“GOD... THIS SO FUCKING STUPID,” Josh thought to himself as he got in his position behind Brent.
As Josh waited, Brent called out, “GREEN EIGHT! GREEN EIGHT! SET!!!”
Josh then closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he prepared himself for ‘the fake’.
While he pictured himself ‘flying through the clouds like a falcon’ in his mind (for some odd reason) Brent screamed, “HIKE!!!”
The Chiefs’ Offensive line then powered off the ball as they blocked back the Panthers’ Defense.
As the Offense and Defense battled with one another, Josh opened up his ocean blue eyes again.
He then immediately dashed through an ‘open hole’ in the O-Line as Brent backpedaled a few steps.
Setting his green eyes on Josh, Brent cocked back his right arm… BUT right as he prepared the pass, he noticed that one of Mount Pleasant’s Linebackers had broken through the Offensive Line.
Easily shaking off the Linebacker due to being an ‘All-American’, Brent cocked back his arm again.
While Brent spotted him, Josh made damn sure that he was open.
Realizing that there was a Defensive Cornerback running right at his left side, Josh quickly jumped up in the air.
As Josh flew up in the air (like the majestic Falcon in his brief ‘daydream’) Brent launched the football towards him.
Josh then held out his hands as he watched ‘the pigskin’ soar towards him like a ‘heat-seeking missile’.
Both crowds waited in anticipation as the ball soared through the cold, October night air as if it were in slow motion.
Right when the ball nearly touched the tips of Josh’s gloved fingers, the Panthers’ Defensive Cornerback rammed his right, padded shoulder into the latter’s left hip, causing him to flip in the air a full three hundred and sixty degrees before landing hard on his side.
After hitting the ground, five more of Mount Pleasant’s Defensive Players ‘dogpiled’ on top of Josh.
The Star Running Back then balled himself up and gritted his teeth deeply into the thick molded rubber of his purple mouthguard as he felt the heavy bodies baring down on him like a bundle of cut down tree logs.
_
Off the field… All the fans in Keokuk’s Home Stands gasped in shock as they watched the entirety of Mount Pleasant’s Starting Varsity Defense mercilessly ‘drown’ Josh in their padded, sweat-coated bodies.
“Oh my gosh! JOSH!!!” Amber shrieked on the track amongst her fellow ‘cheer peers’ as Layla stood right alongside her
“Don’t worry, Amber. Josh will be okay,” Layla soothed said in support of her fellow Co-Captain and Best friend. “He always is.”
_
Up in the K.H.S. Student Section, Derek stammered with a stunned look on his ‘pimple-ridden’, ‘pasty-white-skinned’ face, “Juh-Juh-Jesus!”
“FUCK! That looks brutal,” Kyle remarked whilst shaking his head from side to side.
“So… You guys think he’s dead?” Eric asked.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Jim shouted at the top of his lungs, “GET UP, PUSS-AAAAY!!!”
Kyle, Eric, and Derek all then looked over at Jim as he merely ‘shrugged’ his shoulders at the trio.
Kyle slapped himself in the face whilst shaking his head as Eric spurred at Jim, “You fuck.”
Derek just ignored Jim.
In response to Kyle and Eric’s obvious disdain for what he had just said… or ‘shouted at the top of his fucking lungs’, Jim jerkishly asked, “What’d I say???”
_
Back down on the field… After the referees had blown the whistle ‘numerous’ times, the Panthers’ Defensive Players started to pull themselves off of Josh.
Once the Panthers had backed off, Josh emerged from the bottom of the ‘former’ dogpile… WITH THE FOOTBALL IN HIS RIGHT HAND!
Noticing this, the Offense blew up in excitement as they all started to immediately crowd around the Star Running Back.
Rising back up to his feet, Josh faced the home stands and held the football high up in the air.
All of the Keokuk fans cheered whilst Mount Pleasant’s cheering section started to drift away in shame back to their cars.
On the track, Amber clapped her pom-poms together and cheered, “YAY, JOSH!!!”
She and the rest of the cheerleaders applauded over Josh’s amazing catch whilst the student section erupted joyously behind them.
As Kyle clapped his hands together, he smirked, “Damn. That was a solid-ass catch.”
“That ‘Jockstrap’ always comes through whenever it’s down to the wire,” Eric crudely remarked.
Jim rolled his eyes as he said whilst crossing his arms, “SHIT! That was nothin’! Anyone could’a made that catch!”
Looking over at his ignorant friend, Eric snapped, “Jim, who are you to talk? You couldn’t even catch a cold if you tried.”
Jim glared hatefully back at Eric whilst Kyle said, “HEY JIMBO, quit bein’ such an ass. I swear, ever since you started gelling your hair you’ve gone all ‘full douche’ on us.”
Splurging a goop of hair gel into his opened right palm from a bottle that he always kept stuck in his back right pants pocket, Jim ran it through his hair as he said, “MAN, y’all are seriously cracked! I am so not a douche!”
“Thu-Thu-Then why are yuh-you gell-gelling yuh-yuh-your hair,” Derek asked.
Jim’s eyes immediately widened as he brought down his gel-covered right hand and looked at it in shock.
Biting his lip, Jim said, “You know, usually I would have a comeback… But you guys ARE in the right this time. I have become a ‘douche’.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Kyle then patted Jim on his shoulder whilst he said, “It’s alright, man. We’ll get you through it.”
“As for getting through you being a complete and total idiot then I’m sorry, Jim,”
Eric blurted. “But you’re too far gone.”
Jim growled at Eric, who replied, “DO SOMETHIN’.”
As Jim backed down in anger, Derek shakily asked, “Cuh-Can we guh-guh-go nuh-now?”
Kyle nodded as he smirked, “Sure, man. We can split.”
Turning to the others, Kyle spoke out in reference to the 1980s (and currently revived) animated cartoon/c.g.i. live action film series ‘Transformers’, “Alright, Autobots… LET’S ROLL OUT!”
“FUCK YES!!! Now we can go to Layla’s Party and get fuuuucked up! HA-HA!” Jim cackled out in excitement.
Looking down at his protective, yellow-cased UPhone 4s touchscreen, Eric just shook his head as Kyle looked to Jim and said, “Sorry, Jimbo, but that’s a ‘no deal’ for me.”
“Me tuh-tuh-too,” Derek followed.
Jim then looked to Eric, who glanced up at him slightly from his phone to say, “Don’t even ask, shitdick.”
Sighing, Jim said, “Ugh… Man, this is such bullshit, you guys! FOR ONCE in Eric’s shitty, unexciting, and MEANINGLESS life we actually get invited to a HELLA-AWESOME party at the illustrious home of one of the most POPULAR, RICHEST, and HOT-AS-FUCK CHICKS in our whole fuckin’ school and you losers wanna call it ‘a night’ and pack it in like a bunch of BITCHES! HELL! IT AIN’T EVEN TEN YET!!!”
“ALRIGHT, JIM,” Kyle blared out of pure annoyance and irritation. “ONE: For the hundredth fucking time, we did not get invited to Layla’s Party. TWO: For the hundredth and ONE fucking time, YOU did not get invited to Layla’s Party. And finally… THREE: I’m the one who drove us all here so you go where I go and if you don’t like that then you can just walk your happy ass all the way back across town to your parents’ apartment while we ‘losers’ go to bed. So, Chief… What’s it gonna be???”
With no other possibly ‘good’ choice facing him, Jim sighed, “Ugh… Whatever, Kyle. FINE! Urgh… For the record, this is STILL fucking bullshit!”
“Ah shut the hell up, you reject,” Eric sourly spurred after shoving his phone back in the front pocket of the bright yellow hoodie that he was wearing.
Kyle and Derek then both chuckled as Eric turned to the former and asked, “So, Gordon, where we headin’ now? The Crib?”
“I don’t know,” Kyle replied whilst shaking his head. “Derek wants to go home and like I said before, my Dad’s gone all weekend so me, you, and ‘King Dingus’ can all crash at my crib tonight, if you dudes want to.”
Feeling his stomach grumble, Derek said, “I’m huh-huh-hungry.”
“Yeah. I could use some grub too,” Eric nodded in agreement. “Y’all wanna go get a bite to eat at the Burger Hut or some shit down at the Square?”
Nodding, Kyle said, “Yeah. I’m game.”
“Me too. I'm ALWAYS hungry,” Jim agreed whilst starting to ‘foam from the mouth’, so to speak.
Looking at Derek again, Kyle asked, “You good with bein’ out for a bit longer to get some food, D… Or do you wanna get dropped off at your crib first?”
“Fuh-Food fuh-fuh-first,” Derek replied.
Patting his hands together, Kyle said, “WELL, IT’S SETTLED THEN. Burger Hut it is! C’mon, dawgs… Let’s roll.”
Kyle led his friends up the bleachers to exit the crowd-depleting stadium as both teams down on the football field were concluding with shaking hands.
_
After ‘slapping hands’ with the last player in line from Mount Pleasant, Josh stopped at the center of the field.
Looking over at the big, purple and white ‘jumbotron’ scoreboard that stood up behind the Visitor's Side Field Goal Post, Josh stared at the final score.
‘Thirty to twenty-eight’ is what it read… Thus forth making the Keokuk Chiefs’ win/loss record now ‘4-0’.
They were still ‘undefeated’ and undoubtedly the best team in their conference right alongside Fort Madison… Who were also undefeated on this night after completely ‘decimating’ the Central Lee Hawks about eighteen minutes north from Keokuk in Donnellson.
“HEY, RUSSELL!”
Turning around, Josh saw Brent heading right towards him with a big grin on his sweat and eye black smeared face.
“YO, that was a sick-ass catch you had made there in the final seconds, J-Russ,” Brent commended whilst slapping hands with and giving a ‘bro hug’ to Josh. “Almost had me worried for a bit there, to be honest, but I knew that you’d come through for me and the rest of the team, bruh. You always do.”
“Damn straight,” Josh smirked. “So, what you fittin’ to do now, bro?”
Brent then looked over to his girlfriend since Freshman Year, Amber, who was beginning to pack up and leave the stadium with the rest of the Varsity Cheer Squad.
Smiling at her whilst she smiled back at him, Brent said, “The team’s gonna go catch a free ‘Victory Meal’ at Burger Hut since we won tonight… And after that everyone’s gonna go over and squad up at Layla’s Crib.”
“Oh yeah? What’s goin’ on over there?”
“She's having a rager while her ‘rents are gone on vacation in Hawaii or some shit…. AND THERE’S GONNA BE A KEG.”
“Hmm… A ‘Keg’, you say?”
“Ha-ha! Yep! All that we can drink, bro! It'll be wild because everyone's gonna be there. Me and Amber are gonna head on over there after we get done eatin’ at the Hut. Y’wanna come with?”
“Hmm… The Keg is tempting… BUT AT LAYLA’S PLACE? I dunno ‘bout that shit, dawg. Her and I don’t really ‘vibe’ so I don't think that I’ll go to the rager, but I’ll most definitely go to Burger Hut. How could one ever pass on a free TRIPLE SLAMMER WITH AMERICAN CHEESE… AND BACON???”
“Ight. Suit yourself, dude,” Brent replied. “Well, Imma go over to Amber and check up on her sexy-ass for a hot minute and then I’m gonna head on up to the locker room to change out of this disgusting shit. See you up there in a bit, bro.”
“Yeah, for sure. See ya, man,” Josh nodded.
Brent then ran off field to meet up with Amber on the track as Josh was left behind by himself at the center of the field once more.
Looking away whilst Brent and Amber briefly ‘made out’ with each other over on the Chiefs’ Sideline, Josh started heading off the field and back up to the school with the rest of his teammates en route to the Men’s Locker Room for a hot shower and to change into some clean, non-sweat soaked clothes.
“Huh? What the fu--” Josh stammered as he looked back at the Panthers’ Endzone to see a man standing in its center… Right in front of the Field Goal Post.
Adorned in a white and golden robe, the tannish-skinned ‘mysterious man’ who looked to be somewhere in his thirties with slicked back black hair, black eyes, a finely-trimmed beard… And resembled a living, breathing ‘3D Egyptian Hieroglyph’ stood in the endzone… Staring directly at Josh with eyes that were pulsating his blinding bright, stark white light energy.
Holding a ‘wavy’, golden staff in his right hand that had a ‘sprawling winged falcon’ as its Standard, the mysterious man continued to stare eerily at Josh, making him shiver in ever-growing fear.
Not sure of ‘who’ or ‘what’ he was seeing, Josh quickly blinked his eyes a couple times.
After only a few blinks, the mysterious man was gone… Leaving the Star Running Back standing in the middle of the football field with a look of confusion, curiosity… AND FEAR painted heavily on his sweat-coated face.
