Juliana

10. Stood up at my own game

It was Friday, which meant it was game day as well as my date with Juliana. Right now, it was time for the school wide pep rally that was held in our gymnasium. Every year, our school won the regional award for school spirit. Hopefully, our Student Council would pull it off again.

"Robbie!" One of the cheerleaders, Nadine, waved at me.

Being the nice guy that I was, I waved back. Nadine went back to her quick whisper exchanges with her pack of girls. I guessed that was the end of that and shrugged my shoulders.

Our Student Council President, Evan Hawes, called each team member name by name. We were all in our jerseys. Once we were all out there, the rest of the student body that was in the bleachers started chanting.

"Be-ars! Be-ars! Be-ars!"

***

"Patterson receives the ball and is running for the touchdown..... And the Bears put up another six points on the board. That's Patterson's third touchdown tonight." I smiled as I jogged off the field high fiving some of teammates and coaches.

The crowd cheered when the announcer said that the extra point was good. It didn't surprise me. Trey, our kicker, was pretty good. He knew what he was doing. I sure couldn't go out there and do that- kicking the ball in between the two posts certainly took more talent than one person thought it would.

I plopped down on the bench and took off my helmet and then my mouth guard out. One of the water girls, Catie, brought me over a blue Gatorade. I took it out of her hand and chugged it down. There was no doubt that I had been parched.

"Intercepted by Giles! And now he's at the Bears' thirty.... the twenty... the ten... And another touchdown for the Bears! Giles' thirty-eight yard run after the interception will bring the score up to forty-two, Bears... zip, Panthers."

I jumped up and clapped loudly, hooting and hollering for my buddy, Zach. Before sitting back down, I looked at the crowd, searching for Jules. She still wasn't here, and it was almost the end of the first half. I sat back down on the bench.

"Man. We're on fire tonight!" Aaron said, sitting down beside me.

"Agreed." I nodded my head. "We're picking both their defense and offense apart." I laughed.

Aaron chuckled. "You coming out tonight with us after the game?"

"Nah. I'm going on a date."

"With who?" Aaron's eyebrows furrowed.

"Juliana."

***

Dalton ran the ball into the end zone one last time, making the final score seventy-seven to three. The whole team rushed out onto the field. We high-fived with the other team's members and told 'em that it had been a good game.

Once we had done that, pretty much the entire Star Christian High student body plus some other people came rushing out onto the field; Juliana hadn't though.

Hm. My eyebrows furrowed. Maybe she went to get some food at the concession stand or something.

My thought process was interrupted when I felt someone clap me on the back.

"Good job, Robbie!"

Turning around, I saw it was my dad. I smiled a little and told him thanks.