You Get Me :)

Chapter 21

Clay had left for the field with his dad, leaving me alone in his room. I slipped a new pair of sweatpants on along with my shoes, and headed down the stairs. Clay's mom had been sitting in the living room with Matt and Henry, who were watching a show.

"Aw isn't that so cute." She said to me, standing up with her arms out. She hugged me and then pulled away, leaving her hands on my shoulders. "He's going to be so happy that you wore it."

I sat down on the couch beside Matt, who also complimented the jersey. I sat and watched the show on the tv with them until it was time to leave.

"Ok boys it's time to go. Is everyone bundled up? It's going to be chilly." Clay's mom said as she slipped on a black coat over her shirt.

Henry and Matt nodded as they put on their beanies and coats, walking into the garage. I realized how under dressed I was considering the temperature outside. Clay's mom also seemed to notice. She grabbed a bin full of hats and pulled out a blue and white beanie with our schools name on it. She held out her hand for me to grab it.

"Here honey, this is Clay's hat, you're going to be cold without it."

I pulled it down on my head and walked out to the car, opening the front door and hopping in. We drove to the high school, arriving in less than 10 minutes, to see the football field lit up from the large lights shining down onto it. Our team was warming up, throwing footballs back and forth. We parked the car and walked to the bleachers to find spots. Clay's dad stood against the fence separating the spectators from the field so he could yell easier and have Clay hear him. I decided I would stand with him so Clay would be able to see me easier.

"Hey buddy, love the jersey." Clays dad said to me as I walked up next to him. He patted my shoulder and leaned on his forearms over the fence.

The other team then walked onto the field, starting to warm up. Various rap songs played over the loudspeaker while both teams went through plays and warmed up. I didn't know too much about football but Clay had taught me some things over the past 2 years. I felt my phone buzz and I pulled it out to check the notification.

Nicky:
Yo are you here? I don't want to sit on the bleachers with my siblings they're annoying.

Me:
Yea i'm standing against the fence with Clay's dad, I have the blue and white hat on.

After about two minutes, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned around to see Nick.

"Hey Nick." I said to him, giving him a fist bump." Clay's dad turned around looking excited.

"Nicky! I haven't seen you in a while!" He stuck out his hand for a handshake, Nick grabbing it and shaking. He stood next to me and leaned over the fence.

"Ready to watch your man play?" Nick asked, smirking at me.

"Yea, although i'll probably be confused the whole game." I laughed, my breath able to be seen due to the cold air.

"I'll help you understand throughout the game don't worry Georgie."

Just then, the buzzer on the scoreboard went off, meaning warm ups had been over. The ref blew his whistle and called captains over. I then saw Clay run over with no helmet on, his dirty blonde hair being held back by his blue headband. He had eye black on, and a towel hung from the back of his pants. Words could not describe how attractive it was to watch him as he stood with the other captains and talked to the referee.

"Big game tonight boys. This team is their rival." Clay's dad said to me and Nick as the game time got closer.

Clay then ran over to the bench, grabbing his helmet to put on. He didn't seem to notice us standing along the fence. He put his pink mouth guard in and pulled the white helmet slightly down over his hair, but not all the way. His team huddled up and did their chant, before running onto the field. Clay put his white football gloves on and slid his helmet down all the way. The referees blew their whistles, making the other team run at the ball and kick it.

One of our players caught the ball and started to run up the field, making it a decent distance from where he had started. The players lined up, Clay positioning himself behind them, with his hands out.

"Wait, Clay is the quarterback?" I said out loud, surprised.

"Yea, he has been a quarterback since he was eight." Clay's dad said quickly before returning his focus to Clay, who was looking at his wrist.

"What's he doing?" I whispered to Nick, who was also focused on the game.

"He's just looking at the different plays. He has this little cheat sheet kind of thing."

I nodded and returned my gaze to Clay, who was now yelling random words out to his players, which I had no clue what they meant. All of a sudden the players started to scramble every which way, making it hard to keep track of where Clay had been. He was bouncing on his toes with the ball in his right hand, ready to throw. He released the ball, which landed in the hands of one of our players, who ran down the field, making it about 30 yards before getting taken down.

"Good play Clay!" I heard being yelled from all over the stands, "good run Enzo keep it up!" Clays dad was clapping loudly next to me, but he held a serious face as the play went on.
                            ————————
It was now the third quarter, both teams returning onto the field from their halftime talk. During halftime, Clay looked very serious as he listened to his coaches and talked to the other players. Clay took the field behind his line of players again. The score had been tied, with both teams having scored nothing. The whistle blew, and Clay started to yell out random words again. Clay took the ball into his hands, looking for a good opportunity. He threw the ball into the air, making it safely into the hands of our player, who ran until he got to the 20 yard line before being taken down.

He got up jumping as if he was excited. The whole bench had been jumping as well, and the stands went absolutely crazy. I didn't understand why they had been celebrating considering they didn't even score a touchdown, but I went along with the clapping since Nick had been.

Our team huddled up briefly before making a line again with Clay behind them. Clay yelled out words before taking the ball into his hands again. Instead of throwing forwards, he quickly snapped the ball to his left side, which ended up in our players hands again. Clay then sprinted forward into the end zone, before receiving an overhead throw from the player with the ball. Clay's dad went crazy as he grabbed the ball with one hand above his head and brought it down into a safer grasp.

Before his team rushed over to him, Clay and I locked eyes for a second. I could see him smiling with his pink mouth guard flashing. I jumped up and down as the crowd celebrated. As Clay and I stared at each other, he didn't seem to realize the player from the other team rushing quickly at him.

I tried to warn him by pointing, but it was too late. The player dropped his shoulder into Clay, sending him to the ground. The crowd went silent, and the only thing to be heard was Clay's head hitting the ground as his helmet landed on the field 5 yards away from him.