Tournament Number 2. I had a great feeling about this competition, the idea that we could possibly take this as we had in the past. I was happy that Kyle and I were able to play against each other, the thought of actually seeing my boyfriend in action making me excited. I'm not going to lie, I was still a little apprehensive about Northridge, especially since it was at their home turf. Something about hosting your own tournament always seems to give you the upper hand, be it the supporters that come out, the knowledge of where the potholes or slipper spots are in the field, or just the confidence that you get from the spirit of the campus.
Arriving, I could tell that Northridge was ready and set to compete. The way they walked around their turf fields gave away their demeanor, the confidence of their perfect stances and the faultlessness of their strides. As Bryan and Zach and I looked for a perfect location, we watched as other teams arrived as well. It was interesting how the air shifted more towards Northridge as the teams arrived, the confidence of other teams slowly dropping as more players arrived.
Looking at Bryan I toss out the comment, "I think people are actually taking Northridge seriously. But really? I mean come on, they were lucky at San Bernardino." I tossed my gear bag down at what we had decided to be a great spot.
The shaken confidence had gotten to Bryan and was slowly sneaking into Zach as they both responded. Bryan looked around at the other teams then at Northridge. "Were they? I mean they full on obliterated the other teams. Kyle and his team weren't so lucky either. We were lucky to escape unscathed."
Zach backed him up on it, "Bryan does have a point. Look at them Chris. They have a stronger assurance to them than the first time. Keep it up and we might actually have a battle for the wins this year." They both set down their bags and waited for the rest of Long Beach to arrive.
Fullerton arrived before Long Beach, the entire team, plus my boyfriend caravanning in together. While Victoria signed them in, the rest of the team unconsciously gravitated towards the three of us, Kyle leading the way with no questions asked. It was almost as if they didn't question his judgment and had just accepted the fact that slowly, our two teams were becoming one. Granted we still played for our own team but on the surface of it all, the players of both Long Beach and Fullerton were starting to talk more and fraternize with each other.
Kyle came up and gave me a small kiss on the lips before asking how early I had gotten here. Rubbing his arm slightly, I answer him knowing that he was slightly concerned for me. "We got here about 30 minutes ago. It's kinda a tradition that Bryan, Zach, and I have. We always arrive early to get the best spots." I chuckled as the two of them looked at us and shrugged then went back to doing their own things.
Kyle set down his stuff and looked back at his team as they had already started unpacking. "Nervous for today?" Oh come on, even he was having his doubts.
I did my best to stand tall but it was starting to grind on me. "To be honest, I don't know. I think we will do well but everyone has this mentality like they've already lost. I think it's a bit of bull but whatever. I know I will give it my best and make sure that Northridge works for every point they get."
Kyle got a little riled up for that, something that I was happy to finally see out of him. His former dislike of Parker started to show through as he looked at the Northridge players and cast Parkers image onto each of them.
Speaking of the devil, our two teams watched as Northridge's star player came onto the field. Parker's golden eyes scanned the field, the glimmer reflecting the lust he had for beating each team before him. Then he locked onto Kyle and I, or probably more likely Fullerton and Long Beach. Either way when he saw us a slight grin appeared on his face, the slight coating of facial hair adding a bit of a demonizing look to him. I observed him move around his team, his own gaze seemingly never waiving off the two teams of competition for him.
Turning my back to him, I gave up the battle of stares, looking for better things to do to occupy my time. It was a foolish mistake because while I had my back to him, he snaked his way over to our campout. The sound of his voice made my skin crawl as he startled me and a few of the other players, "Combining the two teams now? That's cute."
Turning around to look at him with a "What the fuck?" face, I try to catch Kyle before he confronts Parker. It was an effort made too late as Kyle stumbles over the bags to stand before Parker, "What do you want Parker?" The cynicism in his voice was all too apparent as Kyle crossed his arms to bolster himself up against the threat standing before him.
Parker shrugged his shoulders and looked past Kyle as if he wasn't even there. "I came by to wish you guys good luck for today's game." He scanned us over like inventory, looking to see who the biggest threats were that needed to be addressed.
Kyle blurted out in a very muttered voice, "The hell you did." Kyle stood like a wolf challenging a mountain lion, the two of them not wanting to back down.
Parker shot his eyes back at Kyle and put on the most vicious smile I had seen in a long time. The curl of his lips as he spoke made me shiver in the sun, "Kyle, here I was trying to be civil. But if you want the truth, we beat you once, we will beat you again." Did he really just call out Kyle and Fullerton? I was shocked that Parker had the audacity to pull such a ballsy move.
Then he turned to me and continued on with the barrage. "It's not like Long Beach is any better. All we need to do is draw some blood and then the other teams will see how weak you really are. One loss by a team, other than Fullerton, and they will pounce."
Everyone was getting infuriated by the crap that spewing out of Parker's mouth. Jumping up to hold them back, I approach Parker and pull back Kyle as he moves to defend my honor. "Let him talk guys. He's just bullshitting. The real battle will be on the field, not in the words. I could fight back but it's clear that you're unarmed in the battle of wits. You're just poking the bear trying to elicit a response."
Parker stood back a little stunned that I deflected his blows like swatting a fly. I didn't give the response he was hoping for. Regaining his composure he merely commented then walked off. "We'll see about that. Watch your back Chris." The last thing he did before turning his back as wink at me, a movement that made Kyle want to lash out at him.
As Parker left to go back, the rest of our teams arrived and they were confused at what had us all riled up. After Pike had signed in he did his best to calm us all down and get us into our game modes, which we slowly began to do, but a few of us still lingered in irritation and anger.
Our first games went extremely well, mostly because we had been built up by Parker and wanted to make it known that we meant business. To be honest we probably went a little hard on the teams; CSULA, and San Bernardino all falling hard. Fullerton came out strong as well, them taking on CSULA and San Dominguez and almost beating them single handedly. During our buy game while Fullerton played San Dominguez, I went over to a separate field to watch Northridge play, and from the looks of it, obliterate San Bernardino.
The way that Northridge was playing was, and while I hated to admit it, superb. They had such coordination going on that it was almost impressive to watch. They were one of those teams that you had to respect for how they operated, regardless of if you liked them or not. And trust me, at this point, I did not like them much, especially Parker.
The cuts in the turf that they pulled seemed to tear up the black plastic dirt pieces, the throws of the disk zipping left and right through the air, at times even breaking a chirp out to give notice of its flight.
I tried to stay in the crowds so that Parker wouldn't notice me but it was a futile endeavor as he became aware of my presence. With Northridge holding the disk near their own end zone, Parker received the disk and paused for a second, looked at me, pointed to me, then looked down the field. A player broke loose of his mark and sprinted to the end zone. This guy was short so he managed to sneak past San Bernardino along the sideline then cut inward. Parker took note of the player and threw a hammer over his own mark, all efforts to stop the disk now futile.
It whizzed through the air and seemed to hang there as the player looked at the disk falling towards him. With a simple catch, the player held it in the air as if it were a trophy. Catch. Set. Point. Shaking my head, I turned and headed back to my team, having enough of Parker's egotistical aura.
Pike was there waiting for me when I returned, his arms crossed. "You know he's starting to get into your head right?" He looked a little worried that I was starting to over think this all, which I think I probably was.
"I know. I'm trying my best to not get distracted by him but it's been a while since I have seen one guy captivate a team the way he has." I look at Pike as I subtly make the comparison. Not that Parker could every be Pike but the similarities could be seen. Shaking my head, I try to focus on the main issue at hand, out own games that we needed to win.
After Fullerton had beaten San Dominguez they had a buy time to take a break. It was our turn to take them on and the game went smoothly. Unlike Northridge which seemed to be taking its opponents on with no mercy, we did allow for them to gain a few points, at least enough for them to feel as if they were not losing too bad. As was to be expected we won but we did it with grace, not brutality. After shaking hands with their team, they made the note that we had been probably one of the better teams to have played this day so far.
Walking off the field I saw Fullerton walk up, their dual with Northridge about to commence. Moving over to Kyle, I gave him a quick massage on the shoulders and told him he's got this. It was a small gesture that I had hoped would give him the strength to beat Parker. Watching them walk out onto the field, a colossal swell started to form in my stomach, a sign to myself that this wasn't going to go the way I wanted it to.
Right off the bat, Northridge came off strong. Fullerton was caught off guard by intensity of their moves, the fluidity of Northridge cutting left and right making it hard at times for Northridge to keep up. I couldn't bear to look at it as the scene started to unfold into a massacre. Point by point Northridge stacked them on, inching more into the winning zone.
At halftime, I wanted to talk with Kyle and Victoria on what to do but Pike advised me not to, since it wasn't my team. I felt so helpless as Victoria tried to formulate a plan out on how to effectively combat the threat. When halftime ended, I figured I could at least call out the players for Kyle to watch so I moved to the sidelines and watched over the game, playing the sideline eyes for their team, not that they really needed it since they had their own teammates calling out the players for them.
Watching two players cut down the field long, I shouted out to Kyle, "Kyle behind you! They're going long!" I saw it start to unfold before me, the two runners making for a dual play for a point.
Kyle looked over to me, frustration dripping off the sweat on his forehead. "I see them Chris!" He runs after the players but it was a futile effort as the team captain lobbed a flick to the left side into one of the players. I was not surprised so much at the point as I was by Kyle's outburst. The tone that he had behind it was clearly aggravation but it also seemed to have annoyance mixed in as well, almost as if my help was unappreciated. Shutting up, I watched from the lines, figuring Pike was right that it was their game and they needed to learn on their own.
Kyle came off a point later to grab some water and while I would have normally came up and talked with him, this time I kept a wide berth, letting him vent and fume to his fellow teammates. Realizing that I wasn't near him, he got up and made his way towards me, holding his head slightly lower than normal. "Sorry for snapping at you. Northridge is playing dirty out there. It's not your fault. Thank you for the help." He kisses me slightly on the lips and then heads back in, the apology taking a little of his chest.
Shouting out to Kyle, I offer what support I could think of, "You can do this Kyle! Keep your heads up Fullerton!" If my boyfriend played for a different team I was going to help that team in any way I possibly could. Fuck policies and regulations.
Watching Northridge play, particularly Parker, Kyle was right that they were playing dirty. Ultimate Frisbee was supposed to be a noncontact sport but Parker was giving the cold shoulder so many times it was verging on excessive. He knew the limit he could go to and didn't go much further than that but even still, some of the travels he pulled were so slight the mark didn't know but those on the sidelines saw it.
In the end, Northridge beat Fullerton by one point. I was happy that Fullerton had managed to come back the way they did but still that point had cost them the game. The onlookers from the sidelines erupted in anger and boos as Northridge walked off the field holding their heads high. Fullerton did their best to hold their heads high as well but it was a hard loss for them, especially since they were so close to almost catching Northridge.
Walking onto the field, I hug Kyle and try to assure him, "You did your best babe."
Walking back to the area where we were hanging out, Kyle tossed down the disk and quickly kicked off his cleats. "I just want to sock that prick." He muttered to me, trying not to make a big scene of it all.
Looking around for my own team, I was shocked to see Parker strut over to us, his brunette hair hanging over his head in a sloppy manner. In what could possibly be heard as the most mocking manner ever, Parker uttered out a simple word that stung like fire, "Sorry."
Jumping on Kyle to hold him down, I pull him down to the ground to stop him from fighting. Moving to my feet, I get in Parkers face and speak for Kyle, echoing every word that is going through Kyle's brain. "You have serious balls coming over here. Get to your team Parker before you make a mistake you'll regret."
Parker laughs cynically, "I just wanted to let you know you're next Chris." With that he walked away back to his team to prep for the next battle.
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Well now this will be interesting. What is Parkers deal? How will the next tournament go? What I can tell is that there will be blood.... I hope you're all doing alright.