The cries and shouting could be heard in our locker room. It was invigorating and pumping the whole team up. I calm and collected sitting on the bench, but my heart was pumping fast with anticipation. This was it. The moment that I had been working my ass off had arrived. Why wasn't I more excited?

Phillip slapped me on the back, bringing me out of my reverie.

"We're going! You ready? Not getting the jitters, are we Sebastian? Toby asked with a smile.

I quirked my eyebrow and tilted my head. "Jitters? Me? Be serious!"

The guys laughed, as we lined up. Ready to run out into the stadium. Duke stood in front of me, as captain. We were still a bit off but we didn't allow it effect our game.

"We're going to win this." Duke assured me, I looked at him with a smirk.

"Of course we are." I said. "You won't accept any other conclusion, neither will I."

Duke laughed, then started to jog foreword confidently. "Let's go!" He roared and we all cried at the same time as we exploded onto the pitch.

The spectators cried, shouted, yelled and whistled at our entrance. I looked around, there were so many people. It was hard to spot familiar people, in the sea of faces. Was she here? I shook my head, getting rid of the distracting thought. I hadn't thought of her all week, I wasn't going to start now.

The warm up seemed to fly by, as before I knew it we were in formation and the referees whistle went for the start of play.

The game flowed, with neither side getting much of a advantage as the defence was strong on both sides. I stayed mostly in defence and mid, I didn't want to get too close to Justin, he may recognise me but if I had a chance to score I would certainly take it. Then we got an advantage as we pushed Cornwall back on their heels, Toby sped foreword passed it to me and I lobbed it into the box where Duke waited. He was quick as he took control of it and slammed it straight into the top left corner.

The Illyria cheered, as we celebrated exuberantly with one another. That's when I saw her. God, why did I have to look up? Our eyes only met for a second, as I quickly looked away and got back into formation. My head should be on the game, nothing else.

That wasn't true though as every couple minutes I would look where she was, she would stare straight back. Coach noticed as he pulled me off the pitch and would only let me back on, "when I had my fucking head screwed back on". I sighed as I sat down and watched the pitch, not allowing my eyes stray anywhere else. The game was going well for us, the goal had given us a boost as we were being aggressive.

Cornwall responded to our new found strength by being overly violent. It was two minutes before the whistle went for half time, then Phillip cried out and fell. He grabbed his ankle, it was bleeding badly. The guy who had caused the damage was smirking but it was quickly taken off his stupid face when the referee gave him a red card. I ran onto the pitch to help Phillip off, he was gritting his teeth and swearing. His ankle was swelling and he could hardly walk on it, some B team members supported him as they went towards the nurses office.

The whistle went for half time. The team ran towards the side line, all of them asking about Phillip but they settled down when the coach grunted, "he'll be fucking fine, why don't you worry about the match." He then began to swear for a few more was a good player and his loss would be felt but I was sure that we could do it.

"Let me back on, please coach." I begged after his tirade.

"Are you going to get your head out of your arse?" The coach angrily questioned.

"Totally." I nodded.

The whistle went for the end of half time. The team began to take their positions. I looked at the coach who swore and nodded his head, I sprinted onto the pitch before he could change his mind.

"Don't let me down Hastings!" He shouted after me.

I certainly would try not to. I jumped up and down, to warm up my legs and get my heart beating faster. I can do this. Don't even look in her direction. Not even once.

...

I was sweating profusely by the end of the game. We had walked our asses off and beaten Cornwall, the end score was 4 - 2. I scored a goal against Justin which I was ecstatic about and made another assist. It was the best game I'd ever played; all that practice had payed guys were yelling their heads off, hugging everyone. Even Coach was giving us all huge, crushing bear hugs.

After the initial jubilation, I remembered why I was here. This was the moment. I had to reveal myself now for the plan to reach its aspired conclusion. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I looked into the stand, Kia, Yvonne and Paul were staring at me - waiting. I just shook my head at them, with a sad smile. They shrugged but nodded in understanding.

In the great scheme of things, soccer was not important. I couldn't bring myself to utterly decimate Olivia's reputation. Even if it was only the last year of high school, it would be something that everyone would remember. I couldn't do that to her.

I cheered along with everyone as the trophy came out. Duke went forward to collect it, as soon as it was in his hands he kissed it soundly and held it above his head, the Illyria crowd cries went even louder, it was almost deafening. We'd done it.