CHAPTER 27

The crowd cheered as the male McKinley football players walked onto the field. There were just seven of them, and the thousand people in the stands echoed their appreciation for the team. As Finn was warming up his left arm at the sidelines, Karofsky and some of the other guys who quit walked up to him.

"It's not too late." Finn said to them.

"How the hell are you going to play with 7 guys, huh?" Karofsky spat. Finn pointed behind Karofsky. He turned around and saw the Glee girls walking onto the field, fully decked out in football pads, cleats and helmets. Karofsky laughed uproariously.

"You have got to be kidding!" He laughed.

"What the hell are they doing?" Azimio asked.

"What you don't have the balls to do." Finn spat, before walking away. He joined the rest of the football team, and they huddled up to discuss their first play.

"Punch and Judy on 3. Ready… BREAK!" Finn shouted, mainly addressing the guys, as the girls had no idea about any of their plays.

"BREAK!" They all shouted, and split off into their positions.

"Who's Judy?" Tina asked as they all crouched down, ready to start the play. Finn rolled his eyes. The opposing team, only a couple of inches away, chuckled at the lame McKinley team. This was the Championship game, and they had tiny girls playing for them! Finn forced all of the doubts out of his head, and he shouted to start the play.

"BLUE 42! BLUE 42! HUT... HUT... HIKE!"

The ball was snapped to Finn, and the two receivers, Mike and Puck, sprinted away. Sam and Artie were in charge of the run plays. As soon as the opposing team pounced, the girls screamed and lay flat on the ground. Ball in his hands, Finn watched the run of both Puck and Mike, looking for an opening to pass, but unsuccessfully. The opposition had clearly done their homework - they knew that Mike and Puck were the two speediest receivers, so they marked them fiercely. Not able to find a pass, Finn saw one of the defenders break free from Sam's guarding, and charge towards Finn. Finn was forced to throw the ball, but it was an inaccurate pass. Mike wasn't expecting it, and he fumbled it, leaving the other team free to grab the interception and sprint to the end zone.

0 - 7

They had conceded a touchdown on their first play! This was not going well. Finn hit the dirt in frustration.

"DAMN IT!" Coach Beiste shouted, flipping the Gatorade table in her fit of rage. She didn't blame the people on the pitch though. She blamed the football players who were standing on the sidelines, refusing to play for petty reasons. Just before halftime, McKinley were down 0-21, showing no hope of a comeback. Finn knew that they needed a new plan. DESPERATELY. He needed to stop selfishly thinking about college scouts, and think about what would be best for the team, even if it meant him having no chance of earning a scholarship. He probably wasn't going to get one at this rate, anyways. Suddenly, he had an idea! He ran to the huddle to discuss their final play before the referee blew for halftime.

"OK, guys. How's everyone doing?" He asked, mainly talking to the girls.

"Kill me now, I'm gonna die." Mercedes panted.

"Is anyone else tired of lying down all the time? I want to play." Bella exclaimed.

"Just… don't get ahead of yourself, okay?" Finn said. "But I do have an idea. Sam, you're playing quarterback for the rest of the game." He said. Even that caused an uproar within the team.

"Wait, what?" Puck shouted.

"Why?" Sam asked. Even he was confused. Their only hope of winning was Finn pulling a bit of magic out of his sleeve with his throwing.

"Just trust me. Look, we know that passing is not going to get us anywhere when only 2 people are looking to receive the ball. We need run plays, and good ones. No offense to anyone here, but I think I'm probably the strongest person here, so I'm going to become a running back. Sam, when you snap the ball, immediately fake a throw and hand the ball off to me. Or, throw me a short pass. We'll go from there. Ready… BREAK!" He shouted, with more confidence in his voice this time.

"BREAK!" They all chanted. The crowd was a lot quieter at this point. They knew that they didn't stand much of a chance of a comeback. Mike stood over the ball, with Sam directly behind him, ready to receive the snap.

"HUT… HUT… HIKE!" Sam shouted, and the ball was snapped to him, setting the play in motion. With a quick burst of pace, Finn made a sweeping run around the back of Sam, who faked a pass and then handed the ball off to Finn, perfectly. Phase one was complete…

The next bit was all up to Finn. He had 40 yards to run, and he was being converged on by 6 opposing players. Putting his head down, Finn forced himself to barrel forwards like a battering ram, running straight through anyone who dared to try and tackle him. He shoulder tackled at least 4 people before reaching the end zone, and casually walking in.

6 - 21

The McKinley crowd were all on their feet, finally starting to believe in their team. Nobody was happier than the players on the pitch though. Finn also scored the field-goal with a two point conversion run, making the score 8 - 21. Finn high-fived every member of his team as they walked back to the locker room for the half-time break.

When they came back through the tunnel after the break, they were feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to fight tooth and claw for the comeback. Sure enough, by midway through the fourth quarter, McKinley had scored 4 more touchdowns - making the score 38-28.

They were just 5 minutes from making their State Champion dreams a reality when disaster struck…

The McKinley team huddled up to discuss the upcoming play and this time, they seemed a lot happier. Understandably so, given that they were actually winning the game.

"All right guys. Next play… Red Right 30 Pull Trap. Ready… Break!" Finn shouted.

"BREAK!" They all chanted. They then split up, Sam moving to receive the snap and Finn getting ready to make a run. They were running out of ideas at this point and were just trying to run down the clock. The opposing team was catching on and were preparing for Finn's runs more carefully and this led to them guarding Puck and Mike less strictly. Therefore, for this play, Sam would hopefully be throwing the ball to one of his wide receivers. However, that was NOT what happened at all. Almost as soon as the ball was snapped into Sam's hands, one of the opposing players broke free and charged at Sam, sacking him and causing him to drop the ball. But the defender had gone down with Sam so he couldn't grab the ball. And the other defenders… wait, where were the other defenders? They were all guarding Finn and were miles away from where the loose ball was. At that moment, the arena rang silent and all eyes were on the lifeless ball. The closest person was… NO! Finn's heart dropped as he saw Bella standing up and sprinting towards the ball. His instincts finally kicked in and he started running towards her. He was too late. Bella grabbed the ball and started running up the field with it. She was quickly approached by an opposing linebacker, he took her to the ground as if she weighed nothing. Her head hit the ground and she laid there, motionless. The ref blew his whistle and the whole team sprinted over to Bella, as well as Coach Beiste and the medic, and Finn watched as they loaded an unconscious Bella onto a stretcher. He watched Bella being carried away and he looked around the football stadium. He had two choices: he could either finish the final 5 minutes of the game and go to the hospital after, or he could go with his ex-girlfriend to the hospital and risk losing the game and letting down a thousand McKinley High faculty, parents and students. It wasn't even a difficult choice.

"Hey, guys, I gotta go. Good luck, okay?" was all Finn needed to say. Everyone immediately understood and they nodded. Finn then sprinted off the field and into his car, speeding towards the hospital. On the way, he got a text on his phone. He pulled it out and revealed a text from Puck reading…

WE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

Finn relaxed a little upon reading the message. The girl he loved was unconscious, on her way to the hospital. Her glassy, unconscious look as she was loaded into the stretcher burnt into Finn's mind and he forced himself to drive faster, breaking around twenty speed laws by the time he made it to the hospital. He sprinted into the building and he was quickly directed towards a hospital room where Bella lay, still out cold. According to the doctors, similar to Finn after the fire, Bella had suffered a concussion and should be up some time in the next twenty four hours. Finn, relieved, sat down and watched as various friends of Bella, as well as her parents, came to see her. However, eventually, the clock struck midnight and everyone was forced to go home. The nurse ushered them out of the room but Finn didn't move.

"Um, sir. Visiting hours are over. You can see your girlfriend tomorrow." The nurse said, kindly.

Girlfriend. Hearing that word both broke and warmed his heart. Finn was terrified. If something unexpected happened and Bella didn't wake up, she wouldn't never know how he felt about her. She would never know the love he had for her. Because he did love her. He had spent the past two months pulling away but deep down, he knew that she was the person he belonged with.

"Sorry, I'm not leaving." Finn murmured. The nurse sighed.

"Sir, you need to leave." The nurse repeated.

"Please." Finn begged. "Please let me stay."

The nurse saw the amount of pain he was in and eventually agreed. Finn nodded at her, extremely thankful, and he sat back on his chair, eventually overcome by exhaustion and falling asleep…