Chapter 4

Charlie made his way through the building and towards their stadium, Micheal Pilgrims Field. The stadium was large, one of the biggest in the city. The home side had nearly forty ascending rows while the visitors side had twenty making the stadium capacity nearly ten thousand. Above the seats on the home side was a wide pressbox colored blue and red that stretched from the left side of the stands to the right. Inside commentators would add their thoughts and other news outlets would watch and broadcast the high school football games to local news channels.

As Charlie approached the entrance to the stadium he heard loud shouts, the slamming of pads and shrill whistles. He pulled his phone out and checked the time, '5:15', read the large white text.

"Another half an hour," he said to himself as he approached the home entrance and the seven foot chain link door. On the other side of it was the area underneath the stands but unlike the visitor stands, this one was well kept and contained shops along the left side where one could by jersey's, food and go to the bathroom. In between the ladies and mens bathroom were several small, water fountains. It was the first time Charlie had come to the stadium in his three years going to high school here and despite seeing it from a distance, Charlie was still amazed at how well maintained this stadium was.

When Charlie pulled the metal link door it made a loud clanking sound followed by a dull bang and refused to open. Charlie pressed his head against the chain links and looked around and saw that it was chained close to the fence of the stadium. He clicked his tongue before walking backwards and looking up at the towering stands. It was then that he heard airy voices swearing and deep breaths between them. He continued to watch as two football players in yellow jerseys appeared from between the seats and into the area underneath the stands.

"Hey," Charlie said and the two turned their heads. He pointed to the fence and lock and they pointed behind Charlie.

"By the scoreboard, there's a side entrance," one of them said.

Charlie nodded his thanks and made his way towards the scoreboard. He looked around the home side before checking the visitor side and found another chain link door but this one was wide enough for a golf-cart to drive through and tall enough that if someone tried climbing over they would be seen before being able to climb down. Seeing how it was left open, Charlie walked through and onto the track.

From the visitor's side he could see the giant home stands and beneath them, along the silver benches, were giant water jugs and coaches blowing their whistles. On the hundred yard field were fifty or more high schoolers, all in yellow jerseys, large shoulder pads and helmets doing drills of different kinds.

"What position does he play?" Charlie asked himself as his eyes danced from player to player. As he walked around the track he saw someone who looked a few years younger than him watching from the home stands. With nothing else to do Charlie continued walking around the track until he reached the stands and climbed his way up a row behind the child and sat down adjacent to them.

"Do you know which one of them is Gregory Walker?" Charlie asked.

The boy continued to look straight ahead.

Charlie waited for a few moments for him to say something before tapping him on the shoulder.

"Gregory Walker is around seventeen, he's a junior, pretty tall, has pretty long hair-"

"I know who Gray is, I think everyone in our school district does," the boy finally said.

The boy turned around to look at Charlie. He had short blonde hair that bordered on white. The sides of his head were buzzed while the top was longer and ruffled making him seem like he had just gotten out of bed. He had crystal blue eyes and a sharp face and looked to be no older than thirteen. The boy wore a black t-shirt and dark green cargo pants and stared emptily at Charlie.

"Who're you?" he asked.

"No one important, do you know which one's Gray?" Charlie asked again.

The boy turned around and pointed to the far side of the field to three players, a quarterback, a receiver and a cornerback. The receiver and cornerback were doing a one-on-one drill where they would keep the distance between them small, forcing the quarterback to throw with little to no room.

"He's the quarterback," the boy said.

Charlie leaned forwards and pushed up his glasses before placing his elbow on his thigh and resting his chin on his hand, "number one," Charlie read the number on the quarterback's jersey.

A small smirk that evolved into a smile invaded his lips, "sounds like him alright," he whispered to himself.

Charlie watched as a whistle was blown bringing Gray to life. He pulled the ball in towards his chest before shuffling backwards twice. At the same time the receiver took off and the cornerback followed. For a second the cornerback twisted his shoulder in an attempt to follow the receiver and that was when the receiver made a sharp right and Gray threw the ball.

"Intercepted," Charlie murmured.

The boy heard him and furrowed his brow, "What? He's open," the boy kept his eyes on the receiver and cornerback.

The cornerback that looked to be a second behind the receiver suddenly twisted his shoulders the other way while keeping his eyes on Gray. As the ball was released he abruptly changed direction and a moment before the receiver could catch the ball he leapt onto it, rolled on the ground before standing up, all in one smooth motion, with the ball in his left hand.

Charlie let out a satisfying chuckle before tapping the boy on the shoulder, "told you."

The boy turned around to look at Charlie, "how'd you know that was going to happen?"

"What were you looking at?" Charlie asked as he leaned forward.

"The receiver."

"Why not the cornerback?"

"Because it's the receiver that makes the move on the cornerback to shake him off."

"No."

The boy furrowed his brow, "yea, that's how football works."

Charlie shook his head, "Throughout that entire play, did the cornerback look at the receiver once?"

The boy went to say something before stopping himself. He turned to look at the field as if rewatching he were rewatching the play happen live. He then turned around and shook his head.

"That entire play the cornerback had his eyes glued to Gray, even when he started twisting his shoulder he didn't look at the receiver," Charlie explained, "and besides that twist was a fake anyway, he wanted the receiver to make a right and waited for when Gray would throw."

"He was aiming for that interception," the boy said.

Charlie nodded. "He set the stage and made the receiver act how he wanted him to act all so he could predict what Gray would do and intercept the ball."

The two looked towards the field once again and watched another play between Gray and the two other players. This time the receiver successfully avoided the cornerback but Gray overthrew and the third time Gray threw a tight pass that the receiver narrowly caught. The sound of the sharp whistle continued to pierce the air as their eyes fell to the other players practicing.

"What are you doing here so late?" Charlie finally asked.

"Waiting for a ride," the boy answered.

"From?"

"My brother or Gray."

"Your brother goes to school here?"

"He's a teacher."

"That's a pretty big age gap."

"Yea but I have a sister too who's a couple years older so it's not too bad."

"So how does Gray fit into this? Neighbor?"

"First cousin."

Charlie nodded, "I see."

The two watched as the group of football players all gathered together in the middle of the field. They all lowered themselves onto one knee and listened to the dozen trainers and coaches in the middle of their large clump who shouted loudly at them.

"What are you doing here so late?" The boy asked.

Charlie stared at the clump of players. His eyes sifted through the numbers until he found Gray. He was kneeling in the front with his helmet on the ground and his hands tucked into his pads.

"Someone asked me to help them with something so I'm helping," Charlie said.

"Is it with love?" The boy asked.

Charlie's head snapped towards him. His brow furrowed, "where'd you get that from?"

The boy looked at Charlie as if he were studying him, "before my sister changed school districts she said there was someone at her middle school who would help guys and girls fall in love, so I thought you might be doing the same thing."

Charlie's brows relaxed and he leaned against the back of the seat, "I've heard about that too but that's not me," Charlie lied, "this is for a school project, one of her group mates won't respond outside of class and he needs to finish something tonight so I'm here to remind him."

The boy made a noise, as if he understood what Charlie was saying. He looked at the field and saw the players leaving and looked towards Charlie once again.

Charlie was already standing up and before the boy could say anything he had made it to the bottom of the stand. The boy tried to follow but Charlie moved too quickly for him. By the time the boy had made it to the bottom of the stand he had lost Charlie. With nothing else to do he walked towards the school.

***

"Please Mr. Liev," Annie clasped her hands together in front of Mr. Liev's desk.

Mr. Liev continued to type and click on his laptop, "I'm good Annie."

"Please, the girls really want to take a picture with you, just one," she showed him her index finger.

Mr. Liev looked at the clock in the class before sighing and leaning back into his chair. He brushed his hair backwards, "Annie go get another teacher, I gotta wait here for my-"

Mr. Liev stopped mid sentence. He had seen movement by his door and by the time he turned his head a middle schooler walked in. He had short blonde hair that bordered on white and crystal blue eyes. Mr. Liev kept his eyes on him and watched the boy approach him.

"Where've you been for this long?" He asked the boy.

"I was watching Gray then someone came and we talked for a while," The boy answered casually, "can we go home now?"

Mr. Liev turned to look at Annie, "and this is why I can't, so can you find another teacher."

Annie took a step back and nodded, "Of course, I didn't know you were waiting for your son, I'm sorry."

"He's not my son."

"He's not my dad."

The two said at nearly the same time. Mr. Liev brushed his hand through his hair again.

"This is my brother Charles," Mr. Liev explained to her before turning to his brother.

Annie smiled at the name.

"I know, it gets annoying, especially when both of them don't listen." Mr. Liev smiled back.

"You usually don't talk to anyone so why'd you spend so much time talking to that stranger?"

"He started talking to me first and then he predicted a play so I wanted to know how and he explained it," Charles pushed his thumbs behind the strap of his backpack and began swaying.

"So where'd he go?" Mr. Liev asked as he began packing his laptop.

"I don't know, he said that he was helping someone."

"Do you know his name?" Mr. Liev asked as he swung his laptop back across his body and opened a leather paper holder.

"No."

"You should've at least asked."

"He didn't ask for mine," Charles' voice pitched up.

"Do you know what he looks like at least?"

"Um…" Charles went silent for a moment, "He had brown hair and glasses."

Mr. Liev tossed the paper holder at Charles who grabbed it easily, "That doesn't narrow anything down."

He motioned for Annie to exit and together the three of them left the classroom.

As Mr. Liev was locking the classroom, he asked, "Did you at least enjoy talking with him?"

Charles nodded, "It was fun."

Mr. Liev looked at him before turning to Annie, "At least this one's honest."

Annie smiled before nodding, "that one's not too far off either."