The Inside of Out by Jenn Marie Thorne

Author:Jenn Marie Thorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2016-05-03T16:39:54+00:00

The line for tickets looked like the world’s worst-dressed movie premiere. Two-thirds of the crowd was in Pirates red and black, countering the opposing team’s green-garbed fans, who’d shown up in surprising droves. You’d think this was your average, good old American, Friday night football game. But all around, flashes were popping, a barrage from the army of photographers piled up just outside the school property line. The sight of them was so surreal that I shuffled numbly into the firing line like everybody else, a sheep to my flock.

“Daisy!”

“Is that her?”

“Over here!”

“One picture, Daisy, can we get a smile?”

I turned. And smiled. And winced from the flashes, squirming in my brand-new Pirates T-shirt, size XXL. Along with advising we turn up without our parents to show what mature young adults we were, Cal had suggested we all wear Pirates gear, broadcasting school pride in the face of adversity. But when I’d scrambled to the school store after the last bell, the only size left was “tent with arm holes.”

“Daisy!”

I turned with a dazzling smile, but it was only Raina.

“Have a pin,” she said.

“Thanks,” I muttered, grabbing a rainbow-striped pin from her outstretched palm. As she started away, I clung to her, my camera-smile shellacked onto my face. “Don’t leave me.”

She glared down at my tent-shirt. “I still have to give Kyle and Sophie their rainbows.”

“Daisy, look here!”

“Daisy, can we get a quick interview before the game!”

Sensing my panic, Raina thawed enough to say “See you in there” before dashing off to find the others.

The line moved fast. The second I passed the ticket booth, I exhaled, releasing the shaking grin from my face, and made my way up the stands to where the Alliance was waiting.

“This is sort of bizarre, isn’t it?” Sophie whispered, linking arms with me as I slid down next to her. “All these reporters? And have you ever seen this many people at a Palmetto game?”

I tried to answer, but a roar rose from the oversized crowd, drowning me out. The Pirates and their archrivals, the Northville Spartans, were running onto the field. QB scanned the crowd like usual, but this time, when I stood to wave, he jumped in celebration. A bunch of people turned around in the stands to take camera phone pictures of me, sending me cringing back into the fold.

“Yes,” I finally replied. “This could not be more bizarre.”

Hey, guess what, I was wrong.

I’m not sure the Northville Spartans even knew they were our rivals. The Pirates were like a gnat they needed to swat away from their faces twice a year. It was no wonder the opposing team swaggered onto the field—our field—waving to the local sports photographers as if they were on home turf.

The Spartans continued to look cocky for the first four minutes of the game. And then QB scored a touchdown.

The Pirates fans in the stands didn’t know what to do. We’d stood as one as he approached the end zone, but we were so used to sitting while the ball got picked off that that’s what we started to do.

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