The Day the Boys Cried

Chapter 3: The Notebook

Chapter 3: The Notebook

 

After my kick Coach Jones gave us the rest of P.E. as a free period, so he could go talk to our cheer coach about me splitting time between cheer and football. As the group walked back to the locker room Ryan walked up to me, “So the usual Thursday night plan?” “Are you kidding me? Tonight is possibly the best Thursday night football game ever. Our favorite team the undefeated Baltimore Ravens going against their biggest rival the also undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers and you think I wouldn’t want to watch the game?” I look up into Ryan baby blue eyes and realize the sparkle in them means he just joking. “Okay alright, if thats important to you I’ll cover pizza and you got the desert?” “You bettcha ya and my dessert is going to be better than your’s last week!” I shout back as we disappear around the corners and break off into two separate locker rooms.

 

My teammates are whispering in groups as I walk by them to my locker. When I pass in front of them they grow quiet. Eventually the whole locker room is quiet because my locker is in the very back corner. Holly breaks the silence with a question, “Are you really going to play football Jordan?” “Yeah. I mean the guys need me,” I look around the room trying to gauge everyone reaction. “Well, you're pretty good. We should make you a special cheer for you!” Holly exclaims. Suddenly the tension breaks and almost every girl is involved chatter of some sort. I chuckle to myself at how easy it is to get these girl excited. In fact the only ice in the room was coming from the queen of cold herself Erika Andrews. “So now that you are doing football we are going to need a new head cheerleader. You can practically handover the bow over to me now.” She says slyly. “No way Erika! just because your dad is the biggest donor doesn't mean you get whatever you want. Coach could choose someone else or maybe she’ll let me stay captain.” I counter.

 

I throw my stuff into my gym bag and walk out of the locker room to the parking lot where my car is parked. There isn’t any cheer or football practice today because we get out of the whole school day tomorrow to get ready for the big spirit rally. By the time I get home it’s 3:07. I drop my school stuff off, change into my favorite jeans and raven’s shirt and swing by the bakery to pick up the purple, black, and gold cupcakes. I pull up to Ryan’s driveway pumped for the big game after listening to sports radio the whole way here. I walk up to the door balancing the cupcakes in one hand while trying to respond to a teammates frantic text about cheer uniforms for tomorrow. Ryan must have heard me pull up because just then door swings opens and his hand reaches out saving the cupcakes before they meet their end on the concrete ground. We walk to our normal spots on the carpet behind the glass coffee table.

 

On the table already is popcorn, pizza, and our notebooks. The tradition of the notebooks started after Ryan got the starting quarterback position in 7th grade and his coach told him he needed to understand football better. We started keeping notebooks on what the NFL teams did right and wrong and drew plays that worked well in them. Ryan was in charge of offense and I had defense. Now whenever we watch a football game together Mondays and Thursdays at Ryan’s house and Sundays at my house we write in them. As I grabbed a sharpened pencil and started filling in the date, who was playing, and the point spread in the defense notebook Ryan tossed another notebook at me. On the outside written in black sharpie was special teams. “I figured you should start keeping notes on your position,” he looked over and saw my surprised expression, “unless you can’t handle keeping two notebooks.” “What? Me? I can keep better notebooks than you in my sleep!” I shout with a smirk. Ryan grabs me and flips me upside down and starts tickling me like crazy. He takes the care to make sure he moves the fight where we won’t hit the coffee table probably remembering that time in 8th grade when we disagreed on a call and he pushed my head into the table. There was blood everywhere and I had to go the hospital and get stiches. We yell, scream, and fight until we hear the T.V. calling out the coin toss which means there’s two minutes till kickoff.

Ryan pulls me back over to our seats and I lean my head on him and finish the starting entries in both my notebooks. I should stop right here and clarify something. Ryan and I are NOT dating. There is nothing between us. True, he doesn’t know I like Adam, but Ryan knows I don’t like him. He’s my best friend for heaven sakes! We watch Baltimore play a close game with Pittsburgh, but we pulled ahead in the end. It all came down to a field goal. At that moment I realized how important my job was. “Wow that was an awesome game!” Ryan said as he handed me a purple cupcake, “To Baltimore’s win!” We smash the cupcakes in each other faces. After we stop laughing, wash our faces off, and finish off the rest of the cupcakes we sit down and watch a movie. When the movie’s done Ryan walks me to the door and says goodnight. I sit down in my car and drive home making a mental note to remember I have to talk to Coach Jones tomorrow before school started about the rally and to pick up my jersey. I arrive home, put my pajamas on, brush my teeth, lay my cheer uniform out, and curl up in bed with a good book until I fall asleep.