Realizations

Chapter 12

It is now the day of the state semi game. Rodrik and Bianca are going to meet us at the school since Rodrik spent the night at a friend's place. Knowing him, he snuck into Bianca's bedroom and spent the night with her. Me and mom are currently on our way to pick up Lexa before heading to school. When I told mom, Rodrik, and Bianca about Lexa they were happy for me and couldn't wait to meet her. Mom and Bianca were especially excited to meet Lexa. They kept insisting she was my girlfriend despite me telling them we were just friends after I told them about the small argument Lexa and Kaitlyn got into.

When we arrive at Lexa's place, I get out and knock on the door. A few seconds later Lexa answers wearing my away jersey that she must have stolen from my bag at some point. "Hey" Lexa says smiling, pulling me into a hug. "Hey" I say hugging her back, "You ready?" "Yep" Lexa says and we walk over to my moms car. I open the door for her and she gives me a smile before climbing in. Once I'm in, mom begins to drive to school. "Hello Lexa" mom says glancing behind her shoulder, "It's nice to officially meet you. I've heard so much about you, this one won't shut up about you." "Mooom" I whine as my face grows red. "Really" Lexa asks as her smile grows, "It's nice to finally meet you Ms. Quill."

"Please call me Lena" mom says, "So have you been to a football game before?" "This is actually my first one" Lexa says, "Honestly, I've never even watched a game." "You chose a good game for your first one" mom says, "Don't worry Rodrik will explain everything that happens to you." Mom and Lexa continue to talk the rest of the drive as I tune them out and get into game mode since all the pressure will be on me considering we have never made it this far before. I feel a tap on my shoulder and look over at Lexa. "We are here" Lexa says. We get out of the car and walk towards the entrance and see Rodrik and Bianca already there.

"Hey" I say. "The superstar has entered the building" Rodrik says, "You ready?" "As ready as I'll ever be" I reply. "And you must be Lexa, Ryker's girlfriend" Bianca says, "It's nice to finally meet you." "Hi, it's nice to meet you guys too" Lexa says. "She's not my girlfriend" I say. "I'm Rodrik" Rodrik says, "And this is my girlfriend Bianca." "I gotta go get ready" I say, "I'll see you after the game." "Kick their asses" Rodrik shouts as I walk to the locker room. I head to the locker room and get ready. The team heads out to the field and warms up before the game. The ref blows his whistle signaling the game is about to start.

We head to our side of the field as coach tells us to go out there and give it our all and to also bring home the trophy. The ref then calls the captains to the field for the coin toss. I walk out and the other team's quarterback does the same. We shake hands before he calls heads. Its tails and I defer the ball. I jog back to our side of the field and take a seat on the bench as I wait for my turn. Our kicker kicks the ball off and the biggest game of my life up to this point begins and I hope my teammates decide not to purposely do a bad job at blocking.

Their returner catches and runs the ball up to the forty five yard line on their side. A couple of good runs and a good pass play has them scoring a touchdown. Our returner makes it to our twenty-five yard line. Before I jog out coach calls out my name. I stop and turn around, "Bring it home Ryker." I nod my head and put on my helmet as I jog out to the field. "Full steam ahead" I say and the team nods, "Break." We line up and the ball gets hiked. I hand it off to our running back and he runs it for twenty-five yards. "Up the middle" I say, "Break." Everyone gets in their positions and I start the next play. Once again I hand it to our running back and he gains fifteen yards. "Reverse specialty" I say, "Break." We line up and I call out the code word and everyone begins running their route.

The ball is hiked and I hand it off to our running back who makes it look like a run before pitching it back to me. I lateral it to a wide receiver who winds up and passes it to another wide receiver. He catches it and runs it to the five yard line. "Zero sweep" I say as they all look at me hesitantly, "Zero sweep. Break." We line up and I point out the extra rusher before starting the play. I fake a hand off to our running back who has three blockers in front of him. The opposing team focuses on tackling him as I run for the end zone with a tight end out front blocking for me. A few of them realize what's happening and converge on me. The tight end blocks several guys running at me, leaving me one on one.