✓ | DEAR FUTURE ME

023

Skye ducked under the metal bar and hopped off the bleachers, running towards the field to be by Levi's side despite Nini calling for her. Megan, who wanted to do the same, hesitated to do so and ended up standing in her place upon seeing Skye run towards him.

"Levi!" Skye called out, getting on her knees beside Levi who still laid on the ground.

"Skye?" He furrowed his eyebrows, not quite sure if his eyes were deceiving him through his helmet.

Levi's coach and the referee walked towards them, urging Skye to step aside so they could do something. "We're gonna have to get him off the field."

"What? No!" Levi said. Even in this condition, he didn't want to give up on the game.

"Levi, you're hurting. At least sit down for a bit." Skye pleaded. "Please."

"Fine." He groaned.

"I don't think he's gonna be able to pl-" his coach began, but Skye didn't want Levi to feel hurt even more, so she interrupted him to stop him from saying anything more.

"Shh. Not now." She whispered, then turned to Levi and extended her hand for him. "Come on, dummy. Let's get you up."

With the help of the referee and coach, Levi gets back on his feet, stumbling at first as the impact from that tackle was huge. As Skye walked with him off and field and towards the bench, everyone (including those from Brandywine) cheered for him, but even that couldn't lift his now tainted spirit.

Levi sat down on the bench, cursing in pain as his shoulder continued to hurt. "Fuck."

"Where did they hurt you?" Skye asked.

"My shoulder, man." He winced, clinging onto his shoulder as it hurt to move that arm. Even the slightest movement made him wince in pain, it was that bad.

Seeing as Levi didn't even take off his helmet (well, because he couldn't), Skye does it for him, setting it beside him so he could be at least the slightest bit more comfortable. "Here. Ya know, cause it'd be difficult to do it with one arm."

"Thanks," Levi said. "And uh, thanks for coming out to see if I was okay."

"Why wouldn't I? I was so scared for you." Skye replied. She was genuinely so scared for him when he got hit by all of those guys. To be honest, her mind had spiraled so much in the heat of the moment she thought he died. Crazy to think that, but the shock made Skye not able to think straight until she saw that Levi was still breathing.

"Skye, I ruined everything." He teared up, which Skye hated to see. She felt like part of this was her fault since she basically jinxed him getting hurt, but she would turn this around somehow. Skye cared for Levi so much now, and she refused to let him give up so easily.

"No, don't cry, please." She said, wiping away his tears with her thumb.

"Everything I feared last night came true." Levi frowned. "None of these universities will want me now. They'll take everything back."

"Stop it, goddammit!" Skye slapped his knee. "If your shoulder didn't hurt, I'd slap the shit out of your arm instead."

"Come on, you know it's true." He said. Sure, everything he feared last night did come true, but Levi has had a near-perfect season. That's impressive for someone, especially in their senior year, and there was no way one of these universities would take back what they said over a shoulder injury that could be fixed. Levi was too good of a football player to miss out on, and Skye knew that.