InsaneJournal

WHO: Blossom & Tyler Lockwood
WHERE: kids football field
WHEN: {backdated} last monthish
WHAT: Blossom is getting first hand football knowledge. From kids who don't know how to play football.
WARNINGS: G
STATUS: Complete

“Go left!” Tyler was yelling at his quarterback. “No, left!” But the kid didn’t seem to be listening, and he just sighed, turning away from the field for a moment. They obviously weren’t going to listen to him while the game was in session. Maybe he should just watch so he could give them pointers for after the game.

It was then that he noticed the girl who was sitting alone, apparently not cheering for any of the kids, and… was she taking notes? He frowned a little, and made his way over to where she was sitting. “Watching your little brother?” he asked.

Buttercup had been a little adamant that Blossom needed to get a life, Blossom did not believe that was true and decided to just go for the advice her sister gave; watch other people learning the game too. And that meant kids.

It was a nice day, and Blossom sort of fit in with some of the others there, in shorts and a t-shirt for the heat, hair in pigtails by the side of her head, hat on to shield her. The only thing that made her really stand out was the notebook, while Blossom was trying to keep up with what numbers were what positions and where they were all meant to go.

It felt like a foolish endeavour, since the kids didn’t seem to know much better than Blossom what was going on. “Um,” when someone actually asked her if she was there for her brother, Blossom wasn’t sure how to answer that, “would you believe I’m just a supporter of kids in general?” That sounded weird, back track, “I um, I’m actually just trying to learn about football, on the whole.”

Tyler’s lips quirked upwards. “Not sure you’re going to get too much information from these kids,” Tyler said, glancing back at the game. It was a bit of a confusing jumble even for him, probably because no one seemed to be doing what they were supposed to. “Can I see what you’ve got so far?” he asked.

“I realised that a little while ago, yeah.” And sure, they were kids, they were probably just out to have some fun, but she thought the football stuff started really young. “But yeah, sure,” so far she’d written all of the positions, she knew that she had to remember those and what they were meant to do. She had the fullback, because that was Tim’s position and she made a point to remember it now, and the quarterback, obviously. There were a few like running back and linebacker that just had question marks beside them too.

She’d worked out the point system at least, and that was doodled down the bottom of the page in a little box, all colour coordinated too. Because Blossom was an overachiever.

Tyler looked at it, smiling a little at how organized it all was. It reminded him of borrowing Caroline’s notes when they’d been in high school, right down to the colour coordination. “You know a fullback, I take it?” he asked. Generally, Tyler had found that people who didn’t know football knew linebackers and wide receivers before they’d even heard of fullbacks. Then again, he could have been wrong. Tyler generally didn’t spend a lot of time with people who didn’t know football.

“Yeah,” that much wasn’t exactly hard to figure out, and she’d worked out that while most positions on the field were important in their own ways, there were a few slightly more important, or at least more in the spotlight with things. “And we have a little wager going, so I’m trying to learn all the positions and what they do and the basics.”

The basics might be the only thing that Blossom fully grasped. “But I’m not sure I’m going to get that from watching this game.” Was that kid even playing on the right team?

“Well, I’m always up for helping people win a healthy wager,” Tyler said with a wink, and he glanced back at the game when Blossom mentioned it.

He groaned loudly. “Ricky!” he called, and then repeated it again, louder. “You’re running the wrong way. The wrong way,” he said, complete with an arm wave in the direction that the kid was supposed to be running. “I’ve got to take care of this,” Tyler said, already heading back toward the field. “Come find me after the game?”

Blossom just gave a grin as he went back to coaching the kids who probably didn’t appreciate or understand the coaching, but Blossom tried to follow things as best she could. Waiting until the end of the game when all the kids were getting picked up, Blossom made her way down the stands to sit at the front, watching the last of the stragglers head off with parents.

She took a sip from her juice, checking her notes again, she figured that she was just missing a few things, so it wasn’t like she’d keep the coach behind all that much.

Tyler finished seeing the last of the kids off with their parents, and then turned to Blossom, smiling at her when he saw her. “So, you stuck around after all, huh? What did you think? Learn anything?”

“I guess I did?” She wasn’t sure if she would call it learning anything, so much as unlearning something? She knew what not to listen to at least. “I suppose mostly that the kids don’t know how to play yet.” Although it looked like they had a lot of fun, and that was important.

“But it was a good time to see everyone playing and enjoying themselves.”

“They do have fun,” Tyler agreed. “They pick up the rules eventually,” he added. “Toward the end of the season, I’m told that they start to actually start to resemble an actual football game. This is my first year doing this though, so I couldn’t say for sure.” He was sure the football he had played as a kid had been a lot more structured. Then again, memories from childhood tended to be notoriously unreliable.

Ultimately if the kids were enjoying themselves, that was probably the only thing that mattered. “They just have to give it time to pick it up.” The energy level was there, so eventually they had to concentrate. “I couldn’t really say anyone should know straight away, it’s not like I have a clue.” Which was why she was there in the first place, “But if kids can learn, I’m sure I can manage too.”

“I’m sure that, at the very least, you’re smarter than Ricky,” Tyler said, giving her a toothy grin. “Alright, go ahead. Hit me with any questions you might have. We’ll see if we can’t make you a football expert by the time we’re done.”