Chapter 5: Bench Warmer Fever

Jeromes’s POV

 

Early Monday morning, and the Pinnacles were out for practice, except for Jackson, who was busy ensuring that all the boys who had failed passed their assessments.

“Come at me with all you’ve got all of you.”

“You sure Jerome? Remember you’re not Superman dawg.” Said the captain

“Shhh, come at me!” Jerome boastingly responded

He raised the ball onto his shoe pointer with a flip. It landed perfectly on his instep, before he realized it, he had a midfielder and a defensive midfielder on his offense.

Swish! He shifted left, then right; Damian’s legs completely spread wide apart. Jerome held his head up, aimed at the goal. A quick sharp dribble right – evading Oscar, continuing with another sharp right. He dribbles down the flank and comes across Dane and his two supports (left back: Devon, and right back: Timothy) completely blocking him from achieving access to the goalkeepers’ complete view.

Exercising his quick thinking, Jerome charged right at them directly in an attempt to create high confidence to allow them to lower their guards; and so it turned out. Swish! He faked Devon to the left. Swish! He forces Timothy to the right while he dragged back left and went right through the middle.

 

Him and Dane now stood face to face, he didn’t think twice and charged right at him, but Dane was not about to let this substitute outshine him. He made his signature stance, he spread his arms across but not too wide. Jerome knew that move all too well from his long history of sitting on the bench and watching Dane play. He dribbled straight at Dane and made a quick flip of the ball, tricking Dane that he was about to go over his head with a pile, but only raise the ball a little over one foot before perfectly landing it on the front of his shoe, then with a slight push, the ball slid right in-between Dane’s feet with little to no effort The new substitute swiftly maneuvering around him to catch the ball in perfect timing.

 

Dane, surprised at his skills, but was still Dane Hamilton, The Sleeper.

Immediately Jerome started dribbling towards the goal, just one ball, one pair of arms, one pairs of feet, and one goal. Jerome made his judgment, made one hard push at the ball pushing it into play, just about a meter before him and right outside of the penalty area. The keeper remains strangely confident, Jerome thought in a flash, he made his move, pushed towards taking this shot, drew his leg back to strike.

Swish! Dane, as Swift as a streak of light, swooped in and cleared the ball all the way off the field. Jerome stood speechless, and Dane turned and gave him an applause.

“Nice try, but next time remember that you won’t always be playing against your teammates who will stand and watch you take a shot at their goal, and remember where you stand – you don’t get time to stand and put your makeup on to make me feel good, also try to remember that a good gets back on his feet, before he falls. Better luck next time.”

“Ahaa! Happy feet never got the chance to dance.” Said Damian while he laughed

“Man shut your elastic legs. That was just luck, next time-”

“Next time what man? Go wash your makeup off.” Said Dane as he cut his comment short

“Hahahaha!” All of his teammates started laughing.

“You sure got him good capo. He thinks he got those benchwarmers out of his shorts already for sho!” Said Damian

“Jerome the sub is off the bench!” Oscar shouted in a deep bass shouting through his palms.

“Man, whatever man. Where the heck is Jackson when I need him?” Jerome said under a low tone of confidence

“Don’t worry Jerome, you were hot, don’t listen to them!” Jessica screamed from the soccer field seats, shaking her pom-poms.

“Woo! I love you!” She added

Jerome started beating on his chest as he got to the rest bench.

“Move your ballerina legs over!” he said to Damian

 

*Whatever.” Replied Damian

“Nice run there Jerome, you got some skills.” Said a voice that came from behind them.

“Coach, coach, coach!” the all took turns saying in a state of surprise

“When did you get here?” Damian asked

“I’ve been here for a while, saw y’all playing catch the striker, but Jerome should have been playing watch the defender, but anyways… As you all know, Daniel is out of the game for a long time, and we have multiple matches before we can even think about seeing him in action again.”

“Sir Clumsy here will be his substitute for every match. So Dane, you know what that means. He needs to be in shape by tomorrow, we have a match with the doppelgangers on Wednesday, and losing is not an option.”

“Get your heads in the game, keep those limbs out of the hospital, live like Daniel does not exist and all that does exist is a scoreboard that you need to own. I don’t want any questions, only results. You are up Dane, I have to run.”

Coach miles is always very brief with his orders and does not like to be questioned after making decisions.

“You heard the man!” Said Dane

 

“Hey, guys. What did I miss?” Jackson asked out of nowhere

“Heyy! Water Boy! You didn’t miss anything much man, just some tap dancing that ended with a broken toe.” Oscar replied

“Maan, shut up..” Jerome shot back

 

“hahaha. You got anything for me, Jackson?” Oscar asked

“Yeah, I left it in your locker. Jerome, I have to deliver yours tomorrow because I ran into some trouble and I had to cut the assessment session short, but I promise, tomorrow I will have it delivered before sunrise.”

 

“That’s some strong promise there Water Boy, you better be careful, the tooth fairy doesn’t leave bucks if there ain’t no tooth under the pillow yeah.” Said Jerome while he wipes his sweat one more time

While the Pinnacles focused on rebuilding their confidence ahead of their next match, drama was quietly unfolding elsewhere on campus. Word began to spread about some students involvement with each other and was sparking debates in multiple corners of the college compound. Word never got to the football field as yet, but it surely entered the basketball court where the cheerleaders held their practice sessions. Sparks were flying everywhere, paper towels were certainly lit, and heat and smoke was surely rising.