Higher, Faster, Stronger

The bus arrived the next morning to bus us to the game. Most of us spent the time mentally preparing and listening to music. I was no different. In the separate girls locker room, I dipped my fingers in the black paint that was provided to me. Two lines on each cheek and I was ready.

I was ready for my war.

Our personal war. No guns, no knives. Energy drinks and helmets, turf and pads. A loud knock on the door and Izzy and Hannah trailed in. My helmet was right beside me, my first line of safety. I don't want to have to tell you the amount of stories I've heard about people getting hurt because their helmet came off. It's scary what can happen if your head isn't covered.

Iz was dressed in full Kelowna cheerleading garb. The rest of the girls were outside. Hannah on the other had was shaking in her maroon and gold sweatshirt. The colors looked good on her, they stood out against her skin and eyes.

"You can't be that cold, Hannah. It's cloudy but the wind hasn't started blowing yet." I tried to think of the forecast for today. Izzy's tone cut through my reverie.

"That's not the reason. This red haired kid scared the life out of her. I think he was from Saratoga." Hannah sat down on the bench with me, trembling. "I don't blame her at all, this kid was nuts…"

"Did he say anything?" I demanded.

"He kept going on about fresh blood on the field, how he was looking forward to feeling pain, like he'd never felt pain before…there was a few screws loose there…" Iz sat down and hugged the smaller girl. I tried to remember back to that day at the gym with Cameron. "Gabe…" I said softly.

"Who?" Iz looked up. "Listen, this goes without saying but stay away from the red haired psychopath. Cameron warned us about him; Gabe really is out of his tree. Like, that's the reason Terry and Cameron moved. Gabe is their younger brother."

I stood up to leave but Hannah caught my arm. "Don't tell Neil."

"You of all people should know it's impossible to lie to him. The kid is a human lie detector! If he asks me anything, he'll know if I say anything but the truth."

"Please, just don't tell me I got scared. He'll try to kill the Saratoga boy and I can't stop him if he gets really angry…"

"I don't promise anything." A loud knock interrupted and Steve came bursting in. Evidently he was kind of taken back by the fact that I wasn't alone in there.

He grabbed for my hand and I barely had time to yank the helmet off the bench. "What's the emergency?" I ended up shrieking at him. "Nathan!" he yelled. I stopped and let two ideas flood into my head. Either he was trying to kill someone or he was freaking out somehow but either way, it wasn't good.

When I got to the field, nothing looked good. The skies were ready to dump about a hundred gallons of water on us. The fans, despite the fame of the occasion were spread few and far apart. One red haired boy stood towards our side while it took three kids to restrain Cameron from killing his brother. Derek was sitting with Nate on the sidelines but neither of them looked good. Steve caught up with me, wheezing.

The rest of the boys looked agitated or scared. No one was warming up. The cheerleaders weren't talking, they just gathered in a group close to the benches. This went beyond professional rivalry, we just (professionally) hated their guts. And they hated ours, enough to kill it seemed. Crisis after crisis. Who to start with?

Hannah trailed out with Iz who immediately went over to her small band of girls and instructed them to started stretching out. Neil stalked over to his cousin and after nodding a few times, Hannah took a seat in the bleachers near the vicinity of where Coach was.

Nate was priority one now. He looked pale, almost scared. Frankly, he looked like he was gonna blow chunks over the field. I jogged over to Derek who wearily looked at me.

"Is he ok?" I asked gingerly. "He remembered to take his medication, if that's what you're asking." I forgot my boyfriend (HELL YES!!) had a good ability to read between the lines. "It wasn't, but that helps to know. Nate," I asked him, "Are you sick?"

He shook his head. "That kid's a monster though…a real monster. He feeds on other people's …I don't know… but he scares you real bad. He seems…it's hard to explain…almost like he grew up a freak all his life. I was trying to help Cameron and he kept whispering with a crazed look in his eye about blood and never experiencing pain before. Almost like he was looking forward to it."

"Remember our talk with Cameron? He did grow up like that all his life." I said softly.

I turned around and Hannah waved at me from the stands. I smiled. "Hannah wants to wish you good luck…shes up in the bleachers." Nate immediately perked up and turned around. "Where is she?" I pointed and he took off.

"Unbelievable." Derek said with disgust and disbelief. I scooted over to the warm spot where Nate just was. A cold breeze whipped past us and we both frowned. Wind and rain weren't the best playing conditions at all. In fact, they upped the chance of injury close to 50%. Of course, football is a dangerous sport to begin with.

"I can't wait til this game is over with." I looked at Derek curiously. "Too much tension. Someone's gonna explode and something bad is going to happen." Immediately I smacked his hand. He gave me a withering look, as if to say, 'what was that for?'

"Don't jinx us! It's bad enough we've got a loose cannon, a good team, bad weather and freaked out teammates, don't make it worse!"

"I only said the truth…' he grumbled. I sighed and put my hand on his. "I know but this entire day has gotten everyone spooked. I mean, look at the circumstances to how we got here. Then there's Gabe, freaking out everyone, the weather's crap and such. And you're right, someone will probably get hurt, whether we want them to or not." He got up and motioned for me to do the same. "Let's get going or it'll be Coach who'll be doing the hurting."

Coach didn't want anything to bother us but it was just so weird. We stretched out with stony looks on our faces. We gathered for a pep talk but it was hard to get started. What do you say on a day like today?

"Play strong everyone. Don't let it bother you." Now, Coach really wasn't that descriptive about what it was, but there was a slew of things to be worried about.

"Now, what's our motto?" Steve sighed and Nate called out in exasperation, "Coach we never had a motto!" Coach, irritated for some unknown reason that we didn't have a motto, bellowed for everyone to think of one.

After a minute or so of horrible suggestions (To kill the enemy then run, We're all idiots, We'll always win except when we lose, We are the Titans!, The dancing leaves, Leaves fly together and such…) I piped up mildly, "Higher, Faster, Stronger?" I didn't expect it to be taken seriously, though admittedly it was a little better than 'To kill the enemy, then run.'

Coach looked bewildered for a second and yelled, "I like it!" For lack of better option, and might I add, none of the boys were English majors, and because it was the most logical, 'Higher Faster Stronger' was ratified as our team's motto.

Gabe and Derek walked out onto the middle of the field for the coin toss. Gabe had a serious, stoic, cold expression on his face. Derek matched it, muscle for muscle. Saratoga won the toss but just then, we heard a metallic plink! The sky wanted in on the face making contest so it decided on a crying one. And thus, it started raining.

Oh fudge…

With the official kick off the game started.

From the first play it was apparent that this team was well coached, well manned and well in need of some deodorant. They gave us the impression that we were playing some Neanderthal wannabes crossed with Einstein's love child with a tiger. Ok, that was a bit of a stretch. I don't have their dental records.

Our defense took off but it was pretty clear that it was going to be decided offensively. Our defense attacked their offense, but immediately they put their substitute quarterback in. It was a odd maneuver, and it's seldom used ever. Most people only sub if the original is damaged in some way. I don't know what they were saving him for…our boys almost itching to get some good head jarring hits in.

Anyway, the situation seemed almost even. Our defense versus their offense; we were trying our hardest not to let any gaps in, or let any chances to score. Their offense was good. I'll be the first person to admit that.

First quarter, our defense worked on trying not to let them score. Admittedly our boys tried to work on blindsiding (hitting him full force from his blind spot) their spare quarterback. In doing that, Gabe would be forced to come into play. All of us wanted to see how good he was, to see if he lived up to the talk. We wanted to see the untouchable that he was supposed to be. We kept trying to blitz him ( using our linebackers and defensive backs to charge the quarterback) and I must admit that before possession of the ball turned over to us, Nate attacked him. And I mean physically attacked him. I'm talking turning him into lawn pancake. Their colors were sand and black and by the time we got through with them, their uniforms looked like a mix of black and green.

Oh! Status report on the weather. It had been drizzling pretty well up till then. We both ended up false starting because of the bad hold on the grass. Not to mention that the wind started blowing. It was cold rain plunking on our helmets and dripping onto our faces. Our vision was getting crappy, and the hard hitting was getting us no were. Steve was getting drenched and he needed his laptop, so he had to scribble down the plays we needed onto sheets of paper to give to Coach, who in turn, needed an umbrella but was way too busy running around to keep it with him at all times. Steve was getting impatient.

It was hard to read this team and Steve was getting mad. They made him feel stupid and vulnerable and he wasn't used to that in the least. They had no visible statistician but he was determined to beat them intellectually even if we couldn't do it on the field. He felt no shame in saying this because plans don't always translate the way they are supposed to in real life from paper. There were unforeseen circumstances or whatever to make it fail.

When the first quarter ended, our bodies felt sluggish and disgusting. Me, I was wiping mud from off my face, and I don't care how much some women pay for a mud pack, this woman wanted a hot shower.

I physically felt nasty. Steve handed me the next play and I scanned it quickly. It involved me blocking for Derek. Steve had found a small weak spot in their line of defense and it involved 3 of us, one man to break through, and me to guard for Derek. We set up in a shotgun formation to make it seem like we were going to pass it instead of run the ball. The play started….and we broke through successfully. At the time we were 50 yards from our end-zone so we started to run for it. I saw a man coming at Derek and I had to take the hit for us to get the goal. I started to the right and from the second of impact I knew something was wrong. I hit him funny and he ended up elbowing me in the ribs. The wrong ribs, if you'll remember.

A cry went up from the crowd (and I use crowd in the loosest sense of the word) as Derek got the first touch down of the game.

I knew the consequences: first and foremost, my breathing would be labored the rest of the game. Two, they wouldn't use me as a receiver again unless it was an emergency. My use as a wild card was over.

The second quarter ended, and not quickly enough. Halftime was our break inside of the locker room. I took Coach aside and asked permission to spend halftime in the girls room. He seemed puzzled but gave me permission. I grabbed my bag and ran to the locker room. Then I stopped. It hurt. Badly. If I took too deep of a breath it caused me pain. If I hit it, then I'd start crying. Even a hard poke to the area….and it was bruising. I couldn't believe that this had to happen. I stripped down to my sports bra and heard a creak of the door. Thinking it was one of the cheerleaders, I just grabbed the extra pad that I had from my bag and started to wrap it around me. Another pair of hands took over…oh fudge. It was Derek. Of course Coach would send him to check on me.

"I'm not pulling out of the game." It was no use to explain to him what was wrong. He knew. Bruising plus extra pads means injury.

"If you push yourself too far and end up hurting yourself . And nothing is worth permanent damage."

"Then why are you still bandaging me up?" I asked softly.

"Because nothing will stop you, you insanely stubborn woman, once your mind is made up." He finished by tucking in the end to one side. I started throwing the rest of my things on and he walked toward the door.

"I'm telling Coach you don't feel well."

Meaning I'd be spending the time on the bench, until he needed me. Still at least this way I had a chance to play and let the aspirin I popped do it's work. With rib injuries, nothing but time helps because there is no possible way to put it in the cast. I walked as quickly as I could out onto the field.

Nate jogged over to me and asked, "Hey, where'd you go?"

"Girl problems." I replied. Answering girl problems to any question like that is a guaranteed pass go and collect two hundred dollars reply. They never question it. Nate, similarly, threw his hands up and walked away chanting, "I don't want to know!" Yeah, he's right, because hopefully no one is going to know and I'm going to the hospital right after this game.

Third quarter started up with our defense taking the field. Right now, the field was basically sludge and everyone was getting filthy. Everyone but Gabe. He remained under an provided umbrella in a meditative stance. Meh, who knew psycho kid could find inner peace?

Anyway, they were pushing as hard as they could to find a pocket and score. They gained very slowly, a yard here, two yards there, working their way up to a first down. And they got through. They got fifteen yards downfield before someone put on the afterburners and sacked them. Still…I shouldn't be freaking out like this. In any normal game, I'd just want to get ahead enough to win. Of course there is a certain amount of pride involved. But now, I kept thinking that every yard gained would be our downfall. It was odd. I kept thinking we were gonna die.

But our opportunity was dying. They were advanced as the last time we had played. No, I'm pretty sure they weren't on steroids, though some looked like it.

It's actually times like this that I was glad I wasn't in the real lineup. You have 5 or 6 guys looking into the eyes of the opposition. Now the competition could be sissies. Not likely. Staring face to face the men in the lineup, that would scare me. I give the guys, especially Keeg, props on being courageous because it's hard to stare into the face of people who are going the opposite way that you are and aren't afraid to hit you for it.

Back to the game.

I was sitting on the bench resting slowly, while the pain was going down. I had popped a pain reliever. Our defense was on the field and something was bugging me. It was a nameless fear because I couldn't place what was wrong. One of our linemen…I saw it, he was leaving a small gap. Steve had noticed it too. Neil too. Before we could do anything the next play started. One of the opposing members slipped past and received the football from the substitute quarterback. I remember every time that this had happened, normally I'd be shrieking. Not this time. He slipped past our safety and scored.

I jammed on my helmet but Coach stopped me. Kickoff was going to occur so I found it odd. No one plays all the time though.

"Not this time. We're going to try a Spread formation." A spread formation is a basic pattern in which you have 3 or more wide receivers on the offense gunning for the ball. This would serve to gain yards and get us closer to the goal. It served it's purpose, if a little shakily. With so many wide receivers on the field, the defense of the other team obviously knows that they were going to pass it.

The third quarter kept crawling on and we were tied in score. Both teams tried desperate attempts to score but nothing worked.

Finally fourth quarter came. And something unusual happened.

Gabe came out of his trace and trotted down to the field. The other quarterback saw him, took off his helmet and headed back towards their side. Nate described it to me later. His eyes were small but wide. He looked like a demon. And it came to be true. All he had to do was pass the ball but he was never hit. He always had his personal halfback, fullback or safety to block for him. And each time he smiled that crazy thin lipped smile, it would send shivers down anyone's spine. But still, it was getting down in time. Possession turned over to us for one last shot.

Coach pulled me aside and asked me to run it. The plan was to make it seem like another player had the ball (a fake handoff) and I'd run it downfield in the last attempt. We still had 1 more attempt besides this to make a goal even though the clock was running down.

I didn't want to do it, but what other choice did I have?

Some extremely unusual happened. Gabe decided to switch from offense to defense. Just this one time. Their coach knew we were going to try something. He nestled near their cornerback, apparently substituting himself in. This is generally unheard of. In the pro leagues, people switch but that is with at least some media notice and a statement saying that he is gonna go from one position to another. The rulebook has nothing against it as far we knew. The cornerback look scared. Normally they try to cover wide receivers. But he looked like he wanted to go home to his momma.

It was raining. It was cold and wet. I just wanted to go home myself.

The play started and it looked like our tight end got the ball and therefore he was swarmed and I started downfield. They sent guys after me I knew that much.

All of a sudden, I saw a flash of red in the endzone and after that, I blacked out.