Remember

Chapter 3

"Hold this here." says Yoast, adjusting a large cushiony thing in my arms. "Don't let it move."

"Why?" I ask. "What's it for?" he walks to the next cushion. 

I hear someone yell, and I peek around to see Jerry running at me. I scream and run away. 

Boone laughs from across the field, along with several of the players. 

"Caroline!" yells Yoast, trying not to laugh. "Get back here."

I hesitantly walk back. 

"Stay." he orders. 

Jerry tries again, and runs into the cushion. I don't fall over, but my foot hurts. 

"You up for this?" Yoast asks me.

"Bring it on." I reply. 

Gerry runs at me next, and I hold my ground. He slams into the cushion, and I almost fall, but don't. Alan follows almost immediately, but I'm off balance, and he sends me toppling to the ground. 

"Ow" I mutter. He helps me up, and I pick up the cushion. 

"Hey, why am I the only one doing this?" I ask. All the other cushions are held up by a machine thing. 

"Because you're assistant coach." replies Yoast. He gestures for me to hold up the cushion, and I do. I have the hang of it now, and people run at me. I hold my balance and even manage not to flinch whenever someone runs at me, which seems to surprise Yoast. 

The last of the players run into me, and I set down the cushion. 

"All right, next exercise!" says Yoast. He hands me a water bottle and explains the exercise. The guys have to jump down, roll over, and get back up three times, no mistakes. 

"Watch carefully." he tells me. "Once your ankle is fully healed, you're going to join them." 

I look at him in horror. "You're kidding, right?"

"If you want to coach this team, you're going to have to learn the basics." he says. 

I nod in understanding. 

Coach Yoast has me set up teams to tackle eachother while they work. I hand him the sheet and he pairs everyone up. They stand across from eachother and run, taking eachother done. 

"Defense is desire!" he yells helpfully. 

Boone joins up the two teams for exercises. As soon as someone makes a mistake, he yanks them out to run a mile. 

"All right, time for some sit-ups!" says Yoast. "get over there Carrie." 

I sigh and join the team in the grass. We do sit-ups, and I thank god that I was physically fit, because I don't think I'd ever done so many sit-ups in my life. 

"Football is tough." I comment to the person next to me. 

"Caroline, you ready for cushion duty?" asks Yoast. 

I get up from the ground. "Gladly."

He has me hold it, but htis time, other people are too. Someone runs through, pushing through the cushions. When he gets to me, he pushes really hard. He seems surprised when I don't fall over. So do I. I turn and realize that Alan was helping me hold the cushion. 

"I'm not helpless." I tell him pointedly. 

"Just trying to be helpful." he replies with a grin. He gets in line to go next, and shoves his way through the cushions. At my cushion, he yanks out his hand, pushing me over. I fall to the ground with a loud "humph."

Everyone snickers, and I shove the person next to me with the cushion. "Don't laugh at me."

"Caroline, you give it a try." says someone. 

"Yeah, Carrie should try." says Gerry. 

"Thanks bro." I tell him angrily. I hand him the cushion and get in the line. I do my best to sprint into the cushion, but instead run into it face-first and hit the ground. Everyone laughs again, and I realize they were all holding the cushion so that I wouldn't be able to get through.

"Aww, that was mean." I say with a pout. 

"Aww, grow up." replies Gerry in the same tone. I jump up and tackle him to the ground. 

"Oooh" says everyone. "Taken down by a girl."

"Come on, get up." Yoast tells me. I climb up off of Gerry and step back, giving off a proud face. 

I notice Boone across the field, yelling at Petey. 

"I'll be right back." I say to Yoast. Petey runs off, probably to do a mile. 

"Hey." I say, running along with him. 

"I can't do this anymore." he says angrily. "I need room for mistakes."

"You're a good player, Petey. And you have some room for mistakes here. Boone is just teaching you how to fix them." I assure him. "Maybe not the best way, but he's trying. You'll thank him later."

"You don't have to run with me." Petey says. 

"Better than having people run at me, with only a cushion for defense." I say pointedly. 

Petey laughs. "That's true." 

I finish the mile with him, and get back to Yoast, who is finishing up for the day.