Chapter 8 (Sorry it took so long!)

It seemed as if the entire school had tried to fit into Pizza Hut. Beka, Rommie, Gabe, Harper, Doyle, and Trance sat in a huge booth. A waitress smiled as she set five pizzas in front of them. In the corner, Dylan and the rest of the football team were going over plays while stuffing their faces in an unhealthy manner.

Chatter buzzed. Tonight was the night! Tonight Tarn Vedra High would kick the shit out of Seefra. Everyone was sure of that.

Obnoxious music played in the background. Rommie laughed as she took a sip of her soda.

"I know! When was the last time we heard this? Who is this anyway? The Backstreet Boys?" she nibbled on her pizza.

"No…" Beka said, "I think this is NSync, not like there's a difference. Boy bands before puberty with a choreographer for a mom."

Trance giggled into her slice of extra-cheese. "No! This is…hm…this is…Smashmouth! Omigod! I haven't heard this in years!"

Harper looked at Gabe. "She's your girlfriend," he smirked.

Rommie looked at Doyle. "He's your boyfriend!" she laughed, seeing the look on Harper's face.

"So…you ready to whip Seefra into a pulp?" Dylan said in a pep-talk-y way.

A chorus of 'Hell yeah' came back to him, smelling distinctly of pepperoni.

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The game started in five minutes.Pish Tryan sat with his teammates. Their Seefra jerseys gave off aredish-orange glow. TheAbyss (their mascot) took of hisorange helmet.

"Tryan? What's the deal? How do we take care of Hunt?" the receiver asked.

"I don't care," the quarterback replied stiffly. "Just remove him from the game."

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Harper and Doyle took their seats; Trance and Rommie had run into the girls' locker room. Gabe ambled over to his group of friends. Harper pulled out a slingshot and started firing melted Maltballs at the Seefra cheerleaders (who just happened to be right in front of him).

Beka was sitting in front of them. "Hey guys," she said as she sat down.

"Hey, Bekers!" Harper said warmly. He handed her a High-Gaurd pennant. "You might want this," he said.

"Ooh," whispered Doyle. "Ooh, there'sPish Tryan!"

"Excuse me?" Harper asked.

"The QB, he's like…he's like Seefra's Dylan Hunt. Oh, and look! There's his girlfriend! Captain of cheerleading team, don't ya know!" she pointed.

"And…there's Charlie!" Doyle gasped.

"Who's Charlie?" Beka asked, almost afraid to know.

"He was, he was…uhm," she glanced at Harper. "He was…my steady boyfriend."

Harper choked.

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The football team sat on the bench. Dylan and the coach were going over plays. Rhade looked into the crowd. He could just spot Beka over the mass of people.

He wasn't nervous, it's not like he played at all, it was all Dylan, Dylan wins, and Dylan leads them into victory. As the second string QB, he'd never play.

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Rommie and Trance warmed up.

"You ready for tonight?" the captain asked excitedly.

"Yeah!" Trance giggled. She tied her hair into the red and navy ribbons.

"Alright! Let's go root for our team!" Rommie announced to the rest. She ran out of the doorway and onto the field.

The Seefra cheerleaders were going though their routine.

"Amateurs," Rommie muttered under her breath.

The Tarn Vedra Band struck up the Alma Mater as the cheerleaders took their seats. The Home team ran out amongst cheers from the Tarn Vedra students.

The Seefra band struck up the Rocky anthem as their team ran onto the field. Theorange mass cheered and yelled.

The game began. Tarn Vedra took the lead as they scored a touchdown immediately. The Seefra players mumbled under their breath as Gordy Kings made the field goal. The game continued on like that until the middle of the third period. Tryan and his pals patted a huge player on the back as he walked forward.

On the next play, Dylan threw the pass, he turned to run when someone reached out and kicked his leg out from under him. With a sickening lurch, he felt his ankle go numb. He collapsed onto the ground.

Boos and hisses came from the crowd. The coach ran out and picked Dylan up.

"Hunt! Hunt, what's wrong?" he asked, struggling under Dylan's weight.

"Leg…numb," he grunted in reply.

The coach sat Dylan down on the chair gingerly.

"Rhade!" he yelled.

Dylan tried to stand, but wobbled and fell over.

"No, sit!" the man commanded.

Steve ran up to the coach. " Yeah?"

"You're going in," he said solemnly.

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"Beka! Look!" Doyle shouted over the din.

Beka watched as Rhade jogged onto the field. "He's going in?" she asked amazed.

"Yeah, Dylan got murdered by those evil, conniving bastards!" Doyle growled.

"Calm down," Harper said, holding onto her arm.

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Near the end of the fourth quarter, the two teams were tied. Having taken Dylan out of the equation, Tryan thought they had a pretty good chance of winning. If only, Tarn Vedra didn't have such a damn good defensive line. 'This Steve Rhade is no Dylan Hunt, no wonder he isn't captain' thought Tryan.

The last three minutes of the game, Seefra had one down, Tarn Vedra had backed itself into a corner, there was no way they could make this.

Two minutes gone by. The orange fans started cheering IT'S ALL OVER! over and over again, the Vedrans were spooked out.

Suddenly, Rhade intercepted a pass and made a mad dash. The running back got wiped out, along with the receiver, his Navy helmet flying off. He would have to do this alone.

Sprinting down the field, he could hear wind rush by his ears. He had just about crossed the last line, when Tryan bowled him over.

The clock ran out.

The fans went through another round of IT'S ALL OVER.

Beka held her breath.

The referee walked up to them.

Slowly, Tryan got up.

They all gasped.

Rhade was lying past the line. He clutched the ball in a fetal position.

He had made it!

The crowd erupted into cheers as the commentators laughed at Steve's good luck. Tarn Vedra had won the game!

Time seemed to freeze.

The cheerleaders got up and went into their routine. The Band started playing Toxic by Britney Spears.

Beka leaped out of the stands.

Dylan hugged his girlfriend, Sarah.

Doyle and Harper threw popcorn at the cheerleaders, just as they realized that they had melted chocolate in their hair.

Trance spun around. Her skirt twirling with her movements. She felt beautiful.

Beka ran down the field, where Rhade was just standing up, he was gently pressing his fingers to his chest, testing the area. She crashed into him, smothering him with kisses-punctuated with laughs.

The referee respectfully draped the Tarn Vedra flag over them.

Rommie lifted Trance up as the music ended.

It was the happiest scene you could ever imagine (nix the bunnies, rainbows, and elves). Rommie had her boyfriend, Trance had finally fit in, Beka and Rhade were standing up-amid cheers and hoots, Dylan had survived his relationship and found another, Harper and Doyle were laughing hysterically, and Tarn Vedra had won their last game.

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Beka woke up, she was sitting at the bar in Seefra. Harper was arguing with Doyle, Trance and Dylan were playing cards, and Rhade was staring at her.

"You're on my shoulder," he said mildly.

Sure enough, she had fallen asleep on Rhade's shoulder.

"Why didn't you wake me up!" she asked.

"I knew it was better to let you sleep, Matriarch," he replied.

Beka kissed Rhade roughly on the mouth before standing up. She had completely forgotten her dream.

AN: I know, I know, but how else could I have ended it? I didn't want to do a sequel. Anyway…tell me what you think, please! Sorry, the Spears moment, when I was at a parade one of the High School Bands played that and I just thought that was really cool.