Second Down
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 29
Melanie wasn’t exactly cold to me the next day at school, but things after our disastrous study session seemed off. It was homecoming day and everything was crazy, so maybe it was just the whole day that felt off. We had no practice that afternoon, even though we had a game the following day, because of all the prep for the dance and for the varsity homecoming game. This included a pep rally that took up the last two periods of the day.
Varsity was pumped. Today, they were playing Midland, our biggest rival, even though we’d lost to them the last three years in a row. Melanie confirmed we were still on for the dance and that I was picking her up with Mickey, who had a vehicle and was driving us and his date.
All the commotion really put me behind, so I was just getting dressed in jeans and my jersey when I heard his jeep pull up. I grabbed my letterman jacket, which they’d handed out to the JV and varsity players today, and ran out of the house and down the driveway carrying a suit bag with my clothes for the dance.
Hanna was already sitting beside him in the passenger seat.
“Finally,” Mickey called. “We thought you bailed.”
I tossed my bag in the back and said, “Not a chance.”
“We picking up Melanie next?”
I nodded. “She’s ready, or so she said.”
We pulled up to Melanie’s house and I hopped out, going to the back and pulling the homecoming mum I’d picked up that afternoon out of my suit bag. The thing felt like it weighed twenty pounds, and it actually might have.
Between the massive blue and gold flowers, the endless cascade of ribbons with bells on the ends, it was exactly the kind of over-the-top Texas tradition that made absolutely no sense but you had to do, anyway.
“Man, you went all out,” Mickey said from the driver’s seat. “That thing’s bigger than she is.”
“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” Hanna said. “The bigger the mum, the more you like the girl. You should take notes.”
Hanna was already wearing her mum and it was also ridiculously big, although maybe a little bit less so than the one I got Melanie.
I rang the doorbell, and Melanie answered wearing her JV cheerleading uniform, her dress bag draped over one arm. Her smile lit up her whole face. It was the first real one I’d gotten since she literally ran away from my house the day before.
“Hey! Come in for a second while I grab my stuff.”
I followed her inside, where her mom and sister Donna were waiting with a camera.
“Just one quick picture,” her mom insisted.
“Not yet,” Melanie protested.
She looked at the mum, clearly waiting for me to give it to her.
“This is for you. I hope it’s not too...”
“It’s perfect!” Melanie threw her arms around my neck, careful not to crush the mum between us.
I helped pin it to her uniform while her mom snapped what had to be thirty pictures. The bells jingled with every slight movement Melanie made.
“About yesterday,” I said as we finally escaped and walked back toward Mickey’s jeep.
“Don’t.” Melanie squeezed my hand. “That wasn’t your fault. And I’m not going to let your brother ruin tonight.”
I took her dress bag and carefully laid it over my suit bag to keep it from getting messed up, then helped her up into the back seat. Her damn floral arrangement was almost like a barrier between us, taking up half the back seat.
“He did good, didn’t he?” Melanie asked Hanna when she looked back at us.
“He really did. Mine is just flowers. No writing. No bells. Most guys don’t have a clue what looks good.”
I’d had them put “cheer” across the middle part of the circled flowers, and a little megaphone and two pom-poms. The lady at the store thought it was a good idea, and I was really glad they approved.
“Hey, I asked you to homecoming, didn’t I?” Mickey said as he pulled away from the curb, not missing the dig against him.
“After Joe asked Emily and you panicked about being the only single guy on the team.”
“I did not panic! I was being strategic.”
“Strategic about what?”
They were actually kind of funny. Apparently, they’d been friends forever and had dated very briefly in middle school, and since then, they had remained friends. I wasn’t sure what caused Hanna to set her sights on him again, but my memory was that she had asked him to homecoming or at least engineered it so he asked her.
At school, we split up at the locker rooms to store our dance clothes in our lockers. As part of the team, we were all expected to wear our team gear in support of varsity.
The stands were already packed when we found seats with the rest of the JV team and cheerleaders, and our guys were already on the field stretching and warming up.
It seemed like the whole town was here, probably because they were, and every one of them started cheering and stomping when our guys ran out onto the field for the start of the game.
Except for the few times we’d made it as far as the division playoffs, this was the biggest game of the year for us. Midland was the nearest school to us and kept beating us year after year, making them our all-time rival. I’m not sure if they felt the same, although their side of the stadium was packed as well, so maybe they did.
The first half was a real back-and-forth affair. Both teams traded scores, neither able to pull away decisively. We’d surge ahead, then Midland would answer right back. It was a nail-biter, the kind of game that kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time, not that any of us were actually sitting.
Coach was, of course, sticking to the running game. He was a big believer in “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” although considering we always lost to Midland, I guess in this case it was, even if it is broke, don’t fix it.
The guys and I were really into the game, screaming our heads off every time one of our guys finally broke into open field or our defense had a good stop. Melanie and the girls, on the other hand, were really only half paying attention, going from watching the game to socializing, and Melanie was at the center of all of it. She wasn’t even at our seats half the time, running off to talk to kids in our class who weren’t part of the athletics program.
“Blake!” someone called from behind us.
I turned to see Eduardo and his brother coming down the steps toward me. His parents were way up at the top of the bleachers and waved to me when they saw me turn around.
I waved back and moved over to make some room for them between me and Mickey. He wasn’t part of our group, but he’d been with us at lunch enough that most of the guys just kind of accepted him being there.
“You guys made it.”
“Alex wouldn’t stop bugging me until I brought him,” Eduardo said.
His little brother bounced excitedly next to him, decked out in Wheaton gear.
“This is so cool!” Alex said. “We’re gonna win, right?”
“Course we are,” Mickey said. “Just gotta start throwing the ball more.”
Alex launched into a diatribe of plays and possible ways the team could break out of our rut if we had more of a passing game. It was all kind of surface-level stuff, but the enthusiasm was there. In a few years, Alex would really be one of those guys who knew everything about football.
You could just hear it in his voice.
“You’re still coming to my game tomorrow, right?”
“Hel ... I mean, heck yeah. Remember, you promised to get me on the field.”
“You did?” Mickey asked, looking over them at me.
“Before the game, just for a minute.”
“Hey, it’s your life.”
I was less worried about it. Coach wasn’t the hard-ass he made himself out to be. I figured if I presented it right, he’d let me bring them down for just a minute.
We went into halftime tied at fourteen to fourteen. I’d looked back at the previous years’ records and honestly, this was the best showing we’d had against them in a long time. We were pretty evenly matched, and it seemed like we might be able to pull it off.
They called the cheerleaders down and Melanie and the rest of the JV squad hurried to join varsity cheer on the field, leaving their big mums with us, since they obviously couldn’t actually perform wearing those things. The few senior JV players went down with them.
The marching band began setting up as the announcer’s voice crackled over the speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our senior football players, cheerleaders, and band members for our annual homecoming recognition ceremony!”
The seniors lined up, first the football players, mostly still in their gear only with their helmets off, interspaced with the few JV guys in jerseys, cheerleaders and dance team members in their uniforms, and band members in their stiff outfits and big hats. Parents joined them on the field as the announcer read each name, listing off achievements, where they were going to college, and future plans.
Once all that was done, the cheerleaders and the dance team took center field. The music started, some pop song I vaguely recognized, and they launched into their routine. It looked pretty good to me, but I didn’t really know much about dance. All I knew was that Melanie told me they’d been working on it for weeks.
“They’re really good,” Eduardo said.
The routine built to a series of impressive stunts, although most of them were done by the seniors. Melanie and the other JV girls were there for support as much as anything else.
The crowd cheered as they struck their final poses.
As the cheerleaders cleared the field, the marching band took their places. The drum major blew her whistle and they began their big halftime show.
There was something about a high school football game that was just amazing to experience.
Unfortunately, the rest of the game didn’t live up to that high point. At first, it was more of the back and forth. We’d score, they’d answer. They’d score, we’d answer.
Neither defense could seem to keep up with the other’s offense.
Midway through the fourth, Midland kicked a field goal to put them up by three. Our offense got the ball back with just under two minutes left, one timeout, and seventy yards to go. It was do-or-die time.
Kenneth actually did a decent job moving the ball down the field, mostly running plays, of course. He got us down to their twenty-yard line with thirty seconds left and then, on second down, they set up for what I knew was a passing play. I think the coach was hoping for a short dink to get us within distance of the goal line to power through and win the game, probably calling a timeout as soon as the pass was completed to stop the clock.
None of that plan worked out.
The pocket collapsed almost as soon as the ball was snapped. Kenneth scrambled to his right, looking for an open receiver, but there was nothing. He tucked the ball, trying to make a run for it, but a Midland linebacker caught him from behind.
Kenneth went down hard, the ball popping out of his hand before he hit the turf. Everyone piled on it. The whistle blew, and the clock stopped. When everyone got up, one of their players had the ball. We’d turned it over. Worse, Kenneth didn’t get up.
A hush fell over the stadium as people started to realize he was still down. Trainers rushed onto the field, surrounding him. They worked on him for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes.
Thankfully, they were able to get him to his feet. He looked shaken as they walked him off the field. Although he was walking under his own power, he was clearly shaken and not able to continue.
The crowd applauded, relieved that he was at least able to walk, but the mood had shifted. The energy was gone.
Our defense took the field, but it was all over. They made a run and then let the clock wind down.
We’d lost another game against Midland. It was a lot quieter and less exciting as we made our way down the bleachers and headed toward the field house.