Chapter 135: Bastian's first meeting with Amber

The playoffs have started!

As soon as it was announced that the game had officially started, the crowd in the audience began to explode with applause, cheering, whooping and clapping. Excitement from these crowds buzzed throughout the air as people awaited for their teams to come out.

Their waiting has been rewarded as shortly after, both teams; the home and away team came running out to the football field in an organized manner. Some of the players even turned around while walking to wave at the crowds, hyping the crowds even more. The cheerleaders, on the other hand, started to cheer more loudly as well. Both cheerleading teams did not want to lose out to one another as they did their gymnastics and moves fluidly.

At the football field, the players walked to their positions; the Burkendall team was on offensive whereas the Port Robston Bay team was on defensive. Erick was talking softly to his Center [1], giving instructions and whatnot, when Bastian who stood in front of them, grinned with his hands on his hips.

"Yo, Erick! Finally, huh?"

Erick looked up and straightened up. He crossed his arms across his chest and said, "You can shut up over there and let our skills tell the whole story in this game."

Bastian burst out laughing, not exactly intimidated by Erick's cocky attitude. Before he could reply to Erick, the sound of a whistle screeched all around the field and every player got into their position. And soon, the game began with a place kick from the middle of the field.

While the players on the field began to tussle and scramble for the ball to win for victory, the deafening din of the crowd began to intensified. Both cheerleading teams too began to cheer and shout the names of their football players.

There was a time when Hamish got tackled so badly that a loud gasp from the visitors' bleachers could be heard. Jeayan, who sat there, only watched in silence, her arms crossed across her chest. She did not seem to be worried, like Amber who watched with wide eyes, her hands on her mouth. This was because she knew that Hamish was a shifter and a tackle like that would not hurt him at all.

Jeayan looked down and raised her eyebrows in surprise. 'Where exactly did that bag of potato chips come from?' seeing the opened potato chips bag on Amber's lap. Curious, she asked the latter where she got it from. Jeayan let out a chuckle when she saw Amber held up her small backpack, filled with snacks. She did not even notice her bringing that backpack along.

Moving back to the game, Jeayan was right for not worrying too much about Hamish as he just stood back up again after the tackle and rushed over to support his teammates.

The game continued on for forty minutes before it was stopped for half-time. The game was paused for a break with both teams on a tie.

Although the game was on half-time break, it does not mean the people from the bleachers would be able to get up and walk over to their team players. Hence, all Amber could do was watch as some of the cheerleaders tried to flirt with Erick, handing him a towel to wipe his sweat away, looking coquettish.

But when she saw him rejecting them and walked over to grab his own towel, instead, she felt relief surged inside her. She doesn't know why but the sight of him declining the offer gave her a little comfort in her mind.

After a few minutes, the half-time break was over and the game resumed for the last half of the game. The exhilaration from the crowds continued to escalate as they cheered and supported their teams. Cheerleaders helped in boosting the excitement of the crowd by doing stunts and jumps.

The game continued on until they were tied with 30:30 of scores. And because this was the playoffs, another two ten-minute periods of extra time were added. Although both teams were tired, this does not stop them from playing hard. In fact, the extra time pushed them to play even harder.

To break the tie, five players from the team were selected for the place-kicking competition. After three players from each team managed to score, it was one of players from Port Robston Bay who had missed a shot, causing a chance to lose.

In the end, Burkendall highschool team won with 30:30 and five full shots from the place-kicking competition. The cheers from the home team bleachers subsided whereas there was a burst of applause and joy coming from the visitors' bleachers. There were some who held up homemade banners with writings of 'Go, Go, Burkendall Wolfs!' [2] all over.

Amber and the others jumped up from their seats and began to scream, excited because of the win. The cheerleaders started to do their stunts and jumps once more.

After the game was over, the football field slowly became empty as many supporters of Port Robston Bay were dispirited and crestfallen at the loss. The away team supporters, on the other hand, were happy and excited as they gathered outside the football field area.

Amber just stood from behind as she watched the others clamoured over the Burkendall players, congratulating them on their win. Jeayan stood beside her and nudged her. "Don't you want to go congratulate him?" she asked teasingly.

Amber shook her head. "I'll do it later."

Once the others were done congratulating the team, the crowd surrounding the players lessened. And Erick finally managed to pried away from the crowd and went over to Amber.

He smiled as he reached out to rub her cheek with his thumb. She pouted as she playfully slapped his hand away. "Congratulations, Erick," she said, smiling.

He laughed. "Thanks. Though, this is still the beginning," he replied. Since this was just the playoffs, it wasn't something to get overly excited about since there will be more matches that probably will be hard than this.

As he was talking with Amber, there was a familiar scent approaching them. Erick frowned. It was someone that he would rather not talk with.

He quickly evaded the slap that would have hit his back and Bastian immediately sulked when his slap on the back didn't reach Erick. "What's with this unfriendly attitude, bro?" he asked whinely.

Erick just glared at him.

The people nearby held their breath as they waited for the explosion to occur between the two captains. But after a few minutes, they were slightly surprised and disappointed to find that there was none.

Bastian looked over and saw a cute girl standing in front of Erick. He cocked an eyebrow in surprise when he smelled Erick's scent on her. He then looked over at Erick, who was still giving him a glare. 'Your mate?' he asked the latter in a mindlink.

Erick did not answer him but instead, he turned to Amber and told her that he would head in for a shower. She nodded and replied that she would wait for him.

Erick then turned to Bastian, who was watching the two of them converse with interest. 'What are you still doing here?' the question appeared on Erick's face.

Bastian just laughed. He then introduced himself as the Port Robston Bay's football captain and also a friend of Erick. Amber was slightly surprised that they were friends as well. She then wondered whether the guy in front of him was a shifter as well.

Amber then introduced herself as Erick's friend, which was corrected by Erick, who vehemently said that she was his girlfriend. More than friends. Bastian just chuckled when he saw Amber's red face and Erick's proud face.

After a short while, even though Erick had told Amber that he would go to have his shower, he was still standing there. Looking at how Erick was glaring at him, it was then Bastian realized that he did not want him to be alone with Amber. And that he would leave after Bastian left them.

Bastian inwardly sighed. He gave Amber a huge smile, who smiled back and said, "I'll be back later too."

She said, "Alright," though, Erick replied at the same time, "Get lost."

When she heard Erick's rude reply, she immediately smacked him on the arm and scolded him for being rude. Watching the latter apologized, looking ashamed, Bastian felt like he had just found something fun.

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[1] A position in football.

[2] The school's official animal mascot