Redefining Beautiful

Chapter Thirty-One: Unleash the Secret Weapon

It was time. The big game. The one I had slaved away after school on the field for the past couple months preparing for. Hultgren Heights was on the field practicing their tackles and their passing and their catching. My team arrived at the stadium. All of us were anxious, nervous, and excited.

If we beat them, we go to state. State was an accomplishment Roebuck had yet to fulfill, so he was heavily determined. In the locker room, much more cramped than the ones at Emery, Roebuck lectured us on winning. I tried listening to him, to show him I understood his hope for us, but I couldn’t concentrate. I felt like I was going to throw up. I didn’t want to let down Roebuck, let down the team, or let down my school.

Throughout the month and a half, it seemed Roebuck pushed us harder than ever before. If that was even possible. I’ve been trembling in my cleats since we’ve arrived because I could get severely injured out there since I’m not the size of Eli or any of the guys on Hultgren Height’s team, who might have possibly been bigger than Eli. But I was going to do this. I wasn’t going to back out now. I couldn’t. Everyone was counting on me.

“Who’s your leader, team?” Roebuck asked expansively. Sixty-two pairs of eyes darted in my direction. “And what do we do on the field for our leader?”

“Protect her!” chanted the sixty-two football players as if they were programmed to say that.

“I don’t want to see no jacking around out there, not passing the ball to Bates. Understand?” The team nodded. “Now get on the field and warm up.”

I stayed back as the team filed out of the locker room. I was digging through my gym bag when Trevor, wearing a grey hoodie and dark jeans, Casey with a camera hanging from the strap wrapped around the back of her neck, and Destiny, wearing her cheerleading uniform, entered.

“Be safe out there.” Destiny hugged me.

“Let me get a picture of you in your uniform.” Casey pointed to my game jersey in my gym bag. I pulled it out and slipped it over my shoulder pads. Posing, Casey snapped a couple pictures of me. “Now put on your helmet.” I did and Casey snapped a few more pictures. “Good luck.” She smiled at me. I slid my helmet off and fixed my hair.

Looking towards Trevor, he met my gaze. This was going to be hard for him to watch, but I’m glad he came to support. I mean, I am his girlfriend after all.

Casey gave me a knowing look. “Hey, Des!”

“Yeah?”

“I wanna take pics of you in your uniform, so just come with me and pose outside.”

“Okay!” And the two were gone.

Trevor grabbed my wrist. He leaned in like he was going to kiss me, but he placed my hand around his neck and lifted me up in a hug. “You’re going to be great out there,” He whispered into my ear. His breath was warm and tickled me. “You’re strong.”

I leaned back to look into Trevor’s blue eyes. “Be my cheerleader for the night?” I smiled.

“I’ll be your cheerleader every night, baby.” He bit his lip.

“You’re such a dork.” I giggled.

Trevor placed my helmet over my head and slapped the side of it. “Get out there.” And I walked onto the field. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I faced the fans of Emery sitting in the stands. I heard Destiny incorporating my name in her cheer, I saw my mom and dad, next to my dad was Trevor. Casey was next to Trevor obsessively taking pictures.

I walked over to my team standing in front of the team bench. I squeezed between Eli and J.C. Roebuck was refreshing the teams memories on the plays for the game. “Now Bates is our secret weapon we’ll throw in after halftime if we need to,” said Roebuck, pointing to me. “The goal is to not use her to pick up your slack, so I want to see teamwork and I want to see you dying out there on that field because you want this so bad!”

“Yes, sir!” The team chanted.

“Hands in.” Roebuck set out his hand and all sixty-three, including myself, players stretched out an arm to the middle.

We bounced up and down chanting, “TOGETHER, WE WILL SHOW WHO WE ARE! T-I-G-E-R! TIGERS!” Then we roared like tigers before breaking into two different groups: the benchwarmers and the first string starters.

I was too nervous and excited to sit on the bench, so I stood next to Roebuck, running up and down the sidelines screaming. Throughout the first half, I was watergirl again. I didn’t mind, whatever kept me busy so I wasn’t shaking.

During the second quarter, Baker grabbed my jersey and jerked me back while I was filling up a cup for myself because Rustin got ran out of bounds by number fifty-two on Hultgren Heights team. He couldn’t stop himself in time, so he tried jumping over the table where the water jug sat, but another Hultgren Heights players dove and wrapped his arms around Rustin’s ankles. Rustin collided with the table, tipping it and it collapsed on the ground. The water jug, luckily, stayed in tact.

I volunteered my hand to Rustin, but he rejected it. Roebuck was yelling, saying something about a foul should be called on Hultgren Heights, but the referees ignored him and didn’t make the call. Roebuck grabbed Rustin’s mask before letting him back onto the field.

“Stop trying to be the hero, McDarment. Pass the ball. This isn’t McDarment against Hultgren Heights. This is a team effort!” He said.

Rustin’s ankle started swelling, but he still walked onto the field. I watched him stagger as he tried running. Each time he got the ball, he was tackled. Roebuck didn’t pull Rustin out because it was five minutes to half-time, so there wasn’t much of a point. However, I think the real reason was because Roebuck wanted to save me for last. That or he was hesitant about letting me play at all. Which I understood because this is the first game I would have played and it’s not just a typical game, but it’s the one game Roebuck wants to beat to finally lead our school to state.

At half-time, the score was forty-five to thirty-seven. Hultgren Heights was winning. In the last five minutes, Hultgren Heights got away with another touchdown and field goal. Roebuck wasn’t pleased. He reprimanded every player including Rustin. I felt bad for Rustin, but I reminded myself that this was a knocked-in-the-teeth moment for him.

The team and I filed into the locker room. Roebuck paced back and forth in front of us as everyone, besides me, poured water bottles over their already sweat drenched heads.

“Coach, throw in our secret weapon.” Eli took a swig from his water bottle. It looked like most of the team was losing energy. We were so close; we needed to have some fresh players out there.

Roebuck thought for a moment. I think he didn’t care about defeating Hultgren Heights by a lot anymore. It was more about beating them enough to take us to state now. “Alright, Bates. You’re in.” He turned to Rustin. “Bench, McDarment.” Surprisingly, Rustin didn’t object. After pats on the butt, our team chant, we jogged back onto the field.

That’s when I felt like I was going to hurl the last meals I have had in the past week. That’s when I looked at the scoreboard and realized that if I couldn’t change those numbers, nobody could. That’s when I scanned the crowd for my friends and family huddled together in the cold night of December. That’s when I knew it was my time.