Chapter 89 Chapter Eighty Nine
Chapter Eighty-One - Lena's POV
My heart was in my throat as I watched Jace being loaded into the ambulance.
Even from the stands, I could see the pain on his face. The way he'd collapsed when he tried to stand, the devastation in his eyes as they carried him off the field.
Allison had tried to cheer the crowd and motivate the team, but that sudden burst of hope didn’t last long. Jace was done, and so was the rest of the team, we all knew it.
He loved playing football and he loved being captain, I knew getting hurt like this in such an important game in front of so many people, it had to hurt. I felt so bad for him.
"Oh my God," Nicole breathed beside me. "That looked... Wow.”
"Really bad," Jake agreed. "His knee is definitely messed up."
I tried to get up and go see him, but Nicole held my hand and pulled me back, shaking her head solemnly saying, “He doesn’t want you there.”
“Is he going to be okay?” I whispered.
“Doubt it, that’s the kind of injury that ends football careers. He’ll be extremely lucky to pull through that.” Jace answered, taking a large bite of his corndog.
I watched glumly as the ambulance started to pull away, Allison's face visible through the back window, and felt a confusing swirl of emotions.
Concern and guilt and relief that at least there was some small chance it wasn’t as bad as it looked. His leg didn’t bleed or look broken as far as I could tell, so that had to count for something. Right?
Most of all, I felt anger at myself for still caring despite everything.
"Four minutes left," Jake said, checking his phone. "Tigers are down by seven, they're finished. We’ve lost."
On the field, Noah was gathering the team into a huddle.
My stomach clenched with tension. This was it, his moment. Finally, he was getting his chance to shine and show that he was just as good if not better than the rest of them.
I clenched my fist and shut my eyes tight, praying for luck. Everything depended on the next four minutes.
"Come on, Noah," I whispered.
The teams lined up on the field. Noah took the snap, his first as quarterback all night, and immediately rolled right, scanning downfield.
Jake narrated for me because I knew very little about football and needed him to explain what was happening,
“Now he’s pump-faking… now he’s freezing the safety… now he’s fired a perfect pass to Marcus for fifteen yards. Oh my God, he’s so skilled, that was beautiful.” He muttered, his mouth full of popcorn.
The crowd started to stir with a hopeful murmur.
“Alright, next play. Noah hit Donovan on a crossing route, so another first down… Holy shit.” Jake said. "He's actually good. Where’d they get this guy?!”
They were moving now, marching down the field with newfound purpose.
“He’s not trying to be Jace at all, he’s playing his own game,” Jake narrated, “Using his own strategies, so rather than have one central player to take the majority of the weight…”
Nicole finished, “He involves the entire team.”
Jake excitedly took a swig of his soda, “Exactly! That’s what I’m saying! Quick passes from one guy to the next, keeping the ball moving and spreading it around to different receivers, so everyone got a shot. It’s brilliant! That way the Sharks can’t focus on just one person!”
I nodded hopefully, watching the field I could see that the team that had been fractured and scattered twenty minutes ago suddenly looked unified and focused.
With only two minutes left on the clock, the Tigers were on the Sharks' thirty-yard line.
Noah called a timeout just then. The crowd was on its feet now, straining their necks to watch the field, the earlier despair now transforming into desperate hope.
"LET'S GO TIGERS! LET’S GO TIGERS! LET’S GO TIGERS!” I started.
And soon the chant thundered through the stadium, unified voices of hundreds wanting the same thing, to win!
Noah jogged to the sideline, saying something to Coach Ellis. Then he was back in the huddle, and even from the stands I could see the intensity in his body language. The certainty in his stance.
They lined up for the last time and Noah took the snap, dropped back three steps, and launched it deep down the right sideline.
Marcus was there, sprinting at full speed with a Shark cornerback right on his hip trying to tackle him.
The ball seemed to hang in the air forever, stretching out for an impossibly long second as every single person on the field held their breath.
Marcus stretched out his hands…
He caught it…
TOUCHDOWN!
The stadium exploded with deafening cheers.
I was screaming without realising it, jumping up and down, grabbing Nicole and Jake and shaking them we celebrated.
"THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND!" I yelled, not caring who heard.
The extra point was good, so now the game was tied. 28-28.
“One minute, fifteen seconds left on the clock.” Jake muttered through a mouthful of chips, “Say your prayers, boys and girls, the game is about to end.”
The Sharks got the ball back, trying to run out the clock and take it to overtime. But our defence, suddenly energized, suddenly believing, stuffed them on three straight plays.
On the fourth down, they punted again.
“Forty-five seconds,” Jace whispered.
“Can you stop counting down? You’re making me nervous.” Nicole snapped, squeezing the life out of my shoulders as she watched the field intensely.
“We have the ball on our own forty-yard line. This is it.” Jace said, ignoring her. “Noah takes the snap.. he hits Donovan on a quick out for eight yards… Immediately he spikes the ball to stop the clock…. Thirty seconds left!”
He continued, “Another completion… Fifteen yards out of bounds to stop the clock. Twenty seconds, the sharks are on the thirty-yard line! We’re so close!”
The crowd was so deafening, I couldn't even hear myself think. My hands were shaking so badly I couldn’t stop it.
Noah called the play again and the ball snapped.
“Noah’s dropped back. He's looking, looking around but everyone is covered by a Shark, no one’s open to take the ball… My God, the pocket is collapsing around him. We’re fucked!” Jace started, tapping his leg furiously.
I jumped to my feet to watch as Noah scrambled right, running from a gigantic Shark defender closing in fast on his tail.
“Noah plants down and throws off his back foot, across his body. Goddamnit! That’s the kind of throw coaches tell you never to make! He’s launching it toward the end zone!”
“Tyler Costa is there,” Nicole noticed, “How the heck did he break free from double coverage?”
I covered my face with both hands because I couldn’t watch, then I opened my eyes and watched through the gaps in my fingers.
The crowd went quiet as a graveyard, watching in horror and awe as the ball dropped into Tyler’s hands like it was meant to be there.
TOUCHDOWN.
The stadium lost its freaking mind! People were crying and screaming. Strangers hugging strangers in a frenzy. The band played, drums booming and trumpets singing so loud you could feel it in the air.
I was sobbing and laughing at the same time, barely able to process what I'd just witnessed.
Noah's teammates mobbed him on the field, jumping on him, screaming his name. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
I looked up to the scoreboard to see Tigers 35, Sharks 28 as the final scores.
They'd done it. He'd done it.
The celebration on the field was pure chaos. Players throwing their helmets in the air, Coach Ellis being carried on shoulders, the cheerleaders going absolutely wild.
Then through the madness, Noah looked up at the stands directly at me. He raised his arm and pointed straight at me.
"LENA!"
My heart stopped.
"COME DOWN HERE!"
I pointed at myself, mouthing “Me?”
He nodded vigorously, that brilliant smile lighting up his face. "YES! LENA, COME DOWN!"
"GO!" Nicole shoved me toward the stairs. "GO GO GO!"
I stumbled down the bleachers, my legs shaking, people cheering and clearing a path for me.
The crowd was chanting now. "NOAH! NOAH! NOAH!"
I reached the fence separating the stands from the field. Jake and some other guys helped me climb over, and then I was running across the grass toward where Noah stood waiting.
He ran to meet me halfway, so I launched myself at him and he caught me, lifting me off my feet as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"You did it," I said against his shoulder. "You actually did it. I knew you could."
"We did it." He pulled back just enough to look at me, his eyes bright with victory and something else. A look in his eyes, so determined and proud that it made my breath catch.
Then he kissed me.
Right there in the middle of the field, in front of the entire town, with cameras flashing and the crowd screaming and his team celebrating around us.
A public declaration that left no room for doubt about what we were to each other.
When we finally broke apart, I was dizzy and breathless and grinning so hard my face hurt.
The crowd was still chanting his name.
His teammates were still celebrating, several of them coming over to slap his back, congratulate him, and welcome him finally, truly as one of them.
And in the parking lot, barely visible through the celebration, I saw the ambulance. It hadn’t quite moved yet, they were still getting out of park.
Through the back window, I could just make out Jace's silhouette, watching me.
Our eyes met across the distance. Allison looked murderous, and Jace’s expression was unreadable, but his hands were clenched into fists.
He pulled out his phone and put it to his ear, staring straight at me as he talked to whoever was on the other end.
Noah followed my gaze, saw Jace, and for just a moment, his smile faded away leaving a jealous grimace in its place.
Then he turned back to me, pulling me close to him again, his hands firm around my waist.
"Forget about him," he murmured in my ear, causing me to sigh and lean into him. "Tonight, you belong to me.”
The ambulance pulled away, taking Jace with it. And as Noah kissed me again, surrounded by celebration and victory and the promise of everything I'd ever wanted.
In that moment I had no idea the horrors that were coming next, I had no idea that later that night I would be opening my phone to a text from an unknown number saying.
Saying, “Enjoy your victory while it lasts, Lena. Go ahead and celebrate. But you’re still the same nobody loser you’ve always been, and one measly win won’t change that!
When spring break ends and you return, I’ll be waiting to remind you of your place. And this time… no one is coming to save you.”