Chapter 41

"Are you totally blind?"

The ref turned and glared at me, then turned back to the game. On the field, Mike Reed was climbing to his feet again. French Park had just logged their fourth late hit and gotten away with it again. Not that it did them any good. The pass that Mike had launched seconds before the hit had sailed right into Robbie's arms. She made another seven yards before two of the Legionaries brought her down.

I looked across the field at the other sideline. The Legionaire quarterback was pointing at Mike and laughing.

I was playing defense again. I decided that I was going to clothesline the son-of-a-bitch and take him out of the game.

The play was already in motion before I focused on the game again. Mike took the hike and faded back. A handoff to Robbie, no, a fake. The ball came up by his ear and sailed toward the end zone. Luke snatched it and the Rebels were on the board.

I looked back down field. Mike was on the ground again. Two Legionaries were high fiving each other as they walked away. The ref was standing a dozen feet in front of me, watching.

"You going to call that, or did you forget how!" I yelled.

He turned and glared again. "Watch your mouth, or you'll spend the rest of the game in the locker room."

"At least I'm watching the game!" I yelled back.

He turned his back on me.

This was not how I pictured spending my Friday night.

It had been a pretty good week.

Saturday and Sunday, Robbie and I read every paper we could get our hands on. About half of them said the Rebels were on the road to a state championship. It was a big change from last year. Even the other half said we were the team to beat.

Monday the school voted for the best play, then Tuesday the committee had it's last meeting and decided better luck next year. Wednesday Cody had lunch with the group. I had to admit he was a nice guy. He told some great stories about growing up in Phoenix. But there was just something about the guy. Tami said it was jealousy; I don't like sharing. But I thought it was more than that. Maybe I hoped it was more than that.

Then this afternoon we had the pep rally.

"Settle!" Mr. Reed said sharply. "Or we can go back to class."

That got everybody's attention.

When the bleachers had quieted, "Your Rebel cheerleaders!" Mr. Reed yelled and the lights went out. From the speakers came a cackling laugh, then "Wipe out!" followed by the familiar drumline. I wondered if my Colorado Cousin was feeling a twinge.

The doors on either end of the gym opened and in came eight apparitions.

The cheerleaders had applied some kind of glow-in-the-dark face paint and carried glow wands. The dance they'd choreographed to the music was very strange with just their faces and the glow wands visible.

"Your cheerleaders!" Mr. Reed yelled again as the music came to an end and the lights came back on. The girls bowed and ran out.

"A few announcements." Mr. Reed looked conspiratorially over each shoulder then leaned in close to the microphone. "There's a chance that Murphy hasn't heard about the dance tonight, so keep it under your hats."

Most of the audience chuckled. We were learning about Murphy's Law firsthand. The dance Mr. Reed was talking about was homecoming. It had been scheduled for the first week in October, and we'd been trying ever since. First a water pipe broke and flooded the gym. Then the roof leaked during a big storm. They'd just gotten everything dried out and one of the big lights came crashing down, so the gym had to be closed while all the others were checked. Then... I didn't even want to think about it.

"The girl's swim team is at districts today and tomorrow. If you're planning to attend and root our girls on, remember it's been moved from Lake High School to North Lincoln." Something the administration at Lake was upset about for some reason.

"Football's got another game, though nobody cares," he mumbled.

"We care!" Paula yelled and the cheerleaders jogged back in and took positions in front of the bleachers and started working up the school.

I gave Tami's knee a squeeze, then stood and started making my way down the bleachers. Robbie had been sitting with Cody and some of his friends. She hugged me when we came together on the floor along with the rest of the team. We formed a line behind Mr. Reed.

As the cheerleaders finished, Robbie and I stepped forward and did rock, paper, scissors, though we'd prearranged who would go first. Robbie's rock destroyed my scissors and she stepped up to the mic.

"Eight teams play tonight. The Rebels are one of them!" The audience applauded and stomped their feet. "For the second year!" The noise from the bleachers got even louder. I wondered if they stress-tested those things before they installed them. "Last year all the newspapers were saying that we were a mistake, that we didn't belong. This year about half of them are ready to give us the trophy now.

"It doesn't matter, 'cause either way, the Rebels are going to teach them how to play FOOTBALL!" Every word got louder until she shouted the last one. The audience jumped to their feet and yelled and clapped.

I stepped up to the microphone and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

It took almost three minutes before it got quiet enough that I thought the speakers had a chance.

"WE'VE got four things that no other team has. We've got Mike Reed! And we've got Luke Hastings!" I waited some more. Then, "WE'VE GOT MONSTER GIRL!" The noise reached a crescendo. I'm sure we could have drowned out any 747 or B-52 on the planet. Probably both.

"AND..." the noise quieted as everyone waited for me to include me. "We've got the one thing that practically guarantees a win tonight." I waited a couple beats. "We've got a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model cheering us on!" As the crowd erupted into their loudest cheer of the night, I knew behind me that Robbie was planning something dark and evil.

Mr. Reed took my place at the mic. "Two last announcements. The last couple years have seen a lot of firsts for our school. The first girl on the football team." Now he had to wait for the cheers to die down. "The first sophomore elected homecoming queen." Next to me, I felt Robbie shift, and I put my arm around her.

"But now our firsts go national."

National? Now what?

"She was the first freshman ever nominated for the Bothwell award, and now she's the first writer ever to be nominated twice. She..."