Sanders must have been able to get Emilio switched out of his afternoon class because he wasn't there when Alex and Jack showed up on Friday. Matthew tried to convince Sanders to let him play in the last football scrimmage, but Sanders didn't budge on making him sit out.
"Your ankle still looks like a tomato, Montoya," he pointed out.
"But just a little one," Matthew tried to argue.
Sanders eventually got Matthew to leave him alone by giving him a whistle and posting him as the referee for the Red vs Blue match. Within seconds he was abusing his power to annoy the life out of Jack.
"Oh, what now?" Jack moaned as Matthew blew the whistle while he had the ball for the fifth time.
"Offsides, Farrow," Matthew answered.
"It was not!"
"They got different rules for soccer in New York? Because that was like, the first legitimate foul I've called."
"He's right, Jonathan," Samuel Argent pointed out.
"Argent, you're on my team! Why the hell are you taking his side?"
"I maintain my integrity with few things in life. Football is one of them."
"Oh, fuck off."
After one more bogus call that made Alex worry Jack was legitimately starting to get angry, he convinced Matthew to try to strive for a more impartial method. Thanks to that, though, Jack and his team managed to comfortably pull ahead.
"Can I start fucking with them again?" Matthew asked as he helped Alex up from the ground after Jack blew past his piss-poor defence to make the score 6-1.
"Do your worst Montoya!" Jack answered once he finished his post-goal peacocking. "Not even your ref from hell routine can save your shitty team now!"
"Hey," Alex complained.
"Sorry Al, it's survival of the fittest out here. Get good or get wrecked."
Matthew blew his whistle again. "Unsportsmanlike behaviour, Farrow," he called out. "I'd give you a yellow card, but Sanders did not give me any. So, instead, I'm gonna trill the whistle for ten seconds, okay? Allie, cover your ears."
"Don't you dare-" Jack was cut off by Matthew following through with a very painful ten-second whistle blow. Alex barely managed to heed his warning in time, but the sound still rattled his eardrums a little.
"Montoya!" Sanders shouted from where he was overseeing the other game. "Do that again and it's two months of chess club!"
"Sorry coach," Matthew shouted back, but then whispered to Jack. "I won't hesitate, Farrow."
Despite his threat, Matthew managed to only call legitimate fouls for the rest of the game, and it ended with a slightly more respectable 6-4 score.
"Undefeated champs," Jack said, high-fiving the teammates he had called losers when he was first grouped with them. "Suck my dick, Montoya."
"Buy me dinner first, Farrow," Matthew shot back. "Sanders I want a rematch; I could kick Farrow's ass any day of the week."
"Name the time and place, asshole."
Sanders rolled his eyes as he snatched the whistle from around Matthew's neck. "I'm sure it's very healthy that your self-esteem is so dependent on whether or not you're better at kicking balls than your peers," he said. "Surely there is no higher goal to strive for."
"Your tone is mocking but your words ring true," Matthew commented as Jack nodded in agreement.
"Go away now. Please."
Alex herded the two of them off to the locker room before they could annoy their poor teacher any further. "By the way," Matthew said to Alex as they walked inside, "remember when you said I could check out guitars from the music program? Who would I talk to about that?"
"Professor Zakowski, I think," Alex answered. "She's the department head. You can fill out a request form with her. Are you... trying to get one for the vigil?"
"Was hoping to, yeah."
"I'm not sure how long it takes for a request to go through."
"Yeah, I was worried about that. Worth a shot though, right?"
"I can take one for you," Jack said. Alex and Matthew turned their heads to see him looking at them with a completely serious expression.
"Take?" Matthew repeated. "What, like you'd just steal one?"
"Yeah. Not exactly Fort Knox around here. And what are they gonna do if I get caught, kick me out?"
"I doubt they'd be as kind to me if I was caught with stolen property."
"I could take the fall, easy. You said you need it for the vigil, right? I can get it for you."
Matthew narrowed his eyes at Jack for a second. "I think I'll explore other options first," he said slowly. "But... thanks, I guess."
Jack shrugged and headed off to the showers. "Let me know if you change your mind," he called over his shoulder.
"I told you he's not so bad," Alex said once he was gone.
"I think he just wants an excuse to steal shit," Matthew said as he took off his t-shirt and replaced it with his uniform shirt. "If I can't get a loaner from the school, wanna help me out with my guitar quest tomorrow? I think I saw a used instruments shop last time I was in Brighton."
Alex almost automatically said yes, but stopped himself when he realized he couldn't. "I have my language lessons tomorrow," he said, for the first time in his life cursing that fact.
"Ah. Right. Don't suppose you could ditch this once, huh?"
The hopeful look on Matthew's face made Alex want to immediately say that yes, he absolutely could, but again he gathered the strength not to. "I've got to meet my new Japanese tutor. Oh, but I should give you back that five-pound note you gave me if you're going shopping."
Matthew smiled and shook his head. "It's fine, dude. A hand-me-down acoustic shouldn't be too much. I'm not looking for anything fancy."
"Still. I don't... I don't need it anymore."
Matthew looked at Alex with a cocked head for a few moments, chewing on his bottom lip as he looked like he was thinking through a response more carefully than he had thought through anything in his life.
"Tell you what," he finally said. "Hold on to it, and maybe one Saturday when you can get away with giving your tutors the slip, you can buy me a burger at that place in town where everyone is always hyping up. Deal?"
"Um... okay," Alex said slowly. "Sure. Deal."
"Cool." Matthew finished changing into the rest of his uniform, doing up his tie so that it was just barely crooked. "I'm gonna head on out. Didn't work up enough sweat to need a shower. See ya, next class?"
"Yeah," Alex said as he could practically feel AJ holding back his hands to stop him from straightening the tie. "See you."
I absolutely cannot stress this enough, AJ said as Alex grabbed his shower supplies from his locker, but that was in no way whatsoever him asking you on a date. I need you to understand that. I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me you know that.
You've not got any eyes, Alex thought back.
Alexander Bellamy Conrad, I swear to God if you don't-
"Relax," he muttered out loud. "I know. I'm not an idiot."
All evidence points to the contrary, AJ said as Alex headed to the showers. But fine. Just know I've got my nonexistent eyes on you, you hopeless bastard.