Chapter 62: Chapter 62

Soon the opponent team arrives and the players start parading around the ground. Our school team has a white flag with a golden eagle on it. The other team has a light blue one with some other bird imprinted on it, maybe a skylark ?

I stand up from my seat as the crowd around me jumps up and starts chanting together something along with the cheer girls, which sound totally gibberish to me.

" Hey..", Andrea says over the sound of the crowd and I tilt my head to her. She stretches her hand to me. Simultaneously Grace also reaches out her hand and holds mine. I look around and see everyone is holding hands. I take Andrea's hands and my both hands are suddenly raised by the two girls on my left and right. The whole crowd and the cheer girls are now holding up their hands and cheering loudly.

I look at our team and see number twelve standing in the front, just behind the captain who is holding the flag. I can't see him clearly as they are standing far away from us in the center of the ground. Suddenly, I'm forced to bend down as my hands are pulled down by Grace and Andrea. Everyone is now bowing. Then the next moment, my hands are thrown upward by the two girls and the entire student body shouts a loud 'Whoosh'.

That puts an end to the first round of cheering. Then the commentators starts announcing the player's name. Gabriel and the group of girls cheer loudly as Ethan's name is announced. I hear a lot of cheers from other parts of the stadium too. Grace, Gavin and Milan also whistles but I stay silent, watching Ethan.

After the players from both teams shake hands and give each other a prefunctionary nod, they step back and jog to their designated spots. Ethan glances in our direction just before he goes to take his position. He looks away and walks to the far corner of the ground, even before I can smile at him or give him a thumbs up.

Soon the whistle of the referee blows off indicating the start of the match. The opponent team is in possession of the ball at first but they fail in scoring a goal and finally the ball comes to our possession.

Our number 7 is dashing towards the opposite goal post with the ball dancing between his feet. Ethan is running through his sides. When he notices the center forward of the rival team charging towards him, number 7 passes the ball to number 21, who after successfully managing to hoodwink the two center middle fielders passes the ball to Ethan as three opponent players bore down upon him.

Ethan dashes towards the goal post with high speed. The people around me cheers loudly for him. Even Andrea is cheering. I watch holding my breathe in my chest.

When he reaches at a little distance from the post, Ethan dupes the goal keeper into believing that he would take the right shot and instead take a left and scores the first ball for our team.

A cheer of delight from the spectators resonate in the ground. Our players bore down on Ethan and he is buried under their embraces. Grace and Gavin are jumping cheerfully beside me.

So Ethan is a really good player !

I watch Gabriel and her gang Shout Ethan's name, standing up from the blazers and I feel a strange pain rise in my chest. I wish I could cheer like that.

Once the players pull back from Ethan, he turns and looks in our direction. He seems to be looking at me and my heart skips a beat at the thought. He then smiles and waves. Surprised, I raise my hands to wave back but he looks away and averts his gaze towards Gabriel. I then realize Grace has been waving at him and he was waving back to her and not me. Feeling awkward and moreover upset, I lowers my hands.

Ethan seems to really like Gabriel. He is now flashing his smile at her. Maybe he would soon ask her out. Yeah..that's good. Maybe then he will go back to being friends with me. But I don't know why the thought of him dating her is making me miserable.

I'm afraid Ethan would keep this attitude towards me till the end of this year. And then we'll have to seperate like two strangers. But yes..we are nothing but strangers, although he looks like my own brother.

The game proceeds. And for sometime neither of the teams score goals. My gaze keep on following number twelve as he runs with high speed through the ground.

The first half ends with 3: 2 in favour of our team. Grace hands me a popcorn bucket and I take it from her hands whilst watching our team, huddle with our coach. I stretch the bucket to Andrea but as she doesn't take it from my hands, I tilt my head to her.

Andrea has her gaze fixed on a particular spot. I follow her gaze and soon finds Noah sitting along with a girl and chatting and laughing to her.

It makes me feel hurt. I think I was wrong when I thought Andrea likes me. I feel like she has a crush on this Noah guy. Then she might be using me to get his attention ?

" Oh..Nate ! ", She gasps as I tap on her shoulder. Then she smiles at me and take a fistful of popcorn from the bucket.

" What is going on between y..you and your bestfriend ?", I ask her.

" Oh that's nothing.", She shakes her head and laughs a little. " I was just teasing him."

" Teasing..? That doesn't s..seemed like teasing to me.", I say.

" Oh..yeah it was. There's no problem between us. He left after I told him I was just kidding. That's his girlfriend, Rose.", she points at the girl along with Noah.

" Oh..okay.", I nod. So he already has a girl friend, I see.

" They started d..dating recently?", I ask.

" Uhm..yeah..two week ago. Why ?", Andrea asks hesitantly and pretending confused.

" Uhm....s..so, do you have a crush on him ?", I ask. She looks taken aback at that.

" No. There's nothing like that.", She shakes her head and looks away.

" You were s...staring at them.", I say.

Andrea fiddles with her fingers uncomfortably. " I don't know. He has a girlfriend. And Nate, I'm actually the one who encouraged him to ask her out. But after he really asked her out and started dating her, I started feeling ignored. He almost stopped talking to me and sitting with me. So I feel a bit hurt. I don't really know whether I has a crush on him or anything. Ahm..no..I just..I just misses him. Ahh..this is crazy.", She ends with a sigh and starts chewing on the popcorn with an anxious face that tells me she regrets what she just said.

I didn't know what to tell her. I think she really has a crush on Noah. Thinking about something to tell her, I tilt my head back, only to notice Ethan standing near the railing and staring intently at us. Instantly my heart starts beating extremely fast. I quickly lower my gaze and look at my feet.

Why ? What's wrong with me ? My heart never thudded like this even at those rare occasions when Alex got angry at me or glared at me. Then why Ethan making me so nervous ? Do I've a crush on him ? But how can I ?

I flinch as the referee blow the whistle. Soon the players are all running to take their positions. I couldn't concentrate in the game anymore. I feel totally uneasy. I don't really know whether it's the thought that Andrea doesn't actually like me or I've a crush on Ethan that's making me uncomfortable. Maybe both. But do I actually like Andrea ? I don't particularly feel anything when I look at her. Just she is a nice and beautiful girl and I like her character.

Suddenly I hear a lot of gasps around me and I look up to see a player has been knocked down in the middle of the field. I glance over at Grace who is covering her mouth with her hands in shock. Gavin and Milan has stood up from their seats with worried faces.

Then I look back at the ground and see all the players and the coach rushing towards the knocked down player who isn't getting up. He is lying there almost lifeless. Our school nurse is sprinting to the spot from the left.

" Oh my God ! Why isn't he getting up ?", I hear Grace freak out, looking at Gavin and Milan. They doesn't reply.

I frantically look among the guys for number twelve and I can't see number twelve on the jerseys of any of the guys.

" Is that Ethan ? ", I gasp in shock.

" Yes..it is.", Andrea tells me worriedly. " He was hit by the ball, right on the head."

What !

I couldn't utter anything in shock. My hands were shivering as my heart thudded in an extremely fast pace as I looked at the crowd who had gathered around him, bend on the knees and shaking him. But he isn't moving a limb.

" Is...Is he a..alright?", I ask Grace. She doesn't reply as she is looking worriedly at the spot. A horrific silence has fallen over the crowd. Moments before they were screaming at the top of the lungs. And I'm inwardly freaking out not knowing what is happening.

" He should be fine. ", Andrea says. " He got hit pretty bad though.", she adds hesitantly.

I look back at the ground and I can't see Ethan due to the crowd around him.

Please Ethan, get up ! Stop scaring me and show you are alright.

The next moment the coach and a few players together are carrying Ethan towards the sides.

" C'mon..! ", Gavin says and rushes down the steps, Milan following him. Grace pulls me up from my seat and the next moment I'm sprinting down the steps along with her.

We reach the bottom of the bleachers and I watch in horror as they take Ethan into a van that comes dashing into the ground. My memory takes me back to a day, three years ago.