Chapter 11: Chapter 11

The Break-Up

Marissa, Sam, and Butch all took a big gasp after what they had just seen.

Marissa fumed, “how could you, Shane!”

Those two looked in Marissa’s direction, and Shane immediately tried explaining himself, “Marissa, it’s not what it looks like! She seduced me as been forcefully kissing me! This is not what it looks like!”

“He’s right! He stole my heart! He’s a strong lover and the best of his kind! My heart will never be the same ever again! I love you, Shane, my lover baby forever!” said Michelle in an extremely flirtatious manner, grabbing both of Shane’s cheeks while doing so.

Marissa came forward, broke into tears, and slapped Shane across his face as hard as she possibly could! It was so hard that it could be heard all the way inside.

“Ouch!” said Kevin, who was feeling for his friend as he didn’t know how to explain what had actually happened and how things weren’t how they seemed.

Michelle turned her attention towards Kevin and said: “And this young love is no different from my love Shane here who also swooned me and stole my heart forever!”

She then sprinted towards Shane and grabbed his collar, bringing him towards her and then giving him also an intense kiss on the lips! This time in front of Sam!

Then it was Sam’s turn to break into tears. She burst into tears and slapped Kevin as hard as she could in a similar manner as that of how Marissa had hit Shane earlier.

Shane looked on in horror as to what had just happened.

“How could you two cheat on these good girls! You two were so lucky to have them in your lives, and you two screw it up like this! Tsk!” said Butch shaking his head, adding fuel to the fire.

“You shut up right now!” shouted Shane to Butch.

Marissa, while sobbing, said: “I never want to see you again, Shane! Ever! Don’t ever try and speak to me again!”

“Me neither with you, Kevin!” sobbed Sam as the two of them dashed inside while sobbing. All they wanted to do after that was go home and cry.

Michelle blew kisses to both Shane and Kevin before waving them goodbye, “Goodbye, my lovers!” She then headed inside after that.

Butch had on his face a mischievous, evil grin as he was pompously feeling proud of what he had done. He, too, then went inside.

Shane and Kevin got down on their knees, still in disbelief over what had just happened.

“Today was one of the best days of my life….and not it’s one of my worst evenings ever!” said Shane, unable to cope with reality and how their circumstances had changed so drastically so soon.

“Today, Sam and Marissa became our girlfriends. Your dream came true today! And now it’s over like a popped balloon!” said Kevin, nearly about to cry.

Shane broke into tears and sobbed, “How do we ever explain to them what really happened when they won’t even listen to us! That Michelle made it seem so convincing that now Marissa and Sam don’t ever want to speak to us again!”

“We can’t! And now, things are going to get so lonely and painful for all four of us!” said Kevin as the two of them had had enough of their evening and opted to head back home.

Meanwhile, in the corner of the Hall, “Great work! Excellently carried out and timed to perfection! We pulled off a master class of a performance tonight!” rejoiced Butch, congratulating himself and Michelle on how they pulled off their destructive plot.

“You always were good at causing a rift between people! You always were!” said Michelle joyfully as she grabbed Butch’s face and kissed him.

“And now the trophy is but ours to collect!” said Butch as he laughed hysterically afterward.

That night, Marissa, Sam, Shane, and Kevin sobbed heavily on their pillows as they tried to put their painful night behind them.

Shane thought to himself, “Today, Marissa grabbed and kissed me! And tonight, she slapped me so hard!”

Kevin had similar thoughts that evening to himself as well.

Each of the girls didn’t have any positive emotions flowing in them either.

The next morning, each member of the football team was called for football practice while the cheerleaders were called for cheerleading practice. It was pouring hard that day as the weather forecast for heavy rain had come true, and there was heavy rain everywhere.

The four teenagers didn’t even want to go for practice that morning. They felt it a drag while doing so.

Shane and Kevin greeted each other in a very sluggish and depressing manner at the training ground.

“Did you feel like coming for training today?” asked Kevin.

“No, not at all!” replied Shane truthfully.

“Me neither!” responded Kevin

“I still hurt from last night, and I bet so do you, and so do the girls!” said Shane.

“Hurt is only an understatement to what all four of us are going through!” exclaimed Kevin.

“Sigh, you’re right!” said Shane with a sorrowful sigh.

They saw in the far distance Marissa and Sam who had shown up for their cheerleading practice. They carried upset faces as well as they seemed sorrowful from the outcome of the previous night.

“Should we go over and try to explain ourselves?” asked Kevin.

“No, Kevin, give it some time to heal and recover! They’d tell us to go away if we approached them!” said Shane telling Kevin not to go forward and explain what happened.

Suddenly they saw that the girls were looking their way, and the four of them made eye contact with each other. Shane and Kevin raised their right-hand tom to indicate some sort of a wave, but Marissa and Sam had immediately turned their faces away in the opposite direction and walked away to the cheerleaders' practice session.

“Sigh, it’s no use, Kevin! They just don’t want to speak to us again! For the time being, we’re not going to be able to speak to them for a while!” said Shane conceding defeat to their most recent circumstances.

During training, it poured heavily, causing the training grass surface to become soaked with water making the pitch slippery. This would continue for the next couple of days or so. The sky was also dark and gloomy, much like the emotions of Shane, Kevin, Marissa, and Sam.

During training, Shane and Kevin looked sluggish and depressed as though they lacked enthusiasm.

“What’s wrong, you two?” asked Benjamin Cross, who wanted to know the reason for their depressing behavior as of late.

“It’s nothing!” said Shane in a most unconvincing manner.

“Something is definitely up with you two! Now I don’t know what it is, but you boys had better get your act straight and put more effort into it!” said the coach telling them to put even more effort into their push-ups and leg workout exercises.

“Fine!” said Shane and Kevin at the same time in a low voice.

The following week was spent in much the same way, with Marissa and Sam ignoring and entirely not wanting to talk to Shane and Kevin; while Shane and Kevin continued to hear from other people to put in more effort during training. But in truth, all of the football practice sessions only hurt Shane and Kevin further as they kept on remembering how they became friends with Marissa and Sam and how they longed to have it all back. The very same thing could be said for Marissa and Sam, who didn’t feel like putting in the extra effort for their cheerleading team as it only reminded them of Shane and Kevin further and how they became friends and how much they wanted to be friends again. But the way they broke up was in such a painful manner that they didn’t even feel like talking about it with them.

Monday and Tuesday were no different from Marissa and Sam, completely ignoring Shane and Kevin. Even in class, those two tried to sit as far away from Shane and Kevin as possible.

“Hey, is everything alright between you guys?” inquired Benjamin Cross at the cold behavior displayed by Marissa and Sam towards Shane and Kevin. He had to investigate as the four of them used to look so happy when together.

“Hmpf! Everything’s fine, Benjamin! Just Fine!” assured Marissa in a most unconvincing manner.

“I surely know that it’s not!” replied Benjamin in a caring manner who was actually keen to know as to what actually happened.

“Never mind, Benjamin!” said Sam trying to end the conversation they were having.

Just then, Mr. Crawford, their teacher, came in and conducted class, putting an end to the awkward feelings and emotionally distraught.

On Wednesday, the weather seemed to improve with lesser rain and clearer skies. On football training that day, the coach gave both Shane and Kevin an ultimatum to improve their performances in training and to put whatever they were going through behind them otherwise Marcus would start in goal for Aberdeen High on Saturday evening, and Kevin would start on the bench with someone else playing in his place on the pitch.

After having received this ultimatum, Shane suddenly looked at Kevin and thought to himself, “If I don’t get that scholarship, then it’s broccoli stew for me and no college either! I guess I’ll just have to snap out of it for mum’s sake! I need that scholarship for mum’s sake, at least if not for Marissa’s!”

Suddenly Shane spoke up, “You got it, coach! We’ll put in our absolute best for Saturday evening, and we’ll show you in training right now as well!”

“Good! That’s what I wanted to hear!” said the coach pleased with Shane’s recent change of attitude.

“Huh?” asked Kevin as he looked at his friend, surprised.

Shane looked closely at Kevin and explained, “We worked too hard to get here, and we’re not going to let this slip away from our hands just because of some crazy chic who framed us for being something we’re not! We will give it our all in the final on Saturday and we will not go down without a fight! I need that scholarship for mum’s sake at least if not for Marissa’s! Now are you with me?”

Kevin looked at his friend and looked closer at his face as to just how motivated he indeed was, and now he believed they could win and that he could get that scholarship. Kevin hugged Shane tightly and said, “You bet I’m with you! We’re going to give our all on Saturday night! And we’re going to prove our doubters and haters wrong!”

“Good! Then you can start by proving me doubting you two wrong! Now get back to training and work your butts off, you two!” said coach giving them their marching orders.

Shane and Kevin gladly responded to their coach’s orders.

Meanwhile, Marissa and Sam, who overheard everything from a nearby distance as the cheerleaders training session wasn’t at an exceptionally far-off distance, looked at each other and pondered about the prospect of what Shane had said about them being framed.

Finally, Marissa spoke up, “They couldn’t lie to each other alone and, even if they did have an affair with that girl Michelle, then they wouldn’t be gloomy after breaking up with us! So maybe they’re not lying after all!”

“I don’t know, girl! But what I do know is, is that we should focus more on our cheerleading if we want to motivate our team to win on Saturday! Don’t feel gloomy while thinking about cheerleading for Shane and Kevin! Cheerlead for Aberdeen High and to have a good time at the final and to feel proud of yourself that you helped your team in whatever way that you could!” suggested Sam.

“You’re right! We should focus less on them and more on achieving our goals!” said Marissa finally cheering up as she focused more on her cheerleading than ever before.

Thursday and Friday went by quietly with no real such events or casualties or unexpected surprises, only very rigorous training done by both the football team and the cheerleading squad.

The Final

And soon, finally, Saturday evening had arrived. The final of the Inter-State High School Tournament between Aberdeen High and Blackrovers High was upon Shane Foster as he, along with the rest of his team, prepared to leave their respective homes for the stadium.

‘Bye, sweetie! Have fun, and I hope you do great out there! Best of luck!” said his mum wishing him luck while putting on her grey coat while getting ready to head out.

“Thanks, mum! By the way, where are you headed at this hour? You usually never leave for anywhere at this hour!” inquired Shane, who was surprised to see his mum wearing her grey evening coat. She would wear it whenever she would step out of the house while going somewhere.

“Oh, something important came up! I have to go there and attend. I don’t want you worrying about me, sweetheart! Just go and enjoy yourself and give it everything you’ve got!” she answered as they both prepared to leave their homes at the same time.

“Thanks, and okay, I guess! Bye, mum!” said Shane waving her goodbye as they both headed in opposite directions.

During his route, Shane kept on thinking about what was at stake and if he could ever get back with Marissa and how much the scholarship would mean for him and his mum. It would be such a positive influence in their lives.

As Shane arrived outside of the stadium, he met up with Kevin, who had arrived a few moments ago only.

“Hey! How long you been here?” asked Shane raising forward his hand to shake hands with him.

“Not much…in fact, I just got here a couple of minutes ago!” answered Kevin while shaking hands with him.

Just then, Marissa and Sam also arrived as they had even opted to enter the stadium from the very same entrance as that chosen by Shane and Kevin.

First, the four of them all looked at each other with a gasp, and then there was a moment of silence between them.

Then Finally, Marissa broke the ice by saying, “Uh… good luck to you two out there! I hope we win tonight!”

Shane, while nodding his head, replied: “Thanks, and good luck to you two out there as well!”

“Thanks!” said Sam thanking him.

There was a great deal of sudden formality between them as the four of them just smiled at each other, not knowing what to do next.

Then Marissa spoke up and said, “Well, we’d best be on our way! Best of luck to you both!”

“Thanks, and we’d better get going as well! Best of luck to you as well!” replied Shane as he boys and girls started heading off in opposite directions once inside the stadium. The boys to their dressing room and the girls to their cheerleading stand.

Once Shane and Kevin were inside their dressing room and having changed into their attire for the evening, Shane being captain, addressed his team who had turned their attention to hear what Shane would have to say before their match got underway.

“We all worked very hard to reach here, and we’re going to give our absolute best tonight! Today we go out there and play like warriors! We show the world tonight that Aberdeen High is well and capable of cementing its legacy in this tournament by tonight lifting our second ever Inter-State High School Tournament trophy! And tonight we will play especially well to send a tribute to Oliver, our first choice captain who couldn’t be here tonight due to injury! We will play to make him proud of us! We will Show Blackrovers High that their strong attack is no match for our strong defense!” said Shane delivering a pep talk to his team before the match got underway.

“Oh, but I am out here! I decided to make it to tonight’s final!” said a familiar voice. Everyone looked behind them in the near distance. To their pleasant surprise saw that Oliver Peabody had made it there and was in the dressing room to watch them and support them in the final. He had a cast on his injured leg and was walking with crutches beneath his shoulders.

“Oliver!” said Shane as they ran forward to meet him.

“Yeah! I wouldn’t miss it for the world! I told you I would try and make it, and I did make it!” said Oliver warmly greeting everyone.

Everyone was quick to meet him except Marcus, who just kept on sitting with his hands folded. He was still outraged that Shane was chosen over him to play in the final.

“It’s awesome to see you, Oliver!” said Kevin greeting Oliver.

“It’s awesome to meet you too!” said Oliver shaking Kevin’s hand.

Just then, their coach came into the dressing room and started, “Oliver told me he was coming like he intended to! I wanted to leave it a surprise for all of you! I’m extremely proud of all of you for making it this far and putting in so much effort with your schoolwork going on at the same time and with your college applications. It’s not easy playing a football tournament in senior year when you have so many other things to look at as well, but making it to the final was a big achievement in itself! I want all of you to play your hearts out and do everything you can to win to make this evening even more memorable! For you, your friends, and your family!”

Oliver looked at Shane and started, “Shane, I’m especially proud of you for the way you managed to turn your season around! You were a second choice goalkeeper who never got any playing time for his High School team, and now you’re leading us as captain on the evening of the final! What a long way you’ve come!”

“Thanks, Oliver! Thanks, coach! We’ll do everything out there not to let you down and make sure that you remain proud of us after the final whistle is blown!” said Shane for himself and his team as they prepared to leave the dressing room and step on the pitch for the final match of the tournament.

As the players from both teams entered the tunnel from where they would make their way onto the pitch, Butch Buchanan said to Shane who was standing right next to him “We’ll cream you, decimate you and destroy you tonight with our attack just like you destroyed those girls hearts last week!”

Shane was left speechless as he didn’t know what to say. The memory that instantly triggered in his head after Butch reminded him of it left him seeing a painful flashback. It hurt him on the inside while he made his way to the pitch being met by an applauding Aberdeen High supporters section and a Blackrovers High supporters section who was also giving warm applause. Nevertheless, he kept his chin up and hoped to do his best in the match.

He could see the college scout from Manchester University up in the stands wearing his usual brown coat and his pointy nose fixed towards the pitch. He would observe every player even closer in this final match of the tournament.

He could see Michelle, the deceptive redhead in the cheerleaders' section with the rest of the cheerleaders from Blackrovers High.

He saw Marissa and Sam standing in the cheerleading section for Aberdeen High!

“And welcome folks to the final of this Inter-State High School Tournament this evening between Aberdeen High and Blackrovers High! This one should be an absolute cracker of a match between the two sides! Blackrovers High have focused and strengthened themselves based on their attack. In contrast, Aberdeen High has mainly tried to maintain a solid defense that would save them from conceding and win them matches!” said the commentator bringing the match to a start.

There was a coin toss followed by a handshake between each referee and captains of both sides. When Shane shook Butch’s hand after shaking his hand with the referees, Butch made a disgusted face at having to shake the hand of Shane. Shane was very aggravated by this.

“And the toss has been won by Blackrovers High, meaning they will kick-off first! Let’s hope we get to watch a thrilling game of football tonight!” announced the commentator.

“I hope Aberdeen High wins tonight!” said Marissa feeling hopeful for her High School team.

“Yeah, me too!” agreed Sam.

Oliver was sitting on the Aberdeen High bench, watching this one from the seat. He was joined by Marcus, who sat with a frown on his face after being left out from the starting eleven.

Just as Shane was making his way towards his goal, with the captain’s armband firmly wrapped around his arm, he heard a familiar voice calling him from the stands, “Shane, you hoo sweetie over here!”

Shane looked at the stands and, to his pleasant surprise, saw that his mum Gertrude had come to watch him play in the final!

“Mum! No wonder you put on your grey coat! You came to see me play!” said Shane as he went over in the stands and hugged her for attending. He could do so since the match hadn’t started yet.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, sweetheart! I’m so proud of you for making it this far!” she said, giving him a tight hug.

“Thanks, mum! I hope I make you proud tonight!” said Shane heading over to his goal.

“You already have sweetheart! You already have!” she replied. Shane smiled sweetly at her after that.

Marissa and Sam looked at Michelle in the opposition cheerleading section and looked at her with great disgust.

“She is such a creep!” said Marissa scornfully.

“I know! I totally agree with you!” agreed Sam being equally scornful.

Soon the referee blew his whistle and Blackrovers High kicked-off the evening. Butch Buchanan and Nick Rogers had kicked things off for Blackrovers High.

“And this one is underway ladies and gentlemen!” announced the commentator just as the match had begun.

At the start, Blackrovers High just kept possession with themselves for a solid ten minutes before going forward to try and attack the Aberdeen High goal.

“Guys! Don’t go forward to try and steal the ball! Let them wear themselves out by just passing to themselves and running in their half! Keep your stamina!” instructed Shane, who didn’t want his team going into the opposition half to try and steal the ball.

“This is so boring! I wish something would happen!” complained Marissa feeling restless.

“Oh, something will happen! It’s just not happening right now! Remember, this is the final! A lot is going to happen tonight!” reminded Sam not getting impatient like Marissa.

“And these Blackrovers High players have kept possession with them for ten straight minutes here folks! Goodness me, what possible strategy could they have. And these Aberdeen High players are not even trying to steal the ball from them! They probably don’t want to tire themselves out so early in the game!” said the commentator from his commentary box up in the stands.

Then suddenly, Michelle Clarke started cheering for her High School team, and, for Butch in particular, after seeing this, Marissa and Sam began to get suspicious about what was going on.

But immediately after the cheer, Butch instructed his teammates to charge forward and attack for goal. They raced past the Aberdeen High defense spreading themselves in multiple areas of the field before Nick Rogers sent a long-range cross to Butch Buchanan who had space with him in the Aberdeen High goal. Butch, after fending off two defenders attempted to unleash a powerful header as he jumped high to head the ball from close range following Nick’s long-range cross.

Shane could luckily read where the ball was heading after that, and fortunately for him and his team, he dove in that exact direction. He blocked the shot away with his hands as he jumped low to his left to block that shot away, sending it for a blackrovers High corner in the process.

“And Nick Rogers sends a long-range cross to Butch Buchanan who heads a powerful header from close range! But in the end, it’s kept out by Shane Foster who sends it for a corner!” said the commentator after witnessing Butch’s saved attempt on goal.

Shane’s mum Gertrude smiled after seeing her son make an important save.

The save made Butch very angry who signaled to Michelle in the far distance to carry out another plan he had come up with.

“Way to go dude!” said Kevin congratulating Shane as he came back to try and defend from the corner.

Michelle quickly left her cheerleading section and dashed through the stands to get Shane to look at her.

Just as the corner was about to be taken, she called out to Shane and Kevin, “You hoo Shane, my love! And you too, Kevin!” She waved her hands to them and blew kisses their way. Shane and Kevin having turned their attention, became upset, and quiet and depressing thoughts started to come to them again.

They couldn’t focus on the match as a result, and so the corner kick was taken with Nick Rogers jumping high to head the ball into the back of the net. He jumped high right under the nose of Kevin and hit the ball hard with his forehead to the top right corner. Shane and Kevin just stood there frozen after having only seen Michelle blow kisses their way. It triggered unpleasant memories their way, and as a result, they just conceded a goal and were trailing by one goal to nil!

“And Blackrovers High break the deadlock on the fifteenth minute here, ladies and gentleman!” They do so in a most remarkable manner through a powerful header put in by Nick Rogers, who jumps up above everyone else to put that one past, Shane Foster! Shane Foster just seems to have stood there frozen as he made no effort to save the shot at all!” remarked the commentator as Aberdeen High had just gone behind to Blackrovers High in the evening.

The Blackrovers High supporters cheered their team onto a ferocious level!

“aww, man!” said Oliver as he looked disappointed after his team was now trailing in the match.

Marcus let out a small chuckle as he found it quite entertaining that they were trailing due to him not having started for them that evening.

“Did you see that!” remarked Marissa angrily.

“Yeah, I saw that!” said Sam fuming.

“She deliberately did that so that her team could go ahead, and Shane and Kevin just froze there! I think they weren’t lying after all! Otherwise, they would have been happy to see her and would not have frozen in their places like they just did!” said Marissa observing.

“Yes! I agree with you!” agreed Sam outraged.

“We’ve got to tell the boys that we forgive them so they’ll get themselves back into this one!” suggested Marissa.

“But how do we do that?” asked Sam.

“Good Question!” said Marissa, who began to think.

After kick-off had gone underway and the match had presumed, Aberdeen High was looking to press in the opposition half and quickly try and level the score. They tried their level best but just couldn’t manage to do so, since Blackrovers High possessed a solid defense as well.

Jerome Castle kept on trying to feed the ball to Benjamin Cross, but Benjamin couldn’t hold onto it for a very long time since he kept on losing possession of the ball. The Blackrovers High defense was very good at slide tackling as they kept on winning the ball back from the Aberdeen High strike force.

“And we are approaching the first half-hour of the match here ladies and gentleman with Aberdeen High doing everything they possibly can to level the score, but they’re just not able to break through the opposition’s defense as the Blackrovers High defense is too strong for them to try and get past!” said the commentator after watching Aberdeen High fail to level the score with every effort they were making just going to waste.

“Guys continue doing your best!” instructed Shane as he saw them lose possession once more.

However, this time when they would lose out on possession, they would be made to pay as Nick Rogers won the ball and teed up with his fellow teammate Butch Buchanan for a quick one-two between them. They had plenty of space between them in the Aberdeen High half of the field due to the majority of their players being in the Blackrovers half of the area.

Butch kept on passing quickly to his teammate Nick as they were coming near the Aberdeen High goal with a lot of pace and quickness. Shane looked on at them, approaching him full speed ahead and thought to himself, “I can’t let this one go in!”

But unfortunately for Shane, his three defenders in his half, Walden Smith, Frank Jones, and Ryan Buckle, were all dodged, dribbled and outrun by Butch and Nick’s speedy passing between them. In the end, Shane was left helplessly all alone defending the Aberdeen High goal with two opposition strikers looking to put the ball into the back of the net.

As those two had entered his box, he charged forward and dove to the ground in an attempt to win the ball from Nick Rogers, who had the ball in his feet at that time. Nick waited for the very last moment till Shane had come close enough ahead, then he cleverly and quickly passed the ball to Butch Buchanan, who simply had to tap the ball into the back of an empty net. Aberdeen High was then subsequently trailing Blackrovers High by two goals to nil!