footballers
The ball was being passed between the tea members, them all determined to make their shot. James, the original quarterback, watched from afar as the replacement was too busy staring at something in the distance, rather than play the game.
I mean- why would they replace such a good player, an honour to have on the team with someone like him. He may be on the hockey team, but hockey is not the same as football, the skills don't magically transfer over.
James had been kicked off the team for getting in trouble with Dumbledore ─ yet again ─. How was he supposed to know that he could literally see everything from his office windows. Including the dumpster. Where him and his friends had thrown a kid into.
Okay, he may be a horrible person and a bully, but could you blame him? The boy who he threw into the dumpster was back talking him, one of the most popular kids in the entire school, while he was just a nobody.
At least he had his best friend, Sirius Black, who was also on the football team as the defensive end.
Everytime a teacher makes a comment about them 'being attached at the hip', he snarled at them, but in all reality, they were right. As often as he could, he tried not to leave Sirius' side. Sure, he's been teased for it being called gay or asking if he takes it up the ass, but then Sirius defends him.
Sirius also had a brother, Regulus Black.
He was the current replacement for James, but clearly he wasn't paying attention, if him kicking the grass out of the pitch was anything to go by.
"Come on, surely if he's on the hockey team, he has some sort of talent in sport." James thought to himself, letting out a yell as they once again, missed the shot.
He thought it was just him that was the problem. The fact that he had been temporarily kicked off the team, everybody was feeling negative and they didn't have that determined energy to get through practice. Yeah, surely that was it.
James was always the one hyping everybody up, trying to get their energy up before the game ─ which is his job as quarterback, but he wouldn't admit to anyone that he actually liked doing it.
The football team was horrible. They hadn't won a football game since like- the tenth century if how Coach talked about it was anything to go by. Nobody could actually work together. Always busy trying to make sure they don't get too close, they don't speak too much, all because they all shared some sort of fear of being called gay.
Sure, this was Lima Ohio and it was filled with homophobes and racists and all the other ones, but how pathetic were they for letting that interfere with football? One of the manliest sports? Get over yourself.
"Session's over! I expected much better from you all and I hope I see some improvement next week!" McGonagall shouted, making James shoot out of his seat on the bleachers and run down the steps on the side, trying to get to her before she starts screeching that he's going to be late going home.
"Coach! Coach!" He called, panting as he ran over, stopping just a few centimeters in front of her to catch his breath.
"Hey, Potter! Did you enjoy the front row seat in the bleachers?" A hockey team member, Barty Crouch Jr, shouted from where he was stood, which was a few feet away from them.
James turned to look at him ─ preparing to start a fight ─ with his fists clenched, before he stopped and looked at Barty in confusion.
Barty stood with two other people, one was another hockey team member ─ who James quickly identified as Evan Rosier ─ and the other was... Regulus Black. His replacement. His own replacement was mocking him.
"Off with you three! Surely you have some place to be." McGonagall said, causing James to fix his expression and turn back to look at her.
He heard footsteps and mutters from behind, only catching a few words, before the noises stopped all together.
"Now, James, what can I help you with?"
He immediately got snapped back into reality, suddenly remembering all of his thoughts and why he was even attempting to talk to her anyway.
"Oh, right. Obviously, you just watched the session and you had to have seen how terrible my replacement, my own replacement was at being the quarterback. I'd like to take it as an offense, but I'm humble. And I have no doubt that you will let me play in the next match, you're the one who's always pushing us to win. How can we win if we have someone as awful as him playing the most important role in the game?" He rambled, desperate to get his point across and for her to hear him out.
McGonagall seemed to think about it for a second, before letting out a sigh and rubbing her hands over her face.
"Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to let you play. Dumbledore's rules. If you hadn't had been caught being horrible to that student, maybe you'd be able to. We're going to have to accept defeat and just lose the match. Maybe next time you can think about your actions before you actually do them and try and think for yourself, instead of following your friends' footsteps."
He paused where he was stood, not expecting that answer.
"But this is our first real shot to win since-."
"Off of my pitch, James. I don't expect to see you unless you'd care to join us at next week's session from the bleachers?"
James slumped his shoulders, admitting defeat as he watched Coach already start to walk away and into the changing rooms, where she'd most likely be giving a motivational speech. He waited for her to go before slammimg his foot into the bench, sitting down and running his hands through his hair.
"Oi, James! What's got you in such a mood?" His face slowly brightened, and he smiled at the familiar voice, recognising it as Sirius.
"Eh, nothing. Just Coach being difficult. Shouldn't you be in the locker room?"
Sirius snorted, taking the seat beside James, "As if. All she's been talking about lately is the fact that we're going to lose the match. I have to admit, it's not doing my ego any favours."
"Your ego is too big anyway, maybe some humbling will help you."
"No, it won't."
"It will, if you really think about it."
"Shut up."
They both laughed, then sat beside each other in silence as the sun slowly started to lower itself from where it was previously in the point of the sky just hours before.
"Did you hear about the Glee Club coming back?" Sirius asked, turning to face James.
"What's a Glee Club?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, yet also looked a mixture of confused and concern, "How do you not know what a Glee Club is? Anyway, it's just the arts. Like performing and shit. Apparently Hooch went mad knocking students over in the corridor about it and yelling at Flitwick. Oh yeah, he's supposed to be coaching it."
"Who told you that?"
"Oh, Em told me."
"Em? Who's Em?"
Sirius once again gave him a confused look, then explained as if it was the most obvious thing ever, "Emmeline Vance. Head cheerleader."
"Head cheerleader? How come I've never heard of her?"
"She's the most popular girl in school."
"Oh."
After that, Sirius turned so he was sitting facing forwards, the chatter and what one would class as "outside noises" had eventually calmed down.
"We should probably head home, don't ya think? It's starting to get on for 5 and mom will only take a certain amount of excuses." Sirius said, once again being the one to start up the conversation.
"Earth to James?" He said, waving his hand in front of his face.
"Get your hand out of your face," James said, pushing his hand away, "and you're right. We probably should."
"You okay, dude? This isn't about you being kicked off the team, is it?" The black-haired boy asked from James' side as they began to walk in unison.
"Yeah, I am. Just tired, you know?" He lied, well he wasn't even sure if he was lying.
If someone was to ask if he was okay, surely he'd just say yes, becausr what else are you supposed to say? He never really gave it any thought, and he never focused on the negative side of things. So, in reality, he was okay. Whatever that meant, anyway.
"If you say so." Sirius replied in a sing-song voice, making James let out a huff of laughter, laughing at how he was.
The both of them walked off of the pitch and started the route to walk home, continuing to talk about gossip that had spread across the school. But, James couldn't get his mind off of Glee Club.
Yeah, he thought it was a little gay, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Right? Maybe him and Sirius could perform a duet together for auditions.
Who was he kidding? Obviously a duet would be toeing over the already thin line there is.
Alright, maybe just one song each. They could both join Glee Club and perform together. And maybe he could finally bag a girl to get rid of all the rumours of him and Sirius hooking up behind the school every Tuesday.
That could be fun, at least he hoped so.
What would happen if he went to try out and Flitwick says he can't because he's bullied students in the past... or maybe three days ago. But still, what if that happens? Surely they can't.
Obviously, they can. They hold the power of the students.
What if he joins and he has to face students he's bullied in the past? Like the gay one he shoved into the dumpster on Monday, the one with the Roman name ─ which, if you were to ask him, he would say it's stupid. Or the round and blonde one he had helped his friends shove him into janitor's closet, now that would be bad.
Whatever, he had more important things to worry about. Like, how to convince McGonagall to get her to let him back on the team. Or, maybe that was a matter for Dumbledore to sort out. Not like he cared. The only thing he cares about is getting back on the team and helping them win that match. And, Sirius, of course. But, that could all wait for another day. Or maybe another month.