Think You Can Beat Me?

Choosing

 I chose the team.

That means that I'm going to be putting on my jersey for the first time since the crash. 

Which also means that the world is going to know that I'm playing soccer again.

Which basically means that the media is going to blow up. 

Maybe to people who haven't ever been under the spotlight, media attention is something everybody wants. Everybody wants to be on TV, everybody wants to be recognised. But, once you have been on TV for multiple times, and people start recognising you wherever you go..... It gets tiring. You get sick of hiding when you're just doing things normal people would do. You feel pressured, as if any thing you say or do is going to be judged by thousands of people. That's what our school had to go through. Ever since we started beating soccer competitions, we got fame. Everybody would always want to say, "Oh ya, by the way, I'm from Jersey High. Yup, I go to the same school as the Jersey Tigers." Or, "Oh ya, I'm moving to Jersey High next week." Even the people that have the weirdest connection, would feel pride in this school. "Oh, my school is next to Jersey High." "I used to go to Jersey High, but then I moved." "My friend's cousin's sister goes to Jersey High." 

What's even worse is people in our class sometimes might say, "Oh ya, I'm in the class with *insert name of any of our teammates*." "Oh ya, I talked to the Tigers today.""Hey do you want to see a picture of them in class?"

It really gets tiring.

So then we tried to make it stop. We stopped having public practices, and only went out in public not wearing any school merch. On the other hand, I destroyed all of our attempts in stopping media by disappearing. Nobody knows why, but they notice. "Why isn't Tobin on the field?" "Where is Tobin?" "When is Heath going in?" 

So now, I'm essentially just going to blow up the media by going back on the field. First of all, we are going to be a huge blowout, since we would either be first or second in this league. If we win, fame comes with it. If we lose , we are going to be the spotlight since we haven't lost since 4 years ago when we started this program in our school. Second of all, everyone would be seeing for the first time me playing on the field in this season. They would see their actual captain finally going on the field for the first time this season on the last game. 

This was it.

As ironic as it sounds, that's correct. I will finally be going on the field, in the last match of the season.

As I'm contemplating on my decisions and calculating the pros and cons, I hear a cry. I whip my head around to the sound of it and my heart shatters completely. It was Megan. The trainers are putting her into a stretcher to bring her out out of the field. I watch as she takes out her frustration on her jersey as she clenches her jaw from the pain. Then suddenly, she waves me over. Still knowing that I am the captain, I walk over there. 

"Meg, How is it?"

"IT HURTS! Tobin, really does." Megan opens her eyes, and I see some tears about to leak out.

"What can I do for you?"

"You gotta win, tobs. The team needs you. The school needs you."

I was shocked. Megan was always one of the crazy ones and the person in our team that couldn't ever keep secrets in. Once she finds out about something, the whole team would know. 

"C'mon tobs. She'll want you to do this. Plus, we got a season to win."

I just nodded. 

Thousands of thoughts went through my head as I watch my team. They're all "discreetly" looking over trying to read what I will say. 

Even though I've put on a red baseball cap and a blue shirt with some sweatpants, people will start being suspicious. I mean, the whole Jersey Tigers team is looking at that one person who isn't wearing coaching clothes talking to Megan........

Seems pretty unrealistic to me.

I can hear the discreet voice of the commentator talk about this stranger's appearance, and I knew that I had to quickly do something about it.

I walked back to the team. They all looked at me, and was eerily silent as they waited for my call. Even with thousands of fans shouting, the tension in this group huddle was still so thick. 

I look towards Carli and held my hand out.

Her tense face relaxed as her lips tugged into a smile.

"Good to have you back, Cap."

The sound of the captain's arm band slapping into my hand makes a frenzy of shivers run down my back.