The Humdrum Life of a Hero

Chapter 14

I've managed to lose the boys in the crowd, but they'll wander back eventually. And by eventually, I mean they'll come back when they're tired and/or ready to go home, because God knows they wouldn't voluntarily come back unless they had a reason to.

Bridgette left me too when our fan section rushed the field after the winning play, most likely to go dole out the bet money she has been taking for a few weeks and to go find that head cheerleader of hers.

The winning play involved Tony throwing the ball downfield to Marcus who was just feet from the endzone when he jumped, caught it, and landed right smack-dab on his side within the endzone. Total chaos ensued after Marcus landed, sealing our win by four points, and the clock ran out of seconds.

Up until that last throw, our fate was totally up in the air.

The entire game had been back and forth between an all-boys prep school who have probably been training for this their entire lives. At halftime we were beginning to get our asses handed to us, but they came out and cut the deficit significantly, reminding those pampered tools that we were still here. With the scores rising, the atmosphere became more and more ridden with anxiety. But finally, our fears were quelled by the Tony-Marcus duo that has consistently done their job.

To say they went out with a bang would be an understatement. They went out with a boom, a clap, and then a bang.

I scan the field, finding only vague faces whose names I have forgotten. The field is a sea of maroon and gray clad fans and football players, so trying to search for a single person is definitely a challenge. But as if he sensed my struggle, Jay appears in front of me practically out of nowhere.

"Well done, Keely," I congratulate him. Although he didn't have the quite the game Tony and Marcus had, he did make an impact by scoring a touchdown late in the third quarter to tie it up, reigniting the team's dimming ember of a win.

"If any single person deserves credit, it's definitely not me," he laughs, "Marcus and Tony did most of the work. If anything, I was just a morale boost."

"So, you're saying you were a cheerleader?" I sarcastically ask, a mischievious grin tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"If that's what my touchdown did, then yes," Jay says proudly. "Sarah, you may not believe this, but I look fabulous in those maroon, short skirts, and, not to mention, I know my way around a set of pom-poms."

"Oh, Keely..." I sigh. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Go on a date with me on Friday?" His eyes sparkle like when the sun shines on ocean waves, making them hard to look away from because it's such a beautiful sight.

"We'll see," I say but I already asked Bridgette at halftime, and she said she would be glad to. "Any thoughts on where you'll be attempting to get to first base with me?

His already rosy cheeks turn a little darker with my question. "I...I hadn't intended on...what is first base again-"

I cut him off by laying a hand on his shoulder. "I was kidding."

The deep shade of pink has engulfed his entire face and neck, and it has now turned to a fiery shade of red. "Oh."

"But I'm definitely not opposed to, uh, first base." I look up at Jay, and, for a moment, it's just him and I standing on the 40 yard line in a stadium the size of Rhode Island. The shouts and talking around us become muffled, and we focus in on each other like a camera lens, but unlike the camera lens that waits for the perfect moment to take the shot, ours is already here.

My hand drops from his shoulder and down to his hand. His slender fingers wrap around my hand, and my breath hitches.

This is it, I think, This is the moment every thirteen year old kid has already had.