Not a Love Story

Twenty-One // The Rivalry Game

Benjamin Jones

The school was buzzing the day of the rivalry game. The whole team was hyped and the pep rally planned for this afternoon made it nearly impossible to focus on school work.

The thumping music echoing in the gym vibrated my chest as we all ran out onto the basketball court, jumping and cheering to get everyone to join in on the excitement. Cal handed me the microphone.

"Tigers! Are you guys ready for tonight?" I shouted. Everyone responded with thundering cheers, including my teammates. "It's been 15 years since we let the Eagles beat us. Are we going to let them beat us tonight?" everyone in the crowd answered with a resounding no. "No! Because who are we?"

"TIGERS!"

"I can't hear you! Who are we?" I repeated.

"TIGERS!" the crowd responded again.

"I expect to see you all come out tonight and support the team while we take on the Eagles tonight! But now, we're going to see the dance team's competition ready program! Tigresses, get out here!" I introduced, the crowd and my teammates clapping as the dance team headed out onto the court and we ran off to the side. I handed the microphone off and sat with the team.

The pep rally went by quickly and everyone was buzzing by the end of it. When classes were finally over, we headed to the locker room, a wave of students wishing us luck on our way. Josh blasted his pre-game playlist as we got ready, everyone singing along and jumping around with excitement. I grinned at the team's excitement and checked my phone.

Good luck tonight! You guys are going to do great:)

I smiled at the text from Ollie, feeling my mood instantly increase and my chest flutter at his message.

"Ohh, what girl's got Jones smiling over a text?" Josh teased, coming over to pinch my cheek.

"Piss off." I said, shutting off my phone and swatting his hand away. Josh and a few others laughed as I smiled and shook my head.

Once everyone was geared up and ready to go, we all stood in a circle in the locker room, coach in the middle.

"Okay boys. It's the big one. We've been training for this all year. We've beat them 15 times, we can beat them a 16th. We're also going to have our best underclassman in the starting line-up, so everyone give a hand to Greene. He's worked hard, and it's paying off." everyone cheered for Henry, clapping him on the shoulder and congratulating him. He smiled and thanked everyone around him. "Alright that's enough of my blabbering. Jones, you're up." Coach exited the circle and looked down at his clipboard as I stood in the middle, looking at my teammates.

"Who are we?" I shouted.

"TIGERS!" the team shouted back.

"I said, who are we?"

"TIGERS!"

"What are we going to do?"

"WIN!"

"And how are we going to do that?"

"TOGETHER!"

"1, 2, 3, TIGERS" we all shouted together before Coach signaled to us that it was time to get on the field. We jogged out, immediately engulfed in the anticipation in the atmosphere. The band was playing loudly, the audience was clapping and screaming, and the cheerleaders were in full force.

We started our warm ups, watching and sizing up the Eagles players.

"They're looking better this year." Cal said to me.