Saving Mona

Chapter 17 ⚽

I never thought I would one day find myself at a soccer game. I knew nothing about the sport and wasn't a fan. All the times Mel and Jarod had gone to one and offered to take me, I had refused. I wasn't interested in sitting down for an hour or so watching a game I had no comprehension of. So imagine everyone's surprise when I agreed to attend Dwayne's soccer game.

Speaking of Dwayne, I wasn't so sure where he stood with me. It was apparent I was attracted to him; I mean, it's hard not to. He was like a breath of fresh air in my life. His annoying yet cute antics made my heart flutter the right way. Mel had asked why I hadn't acted on my feelings. The reason was I wasn't sure if the attraction I felt towards him was real. It was so hard to discern, especially for someone who made faking emotions a daily routine.

We were currently relaxing on one of the benches in the stadium. It was a match between Bloomville High and our rival GlennSpring High. The third game in the Inter Town Summer Soccer games and soccer academy scouts were going to be paying more attention to this game. Layla explained that most of them had been focusing on Dwayne. Dwayne was a striker, and from what Jarod told me, the position was challenging.

Dwayne had tried to persuade me to wear his jersey – the cheeky bastard. I had thrown him the middle finger and stormed off.

"Ah! I'm so glad everything is back to normal. I think I would have a panic attack if any more drama showed up." Jarod moaned and was rewarded with agreeing sounds from the others.

After my confrontation with Rebecca, she had left Bloomville the next morning. Everything had pretty much gone back to normal. I still got looks from people, though. But to be honest, I was kinda happy that the whole Rebecca situation happened. The attention and fake love I was receiving in school were getting choking. I was glad I was finally rid of it.

The news on social media, though, was still there, but it was starting to fade. With the press's help, it was basically now regarded as untrue, a rumor, especially with the fact that people had woken up to the picture gone. It was like it never existed.

I played with the French braid I had styled as the games begun. The opposition team was wearing yellow jerseys while our team was in the school's blue-black and white colors.

The whole crowd watched in dedicated tension as the teams played. The other group was good, but ours was better. It wasn't long before we had 4 goals and them, two in the first half. I was proud to say three of the goals were scored by Dwayne. He was really talented, but there was no need to add to his already excessive ego.

The other team's luck didn't get any better in the second half as Bloomville High came out victorious with 8-2. The half of the stadium where most of the Bloomville High students and families were seated broke out in celebratory cheers and dances. It was contagious as I was still grinning from ear to ear when Dwayne came from the field to hug me in all his sweaty glory.

Many people didn't notice as they were still caught up in their excitement, but my friends did, and they made sure to let me know they saw it. I shooed Dwyane away and let my eyes wander freely when he was gone.

The stadium was getting empty now as people trickled out to take the celebration and disappointment to their personal spaces. I glanced leisurely at a figure in a teal green designer dress and did a once over. What kind of person wore an expensive dress like that to a High School soccer game? I got my answer almost immediately.

On the other side of the stadium, with the soccer scouts, was mother in all her beautiful glory. Her hair was in wavy curls, and her teal green dress looked simple enough to be an ordinary dress, but I knew better. Carmen Del Lana never wore anything other than designers. Unlike her, as long as it looked good and had good quality, I was okay with any cloth.