Chapter Fifteen
Before she’d gotten to know Garret, Izzy had never understood why people liked pep rallies. It was like rounding people up and forcing them to cheer for you whether they liked it or not. But now that she knew more about how team sports worked, she could see the similarities to a dance company. The football team was undefeated, and Garret had received invitations to visit a couple of NCAA Division I schools, which she had learned were the biggest and most sought after, but he still hadn’t heard from any of his top choices. The problem was that he didn’t have the money to go visit them on his own, so he wasn’t on their radar, and of course he refused to let her buy plane tickets for him, even when she promised to let him pay her back. Still, despite that one setback, everything seemed to be coming together for them.
Once the cheerleaders were done doing their thing—which most certainly did not qualify as dance—everyone waited with anticipation for the team to make their appearance. She elbowed Audrey. “They’re about to come out.”
“Oh, joy.”
Jeremy elbowed her. “Here comes your boyfriend, who, by the way, is behind on his share of the painting. I tried to warn you about him.”
“That’s your problem. You agreed to be in charge of all the scenery. I’m on props.”
The first player broke through the giant paper sign the cheerleaders held, then the entire team streamed through and lined up at the end of the gym. When the cheering died down, the lights dimmed and a video popped up on the screen. They’d recorded a bunch of people wishing the team good luck tonight. It was the first game that could be a real challenge to win, since their opponent was also undefeated.
She scanned the line of players and focused on Garret. A shiver raced up her spine. He shot her a smile, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. He’d told her that every time they played something on the big screen, he tensed up, thinking she’d changed her mind about him and the recording she took of him that first day in the dance studio was about to start. It seemed so long ago.
“Izzy, what are you doing with him?” Jeremy asked out of the blue.
She turned to face him. “What do you mean?”
“Look, Garret’s all right, but what’s the point in you two hooking up now? You’re going to join a dance company after you graduate, and he’s going who knows where to play football. How long do you think it’ll take him to find a new girlfriend?”
Her stomach clenched, but she was a master at hiding her feelings. She could already picture girls who looked like the Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleaders swarming around him in college. Touching him. “Aren’t you Mr. Sunshine?”
“I’m just being realistic. It’s because he’s a nice guy that he’ll always attract girls. Sure, he might want to do the long distance thing with you, but it’ll never work when he has girls throwing themselves at him while you’re hundreds or thousands of miles away. Who knows? You might even meet a male dancer who actually understands what you do and why you want to do it.”
“Well, thanks for the lecture, Dad.” She refused to let him see how much his warning upset her.
“Izzy.” He squeezed her hand. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. You know what he did to me. I’m trying to save you the heartache by breaking it off now, before you get in too deep.”
What Jeremy didn’t realize was that it was already too late.
…
Izzy ended up getting to the game early. None of her crew was there yet. She scanned the already crowded stands, looking for enough space for the five of them. Jeremy had really shaken her earlier, but she was calmer now. She didn’t believe in giving up without a fight, so she wasn’t going to break up with Garret just because they were likely to be apart next year. There were two hundred and forty-four days until graduation, and she was determined to make good use of them.
“Izzy!” Bella waved to her. She was Connor’s girlfriend, and Izzy liked her, but Bella was over the top cheerful pretty much all the time, which was definitely not Izzy’s style. She preferred more of a vaguely grumpy persona. Bella was also the only one from Garret’s group that would sit with her, so she climbed up the bleachers and dropped down next to her. Some of the other guys’ girlfriends were unlikely to ever hang out with her, but since she wanted to be with Garret, she was trying to get to know some of the people from his crowd. They weren’t all bad.
“Hey, girlfriend.” Bella bumped her shoulder. “Are you ready to watch our boys win another game?”
“Of course.”
Oh, thank goodness. Jeremy powered up the bleachers, his hair spiked in the most outrageous design he’d created yet. He’d always liked to draw attention to himself, whether for good or bad reasons. Even though she wasn’t very happy with him at the moment, she was glad he was here, so he could keep Bella occupied. He plunked in between her and Bella, whose eyes were impossibly wide.
“Are you going to introduce me, Izzy?”
“You’ve met Bella before. She’s in our English class.”
He stared at the poor girl like he was about to eat her for dinner. “Well, that explains it. I’m only awake about 5 percent of the time during English.”
Bella smoothed her skirt, probably trying to come up with something to say. “Wait. You’re the one who painted the murals on the back of the bleachers, aren’t you?”
Jeremy held his hands up. “Guilty as charged.”
He had painted an amazing mural up the wall behind the home side bleachers. At first it was dubbed graffiti, and the school administrators vowed to catch the perpetrator. Each morning for more than two weeks, a new part of the mural appeared, and the adults hadn’t been clever enough to realize he could paint in the dark. Eventually, he was caught and suspended for two weeks, but when plans were announced to paint over the murals, students and parents protested, and they ended up leaving them there. Each painting represented a different sport. Football, basketball, track, baseball, pretty much every sport the school participated in. There was also a mural of Izzy in her pointe shoes, though she didn’t think anybody realized it was her.
“Those paintings are amazing. Do you take work on commission?”
Izzy tuned out of the conversation. The sight of Audrey heading toward her with two girls from the in crowd flanking her definitely caught her attention. No one at the school was particularly mean, but they generally didn’t hang around with Izzy’s crowd. Garret must’ve put out the word for them to welcome her to the group or something. It was the only thing that made sense. Before she could think any more about it, the opposing team, the Coppersmiths, entered the stadium. It was time for the Renegades to take the field.
Everyone stood, and the band played their fight song while the players ran from the tunnel one by one. The crowd was so loud they drowned out the music. Audrey made her way over and smooshed herself between Izzy and Jeremy. When the team lined up along the sideline, Garret glanced over his shoulder and scanned the bleachers until he found her. Her heart squeezed. She’d never thought of herself as being romantic, but she liked that he always checked to make sure she was there before the kickoff, as if he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the game without her. There was still hope they could find a way to keep their relationship going after high school.
They played the national anthem, and then it was time for kickoff.
Their opponent went three and out, then the Renegades got the ball and scored on their first drive with a long touchdown carried by Adam, who was a running back. Garret had spent a lot of time explaining each of the positions to her, so she tried to keep them all straight.
“Izzy? Why are you so tense?” Audrey asked.
“This team is also undefeated, so there’s a chance we won’t win tonight.”
“So?”
“Garret has a better chance of getting a scholarship if they have a perfect season.”
“Oh? I see. Is there something you want to tell me?
Izzy glanced at her. “Like what?”
She leaned closer so no one else could hear. “Like you’re no longer fake dating Garret, because it sure seems like this is real.”
“We’re mostly just friends. Definitely not officially dating.”
“Mostly?”
Izzy nodded. She wouldn’t lie to her best friend, but she wasn’t ready to talk about how her relationship with Garret had changed. A part of her worried that telling Audrey about them would jinx whatever was developing between them.
“Has he kissed you?”
She nodded.
“Ha. I was right. You’re dating.”
“Well, duh,” Jeremy said, nearly causing Izzy to jump up. She didn’t know he’d moved behind them. “You’d have to live under a rock not to have noticed that.”
“What do you know about it?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I had a conversation with Garret to make sure he wasn’t just messing with you.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Come on, Izzy, we’ve always looked out for each other.”
Yeah, but he was going overboard with it. She knew what she was doing. What was at risk. “I suppose so.”
After being up by two touchdowns, the Renegades went into the locker room at halftime with a three point lead. Hopefully someone would give them a good pep talk so they could get more points on the board.
Her phone chimed and she slipped it out of her pocket.
Garret: These guys are good. Not sure we’re going to pull this off.
Oh, man. She’d never played a sport. What was she supposed to say?
Izzy: You’ve got this. Play every play as if it’s the last play, your last chance to win.
Garret: Didn’t know you were a fan of Vince Lombardi.
Izzy: Who?
Garret: Vince Lombardi. Legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers. He said something like that.
Izzy: And here I thought my dad made it up.
The Renegades kicked off to start the second half. On the third play, Garret jumped for a high pass and tipped the ball up into the air. Her stomach dropped. The entire crowd held their breath. A player from the other team caught it and ran it back for a touchdown. The stadium was dead quiet except for the small group of opposing fans on the other side of the field. The Renegades were down by four points, which meant they had to score at least one touchdown to win. She could practically see the frustration rolling off Garret as they lined up for the other team to kick off. Now was when she wished she could text him, but he wouldn’t have his phone with him.
Neither team scored again in the third quarter, and they were down to five minutes to go in the fourth. Garret stood stiff on the sideline, and Izzy had no doubt he was blaming himself. Somebody needed to make a big play or they were going to lose. Izzy’s stomach was just as queasy as it got before she went on stage. Everyone was on their feet, yelling and encouraging the Renegades. The other team had been moving the ball down the field, but they’d stopped them three yards shy of their goal on third down. The other coach called a time out.
Izzy kept her eyes focused on Garret. Though he didn’t usually play defense, he was the captain of the team, so he was right there in the huddle with the rest of the players. He said something to one of the guys before they went back out on the field.
This was it. There were just over two minutes in the game, so they needed to stop them here. Fighting the urge to bite her fingernails, she instead grabbed Audrey’s hand so she had something to hold on to.
Yes! They stopped the other team just short of the first down. The noise in the stadium was deafening. All of a sudden, it went dead quiet. They were bringing out the measuring tape. Izzy and everyone else held their breath as they measured. They’d missed by inches and the Renegades got the ball back with just over a minute to go.
Izzy would’ve rather performed a hundred solos in a row than try to stay calm with the clock ticking down the seconds. Her heart raced. She could only imagine what Garret was feeling. They snapped the ball, and Elliot moved back to throw. Just before a guy from the other team tackled him, he threw the ball way down the field toward Garret. A player from the other team made a jump for it, but Garret leaped impossibly high and caught the ball and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. The crowd went wild and the team gang-tackled him.
There was just enough time for one last kickoff, but the Renegades tackled the player who caught the ball within seconds and the clock ticked down to zero. Izzy lost track of Garret in the crowd. She didn’t see him in the pack of players on the field.
All of a sudden he was right in front of her and had her locked in a bear hug before she knew what was happening.
“That right there? That was all you. I would never have made that catch, and we would’ve lost if it wasn’t for you.” Then he kissed her until she was dizzy, and everything around them disappeared and it was just the two of them.