"Look at all these guys who think they have a chance." Jack laughed as Rick Greene and one of his buddies from the Science Appreciation Society hurried by.
I wasn't happy to see Kendall Black and Wade Clemson's girlfriend hanging around Coach Hedge's office. I'd been praying that list would be up by the time I got here, but luck was definitely not on my side. I hoped that wasn't a sign that bad things were to come.
"I guess Hedge had more trouble with deicisions then he expected," Jack said. "We might as well wait."
"Of course." I couldn't even think about leaving until I had seen that list.
As I stood leaning against the wall, heart racing, feet tapping, palms sweating, Jonathan Wright and Matt Taylor, two guys who had made the team last year, walked up to me.
Matt had dated Olivia for a long time and they had been through everything you would expect a highschool couple to go through. They were the ideal image of highschool sweethearts. When their relationship ended about a year ago, neither of them had revealed what went wrong. To this day, Jack and I still had no real clue as to why Matt and Olivia hadn't made it.
Matt, however, was looking more gorgeous than I had ever remembered and I had to tear my eyes away from his chiseled calves and try and focus on his bright blue eyes instead.
"Maggie, hey," Jonathan said. I forced myself to look at him instead of Scott. "We just wanted to wish you luck before the list goes up. You played great yesterday."
I smiled up at him, happy to finally have some support. I knew I had played exceptionally well at tryouts, but having someone who had actual experience playing for Pine Creek compliment me made it feel true.
"Thanks," I said. "I really appreciate that." My eyes drifted back over to Matt.
"I never knew you loved football like this," Matt said. "You never really talked about it when I was with Olivia. Why didn't you play before now?"
"I..uh..I just never thought I was any good," was all I could managed to say.
"Well, youre very good," Matt said and I beamed, feeling my cheeks flush pink. "I'm glad you decided to go out for the team this year."
He was glad I decided to go out for the team this yead. Well..so was I, if this was the kind of guy I would get to see everyday.
"Me too," Jonathan said, reminding me that he was still there. "It would definitley be cool to have a girl as our QB. Maybe the other teams defense would be too nervous to hit you really hard and that will make out offensive line better and that would get you a lot more time to get yourself in the pocket. I'm sure that will make you more accurate and it will reflect well on the team and we'll win more!" His excitement grew with each word.
Jack frowned. "A pocket? You have to stand in a pocket, Mags? You didn't do that yesterday, did you?"
Jonathan and Matt gave him strange looks, but I just smiled.
"The quarterback is standing in the pocket when the ball is snapped," I explained.
Jack nodded. "Oh, yes, yes. Of course. That pocket. In football. I was thinking of something entirely different."
I tried to hide my smile and turned my attention back to Matt. "So where is Hedge with the list? I feel like im going to pass out from anxiety over here."
Jonathan shrugged. "No idea. There were a lot more guys than normal this year. Probably took him longer than he thought."
"Yeah but shouldn't some of them be obvious cuts, like, I don't know, Rick Greene and his friends over there?" I looked over and saw all of them with their noses in their AP Biology textbooks and were quizzing one another while they waited. Football was obviously not their main priority.
Matt shrugged. "Sometimes guys like that will surprise you. But...most of the time, they don't, but we occaisonally get the classic Cinderella story."
I bit my lip at the mention of a Cinderella story. I wanted to wear that glass slipped-or cleat-more than I have every wanted to do anything.
The door to the Coach's office opened and the man of the hour stepped into the door frame with two pieces of lined paper in his hands.
"Take a step or two back, come on now, a step or two back." He ordered those who immediately crowded around the bulletin board. "I just wanted to thank all of you who came to tryout yesterday. We always get a high number of recruits, but many of you just dont have the talent or skill to be apart of our football legacy here. I expect to see you all at practice this afternoon."
Coach Hedge tacked the list to the bulletin board before returning to his office with the slam of his door. Almost instantly, a group of people attacked the board, mostly those who would only leave disappointed.
"Aren't you going to go see if you're our new QB?" Jonathan asked me, surprised I hadn't been one of the first to rush up there.
But my legs wouldn't let me move. I stood, routed to my spot, not wanting to take another step forward. I didn't want to wake up from the dream I had been living these past two days. What happened if my name wasn't up there on that list? Then what? Harry would be satisfied and me..well..who knows what I would be doing. I had finally found football again and now that it was back in my life, I didn't want to let it go.
It was apart of me the way my legs, arms, heart, mind, and soul all were; football was in my blood, my tears, my sweat, my heart. It meant everything; it couldn't simply be taken away from me now.
"No point," I replied trying to steady my voice. "I'll know based on Harry's reaction."
"He's hanging back, too," Matt said. "He's nervous. I've never seen him act like this before. But come on, don't think about him. This is about you...and it's now or never. Here I'll go with you."
"Check for me, would you?" Jonathan called out.
Matt and I walked tiwards the list, my footsteps fetl heavy, echoing loudly, as if each movement of my leg brought me closer and closer to what could be a shattered dream.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to look at the list.
And there it was.
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Well.. its been exactly a year and two months since I've updated... and I left it on a cliff hanger. I know... this was a pretty boring update but it was still an update. And because its been so long, I'll be updating again today. :) so this cliff hanger wont be a cliff hanger for longggg :)
