Gary couldn't believe it but it had already reached football practice the next day. He still hadn't been able to talk to the Aimes as he hadn't seen her all day, likely because of whatever happened last night between the populars. It was a hushed argument but still an argument and deep down Gary wondered whether the Aimes had been standing up for him.
"Sheffield!" Someone called out, snapping Gary back to reality. He spun around to where the voice was coming from and saw a ball hurling towards his face. Before he could move out of the way, it hit into him… again. This time he just swayed on his feet instead of falling over, the ball hadn't had as much force behind it as before.
"Sheffield! Get your head out the clouds! I'm gonna break your nose one of these days." Barry snapped in a half-warning and half-threatening way, coming over to Gary to pick up the ball. As soon as he had it in his hands again, he immediately called the boys to restart the round. Gary watched the other boys get into position, blinking slightly dazed. His mind was still trying to work out what had just happened.
"Are… you okay…?" Bradley asked, waving a hand in front of Gary's face, causing him to blink a few more times and snap back to reality. He scanned the field, quickly realising that everyone was staring at him and waiting for him to get back into position so that they could start the game.
"Y-yeah… I'm fine." Gary hastily responded and ran off to his starting position, ignoring the look of concern on Bradley's face. Gary quickly took one last glance at the players, his eyes hesitating on Barry for a second longer than he probably should've. He was grinning. Grinning! How could the king of drama be grinning at injuring a teammate and fellow student? Why did Barry want him off the team so badly? That was when Barry's glare caught Gary's gaze… There was something sinister in it that told him it wouldn't be the last time a ball 'accidentally' collided with his face. This was all purposeful… Which questioned how long Bradley would really stick around, standing up for him. He became almost certain that it wouldn't be very long.
* * *
Gary silently walked into the changing room, overhearing some of the other boys' banter as they playfully shoved each other into lockers after they insulted one another. He didn't really understand why they liked roughhousing each other like that. It seemed like it would hurt…
Then Barry walked into the changing room, his face covered in glistening sweat making his tan skin appear to shine in the florescent lighting. The boys immediately stopped their banter and stood up, facing him as if he was the king or something… Why don't you just roll down a red carpet while you're at it?! Gary thought, watching as the boys treated their team captain like royalty.
"You all did very well today. Worked hard. Well… Except Sheffield…" Barry announced, making sure to slip a quick insult to Gary in his speech. He smirked as Gary rolled his eyes and continued "Coach says we have four more practices before he chooses players to be on this season's team. So keep up the good work. Let's make it difficult for him." Barry grinned mischievously and all the boys cheered, while Gary watched from afar, trying to get changed as quickly as possible.
On the way out of the changing room, Gary overheard his name in a conversation between two of his teammates. He decided to keep quiet and hear what they were talking about.
"So who do you think is gonna make the team this term?" One of the players asked, kneeling on the floor as he tied his shoe laces. The other players thought for a moment before answering.
"Well… Definitely not Sheffield… He's trash. I mean how many times has he been hit by the ball now?" A second suggested, pulling on a white shirt and buttoning it while facing his friends.
"Plus Barry seems to have it out for him." A third quipped, putting his gym kit into a bag before stuffing it into the locker. The other two hummed in agreement before the first spoke again.
"Poor kid… I mean… Having Barry on your back every second of every day? That's got to be harsh…" The first sighed, evidently fully aware of the trouble Barry could cause to your life if he wanted to.
"And he's new!" The third piped up again, putting in the passcode to lock his locker. The first then stood up and also shoved his kit into his own locker.
"I don't know… The kid annoys the hell oughta me… Stopping all the games… Fuckin' frustrating…" The second teammate argued, before stuffing his kit into a locker as well. The other two looked at each other and huffed in agreement.
"Let's go get something to eat!" The third suggested energetically, pulling the other two out of the changing room, past Gary without noticing him. He sighed, did his teammates hate him already?!