Chapter 4: David

When I first walked into the school on the night of the game, I came to the realization that I had no idea which gym the game was in. In fact, I went into the wrong gym and spent a good half an hour wondering why the game wasn’t starting. It was about five minutes before the game now, and I decided to go check out the other gym to see if anything was going on there. Then, and only then, did I realize that I had walked into the wrong gym. Luckily there was still some time left before the game, so I found my seat, sat down, and started watching.

As I looked around, I realized that I was surrounded by a bunch of gigantic, six-foot-eight seniors, each with about a pound of facial hair. Apparently, they were Arman’s friends.

One of the seniors asked Arman, “What’s he doing here?”

Arman replied, “I’m converting this freshman.”

Um, no, you weren’t Arman. This was a class project, and had I thought about the consequences earlier, I wouldn’t have been there. I looked around, and I realized that the giant seniors were everywhere. I think my heart sunk about six inches in my chest when I saw all of the power-hungry seniors that were literally around every turn. I thought about making a run for it, but I realized that I couldn’t. At that point, I had no choice but to man up, stand on my tippy toes, and try to figure out what was going on during this game.

I have to say, it wasn’t all bad. The best part was probably the cheerleaders, but that’s about all I liked about the game. Other than that, it was all pretty boring. And seriously, why do you have to stand up the whole time? That can get pretty hard for a lazy guy like me. I also didn’t appreciate all the angry seniors yelling directly into my ear when they got mad about something that was going on during the game. Seriously, people! If you’re upset about the way the game is being played, why are you yelling at me? Is it that hard to direct your anger at the players, and not at the tiny freshman right next you?

Another thing I wasn’t exactly a big fan of was that Arman didn’t even bother to explain any of the social rules of sports games, such as standing on the seats, freshmen not sitting in the front row by themselves, etc. You know, the stuff that can get you beaten up. All I can say is, thank goodness that I was with a protective pack of seniors.

I have to be honest, the game was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I didn’t like it, that’s for sure, but it was not as miserable of an experience as I thought it was going to be.