A Book Nerd's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter 18: The Game

I knew what soccer was, but I had never watched a game before--not even on the internet. So, as I sat on the bleachers, I was overwhelmed by the crowd's excessive energy for every goal. Cheers rang all over the field.

I was sitting next to Lotty, and she was next to Cathy. Affected by their enthusiasm, I also jumped off my seat as Dave kicked in a score for Littleton.

As the scoreboard said, we were winning against Gorham by two goals to one. And there were only a few more minutes left in the clock.

"All they have to do is wait it out now!" Lotty said as she sat back down on the bleacher. She pointed to the field. "We're on offense now. They have to hold the ball until the ninety minutes lapsed." She had been teaching me about the game since we got in her mother's car.

"That was a great assist by Finn, wasn't it?" Cathy asked, leaning over Lotty to talk to me.

"I guess so." I nodded. I wasn't sure what an assist was, but I guessed it was when Finn passed the ball to Dave to score the goal.

"He seems to be playing better today than the last game," Cathy added.

Lotty humphed as if realizing what Cathy observed. "I wonder why?" she asked. "But he's always been a great player. He never seemed to have bad days."

Sitting back down, I looked on the field to find Finn in the middle. Lotty had said he was playing striker. A grin plastered on his face as he looked at the other Littleton players who were carefully passing the ball around at the center of the field. They weren't even trying to score anymore. Twenty seconds left.

When the whistle blew to mark the end of the game, the audience exploded in hurray despite knowing that we had already won.

"Championship, here we come!" The coach shouted as he faced us on the bleachers, and the crowd cheered even more.

Being surrounded by so much excitement was a grand feeling, and I let myself be infected. My laughter drowned in the noise of merriment.

"Crusaders! Crusaders! Crusaders!" Everyone was cheering.

Lotty and Cathy led me from the bleachers to greet and congratulate the players. I grabbed my bag by the straps, securing it over my shoulders as we walked down the stairs.

Dave ran from the field with a wide grin after scoring the winning goal. "We won!" he shouted as he received pats on the back.

Lotty jumped and ran to him to give him a huge hug. I followed Cathy as we both congratulated him with high-fives.

"I didn't think the ball was going to make it," Dave started to blurt out. "Did you see how close to the edge it was?"

Lotty and Cathy entertained him as I stepped back and felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned, Finn stood beside me with his deep, dimpled smile.

"Hey," he said. "You made it."

"I said I would." I nodded. "Uhm, congratulations." I didn't know what came over me, but instead of giving him a high-five like I did Dave, I opened my arms and gave him a hug. It only lasted two seconds. His palms landed on my backpack, friendly and without squeezing.

When I stepped back, Lotty came running between us, shouting.

"Oh my God! You won!" She dove into Finn, embracing him for what felt like more than ten seconds.

I averted my gaze and stepped away. I didn't want to see anything else. But as I did, I saw Mr. Walker, our Computer Science teacher, in the crowd near the fence.

I strode to him, leaving Lotty and Finn. "Mr. Walker?" I called as I came near. "Mr. Walker."

He turned around, adjusting his thick eyeglasses over the bridge of his nose. "Ms. Watson. I didn't know you were into soccer games."