A Book Nerd's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter 16: Sports was such a Player

I knew what soccer was, but I had never watched a game in my life. So, to prepare for the Crusaders' semi-finals, I tried streaming the sport on YouTube.

Athletes ran across a wide field, kicking the ball around. It took about thirty minutes before a team got a ball into the goal, which was not exciting for me but seemed to be exhilarating for the audience in the video. Every time a referee whistled and raised a flag, I didn't understand what was going on. But I liked and enjoyed the part where the players had to steal the ball from the other team.

I understood some concepts of the game, like which team needed to make a score in which goal, but for most of everything else, I was at a total loss.

Despite watching a couple of games online, it was still difficult for me to grasp the sport. So I was a little embarrassed as I sat in the middle bleachers. I felt like I should sit at the back and let some other enthusiasts take my place for a better view. But Lotty and Cathy wanted to stay as close to the field as possible and high enough to see the whole game.

Before it began, I was overwhelmed by the crowd's excessive energy. Cheerleaders were getting everyone hyped. And when it finally started, the level of excitement only grew, even more so when our team scored their first goal. Cheers rang all over the field.

I sat next to Lotty, and she was next to Cathy. Affected by their enthusiasm, I also jumped off my seat as Dave kicked in a goal for Littleton.

As the scoreboard said, we were winning against Gorham by two to one with only a few more minutes left in the clock.

"All they have to do is wait it out now!" Lotty said as she sat back down on the bleacher. She pointed to the field. "We're on offense now. They have to hold the ball until the ninety minutes lapsed." She had been teaching me about the game since we arrived.

"That was a great assist by Finn, wasn't it?" Cathy asked, leaning over Lotty to talk to me.

"Yeah?" I nodded, unsure of what an assist was, but I guessed it was when Finn passed the ball to Dave to score the goal.

"He seems to be playing better today than the last game," Cathy added.

Lotty humphed as if realizing the same thing. "I wonder why. But he's always been a great player. Like when has he ever had any bad game days? He always plays striker," she said the last part to me specifically.

Sitting back down, I scanned the field to find Finn in the middle. A grin plastered on his face as he watched the other Crusaders who were carefully passing the ball around at the center of the field. They weren't even trying to score anymore. Twenty seconds left.

When the whistle blew to mark the end of the game, the audience exploded in hurray despite knowing that we had already won.

"Championship, here we come!" The coach shouted as he faced us on the bleachers, and the crowd cheered even more.

Being surrounded by so much excitement was a grand feeling, and I let myself be infected. My laughter drowned in the noise of merriment.

"Crusaders! Crusaders! Crusaders!" Everyone cheered.

Lotty and Cathy led me from the bleachers to greet and congratulate the players. I grabbed my bag by the straps, securing it over my shoulders as we climbed down the stairs.

Dave ran from the field with a wide grin, proud of himself for scoring the winning goal, screaming and shouting as he received pats on the back and high fives.

"We won! We won!" he shouted.

Lotty jumped and ran to give him a huge hug. I followed Cathy, and we both congratulated him without touching any of the sweaty parts.