Afflicted

Lacey bit her lip to stop herself from laughing which told me all I needed to know about how far Reese had gone. My mom constantly insisted that I'd grow to love my brother but I was wondering when that was going to happen because I was seventeen and I still couldn't stand the sight of him.

"Well Reese pees sitting down so he should stop paying so much attention to me and work harder on his potty training," I said lightly, hoping Ella would stay true to form and spread that little rumour around the school.

Lacey let out a snort of laughter and I tried to hold back a satisfied smirk.

"Alright, line up and let's sort this mess out. Bryony you're in Chloe's spot and Kristen you can take over from Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn you're next to me in Tara's place, don't screw it up," Demi directed and I hurried forward to take my place beside her.

We practiced for an hour until Demi was happy with the modified routine then headed back to the locker room to get ready for the game.

By the time we made it back out to the football pitch it was getting dark and the bleachers were pretty much full. The home crowd cheered as we arrived and we all waved and smiled at them.

We started a few basic routines and cheers to warm the crowd up and I felt myself really starting to relax for the first time all day. That was why I put up with Demi being such a brat all the time; I loved to cheer. No matter how bossy or obnoxious she wanted to be, there was nothing she could do that would take away the feeling I got when I was performing with the squad.

The rival football team were announced and we stopped cheering as they ran out onto the opposite side of the pitch, dressed in green and white. As our team were announced we jumped up and down, showing our support and getting the crowd riled up for the game. The team’s red and white kits matched ours and they waved excitedly as they jogged to their positions.

Ryan slipped away from the team as he emerged and made a bee line straight for me with his helmet tucked under his arm. I realised what he was doing just before he dropped his helmet and grabbed me.

The smile froze on my face as he lifted me into the air and kissed me in front of the whole school. The crowd cheered wildly as he set me back on my feet and I had to remember not to scowl as he jogged back out to join the team. His sandy hair looked almost golden under the bright lights and he tossed a perfect smile over his shoulder at me just before putting his helmet on.

"Consider yourself peed on," Lacey laughed as she shook a pom pom in my face.

"Who wouldn't want to be publicly marked out as someone's property?" I grinned back at her just as Demi signalled for us to start the first chant.

As the game started up, we cheered on our team and fell into the rhythm of our routines. When Ryan did well, Demi insisted that I do a backflip to celebrate and the crowd went wild for it.

As I flipped for the fourth time, someone screamed.

I scrambled to get upright again and tried to make sense of what was happening on the pitch. A scuffle had broken out and a member of the opposing team was screaming inaudibly as his teammates tried to restrain him.

As we watched, he managed to throw them off and ran straight at Devlin, our linebacker. The player in green knocked Devlin to the ground and started pounding on him, his fists slamming against Devlin's body armour.

I turned to Ella who was next to me and opened my mouth to ask her what had started the fight but the attacking player let out an inhuman shriek which pulled my attention back to the pitch.

Having realised that his fists were having little effect against Devlin's body armour, the player had forced his hands beneath Devlin's face guard and was attempting to strangle him.

The other players were sprinting across the pitch towards the fight and I quickly lost sight of what was happening.

The sound of the referee blowing his whistle squealed out loudly again and again as he attempted to regain control.

"What the hell?" Ella muttered, mostly to herself.

The huddle of players finally moved apart and the half-crazed player was dragged away between six of his teammates. They looked like they were having trouble controlling him even though there were so many of them.

Devlin lay unmoving on the ground and the coach was crouched beside him, shouting desperately for a medic.

We were positioned near the entrance to the locker rooms and the other team approached us, still dragging the crazed player between them. We huddled together into a tight group as they passed and watched as they hauled him away.

The player caught my eye as he was dragged by and let out an inhuman scream of rage again.

A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature raced down my spine.

Chapter Four

Kaitlyn

The silence that had fallen in the wake of the attack was suddenly broken as Principal Emerson spoke over the tannoy.

"In light of this event, tonight's match has been forfeited. Please leave the grounds in an orderly fashion and make sure you're on time for class in the morning." He finished speaking abruptly and everyone burst into speech at once.