Page 62 of The Kid Sister

Mom frowned, running her hand through my hair as I dashed to her side. “Beauty sleep?”

“Sawyer’s being silly,” I said. “Are Reilly and Gray coming to the game?” I already knew my older brothers would be driving down from college, but I asked anyway.

“Yep, for sure,” Mom said. “Sawyer, don’t stay up too late.”

Mom went over and kissed the top of his head. “Goodnight, love.”

“Goodnight,” he mumbled, and to me, he teased, “Goodnight, Sierra. Sweet dreams.”

I poked my tongue out at him and snapped back, “Don’t trip over your clothes and break your ankle before the game.” And I raced down the hallway, hearing Mom lecturing him about the state of his room.

But I couldn’t stop smiling. Talking to Sawyer had been the best decision, and it had turned out better than I imagined. Now, if only the Chargers could win the championship final, then everything would be perfect.

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There was so much happeningon game day, a whirl of activity where there was barely a moment to breathe. The electric atmosphere was a step above what any of us had experienced and playing to such a large crowd in the stadium was overwhelming.

My own nerves were for Sawyer and Cullen. I couldn’t imagine the pressure my brother would be under if he had to make a field goal. Same with Cullen. I prayed his arm would be on target.

In only the sixth minute, the Oakwood Warriors opened the scoring with an 82 yard touchdown that had our team shell shocked. It’s like it stunned us, woke us up. From there, Cullen and Tennessee went to work for the Chargers, Tennessee racking up 244 rushing yards and scoring four touchdowns. Up 28-7 in the third quarter, Oakwood stormed back like a Category 5 hurricane, scoring two quick touchdowns, making our comfortable lead vanish.

On the sideline the screams were deafening, my nerves so frazzled I had no idea how my quaking legs held me up, how I was able to run out water. Across in the stands I could see my parents and my brothers on the verge of hysteria.

I was sure that Cullen, or even Sawyer, would have no time to acknowledge my presence, such was their intensity and focus. But as Cullen took a drink at the start of the fourth quarter, he said, “Thanks Sierra. You’re doing a great job.”

The addition of butterflies to my already twisted stomach was not a good combination. Twelve minutes. That’s how long the Chargers had to defend for, hold on to their lead. A mere twelve minutes.

As he handed me back the bottle, I deliberately held my hand over his. “You can do this, Cullen,” I said, my voice raspy from all the yelling, “You’ve got this.”

Cullen squeezed my fingers, his game face not changing, but I read his lips. “Believe,” he mouthed, right before running back to join his team.

And then with seven minutes to go, Cullen took the ball, looked to connect with Tennessee but kept it himself. With a zig and a zag, he ran into the end zone for a touchdown, sealing the win. The stadium erupted. Covington Chargers were the new state champions!

I was swept up in the euphoria of victory as the team celebrated their medals and Cullen and Coach held the trophy aloft.

Both had microphones shoved in their faces with a bunch of reporters asking questions. Coach almost succumbed to emotion as he spoke. “A lot of people thought that there was no way Covington could make the playoffs or the state championship,” he said, “but here we are, state champions. Our journey has been a process that we’ve been building on and to finally accomplish it, to achieve our goal, is pretty special. The boys can be proud of themselves—nobody can take this away from them.They are state champions.”

The team grabbed the ice bucket and tipped it all over Coach Mercer, who feigned irritation, but you could see it was the happiest day of his life. The boys doused Cullen in the leftover sports drink, making him all sticky, and then crazily squirted each other with the water bottles, Millie and I stepped back to avoid being drenched. No such luck, though. Tennessee and Sawyer came straight for us. Squealing, we tried to escape from the stream of water aimed at us, and Millie, smaller than me, tried to take cover behind me. Tennessee was merciless though, our shrieks getting louder as he wet both of us.

“I’m supposed to be doing interviews,” Millie scolded. “I need to get a story written.”

Tennessee tossed his bottle away. “You can interview me on the way back,” he said, affectionately pulling Millie in for a hug. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, makingmego weak at the knees—Tenn and Millie were a cute couple, the big wide receiver and the smart reporter. Admittedly, I was a little jealous, wishing I could congratulate Cullen with a kiss. But he was busy conducting interviews and having photos taken.

The team had only just headed to the locker room when the first buses were leaving to go back to school. After changing into my school uniform, I joined Emma to ride back in the band bus, that way I would be there for the welcome that the band and cheer team had planned. Emma said they’d practiced both victory and commiseration versions, but now they’d be playingWe are the championswith a full display of balloons, confetti and fireworks.

It was chaotic as we lined the school field for the impromptu celebration. As Emma and the band took up their positions, I spotted Mom and Dad on the other side, but there were too many people milling about to be able to push through. The beat of the drums grabbed everyone’s attention and there was a hush at the anticipation of the team’s arrival.

That’s when Mrs. Faris waved excitedly in my direction, beckoning me over. Mrs. Faris worked in the school office; if you needed a hall pass, she’d print it out for you.

“Oooh, Sierra Huntington,” she said, bouncing up and down like she was on caffeine overload, “just the person I wanted to see. You know where the cart is, don’t you? We have a load of drinks for the team.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, not sure what she was talking about.

“The cart you use for drinks. It’d be ideal. Can you grab it please? The team will be thirsty when they get back.” She guided me over to cartons of soda and energy drinks. “Load up these and bring them over for the boys.” She gave me a gentle shove to get me moving because truth was, I was dumbstruck trying to process her request. I didn’t want to miss the team’s grand entrance, especially Cullen and Sawyer.

“Won’t the storage room be locked?” I asked.

In a fluster, Mrs. Faris took several attempts to remove the lanyard of keys from around her neck. “Here, take this and bring it back to me later.”

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