What You Don't See

Mud and Sweat

"Are you guys coming?" Cole stepped into the hallway, saving me from having to answer Jake's question.

Okay so I may have accidentally said I was in love with him. The words slipped out of my mouth but in actuality they weren't even meant that way anyway.

"Yeah." I stepped passed him before he could argue with me and joined the guys again as they stood in a circle around coach Taylor.

"Glad you could join us" Coach said sarcastically making me smile as a sense of déjà vu rolled over me.

Jake stood behind me and I could feel his eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. It was unfortunate that my stupid self had to go and let those words slip out of my mouth and I knew Jake wouldn't let this incident slip from his mind, but the team was an hour away from the biggest game of their high school career, and he needed to get his head in the game.

Coach continued his speech the way he always did, going over everything the team should prepare for regarding the current opposing team and their strategies, and then continued to tell us how proud he was of all of us. He said, "For most of you this will be the last game we'll play together and I know a lot of scouts are going to be watching tonight but in case you didn't know I'm extremely grateful to have worked with all of you this far and I know each and everyone of you are going to excel in the future. Now let's get out there and finish this season with a championship."

The guys started up with their shouting and howling, throwing their fists in the air and nodding their heads. It put a smile on my face to see them all like this, to be a part of it again.

"One last thing before we head out there," Coach Taylor said, gaining the attention of them once again. "Brooke, would you do the honors?" He gestured to me with the hand that was still holding his clipboard.

I looked around for a moment, feeling a warmth grow in the pit of my stomach as the guys smiled at me expectantly. Routinely as the captain, I would say something to the team and lead us in our final cheer before we started warm up drills on the field so I was extremely honored to be able to do it one last time.

I nodded and took a deep breath, "I know that I let a lot of you down recently with the stupid decisions I've made in the last couple months and I want to apologize for how selfish I was, but I'm extremely honored to have had the chance to play and spend these four years with you guys. You're the greatest teammates and friends I could have asked for and whatever happens tonight, this was the best season yet. So without further ado," I leaned forward and led the team in our cheer. I felt tears prickle behind my eyes at how sad it was to know it could be the last time we'd all be together like that. Winning section championship means a lot but if we won we'd go to state and that has never happened in the history of our school.

We all filed out of the locker room. Since the game was on our home field, the stands were packed with students. It was good to be back on the field instead of in those stands, even if I wasn't going to play. I looked over at the other side where the Grizzles were warming up too. When my eyes landed on Brian I let out a chuckle when I saw his not yet completely healed black eye. He kept his head down in focus but I knew if he saw me there he would have done something completely inappropriate and offending.

I watch the guys do their usual juggling and shielding warm ups, posing as defense to help them. Soon after, Jake, Cole, and Chase approached the center circle joining the three referees as well as Brian and two of his teammates. I wished that I could hear the ref go through the basic rules, tell us to play fair, and make sure our shirttails were tucked in and we were all wearing proper gear one last time. Jake called it in the air and it looked like we won the coin toss, choosing to stay on the side that they warmed up on. The grizzlies took the tip, placing the ball in the center circle. At the sound of the whistle I watched their center forward drive a long ball down the field. Liam gained control of the ball and took an upper cut down the middle. Jake and Chase ran ahead of him trying to get open. He kicked a perfect pass to Chase who made his way down the field until his attacker kicked the ball out of bounds.