🏈 s e v e n t e e n

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The crowd was going wild. They'd just watched their team take a knee to end the game because they were going to win. It was a close one but they prevailed and now the crowd was cheering for them in celebration of going to the playoffs. It was a magnificent night for that team and their fanbase.

Except that team wasn't the Cardinals and the fan base wasn't West High School. It was the Village High School Blue Sharks.

The Cardinals knew they lost the game the second the quarterback for the Blue Sharks took a knee. So by the time the clock struck zero, they already shook hands with the opposing team and were headed off the field.

The Cardinals as a team didn't really play awful tonight. They actaully played decent enough to stay in the game till the end. But what did their best player have to show for the effort of his teammates? No touchdown, four dropped catches and an ended streak.

It was embarrassing to say the least, because this felt like a movie plot to a sad movie. Where a player's hopes and dreams were dependent on one good season only for them to be crushed in a single game. And if this really were a movie, it would probably be raining, the camera would be on Zayn and it would all be captured in slow motion. But this wasn't a movie. This was reality and it was happening in real time.

When they got back to the locker room, the coach gave his expected speech. The same one he gave at the end of every season about how no matter how the season ended, he loved all his players and he was proud of them for giving their best and going 8-2.

But Zayn didn't want to hear it at all. As far as he was concerned his team lost because of him. So whenever it was time to shower, instead of joking and talking, he showered right away and ended up being the first one finished and on the bus.

After the bus dropped him off at school, he drove his own car home. Doniya was waiting for him at the door in her robe.

"You're home!" She said with excitement. But her grin faded quickly. "Oh no. You're not happy."

"I sucked and we lost." He simply said as he walked past.

"Oh, Zayn. I'm sorry. But it's not the end of the world."

"It's the end of my streak though."

She saddened. "It's okay, that's not going to stop you from getting that scholarship, you know."

But he slammed the door to his room before she could give him the pep talk.

"Okay, well your food is in the microwave! Goodnight!"

But Zayn wasn't in the mood to eat, all he could think about was how terrible he was tonight. It was an awful game and an awful night to end to awful week that had gone by. He knew he was to blame for his own bad play, but really this wasn't only his fault.

He only played bad because he was still thinking about his argument with Harry and all the things they said to each other. But they wouldn't have had to say those things to each other if it weren't for that bald, evil, murderous man he'd been hunting down.

So what, he was Harry's father? How was that supposed to change the way he felt? Was him being Harry's father supposed to bring his parents back? Was it supposed to change what happened in the past? Was it supposed to make him automatically forgive him? Was he supposed to cancel the plans he spent all this time making? Absolutely not.

In fact, the only thing it did was make Zayn angrier because all it meant was that he abandoned Harry and his mother when they needed him most to live the lifestyle he led. He made the choice to have his son damn near grow up without him and he made the choice to cause another son to grow up without his own father. There was no mercy for that man. And certainly no pity to be taken on his life.

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