God's Field |COMPLETED|

Chapter Seventeen- The Word is Out

     The Aquins Saints Varsity Soccer were all any sports center was talking about.  We had won the last five games, marking us as undefeated and a force to be reckoned with for playoffs. 

     The team had finally pulled it together- for the most part- Walker still caused a bit of friction, but things had really taken a turn once Keller and Walker mostly made up.  They were somewhat friends again which really was the ultimate turning point for our recent success on the field. 

     However, it wasn't because of our winning record that had caught TV and news channels attention, it was an article posted online a week ago.  An article about me, the Blue Devil Miracle.  As they were calling it.  The article had over a thousand views, hundreds of likes, and countless comments.

    And yet, it still didn't cover how many games we had won nor if we had won any at all, in fact, the entire article went over exactly what happened to me eight months ago. 

     The accident that both ruined my life and shaped it into something more than it was.  The person who wrote the article I only met once two years ago at a playoffs game, Martin Flores. 

     He had coached a couple of teams here and there, but never fell into a serious role.  He was set to head straight into the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) when he got out of high school, but he had a career ending injury that summer.  He's never bothered with soccer seriously again, coaching wise. 

    He didn't deserve to have so much attention thrown at him for that article.  He never knew us personally nor did he say much to us at all, just a quick greeting.  Coach Trey had never been much of a Martin Flores fan either, he said he fell too much and his passes were usually short. 

     I didn't like the fact Martin Flores had so easily written about my life as if he had been a close friend of mine.  He never even mentioned to me he would write an article, shouldn't that be considered illegal? 

     In no less than 1,500 words, he had exploited every detail from my life in the past eight months.  The game we were going to, the crash, my recovery, the funerals, moving to Kansas, and joining the soccer team. 

    What he failed to explain was that I had nightmares about that night, my legs had permanent physical impediments, I still saw my best friend, I had panic attacks, and it took me more than a simple move to even think about playing soccer again. 

     He wrote everything as if it was fine, as if I was fine.  I was more annoyed than anything, but that annoyance quickly turned to anxiety once I saw a couple news channel vans parked outside of the school. 

     I felt like throwing up.  I had jogged to school today which meant I also had to slip inside the school without anyone noticing.  My heart beat sped up.  "Jacob!"  I turned to see Kelsey waving at me vigorously from behind a parked car.  I quickly went over to her, "h-hey."  Her eyes widened as she peeked over the hood of the car to see the principal coming out to try to "shoo" away the attention.

    "We could, um, I-, I have zero ideas."  A loud engine startled both of us, Leo kicked out his stand, and took off his helmet, tucking it under his arm before leaning down towards us.  "I could just cruise through them on my cycle.  You could hop on the back and muck it to the school." 

     It wasn't the best plan, but it was the only one we had.  Kelsey smiled brightly, "don't worry, you'll only be the center of attention for five seconds."  Leo scoffed, "five seconds?  How slow do you think I drive?" 

     Her eyes widened, "how fast do you drive?"  He winked, handing me the helmet.  I put it on, nervously climbing onto the back of his motorcycle.