Absolutely Bad

♤-Chapter: 18-♤

"Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion." - Tony Hsieh

Chapter 18: Hail Mary

Clear View University

Nikolai was thoughtful; he had kept two places, for Olivia and me in the second row closes to the field. On each side of the field in front of a field entrance were banners with each teams name on it. Cheerleaders were standing in front of the crowd, hyping everybody up and getting them ready for the game.

The crowd started going wild as our school team started running for the banner and bursting through it. They were jumping and chanting words as they gathered in a straight line in front of the crowd. The crowd on our side stood up and started shouting and stomping their feet on the floor. I just followed Olivia's every move.

The visiting team did the same and soon the guy with the microphone started talking. "Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen!!" The announcer stringed out ever last letter of each word. The whole field went crazy.

"Let's welcome our teams!" Once again there he goes again. "Hometown team The Jackals we have Smith 6, Murphy 3, Lam 10, Martin 20, Brown 12, Roy 7, Tremblay 3, Lee 9, Gagnon 16, We have our team captains Wilson 25 and Moretti 21."

The team players shouted the cheerleaders started dancing and the crowd was stomping their feet once again.

"The visiting team The Murky Raccoons! Díaz 1, Blanco 44, Castro 31, Flores 17, Ortiz 19, Rey 5, Vega 11, Vera 23, Gallo 2, The team Captains Gomes 50 and Morais 27"

The opposing team's crowd went wild. They all wore something white and blue, matching their team colors.

I still didn't understand much of the game but I remember our team calls out, what Olivia calls Play names, 'Puntrooskie', 'Hail Mary', 'Hook and Ladder', 'Sweep Pass', 'Jump Ball' and a few other names I can't remember.

Apparently, those are the names a Quarterback, which in our case is Nikolai, would call out then say hike and the play would begin.

I just jumped and screamed along with Olivia and the rest of our crowd. "Countdown begins 35 seconds. Can the Raccoons make a touchdown or will this be their downfall." The announcer shouted over the mic.

The score was 44:37, our team running for the win. The football was passed from number to number when out of nowhere one of our team players tackle number 31 to the ground 20 yards before the end zone. The Raccoons now had to give the ball to our team as they hadn't made 10 yards in four plays.

The clock read 20 seconds and our team huddled up. Nikolai called a play. "Yellow 63 Blue 42, Hike" He faked a pass to number 3 and sprinted down the wide open field. This was the first time he ran down the field. The crowd started going wild counting the time down from 15 as he ran full speed.

"30 yards... 20 yards... 10 yards... End Zone!" Nikolai just made a touchdown, making the score 51:37. The referee asked the team if they were going to take the extra points.

I assume he said yes as the two teams split and number 7, Roy walks to his position at the 15 Yard line. They were going to do a kick for one point.

"Roy, number 7 is going to kick for an extra point for The Jackals." Everybody is silent; you could hear a pin drop as Roy takes the kick.

The football goes sailing through the air heading straight for the middle of goal posts. We're silent watching as the points on the white and red board goes to 52:37; then all hell breaks loose, in a good way. The boys tackle him to the ground cheering.