***
That night, the stadium was surprisingly crowded. Despite the fact that Anna had absolutely no desire to attend any football games, here she was – her friends had begged her to come with them. When she said she wasn’t going, they’d protested loudly. Why not? They were all going. Did she have anything better to do? They’d asked her so many questions, and Anna didn’t really have any answers. She really didn't have anything better to do – she just didn't want to go. But that wasn't good enough. So here she was, sitting on a crowded metal bench just six rows back from the field. They sat down in time to watch the quarterback throw a pass over halfway down the field. Anna was surprised at the strength and speed he seemed to possess.
The girls hadn’t gotten there in time for Anna to see any of the players without their helmets. As she watched them play what looked to her like a very complicated game, she found herself wondering if she knew anyone. She leaned over to ask Sharon.
“Probably not.” came the reply, much to Anna’s disappointment. “This is varsity – freshmen almost never make the team.”
Anna nodded vaguely and turned back to the game.
It seemed like hardly any time had passed before the whistle blew signaling halftime and surprising Anna. The game was going by so fast! She’d imagined it would be a tedious three- or four-hour game, but it didn’t seem that way at all. Admittedly, she didn’t understand much of what was going on, but that didn’t stop her from being fascinated nonetheless.
As the players walked off the field, one by one they started taking their helmets off. Anna was surprised to see that she did know one or two of them from various classes. One of them was Jeff from her English class. Anna caught herself smirking as she remembered the conversation from earlier in the day. Apparently, he did know what position Mrs. Boyd’s son played after all.
But Anna’s amusement came to an end as she caught herself eyeing the quarterback. He’d been the last one to take his helmet off, and as he did so he’d turned toward the crowd, smiling. He waved, and the crowd erupted. The whole place seemed to cheer just for him, but Anna’s insides went cold. It was Fredrick. Again. Was he always going to be everywhere she went?
She should have known it was him. Who else would be able to constantly sidestep bodies lunging at him with such ease? And his passes – Anna had thought he’d been throwing farther than the average human. Now she knew why; Fredrick was anything but average.
As soon as Anna recognized Fredrick looking into the crowd, she’d automatically shifted behind the boy in front of her, terrified that Fredrick somehow would know exactly where she was – that he might be looking for her. Anna couldn’t bear the thought of dealing with him right now; she'd never wished so hard that she was invisible.
Suddenly, she remembered where she was – in public. With friends who might actually wonder what she was doing. Sheepishly, she sat up, hoping that nobody had noticed her behavior; she’d hate to have to explain her sudden need to hide.
Fortunately, no one seemed to be paying any attention to her. She looked quickly at her friends, but they were all staring down at the field, mesmerized.
“Wow, he’s cute!” Carmine exclaimed loudly. “I'll never get tired of seeing him!”
Anna followed her gaze. Could she really be talking about Fredrick?
“I know.” Sharon replied slyly. Apparently, her love of the game was only part of the reason Sharon had wanted to come so badly. “It's too bad he’s a senior!” There was no doubt about it – they were talking about Fredrick.
Joanna timidly joined the conversation, increasing Anna’s feeling of loneliness. It seemed she was just about the only one in school who wasn’t completely infatuated with Fredrick. Even her friends thought he was wonderful. If only they knew him!
Anna sat in miserable silence, listening to every comment made about how great Fredrick was. His smugness was so obvious she could practically see it forming a cloud around him – everybody should be able to pick up on it! So why didn’t they? How could it be possible that she was the only one who could see how bad he really was?
As she sat there in frustrated, lonely silence, Anna stole a glance over at her friends. They were all chattering away, oblivious to her and her feelings. All except Mina, that is. Mina was staring hard at Anna, her head tilted a little to one side. Anna stared back at her, a quizzical look on her face.
“You ok?” Mina mouthed, not wanting to draw any attention to them.
Anna deeply appreciated the gesture; she put on her best smile and nodded, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. A whistle blew from somewhere down on the field, signaling the end of halftime. The game resumed, and Anna found herself even more drawn to Fredrick than before.
Now that she knew who was under that helmet, she felt the inexplicable need to watch his every move. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him as he made pass after pass, all the while dodging a number of guys – any one of whom would have been more than enough to take down a regular boy. She even saw him run a couple of times, the ball cradled firmly in his arms. Of course, he’d run almost the whole length of the field; no one else was even close to him.
Anna continued to get more and more agitated the longer she watched. Finally, when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, Mina stood up abruptly.
“I have to go to the bathroom.” she told the group. Turning to Anna, she said, “Why don’t you come, too?”
Anna looked up, surprised. But once she saw the look on Mina’s face, Anna got to her feet. Sharon looked at Mina, then Anna, and back to Mina.
“But you’ll miss the game!” she said with more than a hint of whine in her voice.
“But I have to!” Mina insisted. “We’ll be back. Don’t worry!”
Then, grabbing Anna’s hand she proceeded to all but drag her towards the end of the bleachers. They climbed down the stairs and walked around the corner. But instead of going to the bathrooms, Mina dragged her in the opposite direction, towards the concession stand.
“The restrooms are that way.” Anna said, pointing behind her. Mina turned back and looked at her.
“I know.” she said. “But you looked unhappy. I thought you’d want to get away.”
Anna nodded, thanking her. Mina didn’t ask what was bothering her, but Anna felt the need to explain anyway.
“I’m sorry…it’s just all this talk about Fredrick.” she started. “He’s not a good person, Mina.” Anna said, trying to put extra meaning into the words.
She stood there, trying to figure out exactly how to explain what she knew when she remembered how public a place this was. Now was definitely not the time to be sharing any information that she didn’t want the whole school to know about. She looked apologetically at Mina, who nodded in understanding.
“Later, then. If you want.” Mina told her. Anna nodded.
They started walking back towards the bleachers, when something caught Anna’s eye. She turned to see someone familiar walking towards her. Luke! Anna was a little embarrassed to admit she was so glad to see him. He saw her and nodded his head in recognition, smiling broadly.
“Well, hey.” he said as he approached. Anna saw that he was being followed by two boys in black – possibly leather – jackets.
The boy on the left had shaggy black hair that touched his collar and intense brown eyes. He was long and lean and muscular. His cheeks seemed to be hollowed out, and Anna wondered if he was eating enough.
The boy on the other side was almost this one’s complete opposite. His short hair was so light it was almost white, and his ice-blue eyes sparkled playfully. He had a nice, round face that made him look much younger than he probably was. Luke stepped forward slightly in front of his friends.
“This is Zev.” he said, jerking his thumb towards the shaggy-haired kid.
Zev smiled a little too wildly, revealing long white teeth.
“And this,” Luke said, pointi
ng to the other boy “is Conner.”
Conner smiled up at them, as he continued to wolf down a hamburger. Anna introduced the three of them to Mina.
After the introductions were over, Anna asked Luke why he’d come. After all, she still wasn’t entirely sure that a sane person would come to a football game just because they wanted to.
“We’re here supporting a friend.” Zev told her. Anna wasn’t sure what she thought of him; he seemed dangerous, somehow.
“You have a friend on the football team?” she asked.
“Yeah – Conner’s older brother.” Luke said. “He’s a wide receiver.”
“He’s really fast.” Conner supplied helpfully.
“Oh. Like Mrs. Boyd’s son.” Anna said, recognizing the term. Zev snorted.
“Yeah, just like Mrs. Boyd’s son. Except that Collin’s actually good.” he told her.
“Oh…” Anna said, trailing off.
“You haven’t seen Zach Boyd play yet, have you?” Luke asked, a gleam in his eye.
“No,” she replied. “This is the first football game I’ve ever been to, and he hasn’t played yet.”
“That’s ’cause he sucks.” Zev interjected. Luke shot him a quick, appreciative glance before turning back to Anna.
“Well, they’re pretty far ahead now. They’ll probably bring ol’ Zachery out for the second half.”
“Speaking of which, I heard the whistle while we were getting those burgers. We should head back if we wanna see the rest of the game.” Zev told them. Then, nodding toward the bleachers he asked, “Why don’t you girls join us?”
“We came here with friends.” Mina said, speaking up for the first time. Anna thought Luke looked slightly disappointed at this, but he brightened considerably when Mina asked him, “Why don’t you come back with us?”
The five of them made it back to where Sharon, Carmine, and Joanna were sitting just as the players took to the field – much to Sharon’s relief.
“You guys are just in time!” she said. “There were only two plays. Then they called time-out for like forever.” Then, looking back at Anna, she said, “You brought friends.”
Luke said hi, and Anna got the feeling he already knew her. Well, they probably did go to the same school together last year.
“Which number is your friend’s?” Anna asked Luke as they squeezed onto the bench.
“Number 23.” Luke said, pointing down at the field.
Anna watched number 23 for the rest of the game; a perfect excuse to ignore Fredrick. Collin was surprisingly quick himself. He was always the first one downfield, and Anna never did see him get tackled. Actually, he was almost as fast as Fredrick.
Zach Boyd, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. Luke had been right; he got put in towards the end of the game – halfway through the fourth quarter, to be exact. At the sight of him, Luke and Zev exchanged knowing glances, and Conner grinned happily, leaning forward in anticipation. None of the three of them were disappointed by Zach’s performance.
He was clumsy and slow. Half the time, he seemed to be nowhere near where he should have been, and on the few times he managed to catch the ball, he was tackled almost instantly. It appeared the only reason he even got the limited time he did was because his mom was on the staff – common knowledge to anyone who attended these games with any regularity.
Chapter 17: The Figure at the Window