Page 205 of Playing By Ear

Robert intercepted a pass between Watson and Tait and sent the ball low and fast up the touchline. Jamie went to meet it as football boots thundered behind. Fergus shouted, “Man on!” to warn him.

Jamie ran across the oncoming Forthside player, backheeled the ball between his opponent’s legs, then picked up his cheeky wee self-pass. To the roar of the Regiment, he left the midfielder in the dust and broke away down the touchline. Before any opponents could close in, Jamie sailed the ball to Duncan, who was rushing toward the goal’s far post.

A defender headed it away, too low to be safe. Colin met the bouncing ball outside the box. He fired a shot. The goalkeeper blocked it with an outstretched leg.

Ali pounced on the rebound and belted the ball into the back of the net where it fucking belonged.

“Alllliiiiiiiii!” Jamie met his teammate as Ali knee-slid across the touchline, arms outstretched to the Rainbow Regiment. Other Warriors piled on, until Jamie could barely breathe. Relief at averting defeat—for now—flooded every inch of him.

The Regiment sang as one to the tune of “Winter Wonderland.”

There’s only one Ali Rodgers

They’re our own Artful Dodger

They’ll steal that wee ball

Put it into your goal

Welcome to the Warriors Wonderland

“Right, everyone!” Charlotte clapped her hands in a commanding rhythm from her technical area. “Let’s keep the head a wee bit longer.”

They did as she urged, staying steady and impenetrable for the remaining minute of regular time, then five minutes of stoppage time.

The whistle ending the second half blew long and loud. The Rainbow Regiment cheered, thrilled by Ali’s late equalizer and the chance of victory it bestowed. Jamie jogged back to the bench area for the short respite before the half-hour extra-time period.

As he sipped Lucozade and sucked down carbohydrate gel, he took in the raucous crowd. Perry was in the same place, looking gorgeous and unself-conscious in his Purple Sheik headwear. Jamie’s family were⁠—

Hold on.

Stuart was there now, sandwiched in a hug between Belinda and Lucy.

Well. Maybe there’d be a happy ending for everyone today.

Charlotte gathered the players for a tactical briefing, emphasizing energy conservation and defending against counterattacks. Then it was back onto the pitch for Jamie’s first ever extra-time shift.

Both teams started cautiously. Jamie could practically smell the fatigue radiating off his teammates and opponents. The Forthside starters were huffing and puffing, their stamina sapped by their earlier high-press tactics. Watson, in particular, shuffled back and forth like a lost zombie.

But the Forthside substitutes—like Grimes, who’d mentioned Perry’s camming in the tunnel—were as fresh as Jamie and Colin. They were too shrewd to be drawn into the Warriors midfielders’ game of keep-away.

With a minute to go in extra time, Grimes pounced on an offspeed pass. The crowd noise crescendoed as he surged toward the Warriors goal on a breakaway. Robert rushed to meet him while Liam cut off a potential pass to Tait. Jamie slipped in behind them to help Heather guard the goal.

Grimes dodged Robert’s tackle. Liam tried to force him outside to the right. Grimes darted back, found his space, and took his shot. Jamie dived to head it away.

Time slowed. Airborne, he prayed he wasn’t sending the ball into his own goal.

Instead, it smashed into his face. He crashed to the ground, eyes and nose on fire. Liam booted the ball away with a thump of leather. Jamie rolled to his feet and gave a triumphant roar fueled by the pain.

“Belter of a block.” Heather slapped him on the back. “Your pretty face may have saved the game.”

Grimes loomed in Jamie’s view, this time without menace. “You all right, mate? Can you see okay?”

“I’m fine.” Jamie wiped his face—surely the ball had imprinted one of its hexagons on his skin—and checked for blood. His nose would sting for a while, and he might even end up with a black eye. Worth it.

The whistle blew to end the second and final period of extra time.

Penalties it was, then. Jamie rubbed his arms, where sudden goosebumps had risen at the thought.