change ▸ m. yg

chapter one

high school girls tackle football. championship game.  richond tigers vs flackow pheonix.

it's the fourth down, 1:17 left in the game, 40 yards to their end-zone. i glance up to the scoreboard, around to the jam-packed bleachers, right back to my gatorade water bottle that i'm using as a stress relief. butterflies are taking over my stomach, and somehow my shoulder pads feel so much heavier than usual. 

i rub my clammy hands together and look up to my coach as he calls my name.

"mendez, bronck, you're up", "take off kim and yoon"

inhaling deeply, i grab my helmet, glance over at tara and wait for the ref's permission for a switch in the lines.

tara, and i are known around a bit. well, so i've heard.  i mean, football's sort of our whole life. we've known each other for our whole lives. our dads were best friends from university football, they never left each other's side. i guess tara and i are the same. we know each others strengths and weakness all around, in sports and outside of it.  we transferred to korea with a few other canadians, it was like a switch. 20 of our grade 12's for theirs.

"you ready loser?" i hear tara say to me with a cocky smile. she knows she's the fastest out there, and so does everyone else.

i take a short, shaky breath and reply,

"even if i'm not, there's not turning back now".

i see her glance to the side out of the corners of my eyes and smirks at me. i smirk back, and slide my helmet on. the ref blows his whistle, points to our post and does a circular motion with his hands indicating for our two players to switch. tara and i jog onto the field, yelling the names of our players we're taking off. i exchange a small high-five with kim yoori, the quarterback i'm taking off. 

"don't mess this up," she says sternly, patting my back.

"gotcha" i reply with a slight grin.

the ref blows his whistle once again, signaling our team to huddle. "bring it in tigers!" i shout. the girl's jog in, anticipating the next, and the final move of the game. the tension in the stadium is so thick, you could cut snip it in half. 

"ok ladies, we barely have enough time to do any type of fancy bullshit, so we're going to go straight forward",

i could see a few nods, monotone faces everywhere. 

"we just need to get at least the 10 yards, then go wild after that", "therefore, ming, we're going to do a handoff".

i look around, seeing the layer of sweat on everyone's faces. 

"everyone else, blue 42." they all nod with my response to their thoughts.

"ok, BREAK" i shout, clapping my hands once.

everyone lines up in their positions, mirroring the opposing team. i look through my hooded eyes to the center. i exhale slightly, everyone's quite waiting for our move. 

"down.."

i lick my lips quickly,

"set..",