with only 15 seconds of the game left.

As Jeff walked onto the field, the images worsened, no longer reflecting the happy times he had experienced with Carl and Maggie, but instead, the events that led to him turning on Carl. Time seemed to slow as multiple scenes flashed through his mind: Nolan, the quarterback then and now, ordering him to kick Carl out of his life or he would never be accepted on the team; his immense jealousy seething as Carl talked to him about his deep love for Maggie; and finally, that day when he had attacked Carl and ensured that the kid would never bother talking to him again. Jeff did his best to focus on the remaining seconds left in the game, knowing that this last play would be the Warriors’ last chance to avoid a humiliating defeat.

To his right, Nolan shouted his orders to the rest of the team, and Brad, one of the main running backs, prepared to run down the field to catch a pass from the quarterback. Jeff commanded himself to focus on protecting Nolan’s blindspot to the left, and to help secure a victory for his team. But then, just as the ball was snapped to Nolan, another image flashed through his mind: Carl’s expression of shock, hurt and betrayal as Jeff severed their bond. The image was accompanied by an angry female voice shouting “Treacherous fool!” inside his mind, the insult echoing throughout his very being. Jeff was left in a daze, not noticing the Beaver barreling past him to tackle Nolan to the ground before he could complete his pass, and the clock hitting 0 seconds.

All around him, the players and fans were in chaos, the Beaver players and fans whooping in joy at their unexpected victory, while the Warrior players and fans shrieked in rage at their loss. Nolan slowly got up and shoved Jeff aside, shouting “The f--- is wrong you? You made us lose to the Beavers, you idiot!” Several other players echoed Nolan with numerous insults and dirty looks. Down towards the goal, Brad was looking at Jeff with dismay. Jeff groaned and heard the head coach scream at him and his teammates to go to the locker room immediately. They all trudged back to the school, their heads hung in shame as their fans booed at them, obviously pissed that they had lost to the Beavers, of all teams possible.

In the locker room, the head coach almost screamed at his players in frustration, livid that they had accomplished his worst fear of the season. He turned to Jeff and snarled “Get your head out of your --- Jeff, or I’ll pull you off the field for the remainder of the season! Got it?” Jeff mumbled “Yes, sir” and thought to himself “I can’t be the only reason we lost tonight, you ---hole.” Once the coach finished ranting, the players quickly changed back into their normal clothes, eager to go home and try to forget their defeat. As Jeff finished getting out of his sweaty uniform and into a normal outfit, Brad walked up to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, asking him “Dude, what happened to you tonight? You literally just stood there and let Nolan get tackled! Do you have an agenda against him? What’s going on?” Jeff sighed and mused “It’s true that I can’t stand Nolan...he’s a thousand times worse than I am towards people like Carl.” He told Brad “I don’t know. I was told some...disturbing news today before the game, and I guess it’s been bothering me all night long.”

Brad looked at him inquisitively and asked him “So, what’s the news?” Even though Jeff was tired and humiliated, he knew that it would be best to spend some time talking things out with Brad. He replied hesitantly “Riona told me that the reason Carl hates my guts is because I betrayed him in 8th grade.” At first, there was no response, and then Brad said in disbelief “You just now figured that out. Geez, Jeff! The kid’s been glaring daggers at you ever since then! Haven’t you realized that?” Jeff blushed in shame and muttered “Not really.” Brad shook his head and said “Dang dude. For 4 years, you haven’t noticed that somebody hates you. Well, that’s definitely a first!” Brad’s comments weren’t helping Jeff’s mood whatsoever.

Jeff asked him desperately “What should I do?” Brad looked at him and sternly told him “That’s between you and Carl dude, not me. But my best bet would be that apologizing to him would help a bit.” Jeff knew that apologizing to Carl would be easier said than done, because Carl tended to avoid him like the plague, and give him the cold shoulder when they had to be next to each other. Jeff sighed and told Brad “Well, thanks for the advice. I’m gonna head home and sleep on it.” Brad patted him on the back and said “No problem bro. I just hope that you don’t get attacked Monday.” Jeff muttered “Same here” and exited the locker room, carrying his uniform and equipment in his brown duffel bag.

He walked towards his car, eager to get home and get his mind off of the shame he had experienced tonight. He wondered to himself “Whose voice was that, telling me that I’m a ‘treacherous fool’? Was that...Riona?" Jeff firmly decided that it couldn’t be her, because the voice was much more hateful than hers. And besides, if it had been Riona, she would’ve used telepathy to do so, and Jeff was very certain that telepathy wasn’t possible. He also decided to not beat himself up too much over the Carl situation. After all, it was Carl’s choice to hate him, not Jeff’s. As he walked, he passed one of the street lights placed around the parking lot. He stopped abruptly when he saw somebody standing in the light, glaring at him.

Jeff turned and glanced towards the light, which was illuminating a woman who must’ve been in her thirties, with wild, flaming red hair and blue eyes identical to his own. He involuntarily shuddered as he realized that she looked exactly like his cousin Susie, only older. The woman’s eyes seemed to hold him in place, while the voice returned, telling him “No matter what you tell yourself, you stupid boy, you betrayed the one closest to you. You made his life a living Hell with your actions and words, you pushed him to the edge of the abyss. You are worse than scum, and you know it!” Jeff shuddered as he realized that the woman under the light was the source of the voice. He shouted to her, “Who are you?” and she sneered in response. Her voice vehemently whispered to him “You will find that out in due time, imbecil. But first, you must teach yourself to have humility for your past wrongdoings. Until then, you will continue to lack true friends, and you will continue to bear a false personality.” With that, the woman faded into the night, to Jeff’s shock.

He realized that he had just been in contact with some sort of specter, who had been able to gaze into the depths of his soul and point out his fatal flaws. Jeff shuddered, utterly disturbed by what he had witnessed. He forced himself to walk to his car, thinking “There’s no way that could’ve been Susie. She lives 30 miles away, and she could never sound as sinister as that lady did.” He got into his car, started the engine, and quickly drove out of the lot and towards home, desperate to get to bed and do his best to forget the strange events of the night.