Decisions Ch. 04

After a quick goodbye to Elena, Viktor, Yulia, and Anton, I gave Stasi a kiss and an 'I love you'. I drove home after that. As soon as I pulled up onto my driveway and opened the garage door, it was only 8:39. I always got home early. I don't know what my parents would do if I ever broke curfew, but I sure as hell didn't want to find out. I exited my car, going to my trunk to grab my backpack. As soon as I slung it over my shoulder, my ears perked up, hearing a wolf howling in the distance.

I chuckled, slamming the trunk shut and locking my car. It was probably Lexi's pack exploring the oversized park in this district. Principal Finch recently held a conference with me and the teachers. She asked us to 'encourage' the were students at our school to not go terrorize the local population. There were numerous complaints from animal control that the were students were all running amok in their animal bodies when it was dark out. The conference was only for the benefit of the Animal Control Officer who looked scared out of his wits to be in the presence of such 'dangerous' members of society.

Everyone in attendance of that meeting knew that Principal Finch didn't care for such harmless activity. Well... at least, 'relatively' harmless. A were, whether it was a wolf, cat, or bear, had to let their animal out often. There was no question about it. As long as the students didn't go too far in what they did, she saw nothing wrong with working me to implement a schedule to account for student packs to roam the outdoors at night.

We recently designed a system where you put your name down, along with the other individuals you intended to run with, where you intended run, and what you intended to do when you ran. You and your pack were placed down on the schedule. When it was your day, you were given free reign to meet up with your miniature pack and go out at night. It allowed the school to account for who was doing what and where in case something happened.

I double checked to make sure my car was locked before I walked into my garage, squeezing my way past my parents' cars. Hanging my key on the key rack, I pressed the glowing button the wall. The garage door whirred to life, closing loudly. Kicking off my shoes, I opened the door to my house, walking inside.

"Mom, dad, I'm home!" I called out.

"Get in here, son!" My dad bellowed from the living room. "The 49ers are about to score." I walked into the living room at a slow pace, not really anxious to watch the game. Believe it or not, even though I was born and raised in San Francisco, the San Francisco 49ers were not my favorite football team. The only teams I really ever rooted for were the New England Patriots (a result of my Bostonian uncle indoctrinating me about football before my dad could) and the Cleveland Browns (because I really liked the underdog.)

I walked into the living room, smiling at my parents who were huddled together on the couch. My eyes traveled to the TV where Thursday Night Football was in full swing. The 49ers were trailing the Seattle Seahawks by one and were at the 43 yard line with ten seconds left to go.

"Come on, field goal... don't let me down." My dad prayed with bated breath, leaning forward as the kicker lined up behind the formation. My mom simply watched him with a smile. She was never a big fan of contact sports, preferring to watch tennis rather than football or hockey. But she supported her husband and her son nonetheless.

"Don't worry, Robert. I'm sure he'll make the kick." My mom said soothingly to my agitated dad.

"He better." My dad grumbled. "If the Seahawks win, I don't know what I'll do."

My mom turned to me. "While we're on the topic of win, are you ready for the game tomorrow, sweetie?" She asked brightly.

I nodded, folding my arms as I watched. "Yeah, we're ready to win." I said confidently.

"That's good." My mom said proudly. "Your dad and I will be in the stands watching."

I'll be honest. At the beginning of the season, I didn't have high hopes for the football team. I thought that we were going to be abysmal this first year. God, I am so happy I was wrong. We already scored five wins and only two losses. One more and we'd clinch playoffs. At least, that's what's supposed to happen. As we weren't in a league yet, we weren't allowed to go to the playoffs.

Despite this, the Belcourt High School Minotaurs were making waves in the news, becoming a sort of media sensation. It seemed everybody, including the entire monster community, fell in love with our hodgepodge football team made up of different monsters all coming together to play the sport we all loved. Every home game we had, the stands were packed with so many different species of monsters, it was astonishing.

"Come on, don't let me down." My dad repeated, holding his hands in front of him in a gesture of prayer as the kicker on TV lined up behind the holder.

I knew all the steps to kicking a football. First step, positioning. Three steps behind the holder and two steps to the left... I think. I set my backpack down on the table, watching intently as the ball was snapped and caught by the holder, who set it down on the ground for the kicker. The kicker ran towards the ball and booted it towards the two uprights.

"The kick is up..." The commentator said. "And it's... No good! Wide right!"

"God dangit!" My dad bemoaned, falling back on the couch and covering his face with his hands. I resisted the urge to laugh, picking up my backpack, the game as sure as over.

"I'll see you guys upstairs." I said, walking towards the stairwell to go to my room.

"Alright, sweetie. I'll come upstairs in a bit." My mom said. She patted my dad on the shoulder in an attempt to console him. "It's alright, honey. There's always next game, and besides, the 49ers are still in the race for playoffs!"

Chapter 2:

Belcourt High School Football's offense was quickly becoming unstoppable. By the start of the fourth quarter, I had already surpassed three hundred yards and thrown three touchdowns, one to Valerian Hightower, one to Rocca, and one to Ricky. Even though our defense wasn't that good, we still managed to keep them to 10 points, compared to our 28 (Viktor scored off a run play). Coach Freddy pulled me aside after calling a timeout, with 2 minutes left in the game.

"Chris," He said. "I'm not going to hold up the whiteboard anymore. This last drive is yours." I nodded, clicking on my helmet. "You got it, coach!"

I quickly jogged onto the field to where my team was staring over my shoulder for a whiteboard. All they saw was Coach Freddy crossing his arms and watching the game. "I'm calling the plays for this drive." I said. "Let's go..." I looked back at the crowd in the stands, before a malicious grin appeared on my face. "Let's go with the double pass."

Smiles appeared on everyone's faces. "I hope you have a good arm, Vik." Ricky jibed. I turned to face Viktor. Despite the pressure he faced in front of a crowd of a thousand-plus, he didn't look fazed at all. He learned how to stay composed under pressure. "Alright, Eagle Super Right Halfback Pass, on one on one, ready... "

"Break!" Everyone resounded, going to their spots. I turned to my right, making sure that Viktor was lined up as a slot receiver next to Valerian. "Down... set 180... hutty-hut!" I yelled, the taking the snap. I dropped back from the linemen, turning to my right, and throwing a quick pass to Viktor, which he caught behind the line of scrimmage.

The Oakwood High School defense surged to Viktor to end what they perceived as a screen pass, but when Viktor cocked his arm back to throw, I swore I heard the cornerback yell "Oh, shit!" all the way from across the field. When the defense moved to take Viktor out, they left Valerian all on his own, who was streaking up the field with his hand raised in the air. Viktor chucked the ball with all his might, throwing the ball in a perfect spiral, where it landed in Valerian's hands as he carried it into the endzone.

I just realized that I might have found my replacement next year. As I walked towards the sideline, I realized one thing. My season was nearing it's end. The chances that i'd get recruited by a college were slim. I was blacklisted and red flagged because of my transfer. My seven year journey of playing football was nearing it's end.

****

"We won!" Rocca screamed into my cellphone camera as we marched into the locker room, jubilant after our win over Oakwood High School. I turned around, shining the camera around the room to get everyone's faces. Smiles, screams of triumph, and dance moves were abundant as we set about putting our stuff in our lockers. I shut off my camera as I walked into my corner, putting in the combination to my lock.

"So... thats... 14...32... and..." I mumbled happily.

"Good game, Chris!" Ricky shouted, slapping my on the back with his oversized hand and disrupting my unlocking. I swore, restarting the entire combination from scratch.

"Goddamnit, Ricky!" I said, smiling up at him as I restarted my combination. Not even the time I wasted restarting the lock, a normally irritating affair, could put a damper on my mood. Beneath his sweaty locks of hair, he had a huge grin splashed on his face. No doubt why. Ricky had truly outperformed everybody tonight. He had seven receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. On defense, he clocked in four tackles and a sack.

Ricky laughed, unlocking his own locker.

"Sorry, amigo." He said as he got to work on his combination. His locker was the same size as mine, the only difference was the lock. It was larger in scale to mine. Ricky's fingers weren't nimble enough to manipulate the 'tiny' combination locks that we were issued. His was custom made... as was pretty much everything he owned.

I unlocked my locker, opening it. I smiled lovingly at the picture of Stasi I taped on the inside of the door. As with all my other games, she was there and cheered me on. Ricky looked over my shoulder at the picture, catching my attention.

"We going to Anna's house tonight, or what?" He asked.

"Yeah. We can't break the tradition now, can we?" I said, unbuckling my pads and squeezing myself out of them. I sniffed the armpit of my undershirt, deciding whether or not the effort to take it off was worth it. I gagged at the smell. I ended up peeling off the clingy royal blue Under Armor undershirt and tossing it into my locker to deal with on Monday.

I sat down on the wooden bench to untie my cleats as Ricky leaned on his locker, looming over me. He was truly a giant. There was no way to properly describe it. You had to meet him in person.

"Of course we can't. I'm hungry as hell and ready for some of that good food that her mom always makes." Ricky chuckled. "How about you, Tricky Vik?" He bellowed across the locker room, his voice cutting through the loud din like a knife.

"How about what?" Viktor yelled back.

"You hungry for some food or what?"

"Heck yeah, I'm hungry for some food."

That made the locker room erupt in more laughter, with some jabs directed at Viktor for his skinny frame. He was like me. We ate a ton of food, but in no way at all did it ever show on our bodies. We were both as skinny as a rail.

I finished changing, tossing everything into my locker. I slipped on my hoodie to ward off the cold night air of San Francisco, closing my locker and locking it. My haste wasn't lost on Ricky.

"You're in a rush." He said with a glint in his eye. He was barely beginning to unbuckle his pads.

"Yeah, well..." I said, abashed. "Stasi's waiting and I don't want to leave her out in the cold, is all."

Ricky grunted, taking off his pads and tossing them in his locker. "No need to make any excuses, man. I can't even blame you. It's kind of funny how you two have the best relationship I have ever seen in my life. All that shit that people say about how vampires are dangerous. It's all basura, my man." He said.

I was about to reply, asking when he'd get his own girlfriend, when the door to the locker room opened and Coach Freddy lumbered in. He wasn't normally a man that smiled, but what else would you call the expression he called on his face? He stood in the center of the room looking at every one of us.

"I'm going to keep this short because I know you guys are ready to go out on your weekend. Gentlemen, congratulations, that was a great job. We played just the way we wanted to play for the most part. You guys did a great job for 60 minutes. We've had a good week. Now look, if we were a regular team, we would've clinched the playoffs, but that's not enough. It's not anywhere near enough. We still have a lot of football to play." He said.

"We have a long way to go, our best football is ahead of us. Don't get too overconfident, but make sure that you all enjoy yourselves tonight. You outplayed Oakwood, you outmatched them. Enjoy yourselves, you all earned it." He finished, smiling at every one of us as we all applauded.

I turned to Ricky when I was done applauding. "I'm heading out. Are you carpooling with Lucy?"

Ricky nodded. "Yeah. She went home to go grab something. I think Jazz might come along too, but it's cold out and we don't want Jazz to be uncomfy, you know?"

"Yeah, I got it. It'd be fun for her to go though. There's no party without Jazz there." I said empathetically. Since Jazz was a Lamia, she was cold-blooded. It was hard for her to go out when it was cold since it could literally be deadly for her. She always bundled up in special heated coats when she could go out at night but they were uncomfortable.

"Anyways, i'll see you at Stasi's house. You're sleeping over at my place after, right? " I asked, slinging my duffel bag over my shoulder.

"Yeah." He said. "You ready to get destroyed on Madden?"

"You're one to talk. I beat you last time." I scoffed. "I'll see you at Stasi's." I shook hands with Ricky and heading towards the door. On the way out, I patted Viktor on the back.

"Good game, Viktor." I said proudly. "You did great today."

He turned his head and looked at me, obviously pleased at my compliment. "Thanks, Chris. You too. You were amazing."

He was a far cry from the kid who joined the football team at the end of August. It wasn't just his physical stature, but the way he composed himself. Sure, he was still a bit quiet, reserved, and shy, but he was more confident in what he did. I had no doubt it was all helped by his close mermaid friend, Abby.

"All because you guy did your job. I'll see you at your place." I replied, leaving the muggy locker room and walking towards the door.

I pushed open the exit, walking out into the cool night air of the Belcourt High School Parking Lot. There was still an exorbitant amount of traffic still itching to get out of the two main exits, but the line of cars was dwindling, efficiently funneled by volunteer officers of the San Francisco Police Department and the quick work of the security checkpoint. It'd still take awhile to get out, though.

My eyes travelled further into the line of cars, observing the yellow school bus that brought the Oakwood High School Football team to our school. Unlike our away team, this school bus wasn't escorted by police cruisers. Given our newfound notoriety, our away games were constantly derailed by zealous protesters who demanded that we go home and not play because of what we were.

It was all really narrow minded, really. That was all the protestors usually did, just stand around, wave posters, and shout. We still played regardless. However, security measures were boosted up after our third game of the year. We went down to Daly City and had the side of our bus splattered in blood red paint by protesters, the unofficial color of the DTOSA Supporters Movement as we were pulling into the parking lots.

When we arrived at the other school, Coach Freddy spoke with me and Ricky, the captains, to ask whether or not we should continue with the game. After we determined that player safety wasn't in jeopardy, we chose not to forfeit. It was only when the audience in the stands nearly began to riot did we actually end up forfeiting and go home, getting bombarded with trash on the way out of the stadium.

Thankfully, Coach Freddy knew a few officers at the local Police Department. They were sympathetic to our cause and volunteered to assist in providing security at our games and for our away sports teams.

It wasn't right that we had to go this route, but hey, Nelson Mandela went through much worse.

I stood on the corner of the parking lot, standing on my tippy toes and keeping an eye out for Stasi's white Mercedes. A honk from a passing SUV caught my attention. A young imp, barely older than six, and wearing a Belcourt High School Minotaurs bobble hat, poked his head out of the window. He frantically waved at me, calling my name. I smiled at him, waving back, making him gasp and bounce in his seat excitedly as the SUV drove past.

"Chris Williams just waved at me. Chris Williams just waved at me!" I heard him repeating fervently to the rest of the car's occupants. Even in times of distress, some people always found a silver lining. My cheeks grew red at the kid's attention. With the team's popularity, it seemed that I became a rather hot topic in the local news. Everyone in the city knew about the only human in an all-Monster school and about how he couldn't bear to "leave his friends and one true love."

Or they knew about the attention seeker who did it as a publicity stunt to gain support for the Anti-DTOSA Front. Pick whichever description you want, I'm not going to hold you to it. One thing was certain though.

It was all really overblown.

Stasi, our friends, and I could hardly visit the Pacific Mall without getting recognized and gawked at. Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was still very distracting. Under Stasi's gentle guidance she and I just rolled with it, but sometimes I just wanted to turn invisible.

I patted down my sweatpants for my cellphone, checking to make sure I hadn't missed any texts from Stasi. All that was on my phone were a couple of texts from my mom.

Congratulations on the win, son. We're on our way to Anna's house for dinner. Meet you there. Proud of you! Love you. X

I swiped the screen, opening up the keyboard.

Thanks for coming to my game. And love you too! X

I pressed the side button, closing the screen to conserve the battery. I looked around the packed parking lot once more, before finally sighting Stasi's Mercedes at the far end of the lot in a relatively empty area. I shouldered my duffel bag, breaking off into a jog across the street and dipping around cars. I was especially cautious, seeing as I didn't want to become roadkill before the season even ended.

After a very brief but dangerous game of Human Frogger, I finally came to the passenger window of her car unscathed, knocking on the tinted glass hurriedly so I could bask in the heated car. The door clicked, unlocked and I opened it.

"Hey... Stasi" I said, peering awkwardly into the car just to make sure that I had the correct white Mercedes. Who was I kidding? Of course I had the correct Mercedes. Stasi's car was the only car at the school that had completely tinted windows. It was a precaution Anton and Yulia took so she didn't get drowsy and fall asleep while driving during the day, even though she had medication. She could drive just fine during the day without the tinted windows, but you can't be too careful.

"Hey to you too, lyubov." Stasi said, warmly. She was wearing a Belcourt High School beanie, jeans, and a sweater for the cold night. "What are you looking for?" She asked, looking at herself and around the car confused, seeing that I was standing there like a fool.

"Nothing. Just thought I had the wrong car for a second." I leaned into the car, tossing in my duffel bag into the back seat. Taking care not to aggravate my new bruises, I slowly climbed into the passenger's seat, taking relief in the toasty interior.