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“Mrs. Albrecht said she was happy you survived too. It was out of earshot of anyone, and especially, it seemed, her husband.” Her fingers turned white on the steering wheel. “That might’ve bothered me most of all.”
I supposed Mom had to say her piece. I couldn’t fault her for that, could I?
12
HENRY
It was halftime,and we were down by a touchdown because of a few novice missteps by the defensive line that resulted in penalties against us. Coach’s frustration rang through in the locker room. “We’re better than this, and our record proves it!”
He was right. We’d only lost one game this season, last week against the Bulldogs on their turf, but tonight we had home-field advantage and the entire stadium in our corner.
After Coach was finished fuming, he looked to me, and as the team captain, I stood and faced my teammates with a lump in my throat. It was my job to keep them centered and positive, and some days the effort weighed heavily on me. Still, I dug deep for the extra confidence. If I didn’t, we might fuck it all up.
“I only have one thing to say to you, Sentinels:all hands in!” I yelled, and my teammates immediately responded by forming a circle and stacking their hands on top of mine. The remaining senior players on the team were even more animated because they wanted to go out on top this season, maybe even win a championship. But that was getting a little ahead of ourselves; we’d barely squeaked out a wild card spot last season. Still, some bravado was good in this situation. “Let’s show them who we are and kick some ass.”
There were cheers and whistles as we broke apart and made our way back on the field to a noisy and crowded stadium.
I took some snaps on the sideline as we waited on the refs to give the signal to start the second half. Quickly glancing up at the stands, I easily spotted my parents in the middle of the crowd, where they normally sat. They hadn’t missed a home game yet. I should’ve been more grateful, but the pressure dead center in my chest that I always felt in their presence nearly made my knees buckle. And it still wasn’t as bad as the burden Bones felt from his family to live up to his all-star older brother. He rarely spoke of it, or just laughed it off, but it was true what I’d told Lark about other parents’ expectations being worse.
My eyes were immediately drawn to a lone figure cautiously walking up the steps, carrying two drinks and wearing a black jacket, jeans, and a beanie. Holy shit, Lark was here. He scanned the rows before scooting into one near the top and sitting down beside a guy and a girl.
I blinked several times, wondering if I was dreaming. But when he lifted a hand and waved to Emil, who was sitting one section over with the band, I knew it was real.
Just as Lark’s eyes scanned the field and homed in on me—at least I thought they did—a football smacked me in the shoulder.
“What the hell, dude?” A-Train said.
“Sorry. A little heads-up, please.”
But even as I picked up the football to toss back to him, my gaze slid back to Lark. He and his two friends laughed about something and nudged shoulders. It felt like a burning-hot brand in my chest.
“Head in the game, Sentinels,” Coach yelled, clapping for attention.
He might not have been talking to me, but I needed to snap the hell out of it, or we’d be in a world of hurt.
I shut my eyes, breathed out, and focused.You can do this.
By the time I led the offense onto the field, I was determined. My first pass was rough, the tight end barely catching it off his fingertips. But I couldn’t let it get to me. I pushed aside the panic like I’d been able to do so many times before on the field and stayed focused on my teammates and the game.
Thankfully, I was able to get in the right mindset by the second down, which was a running play, and tuned out the crowd. I only focused on the coach and the team for the rest of the second half.
The effort paid off because by the end of the third quarter I was able to lead the offense down the field to the nineteen-yard line and in the red zone, where we always did well. On the third down, I threw a perfect spiral to Flash in the end zone, and when he caught it and stayed in bounds, the crowd went wild.
We were able to hold them to a tie game until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, where I ran the ball into the end zone myself from the five-yard line because of the tight coverage and the only opportunity I saw to squeak by a defensive end. Christ, it’d been a nail-biter for us too.
After my teammates and I celebrated with high-fives and bear hugs, I finally allowed myself to glance at the stands as I headed to the sideline. My parents were up on their feet cheering, and several rows behind them, Lark and his friends were too. He looked almost shell-shocked, like he didn’t know what to make of any of it, but my stomach did this strange twisty thing just seeing him smile.
“Get your ass out there and kick that extra point,” I said to Spencer.
“Will do, Cap,” he replied with a little salute, then went out there and did just that to secure our lead.
I sank down on the bench to catch my breath and drink the water handed to me. Spencer did the same once our teammates rallied around us.
“Nice job,” I said, nudging his shoulder.
“Thanks.” I could see the relief in his eyes, but he rarely missed this season. “You good?”
“I am now that we scored. Was worried there for a bit,” I replied.
