Synonym

Chapter 44

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as people roared from the stands. Spotlights lit up the field even though the sun had just barely started to set on the outdoor field. A wave of crimson filled the stadium with white and blue speckled in certain areas. My eyes were glued on Finn's back where the red '42' was printed on the black short sleeve jersey with Maryland's signature midevil red, yellow, and black pattern.

I could already feel sweat forming under my shoulder and arm pads, my black and patterned helmet holding my black gloves while my long black D-pole sat in my right hand. Owen walked behind me wearing his own uniform, his eyes probably trained on the back of my jersey. When we reached the bench with our other teammates I heard familiar voices yell out loud enough for everyone in a fifty yard radius to hear over the roaring crowd. "Kick Sam's fucking ass!"

Finn and Owen's lips tipped into a smirk like mine as the Hopkins goalies' ears perked, hearing the group yelling his name. The blonde boy turned from his bench and cupped his hands over his mouth to make a speaker. "Fuck you Jason, Kelsey, and Emma!" He yelled back at the top of his lungs.

Ant, Rob, Jason, Emma, and Kelsey all had seats together at the Maryland bench line. They all knew Sam except for Ant and Rob but they happily yelled along, knowing Sam was Finn and I's best friend. The five of them wore Maryland T-shirts. Kelsey was wearing my Wounded Warrior grey jersey with 'Freedom' printed on the back and the American flag lining the sleeves. I'd asked her why she wanted a Maryland jersey and she said she needed to destroy Sam's ego for her sake. I was more than happy to agree. Ant and Rob obviously didn't go to the school so they were borrowing Finn and Owen's jerseys for the game.

"Well guys, Jason might just kick you off Team USA if you lose this so for your sake, I hope we win." Owen patted me on the back with his gloved hand.

"Gee thanks. Real comforting." I said sarcastically while slipping my mouth guard in. "Although I'm more worried about Sam's bragging."

"Ditto." Finn replied before putting his black helmet on his head. We all did the same and put on our gloves. I always did my left hand quickly, making sure to cover the glittering ring  before a referee saw it. Wearing it was technically against the rules but we wore gloves so it was less for other players safety and more for my own so I didn't get a piece of metal stuck around my finger after a good hit. I didn't care; I refused to take off the promise ring ever since Finn gave me four months ago. It was a part of me by now.

This game was do or die; I knew if we lost this my name would be in the news yet again but so would Finn's. It would be bad press but depending on how you look at it, I always have bad press. Any logical person would know that two people can't carry a whole D1 team, let alone in a championship game, but that wouldn't stop the sports critics from asking if we were really world class players.

"You better remember Sam's weak spots." I told Owen loudly through my mouth guard. I had briefed him on which shots would throw Sam off earlier in the week. Sam was a damn good goalie, definitely top five in the country, so we needed all the advantages we could get. I'd never played against the star goalie in anything but a scrimmage so this was nerve racking.

"I'll pass to you if you can run it up." Owen assured me, he would only take the risk if I was in an optimal position which was good but I doubted that would happen. If a defensemen scored, it was usually after a turnover.

***

I fucking hate Sam.

This was looking to be an incredibly low scoring game for an NCAA championship. Between our defense and Sam's skills, the score was tied at 3-3 with fifteen minutes left. Biased on the way this was going, whoever scored next would probably win the championship. Usually scores range from 9 to 20 on average but this game was lowballing it by a lot.