Awakening

Chapter 7

Pffffft!

The sound of the whistle cut through the crisp spring air, signaling the beginning of a football game. The chatter of parents and children alike filled the bleachers and the smell of fresh hotdogs lingered in the air. It was the school's annual Spring Games. Every year on the first Saturday of Spring the different classes competed in various sporting events, everyone eager to win the spring cup and to show everyone who was top dog. It was an event which the whole town came to watch and everyone participated in some way, shape or form, whether it was competing, selling food or wares or just cheering in the stands.

"When are you guys up?" Emily asked before taking a swig of beer.

She was referring to the teachers vs seniors face-off. Each year the senior teachers faced off against their students in a game of football. It was the highlight of the Spring Games. The seniors spent weeks preparing. They practiced every day, came up with strategies and did their best to psych out their opponents. The teachers had been victorious for the past four years and each year the seniors got more and more desperate to be the class who would finally take them down.

Rose flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. "Right after this game. Would you slow down with the beer? It's not even ten a.m. yet."

Emily laughed and took another sip. "Oh relax, will you? It's the Spring Games. It's like a free pass to start drinking early. Plus, I can't handle all the sport without some liquid courage."

Rose smiled at this. Emily hated sport as much as she hated the outdoors and this event combined both. Still, she came to support Rose. "Thanks Em, for being here."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Well, if I didn't come how would you ever win? I'm the team's good luck charm, remember?"

A smile formed on Rose's face. Emily had somehow convinced herself of this fact and was very proud of it. The teachers had won for the first time in years when Emily attended the Spring Games for the first time and Emily took that as proof enough of being good luck. Rose, of course, didn't mention the fact that Emily first attended the event when she and Rose just became friends. Which means it was also the first year that Rose competed in the games and being "athletically inclined", she contributed to much of the score. Rose tried to not use her abilities too much when competing, but it was almost impossible to tone them down completely. Luckily a few of the senior personnel retired the next year and the teachers replacing them were athletically inclined enough to actually be good, so Rose reigned it in and kept her distance as much as possible as to not attract too much attention to herself.

She was about to deliver some snarky remark, when she heard the giggling to her right. She smiled and took a sip of her drink while waiting for the source of the giggling to make its way to her.

"Hey, Ms. James! You look awfully calm for someone who's about to lose to her students."

Rose turned towards the voice. The two girls before her had big smiles plastered on their faces. To anyone else they would seem confident in their remark and their ability to win, but Rose knew better. She could see one's mouth twitching with nervous energy and their hearts were beating a mile a minute.

"Confident words, girls. Maybe if you actually believed them, you would stand a chance of winning." Rose winked at them.

The girls looked confused for a minute, but decided it was best to continue with the charade.

"Oh, don't worry. We're confident!" the one on the left answered. "Everyone will be talking about this for years to come. The day when the senior class of 2019 beat the undefeated senior teachers."

"Yeah," the other girl chimed in, "they'll like write articles about it, probably build us a statue or something!"

Rose laughed at their optimism. "Well, we'll see soon enough girls. The best of luck to you."