Fight For Her

Chapter Three

I prepare all morning for the pep rally today at school. Fridays in the fall are every student's favorite day—we look forward to them all week long. The student body crowds into the steamy gym, where the are lights bright against the orange gym floor. You can actually feel the entire gym vibrating from the way we come together with dances and chants, an electric vibe in the air. This year the team, led by none other than Jack, has another chance to go to state and win.

At Royal Eastwood, it's a thing for the girlfriend of a player to wear her boyfriend's jersey at every home game, and of course I'm going to wear Jack's loud and proud. Not every girl has the honor of wearing the number one quarterback in the state of Texas's jersey. Our school colors are orange and black; Jack's jersey has a white #1 outlined in orange against a black background that my hair practically blends in with.

In the middle of the cheerleader's famous Aggressive cheer, Jessica catches my arm and saves me from plummeting to my ultimate doom from the gym bleachers when some rowdy fellow senior accidentally shoves me from behind while trying to mimic the cheerleaders' moves. We're standing on the first row, an honor only held by seniors, so "ultimate doom" may be a little exaggerated since the first row of bleachers is less than a foot off of the ground. If anything, I would have only stumbled forward.

"Thanks, Jess. I swear these pep rallies are going to kill me one of these days."

"Students of Royal Eastwood!" Principal Meyers exclaims into the microphone, and the entire gym goes nuts. "Here is your 2018 Royal Eastwood Warriors football team! Led by none other than three-time state champion quarterback and team captain Jack Dallas!"

The screams grow somehow louder than they were five seconds ago.

Jack runs out, and my throat is already hoarse from shouting. He leads the whole football team into the center of the gym. He's a natural-born leader, and the team has no issue letting him carry the banner and be in the limelight. They look up to him in the same way most of this town does: as a leader, a hero, and the way to get our town known across the country for being home to the next greatest quarterback of all time.

The bleachers shake from the excitement that radiates off of the students; my community lives for football. Friday nights are the highlight of almost everyone's week. I mean, stores literally close for these games. Jack winks in my direction, mouthing an I love you to me before he addresses the rest of the school.

"Are y'all ready for tonight?" he shouts into the mic, spinning around to look at every single section in the gym. And then louder again, "I can't hear you! I said, are y'all ready for tonight?!"

The band echoes the excitement in the room, and I cover my ears as every instrument blares out random notes to add to the cacophony.

"That's what I like to hear!"

He's wearing his other jersey with jeans and boots, looking undeniably sexy in such a simple outfit. The jeans hug him comfortably in all spots, and his jersey reveals the muscles in his arms. The orange and black contrast his blue eyes, and I nearly melt in my shoes every time he catches my gaze.

"We play our rivals tonight," he says. "They've been saying how they're going to break our undefeated streak, two seasons worth of games. Now, how does that make y'all feel?" The crowd erupts into a chorus of boos.

"I don't like it either! Which is why we aren't going to let them put a single point up on that board!" Once again the crowd in the gym goes ballistic.

It's a big promise to say they aren't going to score at all on us, but everyone has so much faith in Jack's abilities, as well as those of the rest of the team, that he has us all believing him.