We Come Alive 5

Playoff Game Two: Confrontation

Thursday morning, rumors had broken among the Dallas state champion football team that Clover was visiting their coach. It was time for her to face the people she lied to. Jose, Diego, Stephen, Ethan, and Jacob walked into the athletic building. Ethan walked calmly behind them while his four friends were livid.

They stormed into Mateo's office where Clover was standing talking to to their former coach. Clover jumped back while Mateo got in front of her to keep them from getting too close.

"You lied!" Jose yelled. "You said you wouldn't take it!"

Clover scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What? Thought I wouldn't find out y'all lied to me? Schemed against me?!" She yelled, standing on Mateo's chair to see over him.

"We were protecting you and you lied straight to our faces!" Stephen argued.

"Come up with new lies." She groaned. "You, you, you, and you," She pointed out each one of them, "are scared that a 5'6 quarterback can beat you."

"You're 5'5." Diego pointed out. "Stop lying to make yourself look better. You can't even see over Mateo! You're standing on a chair!"

"I'm 5'7, Danny measured me for my physical." Clover stuck out her tongue obnoxiously as Sam and Victor came in to separate the group of teens. "Get your heads out your asses and know I carried the team! Always have! Always will! I'm better than all of you!"

"You're third ranked!" Jacob yelled. "You're not even the best quarterback."

Clover stood on Mateo's desk and looked down at them. She squatted down and looked them over. "Don't try me because I'll hurt y'all's feelings. We all know y'all just kept me close this long because I'm the enemy."

"You're like our sister." Jose said calmly, trying to get through to her. "But you lied to us. At least what we said was true. We had substance to it. You stabbed us in the back."

Clover sat down on the desk and looked at her closest friends. "Y'all told me to pass up the biggest thing going for me. Think about that. I could stand here and say that you have a broken neck, you've taken too many bumps to the head, you're just hands down not that good, and Jose is my only real competition, but I'd never tear y'all down like that. Ever! I risk my body, my position, my future,
my life. My life, for y'all. And you tell me to ruin it with some lies. Best brothers I could ask for."

The four boys just watched Clover walk out the room. Sam, Victor, and Mateo looked at them while Ethan got up from his spot on the couch along the wall where he watched everything happen. He looked at his friends then shook his head and walked out without a word spoken.

Mateo cleared his throat to get their attention. "No baseball tonight. Second playoff game is tomorrow.
Work as a team. I didn't make y'all this close just for y'all to fall apart at the end."

~**~

Friday afternoon, after not talking for the last forty-eight hours, the six star football players joined the rest of their baseball team to the field for their game. Hurst tried to ignore the tension, but it was hard when they made all the other players bummed out about one of the biggest games this season.

Hurst gave them their pep talk only to call for the six to meet him in the grass field between the dugout and the bleachers. When they gathered together, he lifted his sunglasses to look them all in the eyes.

"I don't know what's happening in your little worlds, but today you need to put your shit aside and work as a team. I know your not use to it, but the world doesn't revolve around a bunch of high school football players. This means a lot to these other kids so suck up your problems and play this game."