"I'm open," someone from the opposite team yells to their teammate. As the ball comes herdling towards them, I block their way and knock the ball to the ground. The crowd goes wild at my defense and my teammates praise me.
Both teams set back up for another play and I get to my position as defensive back. Sasha goes to center, getting ready to snap the ball and our quarterback, Mia, stands behind her, ready to receive it.
The other team isn't as intimidating as I thought they were going to be. They're starting to play recklessly because they're losing and there's only five minutes left to play. The score is 36-6. There's no way they can win with the gap we've made in the scores.
I look around the crowd to find Chester, who left to go to the bathroom a couple of minutes ago. The twins, Daniel, Parker, Sky, and Hope are supporting Jamie and I from the bleachers, screaming as loud as they can.
I scan the rest of the crowd to find Chester and I see him making his way back to his seat. He meets my eyes and he sends me wink. Butterflies run through my body.
He points behind me and I can hear people yelling my name to turn around. When I turn I can see the football coming towards me fast and my body reacts to catch the ball.
Being caught off guard, the ball slips through my fingers like butter and I struggle to catch it before it touches the ground. Luckly, the universe is on my side because I'm able to catch the ball and I breathe out a sigh in relief.
I can feel red rushing through my cheeks in embarrassment. I can see Chester laughing at my embarrassment from the corner of my eyes, but I try to put my focus back on the game.
I start running to get some distance between me and the other team. Three people from Braxton High are on my tail, and from a distance I can spot Jaime open in her wide receiver position.
She's waving her hands to make sure I can see her, but she doesn't yell so that the other team doesn't know she's open. She has her hands ready to catch.
So, I throw the football as far as I can to reach Jaime and she catches it.
No one from the other team can catch up to her and she speeds off and makes a touchdown. The crowd screams in our victory and the referee signals the end of the game.
My team screams and jumps in joy. We say good game to the other team and run off the field. Our supporters from the bleachers come to congratulate us. I feel someone grab me from behind and when they spin me around I see its Chesters.
"Congrats," he tells me and gives me a quick kiss.
"Thank you." Before Chester and I can get too caught up in our cuteness, Jamie calls me over to take a picture with the team.
"That was an awesome pass and receive," a girl named Faith on our team praises Jaime and I.
"Good thing I didn't drop the ball," I say, laughing nervously. Everyone on the team joins in on the laugh.
"It's okay. We still won," Mia says and we all yell victory.
"Let's go to Dorothy's Shake Shop! I'm starving," Sasha tells the team and everyone agrees.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Cosa vuoi mangiare?" Chester's holding the menu and asking me what I want to eat in Italian. We made a bet that whoever can't speak Italian for the rest of the night has to pay for the food.
"Prenderò un hamburger, alcune patatine fritte, un frappè alla fragola e biscotti con gocce di cioccolato." I tell the waiter I want a burger, fries, strawberry milkshake, and chocolate chip cookies. I know they don't understand Italian and Chester tried to trick me into speaking English, so I point to the items I want on the menu.
"Sei sicuro di avere abbastanza per pagare tutto questo più il mio pasto?" Chester asks am I sure if I have enough money to pay for all of my food and his. I roll my eyes and wait for him to order his food.
While he's distracted, I text something to Jaime in Italian, knowing that she'll put it in google translation. She sends me a thumbs up and I chuckle under my breath.
"Di che stai ridendo?" Chester asks what am I laughing at and I just shake my head. He looks at me suspicious.
I watch Parker walking towards our table and I laugh because I know what's coming.
"Hey, Chester. Is it okay if I drive your car," Parker asks him. Chester's eyes grow big in horror.
"Non ti azzardare!" Chester warns Parker not to.
Everyone knows Parker is a horrible driver. One time I asked him for a ride to school and during the whole drive, I thought I was going to die. He kept running over things and hitting mailboxes.
"I can't understand you, Chester. Was that a yes?" Parker goes to grab Chester's car keys from the table, but Chester slaps his hand away in panic.
"No! Ho detto no!"
"I'll just hotwire the car. That'll be adventurous." Parker tries to run out of Dorothy's Shake Shop, but Chester grabs him by the shirt.
"You are not hot wiring my car!" Parker looks scared out of his mind as Chester holds him by the front of his collar.
"HA! You spoke English first. Your paying sucker," I tell Chester, boasting in glee. His face tries to hide his surprise with nonchalance, but I can see his true feelings.
"Whatever. I didn't want to win anyways," he answers like a baby.
"Liar. Who doesn't want free food?" Jaime pops up from behind Chester. "And let go of my boyfriend before I kick your ass." Chester lets go of Parker and Jaime pulls her boyfriend into a hug.
They slide into the booth in front of us. The rest of the crew, girls flag football team, and other teens from school are scattered around the shake shop, but I notice Sky is missing.
The waitress comes back with our food and Chester pays. I cozy up next to Chester and eat my food.
"Where's Sky," I ask Jaime.
"She said she met this cute guy at the bonfire we had at the camp tradition. They've been going on dates and stuff. I think she went to meet up with him.
"Hmm. How come I didn't know about it?"
"They're not official or anything yet. The guy said that he's been in a couple of bad relationships and he doesn't want to jinx this one by telling people until they're official. She agreed with him. The only reason I found out was because when she was over the other day, I saw a text pop up that said mystery guy and I couldn't stop myself from reading."
"Maybe I'll ask her about it another day."