196 Chapter 196: Sports (3) 

[General POV]

The second quarter ended with the SeaHawks still in the lead, 34-21. Edward's Dolphin– managed to land two touchdowns , one extra point for kick, and two points from extra point play. 

The referee blew the whistle, and both teams went back to their bench for a short 12 minute break. 

With sweat falling down his face, Edward took off his helmet and then looked into the crowd. As he saw familiar faces waving at him, he broke into a smile and waved towards them.

Countless camera light flashed on him, from the fanatical fans that carried a professional camera to capture his figure. Edward had to look away from the audience because his eyes started to hurt. 

Taylor skedaddled into the field bringing a fresh towel and a drink for Edward.

"That was awesome!" She said with elation as she hugged Edward's arm abruptly. "Do you want a rub down?" She asked.

Edward smiled, not knowing that one teenage– wait, two teenage girls– No, a whole lot of teenage girls were seething in anger as they wished they could take over Taylor's job.

Haley scowled and crossed her arms together. "I could've been there if I came here early."

Jenna smiled with her lips, but her eyes were murderous. Selena pursed her lips and then started to imagine being in Taylor's position, in which she slapped herself lightly to make sure never to think something like that again.

Edward was drinking some water from a water bottle when the school principal walked towards him with a sullen expression. Edward smirked and said, "So. I won the bet."

"Yeah yeah. I will keep my word and let you change the team's name, but definitely not DEVIL bats!" He then whispered in disbelief, "It has DEVIL in it! Do you want my head to fall?"

"I kinda want to see that." Edward said with a serious tone. The principal froze, and Edward laughed after. "I was just joking. Alright, so no devil, so How about, DEMON BAT? No? BeelzeBat? BatMosdeus?"

The principal sweat heavily as if he was the one who had just played on the field. Tyler heard the discussion and interrupted, "Oh. Principal Brown. If you let me retake Spanish, then I'm sure that I can keep Edward in check. After all, I'm the Captain-"

Edward ignored the fake captain and said, "Alright. From now on, the team will be named, [Blood Bat]"

"Oh, Vampire Bat ...is it like Twilight?" Jacob asked with an innocent face. Edward scowled in disdain as he looked at Jacob and said in a disappointed tone, "You ruined it. We will discuss the new name after the game."

Edward then clapped as he stood in front of his team. "Everyone HUDDLE UP! We're going to make some changes in the second half. First, Jacob, you won't be playing centre anymore."

Jacob dropped his head down in depression. Edward saw it and added, "Don't get me wrong. It's not that you didn't do a good job, but it is a waste of your arm reach. A centre needs to be the anchor (Fat), you don't really have that requirement, but you did it anyway. "

Tyrone held Jacob's shoulder to cheer him up. Jacob sighed as he thought he was going to get benched, but he was startled when he heard Edward's next sentence. 

"For the second half, you're going to be a defensive tackle and guard our line of scrimmage for defence, and a wide receiver during offence."

"Wait! Ed!"

Edward held his hand towards Jacob to stop him. "I know what you're going to say. But I believe you can do it."

The team only had 22 players, and 7 of them were not yet ready for an official match, therefore they were really short on players that could fill the position. 

"Why is this necessary? We're doing great now." Tyler asked in confusion and also in an effort to ease the atmosphere.

"Yeah. It is great…for you. But not the team if we want to win this." Edward said before he reminded Tyler, "Don't get overblown ego when you scored 3 touchdowns. That will only make you targeted in the second half. Get ready for some intensive blockings."

Tyler gulped his saliva and raised his arms up meekly before asking, "Umm…Can I just get benched for the rest of the game?"

"Dream on!" Edward sneered.

Cam walked forward and then called the wide receivers, "Tyrone is stable, but Jacob, you need to learn your routes–"

Edward interrupted, "Cam. This guy doesn't work like that. Listen up Jacob. All you need to do, is listen to my orders, and move EXACTLY in the way I tell you to. Got that!?"

Jacob turned to Cam, and then turned to Edward again. His complicated expression cleared up, and he finally said, "Okay. Got it."

Cam sighed helplessly, but inside, he agreed with Edward's decision. As the referee called both teams to get back into the field, Edward turned to look at the crowd once more. He moved closer to the bleachers and called, "PHIL! My dad isn't here?"

Phil was excited at first, but as he heard Edward's question, he turned to look around and said carefully, "He might be here. This place is big. You know what? I'm going to look for him."

Claire also looked around and said, "I'll call him."

"Nevermind. Don't bother him. Just watch the game." Edward said with a shrug.

The crowd cheered as Edward jogged lightly to get into position. They will start the game with a kickoff. The Seahawks won the coin toss in the beginning, and they chose to let the Dolphins kick the ball to them. That's how they become the offensive team in the beginning.

In the second half, the Seahawks will be the one to kick the ball to the Dolphins, giving them a chance to score a touchdown on the beginning of the game– which would be impossible given how tight the defence was during a kickoff.

Edward gets ready to receive the ball. However, the kicker of the Seahawks kicked the ball high up in the air when the referee blew the whistle.

"Shit." Edward cursed before he rushed towards the centre of the line. Nobody expects it to happen, but Edward jumped high up in the air to catch the ball before anyone else could get near it.

"Close the defence!" The Seahawks team captain shouted.

"Damn, I got to run on my own." Edward said before he smirked in excitement. He dashed into the opposite team's end zone. 

A linebacker reached his arm to catch Edward, but he avoided the tackle by spinning his body , not breaking his momentum in the least before he passed the defence. The linebacker was dumbfounded when he saw Edward's figure disappear in front of him. 

"Oh my god. What's up with that kid's speed!?" Jay muttered in disbelief and excitement. "He's like a pro! No high school kids can compete with that."

Edward rushed to the end zone, and he got a touchdown 20 seconds into the second half! The crowd cheered thunderously while the college team fell in disbelief. 

"A cross step, added with a spin?" Cam muttered with a flushed face. His hands shivered in excitement, and then he yelled with a high pitched voice, joining in the crowd's cheers, "EDWARD!!!"

Edward panted as he stood in the end zone, his face flushed with excitement.

 'In the memory I have, Hiruma learnt Sena's running style, but he didn't use it much because it's not compatible with his play style. However, my golden body proportions allowed me to use it without much stress on my body. Damn, it felt nice.' Edward thought secretly. 

The extra point kick was successful, taken by Edward himself. The Seahawks became the offensive team now. However, Edward managed to intercept the quarterback's pass and ran into the 80 yards' mark before he got tackled.

'Run three steps to the left, then turn 45 degrees. Run three steps to the left, then turn 45 degrees.' Jacob chanted inside his mind as the game resumed. 

"READY!! SET!! HUT!!" Edward shouted. Jacob didn't even look at the ball and run the way Edward told him to. He then opened up his hands to receive the ball, just behind the line of scrimmage.

Edward smirked again and laughed devilishly, "RUN LIKE HELL!" He threw a long, fast, straight pass towards Jacob. The precision of the ball control allowed the ball to fly unobstructed and went directly into Jacob's hands.

Jacob smiled in disbelief, but before his mind could react, his body reacted first as it listened to Edward's order to run. Jacob dashed into the endzone as fast as he could, but he got tackled just before entering the final line.

Edward's heart palpitates as he wiped the sweat dripping down his chin. The referee went to check on Jacob. Then, he saw that Jacob managed to reach his hand through the end zone line, and placed the ball inside the zone.

"TOUCH DOWN!" The referee shouted with a smile on his face. Jacob was in disbelief as he heard it, and his team mates all rushed towards him.

"JACOB! JACOB! JACOB!" They threw him up in the air as if they were celebrating the winning point in the game.

The Seahawks' captain pointed towards the celebrating kids while turning to his teammates, "I'm confused. Did we lose already? The game is still ongoing, right?"

His teammate shrugged in confusion. Then, the game resumed after Edward kicked in the ball to earn an extra point. The Dolphins managed to make a comeback, surpassing the Seahawks point by one point. 34-35.

The ball was back to the Seahawks. To prevent the pass from getting intercepted, the Seahawks made short passes to the running back. However, he was intercepted in his route twice. One by Edward, and one by Tyler.

Edward breathed heavily as he sat down on the grass. There was only 20 seconds left in the third quarter, and the Seahawks offence was unrelenting. The game became stagnant with neither team advancing or retreating until the clock ran out. 

"Where's Ted? He's missing out on what could potentially be the greatest game of Edward's life." Phil muttered helplessly, but with a hint of irritation.

"He's not picking up his phone." Claire replied. "I tried the office, but he is also not there."

[Phil and Claire's commentary]

"My dad was always supportive. Never missed a tumbling meet or a break-dance brawl. I'd set up the sound system for the school assembly he'd be the loudest voice in the crowd, 'Hey Everybody! Check out my son's equipment!'" Phil said before he chuckled to himself.

Claire smiled softly as she looked at Phil before she turned into the camera and said, "He should be here. It is his responsibility as a father. Edward might seem like he didn't care, but I know deep down, Edward… is pretty sensitive." Claire said, taking her delusions as the reality.

 [Commentary ends]

"Hello pretty girl." 

Alex heard a familiar Nigerian accent voice coming from behind her. She turned around and saw Sam Obisanya, an acquaintance she met during the decathlon in Dryden Academy before this.

"Sam!" Alex greeted enthusiastically. Finneas, who was eating a hotdog nearby, was startled and he quickly stood from his seat. Putting his hot dog down, he turned to Sam and introduced himself, "Hi. I'm Finneas. I'm Alex's boyfriend." 

He stressed out the boyfriend part. Sam just smiled and said, "Really? You with the pretty girl? Are you rich?"

"Pfft-" Enid couldn't hold her laugh. "Sam! Over here!" She waved at Sam to invite him to sit with them. 

"Enid. Did you invite him here?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. He came here to visit his…What is it Sam?" Enid asked, already forgetting about the thing she had asked him before.

Sam smiled and said, "I didn't come here to visit. I went to the Dryden dorm room to get my stuff. I am joining Nigeria's under 18 football team when I go home."

"Oh. Good for you Sam." Alex said with a kind smile.

"Who is he?" Jenna whispered to Enid.

After an initial introduction, Jenna's eyes lit up and she said, "Wait. You played soccer?"

"We call it Football in Nigeria." Sam said with a tired tone but a smile on his face. 

Jenna ignored that remark and asked, "Then, do you know how to kick that ball?"

She pointed to the field, and Sam understood what she was saying from her gestures. Sam nodded and said, "I did play American Football before–"

"Then, you can kick, right? Edward's team needs a kicker. You should go there and ask them if you can play."

Alex rolled her eyes at Jenna's naive remark and said, "First of all, he's not a student here. Secondly, substituting an unknown player in the middle of the match? That'll cause more harm than it'll do good."

Jenna pursed her lip and pouted while crossing her arms, "I was just suggesting. It is a suggestion!"

"HEY! The last quarter is starting…WAIT A Second…WHO the hell is this guy?" Abraham, who just walked towards them with a foam finger on his hand and popcorn on the other, felt threatened when he saw Sam. 

"Is he one of the guys who'd fallen for Alex? If that's the case, then I need to tell you that I'm second in line!" Abraham said jokingly while hiding his true intention.

Alex rolled her eyes but before she could admonish Abraham, she heard Sam's answer.

"Yes."

"He's just a friend--Wait. What?!" Alex was baffled and blushed immediately.

A few seats over, Haley and Tara watched the pre-teen's drama with a look of disdain on their faces. Not that they didn't enjoy the scene, but they were being so loud that it distracted them from watching the game.

"So, your sister has 3 guys going after her. And, you can't even get one guy even if you're basically throwing yourself at him." Tara teased.

Haley rolled her eyes and said, "At the very least he replies when I text him. Unlike your so-called 'boyfriend' who ghosted you after you 'did it' with him."

Tara narrowed her eyes to Haley and said, "You wanna fight… slut?"

"You're talking to a mirror?" Haley casually retorted back. "Shhh- It's starting!" Haley shushed Tara before she could react and put her entire focus on Edward.

'It's the last quarter, I wonder what Ed is thinking.' Haley wondered to herself. 

[Edward POV]

'My underwear is riding up. It's very uncomfortable. I want to fix it, but my cup is in the way.'

We were now 2 minutes into the game. The Seahawks kept their offensive role and they had gained 30 yards.. Captain Terry Hyde signalled his teammates.

"It's going to be a kick." I whispered to Tyler and Jacob. "We need to stop him before that."

Jacob and Tyler nodded. As soon as the ball was snapped back, the defensive line collided with each other. A holder placed the ball on its position on the ground. The kicker rushed to the ball from behind the line of scrimmage to kick it forward.

'Damn it!' I cursed as I saw that Jacob and Tyler couldn't pass the defensive line. The disparity of physicality was shown this late in the game. 

The collagers had more training as they were older and they had substituted their players throughout the game, therefore most of them were still in peak condition, while most of my team players were at the brink of collapse from continuous high pressure game play.

The ball went into the goalpost perfectly. The Seahawks regained the lead at 37-35. The kickoff went pretty badly, and the newbie who caught the ball in my team lost the ball in a fumble, so we lost our offensive opportunity.

The Seahawks scored another touchdown at that moment, and also scored in one extra point kick.

I panted heavily as I held my knee for support before standing up straight and stared right into the scoreboard.

"We are losing by 9 points, and there's only 4 minutes left. I noticed something weird going on with my peripheral vision. Tyler's knees were shaking, and he kneed limply onto the ground.

Cam saw that and shouted, "TIME OUT!"

I walked to Tyler and helped him get back on his feet and be his support while I assisted him to walk out of the field.

"I'm sorry. I can't go on." Tyler said in a weak voice.

"You don't have to feel bad. We did something great today. How many high school football teams can compete evenly with professional college players? We're the first one, and we are just getting started." I said with an encouraging tone.

Tyler chuckled and winched in pain, "Oww…my ribs hurt."

"Go and get checked out. We got this." I said to him before passing him to Cam.

"Oh my god Tyler are you okay?" Cam shrieked like a little girl while his hands were dramatically thrown in the air."

"Cam. Hands." I reminded him.

"Oh. Right." He realised it and put it down quickly before helping Tyler sit down on the bench. I walked to the centre of the field and said, "Huddle up!"

The team members walked slowly to where I was. As they stood in a circle facing me, I smiled and said in a calming tone, "I know, this is a tough one. We're an ace down, there's 3 minutes on the clock."

"You know what my brain told me to do? Just lie down on a soft mattress, maybe bask in the sun, and just…relax…"

"That doesn't sound so bad." Tyrone said while clutching his left hurting left hand. The team chuckled lightly, and I did so too.

"Yeah. You're right. That doesn't sound so bad. In fact, it doesn't sound so bad at all." I agreed with them as I took off my helmet. "So, why don't we, just quit now?"

The team stopped chuckling and their faces turned solemn. Kyle, the emo kid playing Tight End spoke up, "Ed. We can't do that." 

"Why not?" I asked them casually. "It won't change anything? Right? So why do we continue playing?"

None of them could answer that question. I walked right to Tyrone and grabbed his shirt, "Tell me. Why do we keep playing?"

"TO WIN!" Tyrone shouted.

"THAT'S RIGHT! WE PLAY TO WIN!" I shouted as I turned around and made eye contact with all of the team members. "Let me tell you why you won't stop now! Because when your brain told you to give up, what did your heart tell you? They told you to win!"

"And right now is the time to listen to your heart! If you wanted to quit, why didn't you do it earlier? Why not in the first quarter when they were leading ahead by 20 points, and we got zero!?"

"The reason you didn't walk out of the field is because of a belief. A belief that will matter. A belief that Miracles… can happen. That's why we persevere!"

"And believe me when I tell you this, it is much better for us to give everything we have and lose, rather than stop believing!"

My words got through to them. The fire in their eyes returned, and their decadent look changed as if they were breathed in a second life.

I stopped motivating them and joked, "I don't know about you guys, but I know for sure that I would have to lie down for an entire day after this. And that's unfortunate, because I'm pretty sure that I have earned a makeout session. Too bad I won't be able to move to enjoy it.".

Kyle smiled and said, "Well, usually when I can't move, my girlfriend will help me rub one out, so I will make sure to spend the rest of my energy here so that I can get that."

I snapped my finger at him and said, "Yeah Kyle. That's the spirit we're looking for."

The group burst into laughter. "Put your hands together." I asked. All of us put our palms on top of one another. Even Tyler limped towards the circle to put his hands in.

"In the count of three, we're going to be unstoppable. Okay? One. TWO. THREE!!"

"WE'RE UNSTOPPABLE!!"