The Game Plan

1

"She feels like Carolina, looks like California. Shining like the New York lights on Broadway." Parmalee sang loudly through my headphones as I rounded the corner onto my streeet.

I reached my house and collapsed on my front yard, my body recovering from the five miles I just ran.

"Britt, the sprinklers are about to turn on." My dad warned, walking to his car.

"Ughhhhhh." I groaned and he laughed, climbing in the driver's seat. I knew he was right. My mom had the automatic sprinklers set to go off at 6:00 on the dot.

I sat up on my lawn and looked around the neighborhood.

We lived in a small suburb about 45 minutes from Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a small town, but everyone had well-kept houses and you knew everyone's name.

Especially mine. It's not everyday a girl is the starting quarterback of her high school football team. The same football team that would be going to state championships in 45 days.

Needless to say, there were many opinions in this small town about Britt Manning.

No I'm not related to Peyton or Eli.

I am related to Cole Manning, the senior wide receiver on the Louisiana State University football team. I also have an older sister, Liv, who is 26 and married with a baby boy. Cole taught me about football, and Liv taught me about hair and makeup.

Suddenly, the automatic sprinklers popped out of the ground and began soaking me.

"JESUS CHRIST!" I screamed and jumped up, running into the house.

"Sorry baby!" I heard my mom laughing when I walked into the house.

I jogged up to my room and walked into my bathroom. I turned on the bluetooth speaker and began singing along with Luke Bryan.

See? Completely normal 17 year old girl.

I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked over the mirror to comb my long brown hair and brush my teeth.

A half hour later I was ready and heading out the door.

"Bye mom!" I called, walking to the garage to grab my football bag.

I don't drive a truck, if that's what you're wondering. My brother drives this huge black truck with massive tires... its awful. I am quite happy with my SUV. I need the space for my equipment  and I'm usually carting a football team around - literally - but I didn't want anything like Cole's beast.

I backed out of the garage and turned down my street to pick Kenz up. She lived a few houses down and we had been carpooling since preschool.

"Morning sunshine!" She chirped, jumping into the passenger seat. As I said earlier, I am pretty girly. However, Kenz takes first place on that one. She had more Lilly Pulitzer in her closet than Jackie Kennedy.

"Morning schnookums." I grinned and pulled out of her driveway.

We drove through town, talking about our homework and the football game on Friday.

"Hey baby!" Matt leaned into Kenz's window to give her a kiss when we pulled into my parking spot.

"Twelve years and I never get a kiss like that." I teased, shutting my car off.

"Morning Manning." He wrapped an arm around my neck and rubbed my head.

"Hands off Golden Girl!" Luke, a tight end and another one of our best friends warned with a smile when he saw us.

"She's tougher than she looks." Matt joked.

"That may be true, but we need to protect the goods." He said, cradling my throwing arm.

I rolled my eyes and shrugged him off me.

"Don't you have math?" I asked, walking to my locker. I opened my bag and grabbed the notebooks I would need for the morning.

"Bye Manning, Bye Matt." He ran off to the math hallway.

"I bet he just realized he has math." I said, watching him go.

"What do you have?" Matt asked, throwing his books in the locker next to mine.

"English." I said, rolling my eyes. I hate English.

"Good luck babycakes." He teased, pretending to blow me a huge kiss.

Kenz followed me and linked her arm with mine.

"Did you do the paper?" She asked while we maneuvered through the hallways.

"Unfortunately." We walked up the set of stairs that lead to the english classrooms.

"You're gonna get an A. You always get an A." She said, shaking her head. She was right. My parents had always expected academic excellence from us, and that's how we earned the right to extra curriculars.

Between my 4.0 GPA and my throwing arm, I would have my choice of colleges.

For a while I wasn't sure if I wanted to play college football. The high school circuit had accepted me, somewhat. I still got some nasty comments on the field but I had earned my respect from coaching staff. However we were still down south and people had some strong ideas on where a girl should and should not be during a football game.

For example, some people believed I could either pick up some pom poms or walk around with a 50-50 raffle. I believed I could throw over 67 yards for a winning touchdown. And I have. Multiple times.

I sat down in my English class and pulled out my notebook and pencil case. Just because I worked hard for my good grades doesn't mean I always enjoy my classes, and English was definitely not my favorite.

After six periods of daydreaming new plays and staring out at the football field, the bell finally rang. I packed up my backpack and made my way down to the locker room.

"Do you have practice today?" I asked Kenz.

"Yeah till 6." She said, opening the door to the girls locker room. Kenz was on the varisty cheer squad. She always jokes and says that cheering for her two best friends from the stands is never good enough.

"I can give you a ride home." I offered, putting my school bag into my locker and taking out my big bag of pads.

I pulled on my spandex cropped pants and pulled my tight football pants over them. I put on a sports bra and a tank top and sat down to braid my hair.

I grabbed my shoulder pads which I would throw on with my practice jersey before practice started, and walked outside.

My team was stretching on the field and I could hear their cat calls. I raised my hand to flip them off, but I had a huge smile on my face.

I couldn't help but love my boys.