Chapter Eleven

Going to State

Walking out of WalMart with her parents, Darla pushed the cart towards her father's station wagon.

"Hey, Coach." A voice said from behind them. Coach Gaines turned around and saw the mayor of Odessa pulling up behind them in his red Ferrari. "How you doin'?"

"Hey." Coach Gaines turned around completely to greet the man. Sharon and Darla stopped and turned with him.

"Ben," Coach greeted the mayor's brother. "How you doin'?"

"All right, Coach. You?"

"Oh, pretty good."

The mayor looked over at Sharon and Darla. "Hi, Sharon. Hello, Darla."

"How you doin'?" Sharon greeted them and Darla just smiled.

"We're just out getting' flowers for the ladies." The mayor said.

"Secretaries Week." Ben said.

"Oh, is that right?" Coach Gaines asked with a smile. "I'll be dogged. Well, see, I don't have a secretary. So I don't have to worry."

Ben laughed from the passenger's seat. "You win state, Coach, we'll get you two secretaries."

Coach Gaines smile faded a little. "Everything all right?"

"Well, yeah." The mayor said. "Everybody's gonna be just fine. Everything's all right, as long as we get out there and get what we need to get done and, uh, you know, win state."

Darla sighed and looked away. The nerve of those men to say something like that.

Coach Gaines' smile fell right off of his face. "Boy, I sure hope so."

"Yeah, me too." The mayor said.



"Yeah, I want it bad as y'all do, believe me."

"Yes, sir."

"'Course, you know, Dallas Carter. That's a—That's a tough team." He said trying to get the men to understand that there may be a possibility that they'll lose. "Real tough team."

"Yeah?" The mayor asked and looked up at him. "Well. We're a pretty tough team too, Coach." He said. He wouldn't let it go.

"Yeah, that's true." Coach Gaines said.

"So, uh, beat 'em."

Coach stared down at them for second before he answered. "Or what?"

"Or what?" The mayor asked confused. "Or—" He sighed. "You know, that'd be a real bad deal for you, Gary, so— All right? Let's just get out there and get it done. Get that state championship."

"Well, I sure appreciate your support." Coach said and turned around.

"We believe in you."

"I'm glad you do."

"We're behind you, Coach." Ben said as Coach walked over to his wife and daughter.

"See you, Sharon." The mayor said as they drove away.

"Well, that was subtle." Darla said as they walked to the station wagon.

"Yup." Coach Gaines said.

--

Tomorrow morning, the Permian football team would hop on their bus and travel 6 hours all the way to the Astrodome. Darla's father 

told her that they needed a neutral place to hold the game, seeing how Dallas Carter didn't think that their fans would like sitting with Permian fans.

"That's 'cause they think we're racists." Don said after Darla told him the story.

"True." She laced her fingers with his as they lay in his bed. "Tomorrow's the big day." She said to him.

"Yup." He looked up at the ceiling.

"Nervous?"

"Like a rat in a mousetrap factory." He answered.

"You'll do great." She wrapped her arm around his waist and hugged him tightly. "I know you will."

"You gonna come?" He asked, not looking down at her.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She said, placing her chin on his chest and looking up at him.

"Besides, I don't want some cheerleader givin' you your victory kiss." She said with a smile. He chuckled down at her.

"Dallas Carter is a big team." Don said, rubbing her arm with his rough hand. "And we ain't exactly giants."

"So, y'all are a little small."

"Small? Baby, a team like Dallas Carter eats a team like us for breakfast. We're dead."

"Baby," She said sat up and looked down at him. "If they beat you, it doesn't mean that y'all are small. It doesn't mean y'all are the worst team to set foot on a football field. It just means that, no matter how great y'all are, they're just better." She said looking over at the opposite wall.

"Do you think they're better than us?" He asked looking up at her.

She stayed quiet for a minute before she took a deep breath. "I think that this game is gonna be a real challenge for y'all. Something that y'all are gonna have to use every part of your being to win." She looked down at him.



He sat up and rested his shoulder against hers. "I don't wanna lose." He said looking down at his hands.

"Then you won't." She said, running her fingers through the ends of his hair. "There's a lot of things that Dallas Carter has that y'all don't. But there's something y'all have that they don't."

"And what's that?"

"Y'all have a reason to win." He looked over at her, confused. "Y'all's reason is to prove to this town, that no matter who you don't have, or who you do have on your team, y'all still a team. No matter what anyone says to you. The Panther's ain't just Boobie Miles. The Panther's are every boy that runs out on that field, and plays that game for themselves and this town."

"That's deep for someone who doesn't even like football." He said looking in her eyes.

"Well, I think I'm starting to understand what it means to you. And besides, you may love football, but I know you'll always love me as well."

He nodded and leaned in. He placed his lips over hers in a sweet kiss. "I will." He muttered before he kissed her again. Darla closed her eyes and kissed him back, feeling his hands rest on her thighs.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him on top of her. Don moved his hands up and went under her shirt. She pushed him away for a minute so she could peel off her shirt. He smirked down at her and pulled of his shirt after her. He leaned in and kissed her neck slowly, sucking ever so gently. Darla's hands ran over his chest and down to his belt buckle, slowly undoing it and pulling it out of the belt loops. He brought his lips back to hers as his fingers unclasped her pants and pulled them down. She brought her hips up to give him more room as her jeans slid down to her ankles. She kicked them off and unzipped Don's jeans. She ran her fingers along the hem of the waist band before she tore them off of him.

Don smirked at her before he kissed her hard, slipping his tongue in her mouth, and pressing himself against her thigh. She moaned in his mouth and placed her hands on the small of his back, pulling him into her more. He hooked his thumbs on the side of her panties and pulled them down slowly. Darla shivered and put her hands on Don's hips, sliding down his boxers.

He pulled away from her for a minute; he reached his hand over to his bedside table about jerked open the drawer. He fumbled his hands 

around until he pulled out a condom. He looked down at Darla and gave her a small kiss. "You ready?" He asked quietly. She smiled and nodded as he slipped on the condom. He placed his knees on either side of her waist as he entered her.

Biting her lip, Darla threw her head back against his pillow. Don reached over and grabbed his comforter, covering Darla and himself. Don began to slid in and out of Darla, slowly at first, letting her get used to it. Once he saw the smile on her face, Don began to go faster.

Don bent down and covered her lips with his. Don felt warmth in his body as Darla moaned for him. He wasn't just having sex with her; he realized that it was more than that. She loved him. He loved her. He'd never love anyone before, not in the way that he loved Darla. She was there for him when he needed her. He looked down at her and smiled. He loved this girl. He didn't want to be with anyone else.

Feeling Darla tighten around him, Don thrust harder until she reached her peak. He moaned deeply in his throat as he followed her over the edge.

Darla leaned up and kissed Don's cheek as he weakly plopped over her.

"I love you." He whispered against her cheek.

"I love you, too." She smiled at him.

--

Don waited with his friends in front of the chartered bus that was given to Permian to ride in to Houston. It was six o'clock in the morning and he was dogged tired. He moved stiffly in his letterman jacket, he usually never wore it because Odessa never really got that cold. He watched the assistant coaches pick up every players football bags and tossed them in to the luggage hold.

"You get any sleep last night?" Coach Gaines asked Chris Comer.

"Oh, yes, sir. I did." He nodded. "I did."

Don smiled to himself as he thought back to last night. He definitely didn't get much sleep the night before.



"Good. We got a six hour ride, so you can get you some more." Coach smiled at his player.

"All right, Coach." Chris nodded and climbed onto the bus.

Ivory Christian walked towards the bus; he turned to greet his coach when he saw L.V. pull up in front of the bus. "Coach." Ivory said and nodded his head towards the car.

Coach Gaines turned his head and saw Boobie Miles climbing out of the car, crutches under his arms as he walked over.

Don turned his head to watch as Boobie made his way over. Seeing how Boobie was injured, he couldn't play with the Panther's during the play-offs. So he had to pack up his locker earlier then everyone else did. Don smiled as he walked onto the bus. Just because Boobie couldn't play, didn't mean he wasn't a part of the team.

Boobie groaned at the uncomfortable feeling of having crutches under his arm as he walked. He stopped in front of Coach Gaines and looked up at the bus. "You got room for one more?"

Coach nodded. "Absolutely. Hop on."

Boobie carefully stepped onto the bus, pulling himself up using its railings. He walked as far as he could until he sat down in front of Mike and Don. He nodded towards his friends and looked towards the front of the bus.

--

Darla looked out of the window as her mother drove behind the line of cars that followed the buses. She smiled to herself as she thought about the entire town driving six hours into Houston, just to see a football game.

No, She thought to herself. Not just a football game. The State Championship. The game that everyone in this town has been waiting for.

She looked out the window and thought about all the practices that Don went through. Every game they won and every game they lost. This game meant so much to this town. It was something to hold onto while everything changed. While all the football players were going to leave for college, or just to get out of Odessa, the town would have 

football to depend on. Odessa had nothing to be proud of, except for football. And if they won the State Championship, it made it look like that town was something more than what it actually was.

Darla looked up at the sky when she realized that for this town, football was life. It was something that everyone in this was a part of. Whether they liked it or not. Football was a game that this town depended on. The football players depended on it to get out. If they were good enough, they could get into a good college and leave. No one wanted to live in Odessa forever. Don didn't want to turn into his father. He didn't want to still live in the past when he was older. He wanted to be proud of whatever he did in the future. Be it football or not.

Her father wanted people to see him as a great coach. Someone they could depend on, and someone they could trust. If the Panthers lost, they would probably fire her father.

Sighing, she leaned her head against the window as her thoughts went to Don. He wanted to win this as much as anyone. Maybe even more. But he mostly wanted to win it for his father. To hold a state championship ring on his hand as proudly as his father did. She knew his ticket out of Odessa was winning. If he won, more colleges would notice him.

She had to admit, she was nervous for the team. Yeah, she hated the game. It took her father away from her when she was growing up. At one point in her life, the only way she could see her father was if she went to the games. It made her father angry when they lost, and when they won, he worked harder to make sure the next game would go out just like the one before. All of her life she was competing against a game. As well as her mother was. She looked over at her mom and studied her. Her mother was willing to drive 6 hours for a football game, and she was as big a fan of the game as Darla was. But Sharon loved her husband. She would follow him to the ends of the earth if that meant being by his side.

Darla smiled and took her mother's hand. She gave her a light squeeze. "They're gonna win." She said.

Sharon looked over at her daughter and smiled. She squeezed her hand back.

"I know."