seven souls seven sins - Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Natasha's pov:
"Tash cmon! We're gonna miss the opening round if you don't hurry up!" I hear Chase's voice boom from downstairs. "I know I know! Just 5 seconds!" I shout back from my room. I look in the mirror to adjust my hair. I'm wearing Nico's baggy, oversized, black jersey with his name and number on the back.
I lean in close towards the mirror and take out my black eyeliner.
I draw a number 7 on my cheek and pop the bottle down. I adjust my ripped denim shorts and slide into my matching panda dunks. I add all my accessories and take a mirror picture to send to Nico. "NAT!" I hear Adrien shout. "Coming!" I call back and exit my room.
I hurry down the stairs to find Adrien and Chase impatiently waiting for me.
"Where's Vince and Leo?" I search for their presence. "They're not making it, and we won't either if you don't jump in the car right this instance!" Adrien hurries me. We all hop into Chase's car and we zoom down to the car park. We reach the school grounds in a record of 5 minutes.
Speeding was necessary.
We all lightly jog towards the pitches and find a decent spot on our side of the bleachers. It's high up so we get a good view of the game. The atmosphere is amazing too. It's 17:58 and the match is just about to start. I look down and spot all the footballers warming up for their last match of the season.
The vibes are immaculate.
The opposing team are wearing purple and yellow but our classic colours of white and black are superior compared to theirs. Each team is starting to position themselves on the field and everyone is getting into place. I spot Xavier, Nico and I see Xander as centre-forward.
He must have a lot of pressure weighing on his shoulders.
Since I was the last one out of the car, I got the seat at the end. I just have Chase to my right whilst my left side is empty. I regain my attention on the match but I hear someone struggling up the side. I turn around to spot Dylan in a black boot. Ouch, he really took a tumble earlier.
He hobbles to the seat beside me and sits down with a loud sigh.
I dismiss his actions and when I look back at the pitch, I hear the ref blow the whistle and the match commences. Everyone is cheering for our team when we get the ball. The cheerleaders preform their routines every time the ball gets close to the goal. Even some chants start forming.
But I think the chants are better in England.
For the first half, the ball gets passed around a lot. For majority of the time it stayed in the enemy's side and all was well, and then Xavier took charge with the ball. He bolted down the side and made loads of passes to his teammates. I can tell why he was made co-captain, he's incredible.
When he passed to Cody who made a goal, the crowd went wild and everyone was cheering all over the place, myself included.
Nico was also a good player and wasn't as rough as I'd thought he'd be. The opposing school were pretty tough though and I could spot so many yellow cards like shirt grabbing and side pushes, but the ref didn't call those. Our team was calm and kept rhythm which is probably why we're on one point and they have zero.
The referee blows the whistle and it's now half-time.
"I'm going to get some snacks with Adrien, wanna come?" Chase asks me. "Nah I'm good, get me some popcorn though." I request. "Will do, Amor." He replies and scurries off with Adrien to the food stalls. They leave so it's just Dylan and I sitting in the same row. "You should've been up there with them." I voice out my opinion whilst keeping my eyes on the pitch.
"I know, it was so stupid too! Just mere days before the final, life decides to screw me over." Dylan frustratingly cusses.
"Nah that's just plain bad luck." I admit and pat him on the back. The pitch is now cleared and massive screens are lowered down in the middle so everyone can see. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot men in black being stationed where the big cameras are. Oh boy, I hope it's not what I think it is.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, it's time for everyone favourite part of half-time which is the infamous.. Kiss Cam!" The host announces to the crowd.
Cheers break out amongst the crowd but I stay silent. The dark sky mixed with the obnoxious bright lights isn't a good mix. The camera points to an elderly couple and they both look delighted to share a kiss and I smile at their cuteness. My gaze wanders towards the footballers who are taking a water break.
Particularly, a certain player.
I sit back and watch as one of his teammates drench his hair with their water bottle and he shakes his hair, the lighting hitting every angle of his perfectly chiselled jaw. "So are you and Nico a thing?" Dylan blurts out of nowhere. "Pardon?" I don't hide how shocked I am.
"He talks about you non-stop, and you two are practically always together." He connects the dots.
"Just because he's a guy, and my friend, doesn't mean we're dating." I scoff to hide behind my mask. "I saw you two at my party, the way he looked at you when you were dancing with Theo had envy written all over it." He admits so I turn to face him. "Having Theo die in my parent's guest room wasn't the nicest thank you present either." Dylan confesses.
My eyes widen at the realisation but Dylan's next words slow down my heart pace.
"I'm best friends with Xavier, relax. I find it cool that y'all are in the mafia but just don't bring it to my house again." He shrugs it off as if he's known about it for a long time. "I'll try my best." I joke around with him. I feel a tap on my shoulder from a stranger behind me, I turn around and she points me towards the big screen.
My eyes wander towards the pixels, Dylan and I are both recorded live for the kiss cam.
"Holy fuck." Dylan swears at the screen. "This lighting does wonders for my jaw structure." He admires his reflection on the tv. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The crowd behind us chant. The people behind nudge me and Dylan closer together. My eyes dart for the camera. I scan the opposite crowd until I find the machine.
I mouth "He's not my boyfriend." Whilst pointing at Dylan.
The host clears his throat. "We don't have all day lovebirds. Even just a peck will do." He announces for the whole stadium to hear. My heart rate quickens at the pressure from everyone around me. "Nat let's just get it over with." Dylan side whispers to me. I turn to face him with my jaw dropped.
"Excuse you? Just a second ago you were telling me how Nico looks at me, and now you wanna kiss me?" I ask in disbelief.
"Trust me I want this to be over just as much as you do." He confesses and a bright light shines down on us. "Ah shit." Dylan squints at the headlight. The crowd behind us continue to push us closer together. We're practically touching shoulders at this point.
"Cmon Nat, it's one second. Then it's over." Dylan tries to persuade me.
I have an iffy look plastered across my face but Dylan leans closer, and tilts his head. "Woah woah woah, what's going on here!" The host's voice beams throughout the arena. The light moves away from us and onto our footballers, particularly a certain player. Everyone's attention switches from us to Nico hopping the fence.
"There he goes! He jumps across the affiliates and towards the crowd in sector B!" The commentator screams into the mic.
The spotlight struggles to keep up with Nico's fast pace as he hurdles across the obstacles and dives towards the crowd. He sprints up the stairs in our section until he reaches our set of bleachers. He looks me straight in the eye and walks straight to me. The spotlight focuses on us.
He grabs the sides of my face and gently places a soft kiss on my forehead.
I inhale his whiskey cologne. He turns me around so that the camera is streaming my back. I feel his finger point at his name on my jersey. He throws the middle finger at the camera man and all of a sudden, the camera disappears from our section and onto another couple. I let out a sigh of relief when all the lights move away.
"I'm gonna fucking kill that bastard." Nico swears into my ear.
"You will do no such thing, Mr.Mysterious." I taunt back into his ear, thinking he's joking. "Go bring it home for me." I finalise and pat his shoulder. He smirks at me and jogs down back to the pitch. My heart rate slows down and I sit back on the bleacher. "Well that was one heck of a shit show." Dylan grunts.
"Tell me about it." I reply and lean back, resting my neck.
"Did you see how fast that man ran up here?" Dylan shakes his head. "What are you implying here?" I ask with an arched brow. "He wants you, he wants you bad. He showed the whole stadium that you were his. That son of a bitch marked his property." Dylan tsks as a response and tilts his head.
I let a little smirk slip knowing that Nico feels protective over me.
Soon after my biological brothers come back from the food stalls. "Hey Sunshine, did we miss anything?" Adrien calls out as he sits down beside me. "Nah, nothing important." I reply nonchalantly as I subtly wink at Dylan. "Here's your popcorn, Amor." Chase hands me a carton of popped kernels.
"This smells heavenly, thank youu." I side hug Adrien.
"That's a wrap ladies and gentlemen. Please return to your seats for the second half." The commentator announces. Once everyone's back in their places, and the players are in their position, the match commences. Nico is playing rougher than before, gaining a penalty only a few minutes in.
Then once Nico gets benched, the rival team begins to play dirtier.
The ball starts nearing closer towards our goal more often, and the nerves are setting in. One of the opposing team members scores a goal and the crowd goes wild, the cheering from the other end is so loud that you can hear it from all the way over here. They restart and the opposing team hog the ball once again.
They too start playing rougher and score yet another goal.
The score is 2-1 to them. We need a miracle to pull through with only 15 minutes left. The sky has turned black, with the lights illuminating the pitch only. Nico swaps on with another player. Once the ref blows the whistle, the game continues. After a few minutes the ball travels up the field with Xavier, he passes it to Nico and he..
SCORES!
The crowd bursts into applaud and chants, me shouting the loudest. That man's aura levels are insane. His teammates all congratulate him and they set up for the final few moments. Everything is at stake, BlueCrest hasn't lost a junior final in 11 years. The score is 2-2 which means that we just need one more goal to win the championship.
As the clock ticks down to the final minute, everyone's worried that the game will end up in overtime, but I have a sneaky feeling that someone will pull through.
I watch in awe as Cody drags the ball up the field, passing it to Nico who avoids a slide tackle. He kicks it across the field to Xavier, who dodges two defenders and makes a pass to Xander. With only 30 seconds remaining, everyone's heart is racing with adrenaline.
Mine included.
Xander realises that he can't make the shot so he passes it back to Cody who rebuttals and passes it back to Xander. And with a whopping 15 seconds left, Xander manages to score a goal with a bicycle kick and the crowd goes wild. Once the final whistle is blown we all break out into celebration with confetti being flung everywhere.
Black and white streamers pollute the air as everyone cheers.
Adrien hugs me in excitement and he twirls me around. His smile is so sweet, he should do it more often. Our side rushes onto the pitch, and we congratulate them. When Xander and Xavier spot us, they dash to us. Xander flings me into the air and holds me tight. "You did it! You did it Xand!" I exclaim in joy.
"We did it!" He corrects me.
"I couldn't have done it without you Nat!" He smiles at me, placing a kiss on my forehead. His eyes wander down to my cheek and he opens his mouth to say something but Adrien hugs him before he can say anything. I turn to leap on Xavier who looks as if he just won the lottery.
Everyone looks happy, everyone's celebrating, except it's not everyone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the camera crew packing up their gear and stepping towards the car park to head home. It seems normal but I see a 6'1ft tall footballer following behind them. With the number 7 on his back. What could Nico be up to now? He's too far away that I can't see him that clearly. The commentator announces that the ceremony will take place indoors.
I feel a splash of water hit my head, and then more droplets begin to pour from the sky.
Everyone's cheers turn into whines as people are rushed inside to the P.E hall. As people begin making their way in, a loud bang from behind echoes throughout the area. I turn in the direction of the carpark but the rain gets heavier by the second. Once we enter the sports hall everyone sits down, waiting for our team to be awarded the season's cup.
"I've got to use the restroom. I'll be back soon." I excuse myself and leave my brothers in the hall.
Although it's raining, I need to find out what Nico's doing. I have an eery feeling that it isn't good. I spot the carpark and run across the field to reach it. A feeling of uneasiness washes over me. As I walk through the car park, I scan the area for Nico. That's when I spot a figure near the back of the bleachers, where the garbage bins are.
He's shoving something down the black bin.
He hoists the weird, heavy shape up and chugs it down the bin. He shuts the lid, turns around to see me. I curiously jog up to this mysterious dark figure. He steps forward, the moonlight revealing his identity. I gasp when he stares at me, trying to congregate a reasonable explanation.
My eyes wander down to his feet, droplets of blood are scattered across the floor, and are slowly being washed away by the rain.