Tapping the brakes on the golf cart, I quickly come to a halt and hop out before grabbing two of the orange coolers stacked in the back.
"—Senator Organa's campaign spent a majority of this week in the Rust Belt, attempting to strengthen his campaign's argument that under his hand, the economy will become even stronger."
The podcast I'm listening to cuts to a clip of Organa speaking. "While yes, unemployment is down, the number of people working two jobs, or picking up extra shifts is at an all-time high. And in my mind, it is unacceptable that in this country, with unprecedented wealth, that statistic should be the case."
The audio cuts back. "Organa's planned economic proposal involves a raising of the minimum wage to—"
The rest of the sentence is cut off by me pulling the trigger on the hose I've picked up and start washing out the cooler.
If only Senator Organa and all my haters could see me now…
Matt and the offense pretty much hogged me all game, utilizing me much as they do at practice. I didn't think it was all that big of a deal until the game ended, and my boss pulled me aside and tore me a new one.
Apparently, I was 'selfish' and 'absorbed' in the game too much to realize that I wasn't technically doing my job.
So now here I am at…
I depress the trigger to the hose and tilt the cooler upside down, dumping the water out, which comes out a light blue color before I catch a glimpse of the clock.
10:19 PM.
The podcast continues in my ears as I'm the only one here deep inside the LA Coliseum, with only myself, my podcast, and a few lights for company.
My GA texted me which gate to exit out of. I bet all the others are locked.
"—polls show that Organa maintains a four-point lead over President Palpatine."
"Yes." Another voice, this time very dry and higher-pitched comments. "And although Organa's anti-Vader message continues to hold people's attention, he knows that alone will not defeat Palpatine."
"Speaking of Vader's best friend, President Palpatine made a campaign stop in Michigan on Wednesday, highlighting some of the details of the infrastructure package he's trying to get passed currently. Take a listen."
Pulling the hose's trigger, Palpatine's words get drowned out as I wash out the next cooler, swirling the water all around before dumping it down the drain next to me a little too quickly, causing it to come right up to my athletic shoes.
Don't—good.
I don't want to have to deal with wet socks right now. I really don't have time for it.
After I wash out all of these coolers, I have to go up to the suites and bring down all of the tables and chairs that they used up in something called the 'Trojan Club', which hopefully isn't as raunchy and gross as it sounds.
After that are some more mundane tasks, most go here and grab this and bring it back to the loading docks.
It's insane how much logistical work and money goes into putting together a day like today.
I can't imagine what happens when they lose.
Timmy was PISSED today, and USC beat Fresno State by 30.
Grabbing the next cooler, I adjust my grip on the hose and pull the trigger.
No rest for the weary either. On my drive from here to the Jedi Temple, I have to have Twos update me on the latest intel from Turkey, as well as see if the Council added anything new to my briefing with the Chinese Security Commission in…five hours.
I have to be done with everything in four hours, accounting for the drive down and time to change into my robes.
So better get your ass in gear, Bridger.
Pouring out the cooler, I stack it beside the rest and grab the final one as the podcast continues in my ears.
"Speaking of Vader, this week marked the return to class for many of America's college students. And as expected, protests across the nation called for Darth Vader's immediate arrest. Our own Meghan Benson has more."
Sunday – 12:45 PM
A referee's whistle sounds out ahead of me as I approach the brick archway that borders the gates to the USC women's soccer field before I spot a familiar face.
Carrie's working the table. Ouch.
"Hi, ticket for one." I say casually, getting both girls who are working the admission table to turn away from their teammates on the field beyond.
"Ezra!" Carrie says excitedly. "You made it!"
"Sorry I'm late." I smile while extending my ten-dollar bill for the ticket to get in. "Had to run some Sunday errands."
"Oh no, no." Her compatriot beside Carrie waves away my money.
Carrie herself adds. "Yeah, you know you don't have to—get in here."
"I assume Jaicey stuck to her guns?"
She did in the opener Friday.
"Yup. And…" Carrie's teammate trails off ominously.
Sounds like the same result as Friday. A 0-0 tie to a school from Irvine.
Matt said at the game yesterday that Jaicey wasn't very pleased with how it went.
"Ahh." I help the two girls out.
"But you guys played great yesterday." Carrie smiles. "I think I saw you on the sidelines, that's what you're doing now right?"
"That's what I heard." Her teammate comments.
"Yeah, we're still figuring out my role—" I say, not knowing where I'm going before another harsh blow of the whistle silences all three of us and gets us to see the ball cross the end line and for USC's keeper, another face I know to watch the ball rebound off the back net for a goal kick.
"Get in here." Carrie orders me.
Okay, okay…
I comply with a smile, but as I do I slip my bill into the till they have set out to give people change.
"Hey!"
"Ezra!"
In response, I smile at both girls, then give them both a wave before walking into the complex. A collective chant breaks out beyond the far bleachers as the keeper finds up, then boots the ball away.
Football's here, as always.
…
…
It's good to be back.
Soccer games were usually fun last year.
A collection of kids are racing around to my right, kicking a soccer ball of their own as I walk behind the normal collection of parents and USC lifers that always come out to support any of the school's athletics programs spread out along the length of the field all the way up to the bleachers—
Is that…Hera and Kanan?
Amongst the normal crowd are two chairs, along with a blanket and a small collection of kids playing amongst themselves as if there isn't a soccer game going on.
Mira amongst them.
I smile at the sight, then sidle up past the blanket and sidle up next to Kanan. "Hi."
"Hey!" Hera turns and smiles widely at me. "You made it dear."
"You get some rest?" Kanan asks as the action of the field continues.
It's a 0-0 game so far. Rather boring.
"I did." I nod then smile at Kanan before the same smile is caught as well by some familiar faces from last year.
I give them a casual wave before I get a couple of "Hi Ezra!"'s sent my way.
Smiling at the gesture, I look to Hera and Kanan. "I didn't know you guys were coming."
"Jacen wanted to come see Sabine play," Hera reveals. "And Mira picked up the idea, so here we are."
"I don't suppose you'd know why she's been benched." Kanan asks me.
"Yeah!" Hera pivots to fully face me. "You two both said she killed it in Las Vegas at that pre-season tournament thing."
"Yeah, uhm…" I stall. "She got benched. Because of the whole Riverside" I drop my voice, although we're spaced out enough there's not really a danger of being overheard."—thing."
"The other girl up there?" Kanan correctly reads the situation before I nod.
"She's still mad about it. And she's always on us about getting together so…"
And now that that dream's been at least momentarily canceled…Jaicey's just been pissed for a minute now.
"Well, Seven's not doing anything so far." Hera fires right off.
I do my best to hide a smirk before glancing off to the left of the action at midfield towards the USC bench, where Sabine's hair makes her stand out from the rest of the team.
I don't know if it's just me, but it looks like she doesn't belong.
"New jerseys though." Kanan reveals before I notice that indeed, the USC whites that they usually have worn at home are different this year.
"Guess so. They don't look bad." I comment.
Same basic design. Different number style, they added 'Trojans' to the front this year too.
A tap on my right shoulder gets me to turn and see Rebecca, one of the older players on the roster that never plays, her Mom is smiling at me.
"Hey!" I smile politely at her.
"Good to see you, honey. We missed you on Friday."
"I missed it too." I give her an apologetic frown. "My week's been crazy. I saw we drew."
Rebecca's mom can't hide the dissatisfaction on her face. "We're…I don't know if it's the new coach's system or what but we're absolutely stuck in the mud. By the way, what's wrong with Sabine?"
"I don't know." I play dumb. "Probably bad practices or something. Setting a tone."
"We're going to mess around and lose a game because of 'setting a tone'." Her mom rolls her eyes as a few of the other parents beside her are listening in.
They agree.
"They'll figure it out." I smile. "I'm sure."
"Yes, but you know how it was last year. We messed around and with the suspensions and everything, we had to go on the road for the NCAA's and lost early. I don't want to do that again!"
Fair point.
"We'll see." I shrug, trying to play it neutral.
"By the way, I tapped you because Jaicey's mom is here and made treats for everyone." Rebecca's mom smiles at me.
"Cake balls." A blonde woman smiles at me. "You need some."
Cake…balls?
"Sure." I smile. "Where…do I go?"
"Around the bleachers. She made a truckload and was giving some to the football players." Another woman, presumably a Mom informs me.
Kanan gently nudges me that way through the Force before I smile and get to my feet. "Be right back…"
The Mom collective all laugh amongst themselves before I glance back to Hera and Kanan and see that Hera's fallen back into a casual conversation with the people beside her.
What in the world are cake balls anyway? Sounds kind of ridiculous to be honest.
Doing my best to blend into the natural chaos and commotion around me, I walk my way down the bleachers—
"Hey!"
"EB!"
That's me.
I smile at the various football players hanging out around the bleachers and beyond where there's a group amassed.
Guarded, as usual by the offensive and defensive lines.
"Look who showed up." One of the defensive guys gives me a cross look before several others chuckle.
"I slept…How are we doing?" I defend myself before starting to dole out fist bumps to everyone.
The general consensus is 'alright' before Trey appears. "Hey! There you are! Missed you last night bro."
I smile then give him the same handshake hug I usually give him and smile. "Sorry I missed it."
"Yeah." Gos, one of the people I know best pops up out of nowhere. "Your boss tries yelling at you again, his shit's getting rocked."
"Yeah, what the hell was that?" Another player asks.
I do my best to shrug it all aside. "Miscommunication really. I thought I was doing my job helping you all down there—"
"You were!" Trey adamantly defends me. "You did what you always do! Your job!"
"That's bull." Gos shakes his head.
"He comes at you again like that, he's gonna have a problem." Flem, one of the offensive linemen says darkly.
Yeah, he caught me as I was coming off and didn't pull me far enough to the side before tearing into me.
"I'll give his ass a real problem." Trey alludes. "You did your job. You've been with us now, throughout the summer, in practice and that dumbass GA comes in over the top trying to belittle you? Bi—"
TREY!
"—please! Get outta here! We don't need your ah…"
Gos agrees. "You keep doing you EB. We got you."
"Thanks." I smile at the group that's come to surround me. "I appreciate it."
They don't have to have my back. I'm just a guy to them.
"Nah bro." One of the mountainous defensive linemen rumbles out. "Thank you."
Not knowing what else to do, I smile self-consciously before asking "I heard something about cake balls?"
"Oh, yeah!" Trey says before turning around. Meanwhile, one of the linemen extends a small baggie to me.
"Try one. They're great."
I do so as Gos fills me in. "Jaicey's mom made them, they're fire—"
"Where'd she go?" Trey asks.
Somebody else answers "Over by Matt."
Matt's here?
Trey disappears as I split the circular piece of candy in half, then pop half into my mouth…
Not bad.
"It's actually like cake." I comment.
The interior isn't hard. How'd she do that?!
"So good." Somebody, one of the lineman comment.
"Take more EB. Tractor's huge ass don't need no more—"
"Hey!"
The linemen start laughing and arguing amongst each other as I try not to laugh before the Force twitches to my left and I turn.
Oh! Jaicey's mom!
Jaicey's mom is very clearly flanked by JJ, who is being a good son-in-law, who immediately lights up. "You must be Ezra…it's so good to finally meet you!" She exclaims. "I've heard so much about you!"
"Hi!" I smile at—
OH!
I tense up right away, then awkwardly move to hug Jaicey's mom back.
I guess we're hugging now?
(Fifteen minutes Later)
The whistle sounds and the PA comes over the loudspeaker to point out the obvious, that the game is tied at nil going into halftime before I find myself digging back into my baggie of candy.
These things…they're addictive.
Matt laughs beside me as we float towards the bleachers and the other side of the bleachers. "Don't laugh at me."
"You never are a dessert or candy guy…and you're killing those cake balls."
"Don't judge me." I say, mouth half full.
They're DELICIOUS.
"I'm not, they're fire." Matt agrees with me. "Glad you could make it."
"No problem. Had to catch a nap…work had an early meeting."
I can at least be honest with him.
Matt hesitates for a half-second as we walk. "Work?"
"Long story," I add. "But good."
"Good…is that why you skipped out on the end of that party? I texted you the address, it was going super late. I was hoping you'd stop by."
I shake my head. "No, work for you guys kept me late, then I had to go to work work."
He'll know what that means.
Matt seems to understand, and the force doesn't give me any additional intel before Matt comments more. "All good. Frat Ryan was there though…"
"Don't call him that…" I groan.
Matt laughs at me. "Why not? It really does fit."
"How?"
All Matt does is point ahead of us, to where a group of bros in cargo shorts, leather shoes, and collared shirts with small logos on them descend from the bleachers.
Oh.
"I think you may be okay though…she kind of kept her distance most of the night."
"Most of the night." I echo his words.
Sounds like…
Matt frowns beside me. "He'll make a move if you don't."
"I can't."
"You're too frustrated with her right now anyway." Matt calls me out before—
There's Ryan.
The man himself, with the spikey hair and generally attractive complexion, walks down the stairs before following his fellow bros out through one of the open gates.
"It wouldn't kill you to be nicer. But I get why she's living on your nerves."
"I gotta be less short." I compromise.
The classes we're somehow taking together really don't even count. That Biology class is the one JJ told me to try and avoid. And the lab we all got split up.
That lab is super boring so far.
"Baby steps," Matt suggests as I grab another cake bite and we keep navigating this crowd. "And—"
A gasp cuts him off before Matt is quickly approached. "Are you…Matt? From football?" A tiny little boy runs right up on Matt.
Jacen's in his little group too.
Matt kindly confirms his identity before the group of little kids runs up on him. Only Jacen hangs back, only to tilt his head and point to Matt.
I nod, then smile before walking to Jacen. "Hey. Funny seeing you here."
Jacen laughs as I crouch down to hug him. "He's…famous?"
"Kind of. Not really. He doesn't want to be." I explain while giving Jacen a squeeze. This only confuses him as I add. "Good to see you, buddy. You having fun?"
"Yeah! I've been playing soccer. Why isn't Sabine playing?"
Behind us, Matt chuckles, which gets Jacen's attention before I pull it back to me. "I don't know. Sometimes that's how teams work. Only so many people can play."
Not everybody gets to be happy.
"But Sabine's really good though!"
"I know. I'm sure she'll play soon. We just gotta be patient." I say, only for Jacen to frown in discontent at me before.
"—bwahbwahbwahbwahbwahbwah—" I hear Mira babbling excitedly before she crashes right into Jacen and I, grabbing each of us before she fully shifts to me and tries hugging me more.
"Mira!" I exclaim happily, ignoring all of the eyes around us. "You found me!"
Mira happily confirms that with more talking before I scoop her up—
WHOA—OKAY!
"You need a diaper change." I declare. "Where's your Dad?"
"Dada!" Mira says loudly, turning and pointing in the direction of—
"We were just about to go to the car for a field trip." Kanan says once he's close enough.
"After you." I motion towards the empty gate before trying to pass stinky Mira off. Mira instead lets out a dissatisfied cry and latches back onto me. "Okay! My bad, my fault…"
Kanan moves towards the main gate, and a casual probe through the Force notifies me of multiple people's attention following me as I follow Kanan causally out of the gate.
"Parked this way…c'mere." Kanan takes Mira from me, a determined look on his face before glancing at me. "I only had a chance to glance at the briefing…so it went well this morning?"
"Yeah," I confirm while taking a quick glance around. "It didn't really go how I thought it might."
"They agreed to move Project Insight from—" Kanan hits the button to raise the back of the SUV he and Hera drove here. "—from Wengdu and some of the more administrative areas to Liuzhou to at least do a cursory search. That's a major victory."
It is.
"That was their suggestion, not mine. I was beginning to ease into proposing shifting Insight's focus when it was pitched to me." I tell Kanan.
"Which corresponds with your report from that meeting—now if you pee on me, you're going home." Kanan's tone drastically changes as he sets Mira down on her back and makes his point very clear.
Mira says something back before Kanan asks me "Can you grab the diaper bag? It should be behind the driver's seat."
Silently I comply with Kanan's request and bring him the diaper bag. "I do have to hand it to you, you have managed to win over a group of people that's notoriously cold and distant to outsiders."
"It's pure luck I think," I reply. "I—I mentioned that in the initial report."
I think that Zhou and the Security Council liked how I smelled the miscommunication issues coming and acted on them.
Making today positively easy.
"You're likable Ezra. When people give you a fair shake and greet you with an open mind, they come away liking you. That doesn't surprise me at all." Kanan tells me before exclaiming at the smell coming from Mira's diaper.
"I bet you've got room now for lunch!" Kanan tells Mira, distracting her as he goes for the baby wipes. "I saw something about tea? What is that about?"
Oh.
I laugh and hang my head. "At that meeting they were serving tea. I accepted it and drank it to be a good guest—"
"And it's good manners." Kanan adds.
"Yeah. The tea was good too, which helped. I didn't have to choke it down. Fast Forward to this morning and when the liaison got here and—"
Kanan peers back at me for a moment. "Did he really bring along a pallet of it?"
"Yeah." I laugh before Kanan orders Mira to stop squirming.
"You're gonna make a mess! Stay still for two seconds…keep going, Ezra."
"Master Mundi said that they can store it in one of the Temple's sublevels, and I'm taking some back to my place with me."
"What did they call it? A gift?"
"Congratulations on defeating Maul, a gift and a show of good faith is how they pitched it to me." I explain.
I appreciate it, but they didn't have to do that.
Especially not an eight-foot pallet, full of boxes filled with tea.
Kanan laughs as he finally gets Mira's diaper off and closes the bio-weapon off before setting it to the side. "You really have won them over."
"I just hope they find him." I admit.
"Patience…if he's there, unfortunately, I do not doubt their ability to find him. The tricky part will be extracting him from there." Kanan advises me.
"They didn't really address that part. Although…from how Zhou and his second in command were talking, I think they are thinking that I go get him."
Which can't really happen.
"Makes a lot of sense, given their stance with you." Kanan replies while cleaning Mira up.
"I—" I cut myself off and lower my voice before glancing around to see that we're still pretty alone here in this parking lot.
The music from soccer's halftime is floating over here, that's the loudest noise.
"I can't go to China…that's too far away!"
"Work may have to steal you for a whole weekend." Kanan hypothesizes. "We can make it work, capturing your brother is a top priority."
"I agree, but people will notice."
Sabine will notice. JJ will probably notice.
"By the way, did you spot that Sabine's starting to put the pieces together about DC?"
"I did," Kanan confirms. "As did the Council. They're monitoring what she knows and what she sees. We're still going off the assumption that she's being watched."
"Then I really can't go."
She's not stupid.
Kanan turns to me. "That's not for you to decide. And do you want somebody else going after him?"
No. He's my problem.
Kanan just makes a face at me before Mira demands her Dad's attention back. "We're almost done here, cool your jets."
They can't just...send Seal Team Six or something like that after him. It's going to have to be a specialized team.
…
Yeah. I'm going to have to go.
"Hera relayed what Maul said." Kanan pulls me back to the present. "I think he saw him."
"Hera's right." I nod more to myself than anything, as Kanan's eyes are on his daughter. "He needed a support structure at that age."
"You did too…you still do." Kanan reminds me. "Kids need structure. It helps to focus everyone."
"I didn't mean to be dismissive."
"I know." Kanan's tone turns to one of understanding. "Just reminding you. That's half my role I think."
He's joking.
"Not funny, Master."
I know and he knows that out of the two of us, I'm probably stronger. But such thoughts can only lead to bad places, so I don't think about them.
Besides, if there's anything I've learned since joining the Jedi, it's how much I don't know.
I thought I knew a lot more than I did when I surrendered.
"You've successfully coerced the Chinese government into searching for Elias. And now, you need to let that play itself out and turn your focus here."
"I am focused here." I counter.
"Focus on letting go of some of your frustrations towards Sabine." Kanan says before Mira speaks at the mention of Sabine's name.
"I'm trying."
"I can feel the tension between the two of you from the sidelines," Kanan reports. "Her eyes found you very shortly after you arrived. And her attention has followed."
"I didn't feel such a thing." I declare.
I didn't.
"You were distracted, rightfully so in keeping up appearances and being social. And remember, I do have far more experienced and attuned than you—" Kanan lifts the newly diapered Mira up. "Better?"
Mira's contentment is clear before Kanan beams at her. "Now let's get you dressed back up so you can keep playing with Luna."
Luna?
"Did we make a friend?" I ask Mira.
Kanan laughs as Mira replies to me. "She did, she's a social butterfly with kids around her age. It's just the big people she freezes up at."
Smiling at the thought, I attempt to release the little tension I have inside me out into the Force. "Felt that." Kanan calls me out.
"That was it," I reply defensively. "Really, I'm fine."
"Hera's got a theory, and I sort of agree with it. You're afraid of the feelings because it's overwhelming you. Love is scary, especially when you don't know how to handle it. And you know the platitude…it's true for a reason."
Fear leads to anger, yeah yeah…
"Your work with football helped you avoid her party. And neither of us are dumb enough to think that they didn't see each other there. By keeping your distance, you acted."
"Really?" I fire back. "How?"
"You cleared the board for him. It looks to him like you're not even a threat, when upon closer examination she cares far more about you being here than him." Kanan explains.
"I don't think that's true."
It's not.
"You're so sure." Kanan needles me while cleaning up the mess he made. "I don't have a problem with you liking Sabine, really Ezra."
"Not everyone on the Council does."
I'm sure he's spoken to Master Billaba, who certainly doesn't I'm sure.
"She's good for you, and she really likes you. Hera thinks that ironically, you two don't know each other well enough yet."
"What?" I make a face at him.
That's ridiculous.
"She knows the idea of you. You guys were building, building, building. Then last February at UCLA happened, and she realized she didn't want to lose you. Things went too fast—"
"Kanan—" I cut him off.
"No, let me finish!" he curly shuts me down, just before Mira protests the tonal shift. "Here…occupy Ezra for me."
Kanan passes Mira to me, forcing me to take her before she clambers into a more comfortable position and coos to me.
Hi.
"Things moved too fast, the details about you and the Jedi changed, and now she doesn't know what to think. Maybe she's scared or what. We don't know because you two still aren't communicating."
"I reported my week, you know how busy it was." I defend myself.
Kanan acknowledges this with a nod. "You'll find the time, or you'll have to make the time. It's one or the other, and right now you're not giving her any time."
I frown at Kanan's statement but don't say anything to keep Mira calm before he continues. "In the coming week or so, try to find some time for lunch or something. Or we can invite her to dinner. Something."
"This week's a bad week," I reveal. "Soccer's going to Arizona to play in a tournament late next week."
"Fine." Kanan shuts the SUV's back gate. "After that. But you have to budge a bit, otherwise your action, which is decided inaction and removal, will result in your worst fears coming to life. And then where will that put you?"
"It's not my worst fear."
My worst fear is something happening to Mira and Jacen. Something to do with my father and Elias, making it my fault.
That's my worst fear.
"Sounds like there's a story there…have you meditated on that?" Kanan asks me.
I sigh and answer "Not this week, no."
It's only really truly become a possibility just this week though.
"I know I don't have to order you to do that. Are you open for dinner tonight? The kids would love it."
"Yeah." I smile as Mira perks up at the sound of dinner. "I'll come for dinner. What are you having?"
"No clue. Probably whatever Hera feels like making. If anything, we may order in. But you should come…she and Jacen have both missed you this week."
(Forty Minutes Later)
The clock continues tick, tick ticking away on the scoreboard as all around me, the Force continues constricting.
"I think we're hot." Somebody behind me says.
Matt's foot taps impatiently as the clock flashes sixty-nine minutes even before the ball gets kicked out of bounds and a whistle harshly blows.
"Now entering the game for your USC Trojans…NUMBER FIVE…Sabine! Wren!" The PA Announcer proclaims, sounding very happy at the substitution before Alena jogs over and—
That was a half-hearted high five.
I join in with everyone around me in celebrating Sabine's arrival to the field as she jogs on in place of Alena before making a beeline for Jaicey and relaying something from the coaches to her.
"Oh, she's pissed." Somebody behind me comments.
"She's had the whole game to do something and didn't. Be a good teammate." Another says.
"Let's go B!" Matt yells out an instant before Jaicey starts barking out instructions and play begins again.
70:05,:06,:07…tick tick tick…
The ball pings around the back end as the opposing team keeps playing basically keep away from USC.
They're not as good. It's really shown here in the second half, only for us to be completely unable to get the ball in the net.
Which is why Sabine's—
Cheers ring out as possession switches hands, and right away the ball finds Sabine's feet. She completes one, two dribbles before she gets rushed by two—
Multiple people around me yell in surprise and excitement as Sabine splits them both with a fancy move and advances the ball, putting USC in a great position and forcing the opponent to scramble back madly to cover for Sabine's play. The ball finally gets shot on net but deflected out of bounds for a corner kick.
"Alright that's better, that's better!" Somebody calls out as I clap along with the group.
Good play. I'm glad she passed instead of trying to do it all herself. Rome wasn't built in a day.
The corner, however, gets unceremoniously batted out of harm's reach, sending the ball back towards our end and igniting everyone around me.
Our group's energy seems to catch fire in the bleachers, where the volume level also increases in support as people are flying around, trying to do anything—
Our ball!
Regaining possession, the ball ping, ping, pings back across to Sabine, who finds Jaicey and pushes the pace—
"Looks good!"
Cheers and calls of support continue as Jaicey finds somebody else, who keeps the ball moving still as they march right back towards the enemy goal.
Yeah…Sabine's just better than Alena. You can just kind of tell.
She knows what she wants to do and what she's supposed to be doing. She keeps the ball moving, she's bigger and stronger than Alena—
"SHOOT!" Somebody helpfully suggests, just before they pass it to Jaicey, who finds Sabine WIDE OPEN—
GOAL! SABINE!
Everybody collectively loses it as the goal sirens ROAR to life and Sabine's new goal celebration song begins playing out of the speakers as she and her teammates meet for a hug for a split second before rushing back to play defense—
"SCORING For USC! NUMBER FIVEEEEE…"
Chanting Sabine's name along with everyone else, the whistle blows, and play resumes in a mad rush as Weber is screaming instructions on the sideline.
Surely he's not mad…it's got to be defensive coverages or something—yup.
Jaicey is yelling and pointing places for people to be as the opponent starts probing the defense, looking for anything to exploit—
80:15,:16,:17… the scoreboard reads as the defense holds and the ball rolls out of bounds less than ten feet from me.
I join in with some of the others and applaud the effort to stop the attack before the ball gets thrown back in and the assault continues.
Just have to hold them for a few more minutes. Which they can do, they've held them scoreless this whole game as they figured out their offense.
Which, who knew. Putting your best striker in the game helps you score goals.
What a concept!
Whatever the instructions Jaicey called out keeps working, as all of the USC players, Sabine included are packed in and on a string, passing things off and stopping pass after pass after pass—
The crowd lets out a collective gasp as a shot rings out from far away and smacks against the post before ricocheting so far it finds Sabine's feet, who takes off and starts flying—
"GO!" I yell out at her as Sabine chews up turf and the opposing team scrambles to catch up. Sabine eventually slows down to give herself some options to pass the ball off to somebody before she gets pressured and dribbles—
NO!
Somehow, Sabine loses possession and the opponent regains control before booting it way down—
Shouts of fright ring out all around me as the ball finds more enemy feet, before a pass, another pass, pass back—
A long shot rings out and the USC keeper dives before ten high-pitched celebratory screams silence everyone else.
…
You…can't be serious.
…
I find myself crouched in disbelief as the celebration continues as USC's keeper throws the ball out of the back of the net and Jaicey is corralling everyone back towards the centerline for a final push—
They don't have time.
I glance toward the scoreboard and see that we're past the ninetieth minute before popping back to my feet and joining in with Matt, Trey, and the others in trying to push us towards a miraculous final goal—
Pass, pass, pass—
One of Sabine's teammates misses their mark with a pass, and the opponent just boots the crap out of it in our direction before three sharp whistles sound out, and the opponent begins wildly celebrating.
You…HAVE GOT to be kidding me!
Everyone around me doesn't seem to know what to do as the celebration continues, where behind them the scoreboard reads 1-1.
Full time.
"Did that just happen?" I hear somebody ask, sounding like they don't believe what they just saw.
I don't think I do either…How? It's not Sabine's fault, but…
On the sidelines, the handshakes between the two benches conclude just before I hear Weber's voice yell something in fury—
"Oh boy." Somebody says ominously.
"He's pissed."
Yeah, I think I would be too.
Sabine and her teammates slowly make their way over to their bench before Weber yells something else and they all kick it into a higher gear and jog over—
Don't walk.
Without preamble, Weber begins marching them all back towards the back practice fields, almost near where the gate between them and football begins as to the left of us, people are filing out of the bleachers.
I…I can't believe that happened.
The stunned silence and quiet is broken by the sound of Weber beginning yelling at his team, well over a hundred and fifty feet away with everyone gathered around him.
Great.
Even when we win, we lose.
(A/N: Hug your people.)