Page 70 of Why We Break

“We’re gonna be cutting this one close,” I say, mostly talking to myself, before turning back to the field.

“We need to get to at least another twenty yards before we can even consider a field goal,” Jason adds.

Just as the words come out of his mouth, the center snaps the ball again, and all of a sudden Blake is running straight toward the end zone. “Come on, come on,” I chant under my breath as a Bakersfield player tackles him.

I look up at the clock, noting that there are less than thirty seconds before the end of the game. I look over at the coaches beside me before pointing out, “So, we can go for the touchdown, but if we don’t get it, we risk losing in overtime. Or we go for the field goal, but if he misses it, they could run it back and score.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” the other coaches agree before Marcus says, “What you wanna do, Coach?”

“Hmm, let’s go for the field goal. If we make it they won’t have time to score after, and if we miss it we aren’t risking a turnover as long as he doesn’t kick it too short. He’s been pretty consistent in practice too,” I decide, and Marcus motions for the kicker to head out.

“God, this might be the most stressful game I’ve ever seen,” Theo mutters, and I nod, waiting to see what’s about to happen.

CHAPTER 51

HANNAH

“Oh my God, I don’t think I can watch,” Caroline whispers, covering her face with her hand as the Springside kicker lines up for the field goal. There are less than thirty seconds left on the clock, and I don’t remember the last time I was this nervous about a football game.

“I don’t know that I can either,” I admit, looking down at where several of the girls from the squad have similar expressions. They start chanting “Make that kick!” over and over as the center snaps the football. It seems like the entire stadium holds its breath as the Saints player kicks the ball and it soars through the field goalposts. The Saints sideline erupts in loud cheers and screams as I reach out grabbing Caroline while we lose our shit with the rest of the fans.

The clock reaches zero, and Caroline whispers, “Oh my God, they actually did it, Han.”

“Hell yeah, they did,” I say, watching as the boys try to dump the Gatorade cooler on Will, but he jumps out of the way just in time, causing Theo to take the brunt of the cold liquid. He stands there in shock for a moment as Will, Caroline, Margaret, and I, along with several of the fans in the stadium, cackle at his expression.

“Oh my God, that literally couldn’t have played out any better,” Caroline says, already moving toward the field. I trail behind her, keeping my eye on Will as we go. One part of my brain says to wait, knowing if I run to him, our secret will be out, but he turns, searching through the crowd of people as the team celebrates around him, and suddenly I don’t give a shit about any of that.

I run to him, flinging myself into his arms as soon as I’m close. He catches me and twirls me around before dropping his mouth to mine and kissing me hard.

I hear several shocked gasps behind us, but I tune them out, pulling back and smiling at him, “Congrats, Coach! I’m so proud of you!” I squeal, before whispering, “And I’m not sure, but I think they may be onto us now. We’re totally gonna be the newest headline in the STS tomorrow.”

Will leans in and kisses me again before shrugging. “Oh well. I told you I was through pretending like I’m not in love with you.”

My heart stops again at his words, and before I can think too hard about it, I whisper, “I love you too, Will Thompson.”

We both freeze at my admission before his mouth breaks into a smile, and he pulls me in, kissing me hard. I hadn’t planned on telling him like this, but as I talked to Caroline and Margaret earlier this week, I knew it was just a matter of time before I told him how I feel.

“I swear to God, I’m never letting you go again, Hannah Scott,” he murmurs.

I cling to the front of his shirt, and I’m about to kiss him again when I hear a loud cheer behind us. We turn to see our friends making their way over, smiling and glancing at us knowingly.

“It’s about damn time,” Theo says, rolling his eyes at us.

“Yeah, I don’t know what all’s been going on between you two for the last few months, but I was starting to think you two wouldn’t ever figure your shit out,” Seth adds.

Margaret and Caroline both run to me and pull me away from Will, hugging me hard.

“Please tell me you’re done pushing him away,” Caroline whispers, and I just nod before squeezing them both hard and going back to stand next to Will.

As soon as I’m close enough, he wraps his arm around me and pulls me close to him, as a wave of coaches and fans start making their way over to congratulate him on the win.

Huey reaches us first, smiling and waving his shaker in his hand frantically. “What a game, Will. I knew you had it in you. I’m so proud,” he says, wrapping Will in a hug and patting his back hard. “And it looks like that’s not all we have to celebrate.” He gestures to where Will still has his arm around me and gives us both a smirk. “I may be old but I’ve sworn for years there was something between you two.”

“Yeah, yeah. You and your old man intuition,” Mayor Brian teases with a laugh as he makes his way over to shake Will’s hand. “Great game, Coach. It’s been a long time since Springside had a state championship. You should be proud.”

“Thanks, Brian.” Will nods just as Principal Hale runs over. I tense, wanting to bask in the happiness we’re feeling right now before making any decisions about work, but bracing myself for whatever’s about to happen.

“Coach Will, that was incredible! Great job!” he exclaims with a wild smile.

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