Andreas P.O.V-
Tonight, we face off against Notre Dame.
Notre Dame, also known as the Fighting Irish, is known for having such an excellent football team. Coach Spencer is the worst, I don't know how his players put up with him.
We are in the lead. Our team has 35 points while Notre Dame has 18. Coach and us are the most surprised. Everyone thought that we would come on this field and lose, I would include myself in the bunch, but we have surprised myself.
One thing I didn't think was going to happen did.
It all happened in slow motion, one-minute Jace was running across the field, ball in hand, the next thing I knew he was being tackled by Notre Dame's left offensive linemen. Football players get tackled all the time, there isn't anything new about that, but the way he was hit, that wasn't normal.
He went down with a hard thud, so loud and shattering I thought it would shake the stadium. I swear all the sound was canceled out, and my heart was beating ten times over I thought it would shatter my entire being.
Jace was down, Jace was hurt.
My eyes find Teddy across the field, but he's already running to Jace. Arms pumping, legs racing to him.
The crowd is rumbling, wondering what happened to number 34. I don't hear them clearly, but the announcers are reporting what is happening down here for the entire stadium.
"Make some room!" One of our freshman recruits, Parker Lyon, screams to everyone. The Notre Dame players all started to back up, the guy that hit Jace is practically pulling out his hair.
"I- I didn't mean to hit him that hard! It was a mistake." He babbles on some more, his teammates trying to console him, eliminating his hysterics.
I push my way through the crowd, wanting to see how my best friend was doing. My eyes search over him, his eyes were threaded together, lips woven and his arm, oh god his arm. Not just his arm, but his shoulder. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I can tell you one thing: it's 100 percent broken.
Teddy picks up his head, putting it in his lap. "Dude, your fucking arm is like detached from your body!"
Jace finally opens his eyes, looks at his arm, and almost throws up from the site, "No fucking way, Teddy. I don't need you to remind me, just make sure that-"
"Jace! Jace!" I look up to see Monica running across the football field to us. She kicks off her platform heels and pushes all the players out the way. One thing about Monica is that she loves Jace to death, and the look of fear and worry in her eyes and face shakes me. "Baby, oh my god are you alright? See, this is why I hate that you play football, haven't I told you that?"
He rolls his eyes, grunting from the pain, "Yes, plenty of times."
"And yet you never listen to me, now look at you, your arm is about to fall off. Oh god!" Teddy moves out the way so she could hold him, he clasps his hand around hers, holding on for dear life. Like she could take the pain away. She leans down and kisses the top of his head.
"He's basically Woody," Teddy says to break the ice-cold mood.
"Good one." Jace manages to say. If my arm was like that, there's no way I could talk, let alone laugh at a joke.
See, this is what you could have, my mind tells me.
There isn't a time when Elizabeth doesn't cross my mind. From the moment I get up until the moment I go to sleep, she is on my mind.
I haven't seen her since she's moved out, and haven't asked around about her. I know that the others go and visit her when they can, when they asked why I haven't, I just make up an excuse about me being busy or too tired, and I'm sure she doesn't want to see me.
I wonder how she's doing?
The doctor comes to help Jace. Monica held his hand as they picked him up and put him on the stretcher. They carried him away, and the game resumed.
We all tell him he's going to be alright as they carry him away. Chanting his name.
Our Coach gathers us up in a bundle, "Look, with Storme gone we have lost a valuable player to our team, but don't worry-"
"Who's going to take Jace's place?" asked Parker.
Coach's eyes fall upon the team punching bag, "Topolski, of course. He's the only person that could equal up to Storme." Coach grabs Topolski by the front. "You better not fail me boy, or I'll have you on a bus back to Idaho."
"I'm from Indiana, Coach." He squeaks out.
"Same thing."
"It's really not, very different-"
"Get out there!" He screams.
The funny thing is the coach is shorter than Topolski, hell, everyone on the team is taller than him. Topolski is 6ft 3 inches of pure steel. The guy is shy and weak and quirky, but one thing he can do well is play football.
As we all walk onto the field, getting ready to start the game again, I see Topolski shaking and shivering, it's so hot out here how in the hell is he shivering.
"Topolski, come here." I usher him over, he does. "You'll do fine."
"No, I- I won't! You don't understand, I've been the substitute for Jace this entire season, never having to wonder about playing because- well, it's Jace! I'm not ready, I can't do this."
I clamp a hand on his shoulder, "You can do anything you set your mind to. Do you know why the team messes with you?"
His brows furrow, "Because I'm easy to mess with?"
"Well- kind of- but that's not the point. You are exceptional at football; I've never seen anyone quite like you. Why do you think Coach is so hard on you?" He shrugs his shoulders. "Because you are extraordinary, you think he would curse you out and make you so nauseous that you have to throw up for nothing? Go out there and show not only me but the team and yourself what you are made of." I give him good luck by kissing him on the side of his head and pushing him on the field.
And Topolski does just that, goes out on the field and shows us what he's made of.
Touchdown after touchdown, he was making it happen. When he threw the ball, it spun in the air, soaring across the field. This is the same guy who thought he sucked. The Notre Dame team was so fucking pissed when they saw that we won.
One thing about Gerald Topolski is he can play ball.
I run across the field, holding Topolski close to me, "Dude, what the hell!"
"I can't believe it either, I thought I would fail, but I listened to your words." He hugs me so tight; the air was escaping my body quickly. All our players start patting his back, congratulating him. Coach is on the sidelines, doing the Macarena.
"Here, let's go to the locker room, your sweat is leaking all over me."
He smiles sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry about that."
✏️✏️✏️✏️
As the boys put Topolski on their shoulders and sang "For he's a jolly good fellow" I took a long, hot shower. I didn't realize how sweaty I was until I started taking off my clothes, and realized that it was stuck to my body.
After getting my clothes on, Teddy and I go to visit Jace, but find out that he's not there, they took him to the hospital and Monica went with him. We both wanted to go to the hospital, but they told us not to. The doctor told us he's in surgery, and may be for a while.
I hope he's alright.
Teddy and I made a plan to go visit him tomorrow and bring Monica some clothes from the house.
I see Mr. and Mrs. Pratt, and my roommates all standing around waiting for us. Mrs. Pratt is the first one to embrace me.
"Oh honey, are you alright?" She kisses both my cheeks, pulling me in for a hug.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She looks me in the eyes.
"Don't worry about Jace, he'll be fine. It's very easy to fix a dislocated shoulder, the only problem is that he's probably out for the rest of the season."
Jace isn't going to like that. Football is his life, the one thing that he thinks he's only good at. He's been wanting to win the championships for a while now, for him to not have an option to go, I can't even imagine what he's feeling.
"Besides the sad news of Jace, you guys did well out there, especially Gerald Topolski," said Mr. Pratt.
"I'm sorry Elizabeth couldn't make it; she had a test to study for." Mrs. Pratt apologies. Mr. Pratt and I both look at each other, knowing the real reason she wasn't here.
I move over to my friends that embrace me with hugs. Bridget bypasses me for Teddy, wrapping her entire body around him, giving him kisses all over the face. "Bridget, baby please your parents are right there." He whines.
"Who cares, they know we have sex."
Both her parents grimace, "That is an image I did not need." Mr. Pratt shakes his head at the memory, hoping to get rid of the thought of his daughter in such a compromising state.
"Is that my little Dre!" I hear someone coo, coming around the corner was my mother and my other family members trailing behind.
"Yep, that's the fucker alright." My sister curses.
My Ba smacks her arm, "What did I tell you about cursing?"
"Nothing."
I stick my tongue out at her, in return, when my parents embrace in a hug, she sticks up her middle finger. Such a scandalous little thing.
My mother, Katherine Chen, is a short little thing. She comes up to my forearm, I always would make fun of her height, and if I did, she would pull my ear, telling me not to bully. Her hair is short and black, she never liked it long. She's wearing a Berkeley football t-shirt with blue jeans and tennis shoes.
"You've gotten so big, Andreas. What have you been eating?" She presses her hands on my hips, I swat her hands away.
"Jesus mom, I'm not fat! It's muscle." I say, defending myself.
Katherine smirks, "That's your lame excuse, the muscle." I pinch her nose; she smacks at my arms trying to free herself.
My mom named Katherine after herself, she thought "why would I give my daughter another name when she can have mine? Men do it, why can't women". An example she used was Lorelei naming Rory after her from Gilmore Girls. Katherine is a tall girl, almost 5ft 9. Slim neck and hips, long black hair, and the strength of a bodybuilder. The girl never works out, but somehow, she's strong. Her personality is. . .peculiar. I feel bad for whatever woman marries her.
"You're 16 years old and you still act like a child," I tell Katherine.
She chuckles, "Oh really? Aren't you the one that pinched my nose, you fucking toddler? You better be lucky." I grab her to my chest, trying to squeeze the nasty side of her out.
"I've missed you." She whispered in my chest, I can feel her hand clinging to my black suede jacket.
"You too." I kissed the top of her head. I and Katherine may bicker all the time, but at one point, she was my best friend, and I her.
I don't know how I could have gotten over the breakup with Jessie without her.