“I heard today was his first day here” A voice spoke out in front of me. 

I looked to see two boys, possibly sophomores, watching the field as they spoke to each other. 

“Dude, are you serious?” the blonde one replied, “and he already has a tryout for the team? That’s crazy” 

The brunette nodded, “Yeah, from what I heard he ruffled a few feathers of the other players since the coaches pushed to have him tryout right away.” 

“No way!” 

“I also heard that he’s from the city” 

“You mean like Forney?”

“No, Dallas. Apparently he’s from some big well known school that makes the playoffs every year.”

I looked back at the field, seeing the unknown player stretching on the sidelines as he still waited for his turn. 

“What made him come here?” The blonde asked, trying to get a close look at the player, “I mean, Brindlewood isn’t that well known like other schools, but we do have a really good team.” 

“Maybe the coaches think they can use him to win state this year” The brunette answered, readjusting his glasses as he observed the player. 

“I wonder if he’s really that good?” the blonde questioned. 

“Look!” The brunette suddenly pointed out into the field, “They called him onto the field.”

My eyes snapped immediately to the field, seeing the player start to jog out toward the coach, his obvious size difference evident as he approached the other players. He stood slightly above a few of the players, his stature earning looks from members of the team as they sized him up, a small smile touching my lips. It was interesting to see the measuring contest between athletes, the fragility of egos that shined brightly on the field, their inability to not consider the new player competition humored me. The ordeal as a whole gained my full attention, Gage and the rest of the soccer becoming an afterthought in that moment, a lone red jersey being the entirety of my focus. 

I normally never garnered the football team any attention, but, with the arrival of their new player, maybe things would finally become interesting. My gaze washed over the physicality of the guy, his uniform fitting to his muscular form as I noticed the size of his thighs and biceps. His body rivaled that of Gage’s in muscles, the noticeable difference being that he held, in my opinion, a feeling of presence. He was definitely bigger and taller than me. 

“Damn, he’s huge compared to some of the players,” The blonde kid said sizing up the player once more, “He’s as tall as some of the lineman, that’s insane.”

“He’s definitely going to be a hit with the girls if he makes the team” The brunette muttered, looking around to see that the female members of the audience had honed in on our target of interest, “He’s gonna be beating them off with a stick.” 

I silently chuckled at his jealousy. 

“You said he just started today right?” The blonde kid asked. 

“Yeah, like he probably still has that new kid smell” The brunette replied. 

“What’s his name?” 

“Uh, honestly, I don’t remember. I think it started with an A or something, all I know is that it's not a common name. Well for Brindlewood that is.”

The world in that moment froze. 

My eyes snapped from the boys back to the field, instantly locating that player in the red jersey getting ready to line up into formation. The memories of that previous morning suddenly flashed into my head, conversations that had been held while I had tried to distract myself with my writing had flooded into my mind in the droves. There had only been one person that had expressed an interest in the football team even though he had just moved here. I had been so enthralled with my feelings about him in relation to Gage that what he had spoken of in his introduction had slipped my mind. How could I have forgotten that information when I had clearly heard it from his very lips? There I was sitting there, eyeing the guy who’s eyes– in all of their vast deepness– had made me so confused about myself. The guy who, even though he scared me internally, still drew my attention.

Asher Samuels.

Asher stood on the outside of the formation, his body getting low as if winding his muscles tightly for what was to come next. He stared into the eyes of the defensive team, their eyes solely trained on him and him alone, his fists clenching and unclenching from the anticipation of his next move. I unconsciously held my breath, the rest of the students on the bleachers falling silent, their attention drawn to Asher and his red jersey. 

No one uttered a word. 

In an instant the ball was shot backward at the command of the quarterback, the rest of the players reacting in explosive slow motion, their body’s acting instinctively. Asher sprung into action as his muscles propelled him forward with a burst of power and speed, his trajectory being the players meant to block his path, his muscles flexing with each initial step. He appeared before the players, his body moving quickly as he used precise footwork to evade them, the players falling victim to his display of elite athleticism. 

Upon moving away from the first line of defense he turned his body looking back towards the quarterback, their eyes locking as the quarterback had been looking for any sort of opening that he could find. In one quick movement, the quarterback pulled his arm back before snapping his body forward, the ball spearing towards Asher like a missile through the air. With both hands, Asher reached out grabbing the ball mid air, tucking the ball into his body before pivoting towards the goal. With another burst of speed, Asher took off running towards the goal, his legs carrying him forward at a speed unlike any of the other players. The crowd started to grow restless with the energy of anticipation of what was to come next. 

The second line of defense appeared in the thrall of the commotion, their eyes lasered onto Asher as they moved to stop him in his tracks. Asher’s running did not falter, not for an instant, his determination surged him towards the incoming players. Using the ball of his foot, he pivoted once more using his momentum to spin away from the defending player, shooting past him.  My heart started to race, the excitement from the energy that radiated from the crowd surrounding me, the boys in front of me close to standing on their feet from the sight of the play.  The second player descended on him quickly as he jetted towards the far side of the field, tucking the ball further into his body. Asher locked eyes with his opponent, the scene looking like a battle of the giants, the other player hunching down preparing for the imminent tackle.

In an instant, students started to cheer for Asher and the natural athleticism he had displayed in that moment, more and more students moved to the bottom of the bleachers to make their voices heard. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the soccer team had halted their practice to watch the spectacle, the event unfolding before us and them. In a moment's breath, my eyes snapped back to witness the defending player fly through the air, the target of his impending tackle mere feet from him– the last stand of red vs. white. I watched as Asher switched up the flow of his run, the actions happening as if moving in slow motion, a grin appearing on his face like the other player had fallen into his trap. With a quick burst of movement, shot to the right of the airborne player, his body bending obscurely out of reach to avoid his grasp. 

The crowd lost their minds at the sight of the evasion, their voices booming out into the field with shouting and clapping, everyone now standing on their feet. Asher took off, the other players being left in his dust as he ran without losing any speed, his body almost weightless. The moment he hit the goal, the roar of the crowd pounded in my ears, a rush of adrenaline surging through my veins as everyone made noise around me. I looked around blinking my eyes, seeing the excited faces of the other students talking about how amazing the new kid–Asher– had been, my body and mind noticing something in that moment. 

How long had I been standing up? 

I had unconsciously stood up in the midst of the chaos, the anxiousness of the entire event influencing me to stand and watch in hope that he made it to the goal. Being one with the crowd weighed heavily on me, a feeling I was not used to since I usually stuck to myself.  My body sat back down onto my seat, my eyes searching the field as the other players had made their way towards the goal to congratulate Asher. The players talked animatedly, the team surrounding him in excitement, it had been a long time since someone had impressed the team in that way. 

Asher actively answered the questions that barraged him from the other players, his eyes searching the crowd as if searching solely for someone specific. His eyes locked with mine. Even from where Asher stood, I felt the gravity of his dark eyes boring into my body, my soul, my everything. 

Why did he affect me in this way? 

I squirmed in my seat, my entire being becoming red and hot from just the feeling of his stare, which was so unlike me. The power that he somehow had over me, was something that I still had yet to understand. I tore my gaze away from him, feeling breathless, a very different feeling from that morning when we had locked eyes for the first time. It was a mystery that still seemed to plague me. I looked up once more, the sight that came into my vision chilled me to the bone, yet another experience I had not been ready for. 

The hard chocolate eyes of my best friend Gage.