Chapter 11: Ch. 11 End of the Game

The band finishes their performance and both stands clap and cheer.

Myrddin just continues to read. There is still 3 minutes until the game resumes so the teams can warm back up after their halftime break.

"Are you seriously reading Twilight?" Lydia asks.

"Yes, and I suppose you've read it before since you could tell just by scanning these past few pages?" Myrddin doesn't look up from the book.

The strawberry blond girl rolls her eyes. "I have read all the twilight books. And I can say I'm not impressed. Vampires definitely should NOT sparkle in sunlight"

Myrddin looks at her. "Uhm, spoilers?"

"Oh please. The first book was released in 2005. If you didn't know that the Twilight vampires sparkle you must live under a rock" Lydia begins texting on her phone.

"If I did live under a rock its not like I would live under there long" Myrddin looks at the bright side.

This strange response causes Lydia to pause. "Eh?"

Myrddin goes back to reading. He can only look at Lydia for so long before he begins to remember how she looked topless the first time he saw her. "My family moves around a lot. You only have to deal with me for around 9 or so more months then my family might move, give or take a few days. This is one of the longer times I will spend in one home"

"You're adopted?!" Lydia nearly drops her phone, which probably would have fallen below the bleachers if it fell. But she manages to catch it in her lap.

"I am not!" Myrddin shouts back much louder than he meant to. He closes his book and slumps his shoulders. "I'm not adopted. I'm sorry, when I said home I was referring to house. During last summer my mom, my sister, and I lived in 3 different states for various reasons. And so I will only be spending a year here. This is one of the longer stays we've had in a while…"

The crowd cheers when one of Beacon Hill's players waves at the crowd.

But Lydia isn't paying attention as she looks at Myrddin beside her. She hasn't seen him actually get mad before. Sure he was mad in the past, but to have an outburst like that is new. He's normally more calm and collected. She wonders if he has some issues with his looks compared to his parents. She will say that his mom definitely looks like an actress, and his mom compared to him… It does ask the question of why must genetics be so cruel to some people. And if Myrddin looks so different from his parents it's obvious people will think he's adopted or something. "Sorry" She gives a brief, but sincere apology.

There isn't any response as Myrddin puts his book away and looks back to the field to watch as the game continues.

Myrddin notices that the ball is placed at the center again after the teams switch sides of the field. Then one person from each team puts their lacrosse stick on the ground next to the ball. Then the red blows the whistle and the two players fight over the ball.

Watching the game helps clear the awkward air that had surrounded the two teenagers.

Lydia herself wonders why she reacted the way she did. It's not like she is particularly fond of Myrddin so why would she care if he's adopted or not. She hardly even knows him and the only reason they are talking right now is because this was the only open seat where she didn't need to be cramped. She decides to just focus on Jackson who is doing very well out on the field.

——————

The game continued on as both sides tried to defeat the other. It was a good game, or at least Myrddin thought it was. The score was close the entire game with Beacon Hills being only a few points ahead.

Myrddin was really only confused by a few things.

The biggest one being who got the ball when it goes out of bounds. At first he thought he understood it went to the opposite team to whoever threw it out of bounds. But then sometimes that wasn't the case.

Like when a person threw the ball at the net and their shot misses. Sometimes the same team gets the ball back right near the other teams net. However, sometimes the other team gets the ball in the same scenario.

At first it was a complete mystery and he thought the refs just made it up. But as he paid more attention to those shots he realized something:

The team closest to the ball as it goes out of bounds gets the ball.

It took nearly the entire game before Myrddin was able to figure this out. But he wasn't even 100% sure if this was the case or not. He stopped muttering his discoveries so that Lydia wouldn't have a reason to talk with him.

There were also a few things he heard from the crowd itself.

Terms like crease, slash, holding, and a few other terms.

Slash was obvious. It's when a player hits another player with their stick.

Holding is self explanatory. Basically you can't grab onto another person.

The crease was the biggest problem. But he deduced that it was the small circle around the net that the goalie stays inside of and the attacking team can't go inside.

Myrddin also was able to notice that there were 4 players on each team that had longer sticks than the other 6 players. There was one goalie. 3 defenders, 3 people in the middle of the field, and 3 people on the opponents side of the field. The 3 defenders all had long sticks while one player in the middle of the field had the last longer stick.

He can't help but think back to whatever it was that he saw. Scott and that mystery dude that had the long stick. But he can't really think much about it since he isn't even sure if that was real or not. And Scott was currently keeping the bench warm with Stiles.

There was also the fact that the refs finally started calling a penalty when two players collided. But it was only when they hit head to head, the person bodychecking used their stick to do it, or the person bodychecking didn't have their hands together on their lacrosse stick when doing it. These were just what he observed, and he was able to see a lot of it as the game continued on and the teams got angrier at each other.

Lacrosse was just as, if not more, brutal than football. There was a fair number of injuries that occurred throughout the game.

Myrddin did take note that Lydia wasn't cheering for Jackson or the team. He heard in school that she usually does cheer the team on, specifically Jackson, throughout the game. But that didn't really affect him in any way so he just let it leave his mind.

By the end of the game his eyes were hurting a little bit. Mostly because he was straining them to watch the game so intently. He wonders if he took notes could he have found out more rules?

In the end, this was just a distraction. There wasn't really a point in memorizing the rules of lacrosse. He just wanted to play an interesting game to test himself. And he feels pretty good.

The game ends with Beacon Hills winning and the stands erupt into a mosh pit of noise and moving bodies as people jump up and down. It was an interesting experience, but not a super pleasant one when you are at the top of a violently shaking bleacher. But the excitement died down after a little bit.

When the game ended the two teams lined up to shake hands, but it was like a high-five train. Even the coaches at the back of the lines were giving high-fives until they met the other coaches and actually shook hands. The Cyclones, Beacon Hills team, all ran to the 'end zone' and waited for the coach. Myrddin doesnt know what to call it exactly. End of the field? Behind the crease?

After the coaches talked for a minute they went back to their respective teams. The visiting team left on their bus and Finstock, the Cyclone's coach, went to talk to his team.

"Is this a sort of postgame ritual?" Myrddin accidentally asks out loud.

Lydia stops texting on her phone and looks over at Myrddin who glances over at her. "Basically. After every game they-"

The entire lacrosse team shouts and begin jumping in front of coach Finstock.

"-do that. With this win they are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs" Lydia says as a smile begins spreading on her face. Mostly that her boyfriend Jackson is helping lead the team to another state championship.

"Not every team gets a seat?" Myrddin can't help but ask. But as he thinks about it he understands, but that's still a bit weird.

Lydia sets her phone down. "It's very complicated, but in layman's terms a team has to win 4-5 games out of an 8 game schedule to be considered for the playoffs. But 5-6 wins out of an 8 game schedule gets the team an automatic qualifier. And this was their 6th win in a row. Even if they lose the rest of their games they will have a seat, but there's no way they'll lose"

After Lydia finishes explaining she watches as the players scatter in various directions. Most run towards the stands, some go towards the locker room, and others go to a fence where their parents are. Lydia watches as Jackson runs over towards the bleachers, but her smile fades to a frown when Jackson just talked with Danny and a few other guys in the bleachers with some girls mixed in that were clearly pining for the two players. And it was clear that Jackson wasn't even trying to look for Lydia as he throws his arm around Danny and continues to talk.

Myrddin notices this and sees Stiles and Scott looking up at him and Lydia. He knows Stiles is just looking at Lydia though. Myrddin can already hear Stiles asking a million questions about Lydia. But Scott and Stiles move along and go towards their parents. Scott's mom and Stiles' father who is the sheriff. Both are relatively happy single parents.

After watching the two clowns cheer themselves up before going to their parents Myrddin turns to Lydia. "You really know how to choose them huh?"

Lydia glares at Myrddin. "At least I get to choose" Clearly trying to poke fun at Myrddin's lack of girlfriend and friends in general. "I will have him all to myself tonight and tomorrow"

"Right, we're pretending Jackson isn't going to get drunk and just use your body for the rest of the weekend" Myrddin zips his bag closed and turns towards the girl.

*Smack!*

Lydia slaps Myrddin's face and stands up. "Keep your nose out of other people's business Tom!"

Myrddin holds the side of his face and watches Lydia leave. He ignores the stares from the people in the bleachers that are looking at him and picks his bag up while still sitting. He also grabs his headphones and puts them on.

There isn't a point in trying to leave right now. He would just get stampeded if he left now. It would just be easier to wait.

After 10 minutes or so the bleachers are mostly empty and Myrddin decides it's a good time to leave.

He stood up and threw his bag over his shoulders and began walking down the steps. And on the last step he slipped on something and fell flat on his stomach. And considering the bleachers are metal, everybody heard him and turned to look at him.

Myrddin quickly picked himself up with the help of the metal railing along the front of the bleachers.

"Are you ok? T-that was a nasty fall…" a quiet and awkward feminine voice asks.

"Yeah. I've taken worse tumbles before" Myrddin answers while he finished standing up. And when he turned he saw Erica awkwardly standing beside him. "What are you doing here? I didn't think you would willingly attend something like this?"

Erica tucks some of her hair behind her ear and looks out at the field. "I wanted to watch at least one game. People keep talking about how great the sport is, but from what I just watched it's a little too violent for me"

"It was very violent, but I'm surprised there weren't more injuries" Myrddin looks at the last step of the bleachers and sees someone had spilled their pop and that's what he slipped on.

"More injuries? I think there was more than there should have been. The teams just got more and more violent as the game went on and everybody was acting like it was normal" Erica frowns when she remembers the parents cheering when their kid body checked someone.

"They say that sports aren't for everyone. I didn't particularly like it that much either. But I can see why others would like it. And I imagine playing it would be much more fun than just watching. But that isn't and won't be an option for me" Myrddin moves his glasses up his nose since they nearly fell off from his fall.

"I can't imagine playing…" Erica sighs. She wasn't just talking about lacrosse. It was any sport that she couldn't imagine herself playing. Her seizures are triggered by stress and being yelled at by a coach would definitely tip her over the edge. Even being talked to by a teacher in front of the class almost sends her over the edge.

"You're telling me. How bad are your eyes? Check mine out" Myrddin hands his glasses over to Erica.

The dirty blond haired girl hesitantly takes her glasses off and hands them to Myrddin's while she takes his. And when she looks through them her eyes instantly begin to get watery from how distorted they are. She can only look through them for a few seconds before having to close her eyes.

"Sorry about that" Myrddin comments while looking at Erica with her glasses in front of his eyes. He takes them off his face and hands them back to her.

Erica takes her glasses back and puts them on. When she opens her eyes she sees Myrddin without his glasses on and she is surprised that he look much better without his big glasses on. Like jumping from a 2 to a 6.

"Uhm, Erica? I can't exactly see without those" Myrddin says while holding his hand out. Everything around him at this point was either black from the night sky and darkness or gray from the bleachers. Even the green from the field was a blurry dark green mass.

"Oh! S-sorry! I didn't…" Erica stammers as she places the glasses back into Myrddin's hands.

"It's fine. How are you feeling? Better?" Myrddin asks while putting his glasses on.

Erica nods. "Much better…"

Suddenly her eyes widen and she looks at Myrddin but only sees his back as he walks away and waves over his shoulder. How did he know she wasn't feeling good and was close to having a seizure?

"That's good. Take care Erica" Myrddin continues to wave over his shoulder as he goes down towards the field. He only talked with Erica and interacted with her for so long because he could tell she was freaking out a little bit. He doesn't know why she went to this game alone without her parents, but he was able to calm her down and distract her enough to make sure she doesn't have a seizure.

Myrddin doesn't fully leave and makes sure that Erica leaves and gets into a car about 5 minutes later. Then he begins his hike back to his house.

You would think with all his walking and exercising that he would have to get in better shape. But you would think wrong. He just stayed the same. Neither losing weight nor gaining muscle. Not that he needs to lose weight, he's already only skin and bones as it is.

——————

Myrddin unlocks the front door with his red key and sees his mom and sister sitting in the recliner chairs.

Ads looks over and sees Myrddin's back as he turns around to close the door. She turns back towards the tv as she talks. "How was the game? Who won?"

Myrddin takes his shoes off and puts them to the side. "The game was good, I think. And we won"

"You think?" Ads turns back to her son who is walking towards the kitchen.

"Yeah. I don't know the rules but that was the whole point of me watching. I wanted to guess the rules of lacrosse as I watched the game. That was actually much more fun than I expected" Myrddin remembers him and Lydia talking, but that quickly fades along with his smile.

Gwen rolls her eyes and groans. "Gahhh! Why would you watch a game when you don't know the rules? Out of everyone I know, I expected you to spend hours studying the sport before you went and wasted your time at the game. Such a loser…"

Ada smacks her daughter on the shoulder for that comment. "Myr, do you want to play that sport next year? This is the first time you've really shown interest in a sport, if you work hard I'm sure you'll make the team"

"You're talking about my brother, your son, right? How would he be able to make an actual school sports team? I don't think he could even bowl with a 5lb bowling ball! How would he be able to play a full contact sport like lacrosse?!" Gwen snottily remarks as she enjoys making fun of her disappointment of an older brother.

Ada's expression turns to that of the devil himself. "Gwen, I swear on everything if you continue this behavior I will make your life a living hell for the next 3 months. Your brother can do lots of things if he applies himself. Maybe you should ask him to tutor you a little, your grades are the worst they've ever been. And your attitude is somehow even worse" Ada chastises Gwen in a harsh whisper.

Myrddin at this point is choosing to just go the route of ignoring his sister. It's just easier to deal with her this way. Maybe she will act better when their dad comes home. Gwen always acts different when dad is around and home.

After getting a snack Myrddin quickly goes to his room and prepares for tomorrow and reads the rules of lacrosse.