Marry Me

Chapter Eight

At lunch, something new happens, or maybe it's something that I've never noticed before. I see, out of the corner of my eye, one of my teammates, Nick. He was talking to a freshman, but it was in no way friendly.

I walked closer so I could here their conversation. "How many times do I have to tell you, you're worthless. One day I'm going to knock you so bad that you'll pass out and no one will even notice you're gone you little piece of trash." Nick tells him.

Okay, I'm not going to let this happen. I walk over there, "Hey, Nick. How's it going?" I clap my palm on his shoulder.

"Not now, Hoffman." He says without making eye contact with me, he just keeps staring down the younger kid.

Nick is big. He's really big. He has about six inches on me and about 50 pounds heavier. I'm kind of scared of him, but there's no way I'm going to leave this alone.

I look at the kid. There's a look of dread in his eyes, like he already knows what's coming. Nick has probably harassed him before.

"No, I don't think that's going to happen. Come on over here." I try to guide him away so the kid could make a mistake, but Nick slaps his hand on the wall, making a loud noise. This makes the kid grimace.

"Hoffman, I told you to go the hell away." He growls.

God, I can't stand this guy. After Sophomore year, he started doing hard drugs and had to give up football junior and senior year. It's a shame because he was very talented.

"You know what, that's not going to slide. I don't want you to attach this kid so it's not going to happen." I say.

Finally, he turns towards me. "Hoffman, do you want to end up like this kid? Living in fear of people like me for the rest of your high school career? Because I'm totally capable of making your life miserable. I don't care who your brother is, I'm going to beat the shit out of you if you don't go away."

I act on impulse. Before I have a second thought, I'm punching him in the face. I hear a crunch when my fist hits his nose. I used so much force that I probably broke it. He staggered back and puts his hands over his nose. Blood seeps through his fingers. His eyes fill with rage as he punches me square in the face and I fall to the ground.

"I love you Lexie Montgomery." I say as I pull her closer to me. It was the perfect moment to say the fist 'I love you'. We laid underneath the stars in the bed of my dad's pickup truck. I showed her where the Little Dipper was located in the sky and named various stars that I committed to memory.

She snuggles even closer. Her small frame fits perfectly next to me. I kiss her on the head, on to of her heap of curly brown hair.

"I love you more Graham Hoffman."

"Graham? Graham? Can you hear me?"

I jolt awake, confused at where I'm at right now. There are bright lights everywhere.

I look to the person who was saying my name. It was the school nurse.

Memories of what happened before flood back to me. I touch the spot on my face where I was hit. It was right on my left eye. I wince at the pain of contact.

"Yep, that one's a shiner." The nurse says.

I smile sheepishly. "Am I okay though?"

She walks around the room to grab her clipboard. You blacked out for a couple minutes, but that's pretty normal. It looks like you didn't experience any eye damage and since you're not freaking out, I take it that you remember everything. I'd say that you're ready to go to the principal's office, but take this ice pack and put it on your eye."

Right. I still have to face authority in high school. I forgot about that. I trudge my way to the principal's office, annoyed yet curious of what awaits me in there.

When I walk in, I make eye contact with Nick and sit down on the cold wooden chair. I keep the ice pack covering my eye so he doesn't see the damage he did.

The principal clears his throat and that the first time I notice him. Mr. Sawyer wears a gray suit with a blue button down. He has a tie that reads 'principal',but highlighting the 'pal' part. He has a heavy face with wrinkles from the sun and a toupee on his head. His cold eyes stare at me, then at Nick, then back to me again. To the average high school student, I'm sure this guy seems intimidating, but to me, all I see is a man who's more successful in life than I am. He's more successful than I might ever will be.

"I have half a mind to suspend you both from the game tonight." He grumbles. Shit, no game means no perfect night.

"But," He continues, "With the team so close to the playoffs, the school can't afford you boys letting the entire team down." We both sigh in relief for different reasons.

. . . . . . . . . . .

I take the field like I did last night, but this time, I have more confidence. I can win this game.

We go through warmups. Charlie passes me a ball down the sideline and I run and catch it with ease. No sweaty palms tonight.

We jog off to the sidelines before the game so coach can go over the lineup. When he says my name, Charlie looks at me with pride.

The game begins, Charlie sets up the first play, I fake right, then run left while Charlie is faking his pass to the other wide receiver, Ben.

Charlie throws the ball to me and I make a run for it. I almost get to the end line, when one of the opposing team's players makes a run and tackles me. I definitely remember that tackle now.

At the bed of that play, I end up with a touchdown. It was the first of the three I'm supposed to score tonight.

At half time, Coach tells us that we're working hard, but we need to work even harder to beat this team since the score is only 7-7.

We step back onto the field and I instinctively look at the spot where Lexie used to stand. I think I'm hallucinating. Doesn't that happen when someone gets hit in the head like I did earlier? I blink and she's standing there, in her normal spot. This time though, she's not cheering with the rest of the fans, she's standing there with worry.

I make a gesture to her. She waves her hand, motioning for me to finish the game.