Page 49 of Snap

They'd believe what Danbury wrote about me. I doubted there was anything I could do that would restore my reputation after this.

I took a deep breath before I stepped out onto the field.

The crowd roared. Applause, cheers, and jeers. The last one was for us, the visiting team. The cheers resounded with the name of our opposition, who also jogged around the field, warming up. The Newcastle Chillers were going to be tough to beat.

Of course, that was to be expected at this time of the season. We wouldn't be here if we weren’t all the best of the best. One of us would end up the third-best of the best.

That had to be the Chillers. We'd come too far to be out now.

Adrenaline surged through me. The need to win, even if it meant smashing the other team out of the way.

"We've got this," Hawk said, coming to jog beside us.

"Of course we do," Chase said. "No doubt in my mind. The Chillers don't stand a chance. We are going to leave them a smear on the field."

"Amen to that," Bam said as he joined us.

"Only if Octopus doesn't fuck up," Pinky said as he jogged past.

If I'd ever been tempted to trip anyone, it would be right now. Of course I'd have thousands of witnesses, and their phones to see me do it.

I'd be lucky to escape an assault charge.

"You worry about your own game," Hawk called out after him.

"We're all under a lot of pressure," I said. It weighed on all of us, not just me. I felt like the whole world was watching. Every single Rapids fan in the stadium, and watching on TV, were relying on us.

This wasn't even the biggest game of the year, but it suddenly felt like it.

My gaze wandered up the stands, to the private boxes. I knew Rubie didn't like football, but was she in there, watching? Carson Thomas would be. He was probably glaring daggers at me right now.

The pressure increased a thousandfold.

I jogged past a handful of kids who waved like crazy and grinned at me. I smiled and waved back. At least they didn't care what I had or had not done. Or that some asshole reporter was trying to drag my name through the mud.

They also didn't care that I missed Rubie like a starving man missed a hamburger. She was tastier than a hamburger.

"Hey, Earth to Ollie, Earth to Ollie." Chase snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I waved his hand away. "What?"

"We're heading back to the locker room now," he said.

I had a feeling he said it a couple of times, but I was lost in thought.

"Right," I said as if I'd actually been paying attention. I turned and jogged back toward the entrance with the rest of the team.

The next few minutes went in a haze. I found myself on the field, snapping the ball towards Hawk. At least that was the theory. The ball slipped out of my hand and went wide.

"What the fuck, dude?"

I don't know who said that. It didn't matter. The opposition grabbed the ball and bolted with it. The whole play we had planned before the beginning of the game went down the toilet.

The Chillers scored a touchdown in the first few minutes of the game. My heart sank right down to my boots. That was never a good sign. It screwed with morale. It certainly screwed with mine.

I knew exactly who they would blame for this. I had no one to point the finger at but myself.

The rest of the first half of the game went just as well as the first few minutes. After the third bad snap, the coach took me off the field. He should have done that after the first one, but he had faith in me.

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