Don't Go Through Life Without Field Goals

The First Game

I was, already, in my outfit I was going to wear and waiting at the front door, deciding if I was going to walk or jog to the game. Coach sent everyone an E-mail saying that we need to wear dark blue shirts and gray shorts so, I did. And I managed to order some new Nike shoes for today.

I peeked around the corner of a wall and saw the kitchen clock. It was 12:57. I was going to be late. Great.

"Need a ride?" Matt came into veiw, twirling his keys around on one finger, a cocky smile on his face. I wish I could just punch it off.

"Not from you." I folded my arms.

"Look, Connie, mom and dad are at work and we both know that, if you walk or run to the field, you'll be tierd. I'm, obviously, the only choice you have." I groaned because I knew he was right. I refused to say it outloud, but he was my only option. Perfict.

"Fine. C'mon, we'll be late!" I yelled, dashing out of the house. I sat in the front of his green and black Camaro and waited for him to crank up the car.

"Ready?" He smirked.

"Shut up and drive." I snapped, looking out of my window. He just chuckled and pulled out of the drive way. The rest of the drive was silent, thank gosh, and we were there in five minutes. I jumped out of the car, ran down the hill, and jumped the fence. Luckily, no one had started yet so I guessed I wasn't too late.

I ran up to the coach and he turned around to face me.

"Hey, Connie. Glad you could make it." He said. "You're on starting defense as a corner." I nodded.

"Who's the other corner?" I asked.

"Austin." He walked off and started talking to Rikki, who, I guessed, was going to be throwing today. Thank goodness!

"Okay, captins are Connie, Austin, and Tyler." Coach called as a reff blew their whistle. Me, Austin, and Tyler went to the forty yard line and met up with two boys and one girl from the other team and my heart stopped when I saw Lora and the flirty boy from yesterday. The boy grinned at me.

"Okay, shake hands." One of the reffs ordered. I shook Lora's then the other boys then the flirty one's.

"I'm Chase, by the way." He whinked. I heard a noise come out of Austin's throat that sounded scary.

"Connie." I mumbled. After we shook hands, the reff held up a coin.

"Heads or tails, blue?" He asked Tyler. Now I knew why coach made us wear blue, because the other team was wearing orange and we needed to be in different colors. That makes sense.

"Tails." Tyler answered. The reff flipped the coin and caught it in his open palm.

"Heads!" He exclaimed. We lined up for defense and I saw Matt sitting in the crowd. Great. So glad he wanted to stay. Then, the other team lined up five yards away from us and I took one final glance at Austin, who was looking at me, before the horn blew, begining the game.

~One hour later~

We had a fourty-two seconds left in the game and we were tied, twenty-four to twenty-four. I was on defense, right now, and I saw Chase line up in front of me.

"Watch him, Connie!" I heard Sam yell from a few yards behind me. "He's doing a fly!" I nodded, not looking back, as their quarterback called hike. I backed up as Chase ran past me and I turned my body to catch up. When the ball flew to where me and Chase ran, I jumped up and tipped the ball off the tips of my fingers. I didn't notice, but Chase had jumped, also, and, while I fell on my side, he kicked my ankle and a sharp pain went through my body. I saw Sam pull the boys flag, the one that caught the ball, and I sighed. At least they got down.

"Connie? I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Chase asked, panic filling his green eyes. I couldn't make a sound. The pain was so strong, I didn't know if I could stand. After a while, the reff blew his whistle and the coach, along with the rest of the team that was on the field, came to my side.

"Connie, where does is hurt?" The coach asked. I moved my fingers, gently, over my ankle and felt a knot.

"Connie? Can you hear me?" Matt? What was Matt doing on the field? I didn't even hear him come. But, nevertheless, he was sitting beside the coach and I nodded. He sighed and ran the tips of his fingers over the knot in my ankle.

I looked above Matt to see Austin standing there, eyes wide with anger mixed with pain and he, slowly, turned to face Chase.

"What did you do?" He demanded, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"Look, man, I didn't mean to!" Chase held up his hands.

"The heck you didn't!" Austin yelled, getting in his face.

"I never ment to hurt her!" Chase yelled back, lowering his arms.

"You just ment to put her in her place, is that it?" Austin shouted.

"No! Never!"

"Obviously, you did!"

"Obviously, I didn't! If anything, she pulled me back so I would kick her!" What a lie! That stupid Chase was a lier! I didn't pull him back! He leaned back!

That did it, Austin tackled him to the ground and started punching his face. The reff blew his whistle and threw a yellow flag across the field.

"Un-sportsmanlike conduct!" The reff shouted. The coach stood and pulled Austin off of Chase and I saw blood on his knuckles.

"Austin, go get on the line!" Coach shouted. He did as he was told and the coach and Matt lifted me up and dragged me to the side-lines. So I sat there. In the grass, looking at my swelling ankle then, I felt someone staring at me, so I looked up to see Austin. He was still one the line, but my place was taken by Rikki.

With one final second of silent, or so it seemed like for me, Ausitn turned his head as the quarterback called hike. The ball went flying Austin's way and he caught it.

"Go, Austin! Go!" I yelled, bouncing on the grass. He started jukeing the other players and scored the touchdown. I screamed, a smile on my face, when I saw Chase. His nose was bleeding and he was looking at me. I glared at him as the horn buzzed and the game was over.