Flag on the Play

[Aura]

Adonis laced up his cleats in the locker room with a scowl on his face. This was not an unusual sight. In fact, the rest of the football team had just sort of gotten used to him being a bit of a sour face in the group. Not really someone whose company they enjoyed, but someone who they did their best to tolerate because despite the problems he brought, he was still a hell of a player.

He was in a particularly bad mood on this particular day. First off, despite claiming up and down that he would be able to make the game for weeks, his dad had to take an unexpected business trip that day, missing out on the game. He had also asked out a cheerleader who he had had his eye on for a while, and she rejected him quite thoroughly. As if that wasn't enough, when he was driving home from school that afternoon, one of his tires went flat, so he had to spend a nice chunk of his allowance fixing that. All things considered, it definitely could have gone better.

Of course, a crappy day meant that he had a lot of pent-up irritation for the game ahead. Generally he used the field as his best outlet to get out all of his aggression without getting in trouble for it. After all, he was a cornerback. It was his job to smash into people who get past the D-line. He couldn't think of a better method of anger management.

"Hey Adonis, you ready to head out?" One of his teammates offered a casual greeting as they sat next to him on the bench. He gave them a look, wondering why they didn't seem to realize that he didn't like socializing before a game, especially when he was already pissed.

"No shit, Tyler." His response wasn't very friendly, but he thought that it got the message across. Tyler seemed to realize this too, since he got right up off the bench and walked away, offering only a meek "Just checking..." on his way out. Good. He didn't need to hear anyone's BS right now.

"Come on, Adonis. Why you gotta do this every game?"

Fuck.

One of the offensive guards was stepping up to him. Fucker probably thought that just because he was one of the widest guys in the room, that gave him the right to act like he was the boss of the place. "Don't know what you're talking about, man." Adonis said, getting up to grad his pads.

"Cut the shit, you know what I mean." The guard didn't back down. "You always come in here and act like an asshole for no reason, and we're getting sick of it, all right?"

Adonis slipped on his pads and walked up to the guard. "All right, so you called me an asshole. Now what are you gonna do about it?"

The guard leaned forward, looming over him. "I'm saying that you need to shut up, or else you can find another locker room to stink up."

In response, Adonis laughed in his face. No witty retort or insult, just a confident laugh. The kind of laugh that could only come from a man who was positive that his adversary couldn't do anything to hurt him. The guard went back into the crowd, muttering among the other players about something or other. Adonis didn't care. He just finished getting his gear ready. He wasn't there to socialize, he was there to play the game.

---

At the tail end of the second quarter, Denton was down by 16, and Adonis was not happy about it. The offensive squad couldn't get a plan together, and the defense had let through so many runners that they might as well not even be there. At this point, he was pretty sure that he was the only one on the field that even halfway knew what he was supposed to be doing.

Oh wait, another play just happened. Opposing quarterback fired a pass to a receiver that somehow wasn't covered by anyone, scoring an easy touchdown. Denton down by 22. The visitors in the stands cheered wildly, while the home team's supporters were quiet as mice. Adonis figured that they were wondering the same thing he was: What the hell is going on out there?

He joined the squad for the next huddle, barely able to contain his frustration. Once everyone was there and ready to discuss the next play, he exploded at them. "What the fuck is your problem? They're killing us!"

"Okay, calm down dude." Tyler said, trying to rein in his furious teammate. "There's still half the game left. We can bring it back."

"Really?" He shouted back. "So you guys are just gonna magically stop being dumbasses after halftime?"

One of the larger defenders next to him grabbed his shoulder. "Look man, we already talked about this. Just cut the shit and play your role."

"Okay guys, we don't have time for this." The defensive captain tried to get things back on-rails. "Just get in position to block the extra point." With that, hey broke up the huddle and got in formation for the next play. Ideally, it would have been better if they had been able to inject a little more strategy into the conversation, but they had a choice between that and dealing with Adonis' tantrum, and one of those choices kind of took precedent at the time.

They watched the other team get into position and Oh you cocky fuckers. They didn't even have their kicker on the field. They knew that they could go for a two point conversion without worry of it backfiring on them, and they were taking that opportunity. Now Adonis was absolutely fuming. He saw this as an insult to the team, but more importantly, an insult to himself. He didn't want them to think that they could get one by him like that. Oh no, he wasn't going to let them through, no matter what.

The snap came, and just as expected, the ball was handed off to the running back. They ran around to Adonis' side of the line, and he saw his chance to strike. He got tunnel vision, locking his focus on the man with the ball. He charged forward like a runaway train, taking no heed of the world around him. The sounds of the crowd and his teammates faded away. The only thing that mattered was the clear path between him and the runner, closing the distance, and landing a hit.

Once he was within range, he threw himself full-force at his adversary. Pushing off with his feet, he was going for the maximum impact possible, to send a message. As he slammed into the runner, whether it be intentional of not, he wound up swinging his forearm into their facemask, a move that did not go unnoticed.

After they had fallen to the ground and the whistle was blown, Adonis picked himself off the ground and shouted at his fallen opponent. "Don't you even think of trying that shit!" The runner remained on the ground, stunned by the hit. When the raging cornerback looked up, he was greeted by the sight of a yellow flag on the field, as well as the referee blowing the whistle a second time.

"Illegal hands to the face, Number 51, Denton. Reset the play." The ref announced to the spectators. In response, all but two of the players got back into position. The runner who had been knocked down has being helped off the field by a few of his teammates, and Adonis was still standing at the point of impact, staring at the ref with renewed irritation. He actually helps the team stop failing for a few seconds, and takes a penalty? Hell no, he wasn't gonna stand for that.

"What was that?" He shouted at the referee, walking over to them when they tried to get off the field. "Are you joking with that call?"

The official looked annoyed, but took it upon himself to explain the situation. "Your arm hit him in the face. That's illegal." He tapped his own forearm for demonstration. "Play is invalid."

"Bullshit." The cornerback growled, stepping closer to the ref. "That tackle was clean and you know it."

The referee took a step back in response to Adonis' attempts at intimidation and raised a finger at him. "You're treading on thin ice, kid. Get back to your team or I'll call you for delay of game."

Adonis felt as though something in him snapped. He responded to the ref's demand by stepping even closer to him and raising his voice. Why don't you fuckin' make me!" He screamed a few inches away from the referee's face. He got another blow of the whistle and an outstretched finger signaling fr him to leave the field in response. He didn't feel like listening, though. He just kept staring down the referee, huffing with frustration.

"Alba!" The coach barked angrily after making his way to the scene. "Get off the field, and in the locker room, now!" He glared at the cocky athlete, who relaxed his muscles and relented. The two of them walked away, the coach delegating his duties to the assistant coach for the next few minutes while he dealt with the problem at hand.

---

"What the hell's gotten into you, boy?" The coach demanded. "You throw a wild hand, then start fighting with the ref over it? What in blue hell put that idea in your head?"

Adonis looked at the ground, still angry over recent events. "He made a bad call." He muttered. "It wasn't fair."

"I don't care what kind of call it was, you don't get into it with an official!" Coach called him out "All you did was embarrass yourself and the team. Is that what you were going for?"

"No." Adonis' voice got louder and more forceful. "I was just trying-"

"I don't care what you were trying to do, you screwed up." Coach scolded him. "And honestly, this time it was too big." He paced from one side of the room to another, summoning the energy to say what he had to next. "Alba, you're done."

Adonis jolted upright. "What? You can;t throw me outta the game! We're getting killed out there!"

"That's not what I meant." Coach corrected him. "What I mean is that you're off the team."

The boy's mouth dropped open. "What? But... you can't do that!" He tried to form an argument for himself. "You need me on the team!"

Coach swatted his plea down immediately. "No, I don't need a temperamental cornerback who gets on with no one and starts fights on my team." He sighed. "You know, I gave you a lot of chances, probably more than you deserved. I can't extend my patience any further."

"Come on, there's gotta be something we can do!" Adonis pleaded with increasing desperation. "I'll clean up my act, start getting on with the team. Come on, you know I can do that, right?"

Coach shook his head. "You should have done that before we got to this point. Now I'm not going to ask again. Leave your pads, leave your helmet, leave all of your gear, and go home. Goodbye, Alba." Coach left to head back to the field, leaving the newly ex-player all alone.

This was the kind of thing that would normally send Adonis into the most indignant of rages. This kind of insult was something that he could never bring himself to tolerate. However, this time it was different. His place on the team, his biggest stepping stone towards college and the NFL, had just been taken away from him. Fury gave way to disbelief, which gave way to numbness. He silently took off all of his football gear, leaving behind as he departed the locker room for the last time.

He emerged in the parking lot, back in his street clothes. He got in his car and closed the door behind him. It was only then that he uncorked the emotions that were threatening to overflow He yelled, ranted, and screamed in a combination of rage and despair, tears flowing as freely as obscenities. All of this was masked by the fact that he was alone in the parking lot while the game still went on, keeping anyone from witnessing his little episode.

Once he had vented for about a solid minute, he wiped his face and started the engine. The only upside to the day now was that his dad was out of town, so he wouldn't have to deal with any repercussions for the day's events for a couple of days at least. Until then, he just had to deal with himself, the fucking idiot.