It was the most intense football game of the season! The Juniper
High Panthers were down 14:20 and less than a minute remained in the last
quarter. Miranda Kolovski made her way up the field with the ball, knowing
that this was the last down, and if she didn't score now, the Panthers
would lose to their archrivals, the Saint Bernadette Timber Wolves.
A lot of people at school did not think of Miranda as an actual member of the football team for two reasons. One was that she was the only girl varsity football playing in a 50-mile radius. Two, she was there were no sophomores on the team, let alone freshmen, which is what she was. The rest were juniors and seniors. There was a great deal of controversy on the subject in the halls, but on the field was another story. Every last one of her teammates supported her because they knew she had what it takes. She was reasonably strong, quite agile, and very fast, and not to mention extremely cute.
As she was running, Miranda felt a strange sensation, an eerie tingling in her spine that was no mere case of nerves. She wasn't sure what is was, but she had to focus on the game. It was probably just her imagination.
Suddenly, she saw one of the boys from the Timber Wolves coming up on her right side. He was bigger than she was, and a lot faster with his uniform, and there was no one farther up the field for her to pass to. That meant that she was going to have to outwit him.
Before he could make the tackle, she took him by surprise by doing the last thing he expected her to do. "Hi there! What's up?" she said in a friendly, non-competitive voice.
He was so taken aback that he completely forgot to tackle. He just ran alongside her, merely keeping up. 15 yards.she thought, keeping her eyes trained on the goal line.
"Um.hi. Your voice.You must be that Miranda Kolovski girl everyone was talking about, right."
"In the flesh. But my friends call me Andi." 5 yards.
He didn't hear the people in the crowd screaming, "What are you doing?! TACKLE! TACKLE!"
"The name's Kirk. Kirk VanHuseign."
"TOUCHDOWN!"
"WHAT?!" His jaw dropped and he just stared at Andi, who pulled off her helmet revealing a gorgeous freckled face with spring-green eyes and long, blazing orange hair pulled back in a small bun which ran into a ponytail reaching halfway down her back.
She smiles at him and reached out to shake his hand. Hey, Kirk. No hard feelings, right? ...Kirk?"
He didn't answer. He just stared. After a moment, he snapped out of his daze. "Huh? What?"
"I said 'No hard feelings?'"
He shook her hand and laughed. "Yeah, no hard feelings. I just can't believe I fell for that!"
"Don't sweat it! Things like this always happen. It's natural for guys to do things like that when they're dealing with girls," and she nudged him with her elbow a bit. "C'mon! Justin has to kick the field goal."
"Hey, Andi.Can I call you that?"
"Sure. Why not?"
".Good question. I just wanted to say that.well.you're cute, you know?"
"Thanks, Kirk. You're cute too." She smiled at him again and winked, and he turned several shades of red. "They're waiting for us, so I'll talk to you after the game, okay?"
"You bet it's okay!" he said with a little more enthusiasm than he meant to show. "I'll talk to you later, Andi." But they never got the chance.
As Justin Alberts prepared to kick the field goal, the ground began to shake. He lost his balance, missed the kick, and fell on his rear. There was a brief silence when a huge shadow fell over Justin, and then mass hysteria broke out in the crowd. People began screaming and fighting their way through the panicking crowd to get away from the creature.
It was the size of a school bus with a scorpion tail, a horse head, rhino horns, and a body like that of a dinosaur: tough, scaly, and most importantly, clawed. In one hand, it held a transparent sphere, that looked as though it were meant to contain something, although now it was empty.
It stood over Justin with its free hand on his shoulder. He howled and screamed and kicked to break free but it was no use. Andi watched in horror as Justin's resistance grew weaker and weaker and weaker, and the sphere slowly began to fill up with a strange silver dust.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Andi screamed at the monster. She soon found herself to be the only one moving toward it instead of away. It didn't seem to notice her, so she decided to keep it that way for as long as she could and still save Justin.
She crept up behind it on tiptoe, holding her breath out of tension. She could sense its awareness of her presence, but it was simply ignoring her. Justin's screams and kicks were suddenly silenced and his whole body went limp. The sphere was still half-empty, and continuing to fill up.
What she did next was far too sudden for her to explain why she did it. She reached out and grabbed the ball and made a break for the gate with it.
A lot of people at school did not think of Miranda as an actual member of the football team for two reasons. One was that she was the only girl varsity football playing in a 50-mile radius. Two, she was there were no sophomores on the team, let alone freshmen, which is what she was. The rest were juniors and seniors. There was a great deal of controversy on the subject in the halls, but on the field was another story. Every last one of her teammates supported her because they knew she had what it takes. She was reasonably strong, quite agile, and very fast, and not to mention extremely cute.
As she was running, Miranda felt a strange sensation, an eerie tingling in her spine that was no mere case of nerves. She wasn't sure what is was, but she had to focus on the game. It was probably just her imagination.
Suddenly, she saw one of the boys from the Timber Wolves coming up on her right side. He was bigger than she was, and a lot faster with his uniform, and there was no one farther up the field for her to pass to. That meant that she was going to have to outwit him.
Before he could make the tackle, she took him by surprise by doing the last thing he expected her to do. "Hi there! What's up?" she said in a friendly, non-competitive voice.
He was so taken aback that he completely forgot to tackle. He just ran alongside her, merely keeping up. 15 yards.she thought, keeping her eyes trained on the goal line.
"Um.hi. Your voice.You must be that Miranda Kolovski girl everyone was talking about, right."
"In the flesh. But my friends call me Andi." 5 yards.
He didn't hear the people in the crowd screaming, "What are you doing?! TACKLE! TACKLE!"
"The name's Kirk. Kirk VanHuseign."
"TOUCHDOWN!"
"WHAT?!" His jaw dropped and he just stared at Andi, who pulled off her helmet revealing a gorgeous freckled face with spring-green eyes and long, blazing orange hair pulled back in a small bun which ran into a ponytail reaching halfway down her back.
She smiles at him and reached out to shake his hand. Hey, Kirk. No hard feelings, right? ...Kirk?"
He didn't answer. He just stared. After a moment, he snapped out of his daze. "Huh? What?"
"I said 'No hard feelings?'"
He shook her hand and laughed. "Yeah, no hard feelings. I just can't believe I fell for that!"
"Don't sweat it! Things like this always happen. It's natural for guys to do things like that when they're dealing with girls," and she nudged him with her elbow a bit. "C'mon! Justin has to kick the field goal."
"Hey, Andi.Can I call you that?"
"Sure. Why not?"
".Good question. I just wanted to say that.well.you're cute, you know?"
"Thanks, Kirk. You're cute too." She smiled at him again and winked, and he turned several shades of red. "They're waiting for us, so I'll talk to you after the game, okay?"
"You bet it's okay!" he said with a little more enthusiasm than he meant to show. "I'll talk to you later, Andi." But they never got the chance.
As Justin Alberts prepared to kick the field goal, the ground began to shake. He lost his balance, missed the kick, and fell on his rear. There was a brief silence when a huge shadow fell over Justin, and then mass hysteria broke out in the crowd. People began screaming and fighting their way through the panicking crowd to get away from the creature.
It was the size of a school bus with a scorpion tail, a horse head, rhino horns, and a body like that of a dinosaur: tough, scaly, and most importantly, clawed. In one hand, it held a transparent sphere, that looked as though it were meant to contain something, although now it was empty.
It stood over Justin with its free hand on his shoulder. He howled and screamed and kicked to break free but it was no use. Andi watched in horror as Justin's resistance grew weaker and weaker and weaker, and the sphere slowly began to fill up with a strange silver dust.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Andi screamed at the monster. She soon found herself to be the only one moving toward it instead of away. It didn't seem to notice her, so she decided to keep it that way for as long as she could and still save Justin.
She crept up behind it on tiptoe, holding her breath out of tension. She could sense its awareness of her presence, but it was simply ignoring her. Justin's screams and kicks were suddenly silenced and his whole body went limp. The sphere was still half-empty, and continuing to fill up.
What she did next was far too sudden for her to explain why she did it. She reached out and grabbed the ball and made a break for the gate with it.