“Because I’m the only one who has actually come here to help you. I’m not in this just to try and sleep with you. I’m genuinely interested in assisting you, and it’ll also look great on my resume for college. It’ll show how much of a dedicated student I am.”
“Thank you. Please send in the next candidate, I’ll be in touch.”
I couldn’t believe I actually said that to her. I was starting to unleash a new found confidence ever since I’ve met her, and I was really starting to enjoy it.
Chapter 9
Zeke
It was finally the weekend and I was excited to actually get to sleep until I felt like waking up, and not by my alarm at five o’clock in the morning. I looked at my phone and it was ten o’clock, which was a record for me. I also had two texts from Rachel.
Bestie(1): This may be the cold medicine talking, but I think I know why you couldn’t admit your feelings for me. There’s someone else isn’t there?
Bestie(2): It’s okay, you can be honest with me, Zeke.
Me: Rach, I was asleep when u texted me last night. I hope ur okay.
Bestie: No, I’m not okay, Zeke. I’m coming over because we need 2 talk.
***
Zach
I’ve been up since seven o’clock this morning. I always went right to the gym around that time on the weekends before it got crowded.
Our second game versus Doherty Tech was this afternoon and I needed to clear my mind before it. Chris and I met up afterward and ordered steak and eggs from the diner for breakfast. Before we left, a girl I’ve never seen around before approached me and gave me her number. She was definitely my type, and I admired her brass.
***
“All right guys, I don’t know much about this team, because they were just added to our visitor list this year, but that doesn’t mean you don’t bring your A-game. Make every extra practice we had count. One, two, three; Tigers.Eat.Prey.”
As soon as the center snapped the ball back, their defense came charging directly at me.
I looked to my left, my wide receiver was covered. I looked to my right, my tight-end was covered. I didn’t expect their defense to blitz this early in the game and that left me with no choice but to run the ball myself.
I made it to the forty yard line before I was tackled to the ground…
These guys came to play and I had to get my team motivated and focused—quickly.
***
After a grueling head-to-head match, we were both tied 21-21. We were in possession of the ball with under a minute left in the game. Anything could happen in this moment and it was up to me to make a decision—fast.
I wanted to keep pushing the clock and run the field until we got at least a 3rd and goal, but the defense was barely letting us move. So I made the tough decision to let our kicker, Adam, kick us a field goal. If he made it, we could win. If not, they’d get possession and anything could happen. I’ve watched a lot of super bowls to know this first hand.
The ball was perfectly aligned in front of him, dead center of the goal. My nerves were shot, hoping he’d make this goal. He’d only missed one field goal before this and if he missed this, we’d have to stop the Highlanders from getting a goal, so we’d force this game into overtime.
He did one practice kick, then went for it and made it, giving us a three point advantage. Now it was the Highlanders turn.
Adam kicked it all the way down the field, and my defense looked scared. There were so many holes left open and I could see the steam coming out of coach’s ear, he was so pissed. “Defense, you idiots, defense!” he shouted. I could feel we were going to lose this game to this new team and it was going to suck.
And boy was I right. They managed to score a touchdown with two seconds left on the damn clock.
After we shook hands with the team, we all slowly headed back to the locker room. Coach was so pissed he told us to grab our stuff and get on the bus. This meant one of two things. One, we’d immediately reflect on what we did wrong and practice all night. Or two, we’d be practicing all night and tomorrow.
***
Zeke
“Zeke, just tell me the truth. Is there someone else?” she asked, searching my eyes for an answer.
I was too ashamed to give her one, so I tried to deflect it. “Rach, listen. It’s complicated all right? I mean, even if there was ‘someone’ else, why does it really matter?”
“Because you’ve constantly been distancing yourself from me and I hate it. You’ve been there physically, but mentally, I could tell you’re elsewhere. You’ve been different since the first day of school, actually. When I look into your eyes, I can tell you’re thinking about someone else and it sucks because, it should be me you want, Zeke.”