Finding Your Person

Chapter 6

The game had been tied 1-1 when the referee blew the whistle. We had to go into double overtime and even then there were no goals scored, which meant penalty kicks. Our coach at yesterday's practice had told us who would be taking them if this happened. There were five of us. It started with Gabby, Kayla, Scotty, me then Alexa.
We all stood still, holding hands as the other team sent up their first girl to shoot on our keeper, Jane. I could feel my stomach twisting.
"Come on, Jane!" I screamed.
"You got this!" Scotty yelled while tightening her grip on my hand. The girl placed the ball on the line. When the ref finally blew the whistle, it had felt like an eternity. The girl took her shot, and it went in. We all called out to Jane with reassurance that she'd get the next one.
We continued to hold hands as Gabby went up to shoot. The crowd was silent. I could feel my nerves kicking in even more. Gabby placed the ball on the line, and then the whistle blew. She shot it just out of the keeper's reach. We all cheered! As she ran back we hugged her one by one. Next up was one of the other team's players again to verse Jane.
When the whistle blew, I wanted to throw up, my nerves were so bad. Jane saved it, thank God. We all fell to our knees screaming at the top of our lungs for Jane.
Kayla was next in line for us. We all wished her luck. When the whistle blew I wanted to look away, but good thing I didn't because it was an amazing shot. We all cheered crazily again. I could hear the sideline roaring.
Another girl walked up from the other team to take her shot. We could feel the tension building. Jane was so close to saving it. It went in, and Jane slowly got up from the ground. I could see her hanging her head as she got up. None of us cared that she had missed it, but she had looked defeated. Any amazing keeper would have missed that, it just put a little more pressure on Scotty who was up next. I turned to her.
"You got this," I said in a hushed voice. She gave me a hopeless smile and one last squeeze on my hand before she let go. While she walked up, it dawned on me that I was the next one on our team in line to go take the penalty kick. I looked over towards the crowd, trying to get a little boost of confidence and energy from them. As my eyes traced the crowd, I caught Liam's gaze. He gave me a wink and a nod as if to say 'you can do it.' I couldn't help but smile as I turned my head back to Scotty who had just put the ball on the line.
"Come on, Scotty!" I cheered, as others around me were doing the same. It felt like an eternity before the whistle blew, then the crowd went silent. Scotty made the shot. And I let out a squeal. She ran back to us, giving me a huge hug. I was so overwhelmed with relief for her.
I was trying to keep track in my head, so far we had made all three and they had made only two. The fourth girl on the other team went up, I could feel my palms start to sweat, even more than they already were. I watched as Jane dove to her side hitting the ball with her fist away from the net. She saved it! We all started jumping, thrilled that she had saved a second shot.
Scotty turned to me, placing her hands on my shoulders. "If you make this, we win." Even if the other team's last girl scored and Alexa and I both missed, we'd still be tied. The thought of that took some pressure off of me. I started to walk up; I don't know why the distance from the middle of the field to the goal felt so long. I turned my head to see, as the hundred-plus people crammed themselves onto the one side of the field to watch. I could hear screams from friends and teammates' parents cheering for me as I continued to walk up. The referee handed me the ball, and I placed it on the line. As I began to take a few steps back, I heard the other team's goalie say, "Don't miss."
"That's enough," the referee commented. I couldn't help but grin. Right then I knew I had it. Not picking my head up once to look at the net or the keeper, I put my head down, made my way to the ball, and shot it. In slowmotion I saw the goalie dive for my ball, thinking she would have saved it because it had been a little too close to her. The ball hit her side and slid right under her. I watched the back of the net ripple. I turned and started sprinting back to my team, but they all met me in the middle with open arms. We were in the middle of the field, huddled up screaming and hollering. I had never been so overjoyed in my life.
The next couple minutes felt like a blur, all of us tightly hugging and laughing. I knew this was a moment I'd never forget.