Pace My Heart (A sequel to *Happy To Meet You*)

Chapter-46

“They better win this match if they want to impress you.”

“Please don’t mind him, Min Ho. He is mad,” Mandy sighed. All three of us laughed watching Jack hurriedly scrambled through the crowd to relay the good news to the team.

*

  Today’s match seems to have drawn people in good numbers. The stadium with a capacity of seating four thousand people was overflowing with spectators. The east stand belonged to the home crowd. Students, guardians, sports enthusiasts and the locals had come out to watch the home match. The visiting team’s supporters occupied the west stand but in lesser numbers.

   From the conversations around we found out that Michigan College was the more seasoned and better ranked team in the pre-season poll. It was the first time that Evanston College had reached this far in the rounds and getting a chance to qualify for the division tournament. Evanston College had the support of the home crowd as its advantage but it also meant more expectations.

*

  The match was scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm. Evanston were sporting the white jersey while Michigan had donned the black jersey.

  Having won the toss after the coin flip by the referee, Michigan got the chance to choose the goal they would attack. On the other hand, Evanston would be starting the game with the kick off. The ball was placed in the centre mark on the midpoint of the centre line. The first half, a period of 45 minutes began with Evanston’s kick off.

  From the beginning, Michigan seems to be already dominating the opening phase. They were threading passes through Evanston defence with smoothness and charging towards the goal at every given chance. I could see him discussing the game with Jack who looked every bit tense. Only 12 minutes into the match, Michigan took the surprise lead when they were able to squeeze the ball past the goalkeeper from a long shot.

  Jack had placed both the hands on his head as the west stand erupted in cheers. Just then, Mandy who had been sitting next to me stood up and was clapping her hands. She had been busy talking on the phone with her friend and she mistook the goal to be scored by Evanston.

“Mandy.”

I called out to signal her that she was mistaken. She stopped abruptly on hearing me and realising that nobody else around her was doing the same. Everyone including Jack was staring at her.

“I am so sorry Jack...I didn’t realised it.”

Mandy apologised, her face visibly reddened.

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.”

I reasoned holding her hand.

  I saw Jack coming up to hug her on realising how uncomfortably embarrassed she was about it. He spoke to her,

“Ava’s right. It’s perfectly fine, dear.”

Mandy responded by nodding her head but with a downcast glance.

“At least you cheered. That’s good, right?”

Jack teased her.

“Jack!”

Mandy exclaimed hitting him lightly with her hand. Both of us couldn’t help laugh watching them. Jack had made Mandy smile again.

*

 He had worn a baseball cap to make himself less conspicuous which really didn’t help much. When people around started realising there was a known face among them, they started coming up in intervals to meet him. He greeted everyone with a polite smile or a handshake.