I'll Be Your Safety

Flashback: October 1988

"I'm so nervous Falcon." Cassidy stated as she paced the ground in front of me. I

I stood up and held her shoulders to stop her nervous pace. She was trembling from the nerves and her eyes were starting to water. Her platinum blonde hair was straightened into the perfect ponytail, completed with a Nike headband. She on her home white uniform, number twenty. Her worn down cleats stopped the pitter patter when I grabbed her.

"Listen to me Cas. You are the only freshmen girl to start varsity soccer in this school's history. You're a strong and extremely talented defender. The girls may be bigger than you but you're only 14 and I can guarantee you are faster and stronger and more skilled. You this Cas. Believe in yourself." I lifted her chin with my fingers, exposing her pale freckle face and green eyes. She hugged me tightly and whispered "Thanks Jimmy." She turned and jogged towards the rest of the team, awaiting their league championship game.

...

It was pouring rain and freezing, but me and some other guys from school had our shirts off and chests painted with numbers, mine said twenty. We also put on "war paint" on our faces.

The game was tied 0-0 with only a minute remaining. The field was just mud so the girls' white uniforms were now brown. The game was also poorly called so that started the chants of "We want new refs!" or "Get off your knees ref you're blowing the game."

"CORNER KICK EVERYONE UP. HANKS. BUTLER. CASE. CHANCE. YOU GUYS TOO LETS GO." The coach screamed. These girls have to score.

Cassidy sprinted up the field and was marked up by this number 10 girl, a forward, who had been fighting with Cassidy all game. They were both threatened for cards.

From here I can see the two of them trying to hip check each other and pull each others jerseys. All of a sudden, the ball is kicked in the air, straight towards Cassidy.

It all happens in slow motion. Cassidy jumps to get her head on the ball, but the other girl jumps with her and grabs Cassidy's hair and yanks her into the mud.

She stays down.

The fans are screaming profanities at the the other team.

The ref waves his hands while screeching his whistle and pulls out a red card to the girl. We all jump and scream in excitement because the penalty happened in the box, which means Cassidy gets to take a penalty kick.

Her teammates help her up and she takes a deep breath. I squeeze my hands on the fence in front of me as she lines up the ball. She looks over at me and smiles a bit, before she kicked the ball in the upper right hand corner, giving us the lead with only a few seconds remaining. She did it. She won the game for her team.

The girls all slide in the mud and we hop the fence joining them. I searched through the crowd to find Cassidy. Abs when I found her, I couldn't help but kiss her.