Morning came quickly and after having breakfast and his father’s pep talk, that wasn’t really to make him feel better but actually to make him more competitive, it was time for his first game of the tournament.

It took less than an hour and Justin walked away being the winner of the game. His father stood proudly and Justin forced a smile on his face as he joined his father. Randy was a big man, some would call him intimidating. This was mostly due to his tall frame, nearly 6”2, and his broad shoulders. Justin wasn’t afraid of his father, not physically that was. Randy had piercing brown eyes that held a tough glare whenever Justin was bowling. He had brown hair and a beard. People could never tell they were father and son. Justin took after his mother with his baby blue eyes and tight curls. He had a softness about him that his father didn’t have. His father was a real athlete, whenever Justin was playing his father had a menacing look in his eyes that football players had before they attacked. It scared people and whenever Justin was bowling it scared him too. It was enough to make him want to win more than anything in the world.

“Good game, son.” Randy praised. “You did well.”

“Thanks dad.” Justin replied, actually thinking his father was proud of him. But then reality crashed down on him.

“There were some errors but we’ll go over those when we have lunch. There is always something you can do better but it’s more important how you learn from your mistakes so you won’t make them again. This time, you did good.”

Justin nodded as he was being lead away to the dining area although it was never good enough.

The second game went pretty much the same. He won and quite easily too. His father praised him and they talked about the things that went wrong. Or well his father talked, he was just supposed to listen and nod he understood before he promised he’d do better next time.

“What time is it?” Justin wondered as he watched the other games going on around him.

“Um, almost three.” His father answered.

Justin nodded. “I’m gonna go get something to drink.”

“I’ll get it, I could use something myself, what do you want?”

“Soda is fine.” Justin answered.

Randy nodded then disappeared in the direction of the bar. Justin turned towards the bowling lanes, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched silently, enjoying a moment of silence although there were a lot of people around him. He couldn’t help but experience it as a quiet moment.

Josh eyed the boy with the golden curls from a distance. He was finally alone. A man had been at his side practically 24/7, or at least at all the times he’d seen him today. The man looked kind of hard, strict and scary and Josh hadn’t approached the teenager but now it seemed safe. He should take this opportunity and he did. He walked closer till he stood by his side.

“Hey you okay?” Josh wondered. Justin turned to him with a condescending frown. A bit of surprise was carefully hidden in eyes that were still the bluest of blue.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” his tone was full of attitude. Josh was taken aback. Justin was acting as if they’d never met.

“I saw you…”

“You saw. Nothing.” Justin cut him off, the words pressed out between gritted teeth. Josh realized then that Justin wanted to pretend they’d never met. He might be embarrassed because Josh had seen him cry but he didn’t have to be.

“But…” Josh started to tell him but Justin fixed him with such a warning look that Josh held up his hands in defense.

“Fine,” he said, knowing when to back off and leave him be.

He left in disappointment, he’d thought Justin was different, but what did he really know about him? He knew he didn’t know him, at all but still he’d seemed different. He’d seemed kind and friendly. Guess he’d been wrong.

“Who was that?” his father demanded suspiciously as he came back with the drinks, handing one to Justin as he fired his question, glaring at the young boy that had approached his son while he’d been away. He’d caught him walking away from his son, they’d seemed to be talking.

Justin shrugged. “Just someone in the competition.”

It was no big deal, it wasn’t as if they were comparing strategies or something but his father seemed to think they’d been.

“Be careful.”

“Yes dad.” Justin mumbled in agreement, what the hell did he think? And the question was dropped. It was time to focus on the next game, not on some strange boy Justin really had nothing to fear from. Randy knew his son was good and that’s why he was going to win.

The day ended with dinner and Justin had the perfect score, three out of three. He wasn’t really all that happy though. Of course he was happy he’d won and his father had been pleased. It wasn’t possible for him not to win so in that aspect he was happy but to say he’d enjoyed himself today would be a lie.

His father had stood behind him practically the whole day. The spectators had to keep a slight distance from the players and that had been practically the only time his father had been more than thirty feet away from him. The few moments he’d been talking to Josh had been the only time he’d spend talking to someone other than his father. Although it had been weird and awkward and he’d reacted too strongly it had still been the only time he’d spend actually speaking to someone else in the competition.

For the rest of the day he’d listened to his father’s advice all day, had listened to how he could do better in his next game and had listened how he was certain his boy was going to win. Justin sighed softly as he turned onto his right side, facing away from his father.

The first day of the bowling competition was over, only twelve more to go…