Chapter 11 - The Unexpected Play
published: Wednesday, 4 March 2020
Annabeth scoured the stands with her gaze before spotting Piper in the bleachers, her cheerleader uniform peeking out from under her hoodie.
"Hey," she panted, jogging up to her friend.
Piper gave her a greeting hug, careful to avoid the wound. "You're late," she accused with a frown. "You missed our routine."
Annabeth winced. "Sorry, sorry, I'm here now. I did promise Jason I'd be here for the first game of the season." She peered over Piper's shoulder, reading the words on the hoodie she was wearing. It was Jason's, and Piper always wore some sort of the team's memorabilia when she came to cheer him on.
Leo stood to Piper's left, and he waved in greeting.
Annabeth scanned the field to spot her friends. They were warming up, all chattery and nervous for their first game.
Percy, who was the quarterback, stood next to the coach, talking in low tones as they reviewed plays. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration she'd never seen him portray doing anything else.
As if by telepathy, Percy glanced up to see her, and his features instantaneously brightened into a grin. Annabeth hid a smile, flashing him a thumbs-up.
Her gaze sidled to the rest of the team. Jason was speaking to Beckendorf as they did short laps of the field. Frank was off to one side, stretching, probably rerunning the plays in his head.
Luke Castellan and Matt Sloan were there too. Once upon a time, seeing Luke, his windswept blonde hair and piercing blue eyes would've made Annabeth's heart do somersaults in her chest. In all honesty, she didn't feel that way about him anymore.
In the corner of her eye, Annabeth caught a glimpse of a familiar head of frizzy, brown hair. It was Hazel, scouring the stands for a place to sit.
"Do you want to ask her to sit with us?" Piper whispered, having seen the other girl as well.
Annabeth eyed the rest of the students in the bleachers. Practically the entire school was here. Students who would, without a doubt, talk about them at the first chance they got.
"Yeah," Annabeth said, ignoring her own thoughts. Hazel was great, and definitely worth getting a few stares. "Hey, Hazel!"
She waved her arms around like a lunatic until the other spotted her, cracking a smile at the sight. Piper beckoned her vigorously, gesturing to the seat next to them.
"Hello," Hazel said cheerfully. "Didn't realise you guys would be here." As Leo shuffled up to make space, Hazel slid into the seat on Annabeth's right.
"Supporting Jason," Annabeth explained. She peered round Hazel's back. "Ah, I see you're wearing Frank's hoodie."
Hazel smiled. "Yeah." She high-fived Piper when she spotted Jason's hoodie on her.
"Ladies and gentlemen..." The speakers boomed deafeningly.
"It's starting, it's starting!" Piper said excitedly, clutching the bar in front of her.
"Give it up for...the Blue Devils!"
Celebratory music blasted as their school team burst out from below. Since they were seated in the first row, Annabeth could see everything as it happened.
She cheered and screamed till she felt her throat go hoarse.
The boys jogged out in their gear, blue jerseys and numbers on display.
"Look at these young men! Aren't they absolutely dashing?" the commentator boomed. "Let's give a little somethin' to the spectators in the stands!"
The football team came to a halt, waving and blowing hilarious kisses to the crowd. Percy even executed a mocking bow and formed a heart-shape with his arms over his head. Again, he caught her eye and pulled a silly face.
Cheesy, she wanted to shout, but she was too busy laughing.
When the referee blew the whistle, Annabeth had never felt so pumped with adrenaline before. The first game of the season was always an essential one, and seeing that the school team had missed out on the trophy by only a couple of points the last few years, she hoped that they'd be able to snag it this time.
The moments of the team whispering in low tones to each other and shuffling into position ceased as Clarisse snapped the ball back to Percy.
Annabeth would never not reel from shock as the players erupted into a violent head-on shoving contest. Her eyes followed Travis as he raced further up the field, leaping into the air and making an almost-impossible catch from Percy as he took off in a sprint.
Travis was as fast as he was skinny, so Annabeth could see why he was on the team. He got their 1st down, gaining just over ten yards, before one of the players from the other team tackled him.
The players rewound into their initial position as the next play started.
"Hike," she vaguely heard Percy yell. Beckendorf and Matt Sloan held off the defensive line as Percy scanned the field for anyone open. Frank was eventually passed the ball and rampaged through the defensive line, sending players to the ground as he took off running down the middle.
Annabeth hissed as another player tackled him before he could reach the ten-yard line, ending the first play. In the corner of her eye, Annabeth spotted Hazel's worried gaze as Frank spent a few more seconds on the ground, his chest heaving.
Percy jogged over, leaning down to exchange a few words, before he reached out a hand and yanked Frank to his feet.
Annabeth spotted Jason back in his starting position as the tight end nodding stiffly as the two of them as they returned.
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Percy practically collapsed the moment the referee called half-time. Stumbling over to the side, he slumped onto the bench, panting as he tried to catch his breath.
"Cupcakes!" came Coach Hedge's piercing shout. "You were good out there, but not quite good enough! Stoll Jr.! What the hell was that..."
The bench creaked as Frank slid into the spot beside him.
"We're only down by five," Frank said helpfully.
Percy groaned. "Yeah, but we have been for the entire second quarter." It wasn't that they were bad players, but the other team was both massive and extremely good. He shook his head. "I fumbled the ball back there. Didn't get it to Grace in time."
Frank shrugged. "Look, it's fine. There's a ton of people in the stands, and you got the next play anyway. Can't expect to always be perfect at it, Percy." He lowered his voice. "Besides, I let their receiver get past me too. I'm too distracted," he said frustratedly.
Percy's gaze flickered to the stands, where Hazel was sitting with Piper, Annabeth and Leo.
"I know, I know," Frank grumbled. "I don't have any reason to be jealous. Hazel isn't anything like that, and Valdez keeps his distance, but my mind keeps wandering."
"Tell me about it," Percy muttered.
In the changing rooms, the conversations about other girls didn't usually bother him. Matter of fact, they'd all joined in at one point or another, but Matt and Luke were especially lewd about it. One of them had mentioned Annabeth earlier, and every time Percy glanced over at her he felt a screaming need to warn her.
Shaking it out of his head, Percy turned his thoughts towards Jason instead. They weren't that chummy yet, in fact, they cooperated only for the sake of the football team and Annabeth, but it didn't mean that Percy loved the guy. He was too nice, too good. There had to be something bad about him, and it unnerved him that he couldn't identify it.
A few swings of water and run-through of plays later, the players were called back for the second half of the game. Travis was hyping everyone up, clapping them on the backs so hard, Percy even stumbled a little. How did someone so small have so much strength?
The third and fourth quarters didn't see their enthusiasm falter, but no matter how hard Percy pushed himself and the team, they consistently lagged a few points behind the others.
"Come on," Percy urged as they huddled in discussion. "There's a minute to go, and we're down twenty yards and a touchdown."
"Jackson," Jason interrupted. "We're not gonna make it."
"Not with that attitude," Percy said firmly. It wasn't even a jab, it was a plea to keep trying. They were so, so close.
He could see Jason looking at him warily through his helmet, as if trying to work him out. They'd never gotten along, and Percy knew that people knew that. The other team hadn't seen him pass to Jason the entire game — hell, even Hedge knew that they barely worked together.
"The only thing we have is the element of surprise," Percy reasoned. "Frank, if you feign snatching the ball from me, I can pass it to Jason, and he can run it past the line."
Surprise widened Jason's eyes.
"They won't expect it," Percy insisted. "And that'll give me enough time to race up the field. When I'm close enough, you throw it to me before you get tackled, and I'll try to make it to the end zone."
Even though they didn't say anything, Percy could see how insane his teammates thought he was.
Matt snorted. "You're an idiot if you think this'll work. Quarterbacks don't run. You won't make it past the line."
"Shut up," Jason snapped at him. Percy saw Frank hide a smile. The blonde player gave Percy a serious look. "Are you sure about it? It's the riskiest play we've ever tried."
Percy shrugged. "What've we got to lose?"
On that happy note, they broke the huddle and started forming up against the defence.
"Good luck," Jason murmured. "If this works, I'll make you those damned blue cookies you love so much."
Percy stifled a grin. "Hope you like baking."
The referee blew the whistle, and it was like time slowed down.
Percy's heart thrummed furiously under his chest plate, the blood rushing in his ears and muting the screams from the bleachers.
The ball slipped from Clarisse's arms, and he caught it with absolute precision. As Luke, Connor, Beckendorf and Matt struggled to push back the other team, Percy felt Frank rush past him, temporarily blocking him from the other team.
The moment Frank's hands slid off the ball, Percy hiked it to the right, taking off in a mad sprint the moment he felt the wind rush past as Jason caught it.
He'd never run so quickly in his entire life, and Percy felt the other teams' indignant shouts and his own teammates' cheers as he barrelled towards the end zone.
He was nearing Jason now, who had narrowly avoided two tackles, but had the cornerback coming for him any second now.
"Now!" Percy yelled, praying to the heavens that Jason would get his signal.
In a miraculous move, Jason pitched the ball over head a split second before the cornerback smashed him into the ground.
Percy's legs moved of their own accord, pushing him through the last five yards. Was Jason okay? Was he hurt? It was like his mind had become detached from his body.
Rolling head over heels, Percy tumbled into the end zone with a deafening whoop, the stadium erupting into shrieking cheers as he scored the deciding point.
Lying on his back, Percy closed his eyes, allowing a goofy grin to settle on his features.
They'd done it. They'd won.
"Percy!" was his only warning before Frank jumped on him, all his teammates piling onto him like a stack of pancakes.
Percy groaned between chuckles as they slid off him and he was pulled to his feet, receiving high-fives all around and words of congratulations.
"Percy! Percy!" the school cheered.
Percy jogged lightly over to where Jason was getting up from his tackle. He shot the other an amicable smile. "Couldn't have done it without you."
Jason laughed. "Yeah, we make an okay team."
Percy grabbed Jason's hand and raised it in the air, beckoning for the stadium to cheer, and soon, shouts of "Jason! Jason!" filled the air.
—*—
okay, full disclosure, i had to watch, like, five YouTube videos to even vaguely understand how American football works, so hopefully i got it right? please tell me if i didn't, i really did try 😂 it's difficult to write about a sport you don't know about.