by T. J. Sin
“True that,” John agreed putting on his own jersey.
“I still say that she is the spawn of Satan.”
John cut his friend a glance over his shoulder and then busted out laughing. “You’re just jealous,” he accused.
Justin scoffed at the mere idea of that. Me? Jealous? I don’t think so. “Wrong!” he drawled out. “I’m Justin Pinnix, the man with a plan." He rested his hands on his hips and turned to John. "All I have to do is crook my finger and I could have any female in this school that I wanted. It's as simple as American pie.”
“Except for one girl in particular,” John pointed out. “Chloe.” He started to adjust his jock strap and Justin turned his head, keeping his attention otherwise diverted. Going to bed with that visual in his head was something he could definitely live without. “You’re jealous because she told me yes and told you to suck it.” John added when he finished tucking himself away.
“And you’re delusional.” Justin countered. He pulled on his padded britches and then sat down on the bench, picking up his lucky socks. He had worn those socks in every game since he threw his first innocuous touch down pass freshman year. The one time that his mom accidentally washed them was the only game in four years that they had lost. Since that disastrous game, he hasn’t dared to let her wash them again.
“Man, those are rank,” John said taking a seat next to him.
"Hey, don’t knock the socks dude. They have gotten us this far and tonight, they will bring it all back home. The state title. Four long years and this is what it all comes down to.”
John nodded in agreement and ran his hand through his hair, his face taking on a more serious look. “So, I hear you have scouts out there tonight, right?”
Grinning easily, Justin nodded in affirmation. “Yeah. Two that I know of, Alabama and Penn State."
"Do you prefer one over the other?" He asked stuffing his boat like feet into his well worn cleats.
Justin was working on tying his shoes and shrugged. "My dad went to Alabama so.... that's where he wants me to go but hell, I don't know John, football is football. One school is just as good as the other the way that I see it, just as long as I get to play."
"Can't argue with that." With his cleats were now laced and tied and John stood up, stomping his feet a couple of times, shaking out his legs. He bent down and picked up his gold and black helmet before turning his gaze back to Justin. He kicked up a grin on his lips and his face lit up with eager anticipation. "Ready to kick some bulldog ass?"
"Hell yeah!" Justin was more than ready. This entire football year had been building up to this lone solitary game. Jokes and pranks aside, tonight was going to be his night. It was going to be his moment of shining glory. The way that he envisioned it, this was the type of stuff that heroes were made of.
Standing up, he held out his fist to John. They bumped their hands together, a gesture that the two had been doing since their pee wee days. "Hells yeah!!" John hollered in agreement.
Feeling the rush of the adrenaline already starting to pump in his veins, Justin bent over grabbed up his helmet. "Come on, if we don't get our asses in gear Coach is going to string our hides up for sure."
John chuckled and slapped his friend on the back before turning to lead the way. "True that."
************
The team was all huddled at the locker room door. Justin could hear the crowd outside getting psyched up by the music blaring through the speakers. He could literally feel the excitement bouncing around in the small corridor that the team had been crammed into. They were beyond ready to get this shindig going... Warrior style.
"Is it hot in here?"
Justin curved a glance to his side and noticed John looking out at the field. He was fidgeting with the neck of his jersey and shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other. "A little," he replied. He couldn't help but to notice how John continued to move back and forth, antsy as all get out which was completely out of character for him. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Introducing.......the Warriors......"
That was their cue.
"I'm fine," John assured him, flashing his usual cocky grin. "Time to roll," he grinned and before Justin could say anything else he was already darting off with the rest of the team onto the field.
Alright, Justin told himself, show time. And with that in mind he steeled his resolve, put his head in the zone and ran out onto the field with the rest of the team.
After introductions were made, the team gathered along the sideline, listening to Coach give his usual pep talk. Justin found himself only half listening to him. Instead, he was busy taking in the familiar sights and sounds of the big game. These feelings, these sensations that he was experiencing never failed to get his blood pumping hot and pumping fast.
The screaming fans, the smell of fresh cut green grass, the cheerleaders doing their thing to get the crowds going, the lights illuminating the field... Heaven. He saw it as his own personal slice of heaven. How could he ever live without all this?
This was his element. This field was his world.
"Team on three," the Coach announced, finally bringing Justin's attention back to him.
The rowdy group of boys all moved to put their hands in the center of the cock- eyed circle that they managed to form.
"One." The coach yelled and a tickle on unease ran down the back of Justin's neck.
"Two." Justin heard the Coach count out again and his body suddenly started to heat, sweat beading up high on his brow.
"Three." The final count sounded and a gnawing feeling that was becoming almost impossible to ignore started to prickle at Justin's inner thighs, making him feel damn near uncomfortable.
"Team!” The roar went up simultaneously around him and all Justin could think about was how he could inconspicuously scratch at his crotch. What in the hell is going on?
"Justin!" Coach focused in on him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. Justin stared back at him, struggling to pay attention with the irritation that was now building like a wild fire in between his legs.
"Let's knock them out with the one-two punch. You and John run the Statue of Liberty play. That should put up some fast points on the board."
Justin bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, the acrid taste of blood filling his mouth instantly. His groin was now itching something fierce and it took everything that he had in him to not bawl like a baby right there in front of Coach. That would have been beyond embarrassing.
"Mmm hmmm." Justin haphazardly mumbled because at this point, he couldn't find the words to speak. The itch was turning into a burn and it was driving him insane.
Coach slapped him hard on his helmet. "Go get em' tiger." Justin tried to shoot a positive smile but it came out more of a grimace.
The Coach didn't notice though. He just turned and headed to the bench, leaving Justin to take the field. While he half walked, half ran to take his place in the huddle, Justin breathed out raggedly. The itching was getting even worse, painful even. It felt almost like he had a scorching fire burning hot in his pants. It was so bad that he could think of nothing else other than the wanting, no the needing of immediate relief.
Unfortunately, there was no relief in sight.
When he finally reached the center of the huddle after his torturous walk, Justin noticed John standing off to the side, clawing mercifully at his groin too. His face was pinched with pain and it was then that the truth dawned on him.
Lifting his head, he glanced up into the bleachers. His eyes scanned the crowd. It took him all of five seconds to find out what, or rather whom, it was that he was looking for.
And what do you know. There she was, smiling crookedly at him. Her eyes danced with laughter as she stood and rubbed mockingly at both sides of her inner legs. It was the she devil herself and she had finally made good on her promise of payback at the worst possible time.
“Damn it!" Justin cursed under his breath. He might as well just bend on over now
he figured, because she just found the perfect way to screw him up the ass- royally.
Chapter 9
Sitting up in the stands Chloe couldn’t wait to see his face. This was going to be the revenge of all revenges, the ultimate retribution that she hungered for and it was going to be the epic of all epicness.
For the briefest of moments there was a small pang of guilt that assuaged her when she thought back to how excited John had looked when he first saw her on her door step. His smile of appreciation was sincere and just about undid her. Frowning, she rubbed at the back of her neck uncomfortably.
“What’s wrong?”
She turned to Erica and quickly pushed out of her mind all thoughts of John. The guilt moment was brief, but then it was gone. She had to remember first and foremost exactly who and what John was. At the end of the night when it all came down to it, he would be no different than the rest of them. He was after all, a master player. He would surely expect to get in her pants and that is why she had to do what she was doing, for propriety’s sake if nothing else.
“Nothing,” she quickly replied and shot her cousin a telling smile. “At least not anymore.”
Erica beamed brightly back at Chloe, her eyes wide. “So it’s done then.”
Nodding Chloe answered. “Yep, it’s done. This game should be… let’s say… entertaining.” Entertaining she thought was putting it mildly. This game should be out and out hilarious if all goes as she had originally planned.
The crowd went up in a roar and both girls turned their gazes back to the field. The team filed out in typical male fashion, hooting and hollering, beating on their chest. Instead of a bunch of male teenagers, one would think that they were a bunch of primordial gorillas, jumping the way that they were.
“There he is,” Erica pointed out.
Chloe followed her hand and sure enough, there he was. The one guy that had been the bane of her existence all week. The one guy that represented all of the guys who had ever thought that they were God’s gift to human kind. Justin Pinnix. And he was about to be in for one hell of a rude awakening.
Beside him Chloe easily spotted John and she couldn’t help but to try and stifle a giggle. He was already clawing at his groin and he was being pretty obvious about it.
“You see it too,” Erica commented not bothering to hide her smile.
Chloe didn’t have to look at Erica to see the smile on her face. She could hear the amusement in the way she talked. “Hell yeah! And think, this is just the beginning.”
She laughed and agreed. “Yeah, it’s too bad that Justin had scouts coming out tonight. He’ll probably lose his precious scholarship now.”
Turning her head, Chloe stared back at her cousin not sure she head her correctly. She felt a note of dread begin to wind its way into her chest. “Did you say scouts… as in from colleges?”
“Yeah,” she replied flippantly as if it was no big thing. Erica kept her eyes trained on the field while Chloe seriously started to second guess what she had just done. She wanted to embarrass the guy, maybe teach him a lesson or two in humility but she didn’t want to ruin his chances at getting into a decent school, on a scholarship no less. “Why didn’t you mention this before?” she asked her cousin skeptically.
This time Erica was the one to glance over her shoulder and shrug. “I didn’t think it mattered.”
“Mattered,” Chloe squelched. “What if he blows his chances at getting into a decent school? Then it‘s my fault.”
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the field. “Please Chloe. What about when he posted your phone number on those posters and plastered them all over the school? What about when he put your number on the side of your car and advertised ‘For a good time call you’?” She sneered at her last comment.
“He doesn’t deserve your pity Chloe so don’t you dare give it to him. He brought it on himself when he first took me up to the bedroom at that party and then forgot about me the next day. How do you think I felt having to show my face at school the following Monday knowing what he did to me and that he didn’t give a damn. I was just another notch on his belt.”
Chloe noticed the lone tear that slowly trailed down her cheek and a faint memory from her own painful past crept back into her mind. Before that particular skeleton spilled out of the closet, she quickly slammed the door on it, keeping it locked up tight. Erica was right. Guys had to learn that innocent girls were more than just a novelty, that they were people and that they had feelings too. “You’re right,” she whispered to her. “You are so right.”
It was just about that time that she glanced out at the field and her eyes instantly connected with Justin’s. His stare turned frigidly cold and she could easily see the pinch in his face. At that moment she knew that he was aware that this was her payback and all she could do was smile in return.
Yeah, I did it…what ya going to do about it, she thought smugly to herself.
Hearing someone call his name, Justin jerked his head back around and said something before sticking his head back in the huddle. John was still on the outside of the circle dancing around like a fool. Chloe heard them chant. “One… two….three…Team!” and watched the group of boys scatter around like little ants all over the field.
Justin took his place behind the line and she didn’t miss the way that he dug at his britches trying to ward off the itch in his pants. He crouched down under the center and in a frenzy of shouts and commands, he stood up with the ball in his hands and pretended like he was going to throw it. When suddenly John come from out of no where racing down the sidelines with the ball in his hands.
Everyone around her jumped to their feet. The announcer guy's voice barked through the intercom, “TOUCHDOWN, by number 22, the Warriors very own John, The Lightning Strike has struck again!”
She sat there in her seat at a total loss for words. Twenty seconds into the game and they already managed to score? She glanced down at the end zone where all the guys ran in behind John to congratulate him. They were high-fiving each other and then just as quickly ran back to the center of the field to line back up. Then there was this other guy, she couldn’t really tell who he was with those helmets they had on, stepped back, ran forward and reared his leg, kicking the extra point.
The point was good and afterwards all of the other guys ran off the field and towards the bench. Chloe continued to watch on in amazement and smiled hugely when she noticed Justin half dragging John towards the locker room. She had no doubts what those two were going to do. They were making a bee line to the locker room in order to clean themselves up.
But more importantly with that last scathing glance Justin shot off in her direction, she knew that her point had been made and better yet, that he had felt it. Oh yeah, she nodded with pure satisfaction, he felt it all right, deep... deep within his most manly man parts.
************
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into coming to this dance.”
Erica smirked. “Live a little Chloe. You already had the dress for it.”
Chloe frowned at her and wanted nothing more than to turn around and hightail her butt right back out of there. She hated parties and dances.
“Come on,” she said, dragging Chloe by the arm. “You did the deed, now it’s time to rub it in some. That‘s the best part.”
“They won,” she replied sardonically, letting the reality sink in.
Erica shrugged. “Yeah…so what? They still looked like idiots digging at their crotch and running off the field after that first touch down.”
That made Chloe chuckle. Remembering what Justin and John looked like when they were scratching themselves made her feel more light-hearted. “Yeah, they did, didn’t they?” she wholeheartedly agreed. “Especially when Justin tripped and face planted just as he reached the door.”
Erica held open the door and waited for Chloe to go in. “Yeah, that was pretty damn funny.”
Chloe passed by her. “I have to give it to him though, the boy h
as some skills. Even with all that happened, he managed to pull off a score and win the game.”
Erica cut her cousin a sharp glance. “Yeah…whatever,” she said and dragged her into a room that was filled with balloons and cheap crepe paper decorations. The room was the epitome of cheesy. Music was blaring in the background and students were already dancing, if that’s what you want to call rubbing up all over each other in the center of the floor.
“This is so cliché,” Chloe remarked, standing up against the wall and thinking about all of the stupid high school movies that she had seen with dance scenes. All they needed were the cameras and this could have easily been any once of those movies.
“Cliché or not,” Erica started and thrust a cup filled with some sort of red punch in Chloe's hand. “We’re here now, so smile and take in the experience. You deserve it.”