Higher, Faster, Stronger

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked carefully. "I want to know."

At that precise moment, the door swung open behind us to reveal my mother, with bags of groceries in her hands. He looked completely passive. Or possibly in thought? I don't know; I never majored in boy-ology.

He stood up swiftly. "I should be leaving. See you on Monday."

Well crap. That didn't answer my question. In fact, that was probably the thing I least want to hear. With my track record with boys, he'd end up being gay with a lover in another country who is twice as effeminate than I am. Or that he's in an arranged marriage or something.

I walked him to the door and in my mind, murdered my mom. Desperation is not what I was aiming for, so I didn't follow him outside. What I needed was a good whack in the head.

"He left quickly, did you two have a fight?"

"No mom, we didn't have a fight." I pulled my chair back and stood up.

As I headed up the stairs to my room, mom called, "Where are you going?"

"To drown myself."

"Have fun dear."

I lay in my bath thinking. It's strange-because of the school year, it's usually a quick shower after practice. Nope. This time I filled my tub up and squirted some shampoo in it to make it sudsy. Bunching a towel behind my head to think, well…I thunk. I was trying to compile all the reasons that he kissed me.

1. He actually likes me. (Fat chance)

2. He felt sorry for me. (Good chance.)

3. He was on a record to kiss every girl in school. (Sure…when Iz admits to dying her hair.)

4. He gets turned on by cemeteries? (Hello lightning? I'm in a cave. You can strike me now.)

5. My mom slipped LSD into whatever he ate. (Oh look, a room full of gasoline and explosives. I'll just light a match to see---GAAAAAH!)

I didn't have that many good options…and now I wanted to know. Really badly. I'm one of those people who need to know a secret if someone hints at it. I can keep them really well but I want to know them. Badly! And if you don't tell me I'll wheedle it out of you, even if I die in the process. Because then, I can die satisfied. That cat with the whole curiosity deal ain't got nothing on me.

As it turns out, I did have some cause to worry. For the next week he avoided me as much as possible. I never asked him the question either, he just walked past me or made an excuse to leave. Most were credible...but still…who likes feeling ignored?

Fast forward to Coach's speech, the night before the semi finals. You didn't miss much, trust me. My ribs were healing and he didn't work us the last day. He didn't want to strain us too much. So instead he took that time to discuss nutrition and what we should be eating.

Nate and I tuned him out, playing Rock Paper Scissors. He was winning cause my heart just wasn't in it. The Coach was winding down about 10 minutes later when he said something unexpected.

"I'm proud of you. We haven't lost yet and I don't think we're going to tomorrow. You boys and one girl (debatable in my opinion) worked like crazy all year. But win or lose tomorrow, I'm proud of all of you. Now go home and get a good night's rest."

Totally out of the blue. And completely candid. We all just sat there with blank faces.

"I said you can go now."

We got up to move. Tomorrow was Friday and I still had the school day ahead of me. Was I going to end up concentrating? Not really. It was going to be a crap shoot.

I just kind of was a ghost in my classes.

Any athlete knows the sensation of nervousness before any big competition but seemed different to me. I wanted to prove something. We were in the semi finals but we were gonna have to fight tooth and nail to prove that we were the best.

The afternoon of the game, we arrived the field with our colors flying in the stands. The cheerleaders were warming up. Even Hannah was there for us. Personally I think she was more there for Nate, but she'd never forgive me if I said that out loud.

The Lions arrived in blazing red and blue. Their reputation proceeded them. They were strong, fast and well coached. Their coach was a ruthless man named Kevin Monochi. By reputation, he was powerful, sometimes overly cocky, but he was smart. His team consisted of the best players from their region.

Rumor was that it was funny however, that a first year coach for that particular team managed to get so far. He had coached other places but this was his first year with the Lions team. And they had made it to the semifinals. Some people thought it odd, like me, but some just chalked it up to great coaching skills. I was itching to ask Steve to do a background check on the coach, but then again, he coaches a high school football team, how bad can he possibly be?

They won the coin toss and the first quarter started. Once we were in the line up, I noticed something a little weird. I tugged on Neil's arm after a play and whispered, "Did it seem like every single one of them was breaking out badly? Odd coincidence."

He frowned but I had nothing to base it off of. A consecutive case of acne was nothing really.

As predicted, they were the first to score. They managed to slip past a line of linebackers to run into the end zone. Their speed and raw power was incredible.

Some of them looked a bit sick though. Keeg noticed it too. He tackled a man and then motioned me over later.

"Is wearing a patch on your arm normal? It didn't look like a stop smoking patch." I frowned and couldn't answer him.

I noticed some players were pulled out earlier because it looked like they were breathing too hard. Their faces were red and one was complaining of chest pain. That's just downright unusual for a kid. Most people don't eat themselves into a grave until their mid thirties. This kid's an athlete though. He exercises and probably eats well too. That was puzzling but it was time to focus on the game.

By the end of the first quarter, I was getting winded. They had a man-to-man defense and only a little bit of fancy footwork stopped me from getting hurt. I was still wary of my ribs but I knew it was my choice to play. Both mom and coach had advised against it but come on, if I didn't play this game and we lost in the semifinals, then I had played my last game already and I'd feel like a complete failure.

Our defense was getting pounded unfortunately. These guys were slowly pushing us back, one at a time. They gained yards and usually able to make a first down.

As a fullback, when we line up, our formations can put us in any number of situations. One called for me to try to push through the weak side. Trouble was, I had problems determining what the weak side was.

One formation was called the Shotgun, halfback and I covering Derek as he passed the ball out. We soon found out that passing was one of our best options. The Lion's ground game was too good. Our defense was struggling and on offense, we weren't doing much better. In the second quarter the score stood 10 to 0 in their favor.

Our last play before the end of the quarter and the start of the halftime we let all the people in the back field to run to try and catch the ball. This meant that I was running and that Derek was left wide open and that if something happened, no one would be in our backfield if they managed to snag the ball away from us. The formation (or way we line up) is called an empty backfield. It's just as it sounds.

Time ran down to the second quarter. Half time started. In the locker room, we were tired and running out of enthusiasm for this game. It was hard to choose an emotion. Everyone was feeling the sinking knot in the pit of your stomach. It was hard to keep up hope. They were as good as the rumors said. Better even.

I stood up and chucked my helmet in the center of the locker room. It served its purpose, everyone looked up at me.

"I don't care if we lose but if we keep moping like the apocalypse is going to happen, we'll accomplish nothing. Yes, they're a good team! But I refuse to stand behind this team if we walk out of here with no dignity at all. We still have our pride and no matter if we win or lose today, at least fight back. We did not get this far by conceding defeat. And I will hang up my pads now before I see us moping like a pack of six year olds. We can try and we can fight. Personally, I want to see them get the whooping of their lives out there. Anyone with me?"

Nate stood up. Then Derek, and Neil, and Keeg. Steve, and Cameron and even Kael followed. The whole team stood up and the Coach pushed through to the center.

"You heard the lady. Hands in!"

We formed a circle with an arm in the center. We then proceeded to yell like nuts in order to get pysched up.

You could hear Nate over most anyone. Hopefully I inspired some of them to at least try harder.

Our defense entered with renewed vigor. That third period we fought like our lives depended on it.

We forced a turnover which ended up in a field goal on our part. That put us on the board with 3 to 10 then. Defense wouldn't let them throw and a few of our players deserve note. The crash brothers did their part and scared the daylights out of an opposing member which led to a fumble of the football.

The third quarter held a standstill. Neither team let the other gain much yardage. Turnovers were flying back and forth. The clock ticked down to the forth quarter. We knew we had to score, and nothing but a touchdown would keep us alive. We threw out the normal playbook and had Steve take over for which plays we should try.

We threw out a Hail Mary (aka Play of Desperation), a Center Eligible, The Flea Flicker and more. The Center Eligible made the ball be passed to Keeg in a trick play in an attempt to gain yards. The Flea Flicker involves a receiver passing it back and forth to the quarterback. We were within 10 yards of our end zone and there was 20 seconds on the clock. By a miracle, Keeg had a plan. We stopped the clock so he could explain.

When time resumed everyone on offense except for Derek and Keeg covered the opposing defense. Keeg laced his fingers together and hoisted Derek up, who promptly flipped over the heads of the defensive men. I laughed so hard when he told us the plan, but it would work. Derek landed in the end zone in a kneeling position.

With about 15 seconds left on the clock our kicker Kael lined up to make the point that would tie us. We stood 9 to 10 in their favor. He wound up, kicked and….the ball hit the goalpost. It was incomplete. With 10 seconds left on the clock, we couldn't make another play. We were stuck. And we had lost. The clock ran down. And our chance died.

Monochi seemed really happy about it too. He had almost a menacing smile on his half hidden face. The bottom part was covered in bandages.

The rest of us gave a sad smile and slouched on back to our locker rooms. Given that I was on the only female on the team, I went in alone and went out alone. It was late on a Friday, and I just wanted to go home. I didn't blame Kael, the score shouldn't have depended on that one kick. I ignored the rest of my teammates and drove on home. When I got home, mom was just making dinner. When she saw my face she guessed the outcome. I just sat in her lap like a little child for a while. After dinner I just relaxed on the couch with a book.

I guess I dozed off for a bit cause the way I woke up was sort of unorthodox.

"Sarah! Sarah wake up! Turn on the TV quickly!" Mom's voice was urgent even if I was half asleep. "Channel 6 hurry!"

The blonde reporter was just starting a 'breaking story'

The line on the bottom of the TV was. "Cheaters Caught!"

What the heck? Why did she want me to…oh my god. I'll give you the full report.

"Just after the victory that the Lions football team won versus the Kelowna Leaves, the truth was revealed about the team's sudden spike of wins. According to police reports, the head coach shown here was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. A search of the vehicle was conducted and the police were surprised to find an empty six pack and 4 different types of anabolic steroids in different forms. Kevin Monochi was arrested and later confessed to police that he was giving them to the high school kids that he coached. A student that was complaining of chest pain during their most recent game was diagnosed with cardiovascular distress stemming from steroid overdose. The School board has suspended Mr. Monochi for an unknown period. He managed to post bail and is awaiting trial in an unconfirmed date. The football players will be questioned at a later date. Meanwhile hundreds of parents and students are outraged."

They cut to a clip of a parent who sounded really mad. But the blood was pumping in my ears. This could only mean one thing. But my attention switched back to the Izzy look alike when she commented on something interesting.

"As for the football fans, the Lions are out of commission until next season. It was just brought to our attention that the school committees have voted in a unanimous decision: the Lion are out and the Leaves are in. I repeat, the Kelowna Leaves are going to the Championship final round. Congratulations kids. You earned it." I switched the TV off in shock.

It was only the 7 o clock news so I did what any other person would do. I grabbed my keys and headed over to Derek's house. Honestly, when I made this decision, I didn't know what was going through my head. All I knew was that I had to tell someone.

When I got there, I opened the door and ran to his front one. When he answered the door I literally grabbed him in a bear hug. I was so happy that I was hugging him and laughing. Ok technically a doping situation is nothing to be laughing about, but their idiocy was their downfall. And our massive gain.

It made sense now. The patches were a form of steroid use. Not to mention that doping causes the sebaceous glands in the face to overproduce, so you break out a lot more. Honestly, they were getting a boost. Without the drugs we were on the same level as they were.

After he saw the report, his normal face turned into a grin. Except his grins look kind of evil.

He invited me in and we talked about the game for a while. In a break from the talks, I dropped the bomb again.

"You never answered my question." Of course he knew which question I meant.

"Because I wanted to. I can kiss my girlfriend can't I?"

"Oh, so I'm your girlfriend? First I heard of it." OH SWEET JESUS YES!

"You really need to keep up with the times." He said it so candidly. I had a feeling this was how he said he cared. I felt touched.

"You came a long way from slamming me against walls. I'm so proud. You have people skills!" He gave me a pointed look. "Terms and conditions may apply."

"Oh? Really?" He gave me a bemused look.

"Yeah. I'm not telling the team. I had a hard enough time when I had my period never mind something of this magnitude. And you're telling Nate. He'll be less inclined to make kissy noises to someone who can murder him. Deal?"

He laughed. That was a deal.

It was a good day…and we're going to face Saratoga. Yup. Good day.