Football Game

Tonight was… interesting.

As a general rule, I don’t really go to any sporting events because I just don’t find them very entertaining. Drew’s the sports person in my family, not me. XD

But Lois asked Will and me to go with her. It… really surprised me, considering all the stuff that’s happened to her in the past month. Will tried to talk her out of it, but she’s very stubborn. To make a long story short, we ended up going to the game.

We arrived around six, about an hour before the game started. It was already packed, of course. People were up and about around the track that wraps around the football field, but we managed to find a seat. We also got a lot of looks… since Lois is due in the next month or so, her pregnancy is evident to pretty much everyone. Some seemed surprised, others hateful, but thankfully no one started to say anything mean to her. That… might be due to Will staring them down, though. XD

Once the game started, Lois seemed… happy. It’s the first time I’ve seen her smile in weeks. :D During the game, she started talking about how she hadn’t been out of the house in months, and when I asked her why, she just… sighed.

“Sarah, you know my mom. She wouldn’t let me tell anyone. Now that it’s out… I just feel… Relieved. Nothing to hide anymore.” Her smile grew bigger. “Plus, it’s been awhile since I got to see our team in action!”

…I didn’t know my friend was as tough as nails, but it was a pleasant surprise. I love her so much. (:

It was around half-time that Will went to get us something to eat. Our band went out on the field, performing some sort of orchestra-thing. A few people came up to Lois and started chatting with her, asking when she was due, stuff like that. It’s nice to know there are some decent people out there. :D

I felt a slight tap on my shoulder and when I turned around there was a guy standing there. He was maybe a little bit older than me. “Hey,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. “Uh… guess you don’t recognize me?”

It took me a moment, but I finally recognized him. “You’re the new guy in our youth group, right?”

The boy’s smile wavered for a moment, but he nodded in reply. (This was the guy I mentioned a few posts back, the one who called the hypocrites out. :D )

“I never really caught your name.”

“It’s Arthur. And you’re Sarah, right?” I nodded. He smiled at me and turned to look at Lois. “How’s she doing?”

“Well, people are still messing with her but… she’s pushing through it. Turns out she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I was… kind of surprised to see her out and about, considering…” He trailed off, but I knew what he meant. I told him about how Will and I had tried to talk her out of coming. After that, we started talking about other stuff – what he thought of the youth group, the football game, school (though he kind of dodged around the question, come to think of it)… Just talk. It was nice. Lois is always nice to talk to, but she’s really the only person who can have a… “deep” conversation with me. I don’t know, I guess… I just trusted him. I felt like he could relate to me.

After a little while Lois turned back to me and asked where Will was. The last time I had seen him had been when he went to get us something to eat, but that had been a while ago… I said he might be waiting in line, but that I’d go check. You know, I figured he’d need some help carrying it. Heh. XD Arthur came with me as we walked to the concession stand.

So, there’s this little area right beside the bleachers. People, usually kids, hang out there and do stuff during the game. Frisbee and stuff like that, I guess. When we passed, though, I noticed that a few people were gathered around one individual. I had a gut feeling and started to walk over there, and… I was right. It was Will, and whoever these people were, they had surrounded him. I caught a snippet of their conversation just before they noticed me:

“-having a bad time, and we don’t need that,” one of the guys, their leader, said. Will looked really nervous, but didn’t notice me approach. His eyes were on the other guy.

“You know full well I can’t control what he says,” he replied, angry, “You’re the ones hanging out with him. Why don’t you calm him down?”

They stopped talking, turning to look at me. It was… weird, since it happened in unision.

“Sarah,” the leader said in surprise. He looked from me to Will, then punched Will right in the jaw.

…

And… everything sort of happened at once. :\

The group parted, allowing me to rush to Will’s side and try to help him up. The leader aimed a kick at Will’s head, but Arthur stood in the way, taking the hit. They… they didn’t like that, someone else getting in their way. The leader, after kicking Arthur, struck him across the face, giving him a black eye. “Stay down,” he said.

And… I helped Will away, but Arthur continued to get up, not throwing any punches or anything. And then I recognized who this group was – their leader was someone I had seen before, someone who had been hanging out with Vincent. His name is Daniel.

“Daniel, let’s just go,” one of the members, I think his name is Tyler, said. They started to walk away, leaving us alone. Will looked like he was in rough shape, moreso than Arthur.

A few minutes later and we were out in the parking lot, Lois helping Will and me helping Arthur. Lois and Will left first while I was trying to get Arthur to tell me where he lived, but he didn’t respond. I thought he was badly injured or something and considered taking him to the hospital when he replied, saying:

“Doesn’t matter, I can handle myself.”

Just… a really odd statement to make. He shrugged me off and started to walk away.

“Why’d you do it? Taking the hits, I mean.”

He… didn’t respond. I didn’t know how to continue that conversation, so I asked if he wanted a ride. He shook his head, saying he only had to walk a little ways. It got really awkward… It felt like he wanted to say something to me, but couldn’t.

“Well… I guess I’ll see you Sunday?” I asked him.

“Sure.”

And… well, that’s when we both left.

Yeah, that was my night. :D Aside from the thing towards the end, everything seemed to go… well. I’m really surprised. Hopefully, Will and Arthur are going to be okay, and Lois… well, I hope she’s going to continue going out in public, even after the event with Daniel.