What Now? Chapter 1

12 hours earlier....

‘What now’’ Tom said through short exhausted breaths.  It was a hot summer morning in June. The sun was blazing, the crowds were cheering and our team was down by two points with only five minutes left on the clock.  Gasping for water, I grabbed my flask and began to take large gulps.  I wiped the water from my mouth with the back of my hand and looked at Tom ‘’I don’t know’ I breathed in reply. The sweat was dripping from my forehead and I was covered in mud.  I hated playing a match in hot weather.  It had been pouring with rain all night so the temperature came as quite a surprise. That didn’t stop coach though, stood confidently with his clipboard in one hand and whistle in the other.  I looked out to our boggy mess of a field and then at my team mates who looked ready to collapse into an exhausted heap on the ground.  Out of all the matches of the season, the game against South Rams was the most dreaded by our team.  The Rams were 250 pound and 6 feet human killing machines and each year they grinded us into dust.  Tom and I watched as a player from South sent the football flying through the air with his gigantic iron foot. 
“George, look out!” I yelled frantically waving my hands in the air and pointing. But it was too late, the ball had hit him square in the face and poor George was out of the game.
“I bet they’re not even high school students, you know” I whispered to Tom as we watched the first aider carry George from the field.
“I know” Tom agreed. “I bet they’re aliens or something...or those scientifically advanced super-humans, you know like on that TV show?”
I looked at Tom for a moment “I was thinking more like university students.”
Tom nodded “well, yeah it could be that.”
“I bet the coach from South hired them to spite coach Stevens.” I continued.
There has been this long standing rivalry between Coach Stevens and Coach Kirk from South. No one knows the reason for it, but our second striker, Matt, said his older brother told him that coach Stevens and Coach Kirk used to be in the army together and they’ve hated each other every since.

My heart skipped a beat as the screeching sound of Coach Steven’s whistle vibrated down my ear hole.  I flinched at the sound. 
“What are you two stood here for?!” he growled. “This is no time for gossiping girlies, it’s time for football, now get to your positions!”
Fearing for our lives, Tom and I quickly ran back into position and prepared ourselves for another beating.

__________________

‘’That’s it.’’ I said, throwing my shirt to the changing room floor. “This is the last time I’m playing against the Rams, I don’t care what coach says”

The boisterous noise of the changing room quickly became silent and all eyes were on me.
“But it’s the middle of the season.” Tom said. “We have two more games against them yet.”
I shook my head. “Coach can’t keep playing us against the Rams; they just kill us every time. Look what they did to George”
All eyes fell on George who was perched on the edge of the bench with a bag of frozen peas held to his nose. 
“But if you quit where are we going to get another centre midfielder?” said a voice from the back of the changing rooms.  The voice belonged to Harry. He pushed through to the front of the changing rooms and stood facing me.  “Think about it” he continued. “We’re not going to get another player, are we?”
“Harry’s right.” murmured George, shifting the bag of peas to reveal his blooded nose.  “Everyone else is too scared to join the team.”
“That’s right” laughed Harry “and everybody else is too scared to quit.”
“So what do we do then?” asked Tom.
The room was silent and all eyes were still on me.  “We need to come up with some sort of plan, we can’t keep-“

I was cut short as Coach Stevens came charging into the changing rooms.
“Quit the chit chat ladies!” He yelled. 
Everyone quickly returned to their lockers.
“Thanks to you lot I have to get down to Ferdelly’s and buy Coach Kirk a pint for kicking our arses out there today.” He said bitterly. “Things better change tomorrow night.”

The team groaned. When Coach had left the room all eyes were back on me.
I thought for a moment, and then I had a plan. “Coach Kirk will be down at Ferdelly’s tonight, right?”
The team nodded.
“Why don’t we get him drunk enough so that he can’t coach tomorrow night?”
My plan was met with nods and sounds of approval.
“Aren’t we too young?” pointed out Harry.
“My older brother, James knows somewhere we can get fake I.D’s” suggested Matt.
Darren interjected “We can’t all get fake I.D’s, Matt; someone’s clearly going to notice.”
“Hang on!” Tom put his hands in the air. “Hang on, guys, you’re forgetting something.”
I looked at Tom “What’s that?”
Tom smiled “It’s Ferdelly’s.”

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Ferdelly’s pub: home of the cheapest alcohol, cheapest food and after seven on a Saturday night, home to the most dim-witted people in town, and that included Ferdelly himself.

Tom, Harry, Matt, Darren and I met outside the entrance. It was 8:00pm.
“So are we doing this, or what?” asked Harry.
 I could hear people cheering and the sound of glasses clunking from inside. A drunken man came stumbling out of the door and fell onto Darren whose faced looked both disgusted and scared at the same time.
“Ew, he stinks!” moaned Darren, trying to hold his breath. “Get him off me!”
Harry grabbed the drunken man by the shoulders and pushed him in the opposite direction.  We watched as a he tried to walk down the street, falling to his knees every two steps.
“He’d have to be drinking from early in the afternoon to be that drunk at this time.” Matt gasped.
“From about ten this morning I’d say” said Harry confidently.
We all looked at Harry. “How would you know?” asked Tom, looking from Harry to the stumbling man in the street.
“That’s Peter Ferdelly.”
“That’s Ferdelly?” Tom asked in astonishment.  “Shouldn’t we help him or something?”
Harry shook his head “Nah, he’ll find his way back eventually, always does.”
“So are we going in?” I asked.
We all took one last look at Mr Ferdelly and then reluctantly entered the pub.