Sadie, Enchanted

Chapter Twenty-Three

That night, Sadie took a seat by herself near the top of the bleachers. The air was warmer than she expected, but there was still a chill, reminding her that winter was just around the corner. She sighed and sipped the hot apple cider she had purchased from the concession stand. Despite the fact that she was not interested in soccer, and Noah looked especially adorable in his uniform, which hurt her heart even more, Sadie enjoyed the energy surrounding her. Students, parents, grandparents and strangers were gathered to watch, all chatting excitedly, anticipating the homecoming game.

Sadie let her eyes wander onto the field. The players from both teams were warming up, doing stretches across the field. She couldn't help but watch Noah as he kicked a ball back and forth with Miller. He shot excellent passes so effortlessly, seeming so comfortable and relaxed. He grinned as the ball soared into the net, and Sadie found herself smiling as well. He reminded her of the way he was in Utopia, the way she wanted to remember him.

At 7pm, the cheerleaders took their place on the boxes lined up across the front of the field, four boxes for the four head cheerleaders, and the rest of the team filling the spaces in between on the ground. They smiled widely and waved their pom-poms in the air, shouting chants and urging the crowd to join in.

The game began, and the crowd stood up excitedly. Sadie stood with them, only because she couldn't see anything that was happening. Noah made a perfect pass to his teammate, who was running towards the goal, but one of the Hawks players stole the ball and took off down the field. He kicked the ball swiftly into the goal.

"No!" Sadie murmured to herself, and then wondered why she cared.

The game continued on like this. Noah scored one goal, but the Hawks scored three. The crowd was going crazy, shouting angrily at the other team and even their own. When the halftime buzzer rang, half of the crowd sat down in a huff, while others stood up to get in line at concessions. The cheerleaders danced out to the field, ready to do their routine. Sadie glanced down at her phone to check the time. When she looked up again, she noticed that the team had not left the field yet. In fact, they were walking slowly toward the crowd, Noah jogging way ahead of them. The crowd noticed this too, and conversation about what was going on buzzed about the bleachers. Usually, the team went back into the locker rooms during halftime to regroup and create a new strategy, but that was obviously not happening.

The team stopped near the fence, looking confused themselves, while Noah was very purposeful in jogging over to the cheerleader's stash of gear and grabbing a megaphone. Sadie's eyebrows scrunched together, confused. Noah stood next to the middle cheerleading box, scanning the crowd. His eyes passed over hers, and then darted back to hers and his gaze was so piercing, Sadie couldn't look away.

"Dupont! Get your ass in the locker room!" The coach yelled from the side of the field. He waved for the team to follow him, and they began to move slowly, but stopped again on the side of the field, watching Noah. Noah glanced at his coach, then back at Sadie, and, grinning his signature smile, he hopped onto the cheerleading box. Before anyone knew what was happening, Noah took off his jersey to reveal another tiny, bright blue shirt he wore underneath. The shirt only reached his mid-stomach, and it stretched so tightly over his chest it was a wonder it didn't rip. Across the front of the shirt were stitched the familiar words,

A B E R C R O M B I E & F I T C H.

Sadie's mouth dropped open when she stood with the rest of the crowd and saw what Noah was doing. She pushed her way between people to get to the bottom of the bleachers. She stood against the rail and stared down at Noah.

"What are you doing?" She called.

Noah grinned and held up the megaphone. His teammates stood off to the side, shaking their heads and trying to get him to step down from the cheerleading box. "I'm protesting the size of Abercrombie clothes!" He yelled into the megaphone, amidst cheers and laughter. "Join me in protesting the tiny clothing sizes that only encourage a negative body image! We need to fight for the creation of clothes that will make us all feel good!" Noah cried.