Free Web NovelChapter 26: Chapter 26 - No
The second half started loud.
Briarwick had remembered how to breathe again, which meant the student section went back to acting insane. Feet slammed against the bleachers. The band played too fast. Boys at the railing screamed Zac’s name like they had personally raised him.
Roxie stood on the track with her poms tight in her hands and told herself she was only watching because she had to.
That was the job.
Watch the field. Call the chant. Smile when the crowd needed it. Pretend she did not know exactly where number seven was every time the offense broke the huddle.
Zac jogged onto the field with Kyle beside him.
The noise changed right away.
It was annoying, actually, how one boy in a helmet could make an entire school act like the night had been saved.
Karen appeared beside Roxie, smiling too much. "They’re alive again."
"Briarwick is very dramatic."
Angela leaned closer from Roxie’s other side. "God. They are so aggressive."
Roxie kept her eyes on the field. "Typical."
Karen grinned. "Roxie likes it."
"Focus."
"Yes, Captain Denial."
Roxie faced the field before she could say something worse.
Zac clapped once for the snap.
The Bears rushed him hard, but Kyle picked up the block, and Zac threw fast to Dylan near the sideline. The crowd jumped up like they had been starving for one completed pass.
Roxie lifted her poms. "Who owns the sky?" fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
The squad answered hard.
"Ravens!"
The student section picked it up.
"Who owns the sky?"
"Ravens!"
The chant rolled through the home side until even the parents started clapping along. Across the field, the Bears fans booed, which only made Briarwick louder.
Zac moved the team downfield.
Roxie did not understand every call, but she understood the shift. The line moved faster. Kyle stopped looking ready to murder someone and started doing his job. Dylan caught a pass, got shoved out of bounds, then popped back up because pain was apparently optional.
The whole thing was rough and loud and ridiculous.
And it worked.
A few plays later, Zac rolled out, threw into the end zone, and Dylan caught it with both hands before stumbling into the padding.
Touchdown.
The home side erupted.
Briarwick 17. Bears 10.
Roxie jumped with the squad, poms high, smile locked in place while the boys on the field slammed into each other and Coach Hayes shouted like he had not been one bad quarter away from losing his mind.
Zac jogged toward the sideline.
His teammates hit his helmet. One shoved him by the shoulder. Another yelled something in his face and laughed.
Zac looked over anyway.
Right at her.
Roxie looked toward the crowd.
Too late.
Karen made a tiny sound.
Angela whispered, "Oh my God."
Roxie kept clapping. "Shut up."
Karen laughed under her breath. "That stare was nasty."
Roxie glared at her.
Across the line, Kendall shifted beside the front row, smile polished, eyes sharp. She was watching the game, but Roxie knew better.
Kendall watched reactions.
A missed count. A glance. A tiny crack in someone’s face.
Roxie refused to give her one.
The Bears scored again before the quarter ended.
Orange towels waved under the lights. Their side screamed. The scoreboard tied at 17–17, and Briarwick’s student section went tense in seconds.
Roxie clapped above her head. "Defense!"
The squad followed.
"Defense!"
The crowd picked it up, but the nervous edge had returned.
Zac stood on the sideline with his helmet on, hands at his hips. Coach Hayes spoke close to his facemask, one finger stabbing toward the field. Zac nodded once.
Then his head turned.
Roxie felt it before she looked.
He was watching her again.
She gave him nothing.
The fourth quarter felt like one long fight between the field and the bleachers.
Briarwick got close, then got pushed back. The Bears missed a chance after their receiver dropped the ball near the sideline, and the student section screamed like the guy had insulted their families. Coach Hayes kept pacing. Coach Miller kept shouting counts at the cheerleaders. Kendall’s smile got tighter every time Roxie caught a mistake before she did.
Then Zac got hit.
Hard.
He ran for a first down, got wrapped by two Bears players, and went down near the marker. The stadium made one huge sound.
Roxie stopped moving.
A few phones lifted higher. One girl near the railing covered her mouth. Karen’s hand caught Roxie’s arm before Roxie even realized she had frozen.
Then Zac rolled to his knees.
The ref pointed.
First down.
The home side exploded.
Karen squeezed her arm. "He’s up."
"I can see that."
"You stopped cheering."
"No, I didn’t."
Karen looked at her.
Roxie pulled her arm free. "Formation."
Zac stood slower than before, then tossed the ball to the ref like getting flattened by half the Bears defense was just another Friday night activity.
The clock kept dropping but the score stayed tied.
By the time Briarwick reached the Bears’ end of the field, the student section had gone completely unhinged. Nobody sat. Nobody cared about personal space. A boy in the third row kept yelling, "My grandma can kick it from here!" until someone threw popcorn at him.
Coach Hayes called a timeout.
Zac jogged to the sideline. Kyle stood nearby with his helmet tilted down, actually listening this time. Coach Hayes talked fast, clipboard up, face tight.
Roxie turned to the squad. "Sideline chant. Louder!"
The girls nodded.
Even Kendall did not argue.
That was how tense it was.
The timeout ended.
Briarwick lined up.
Zac took the snap.
The Bears rushed.
Kyle caught one defender. Another broke through.
Zac threw before the hit came.
The ball flew into the end zone.
Dylan jumped.
Caught it.
Landed.
The ref raised both arms.
Touchdown.
The home side lost it.
Roxie screamed with everyone else before she could stop herself.
The cheerleaders jumped into the chant. The band blasted the fight song. The student section shoved forward against the railing until security started waving them back. Phones were everywhere, catching Zac’s teammates swarming him near the end zone.
Briarwick 24. Bears 17.
The Bears had one last chance.
Their quarterback threw long.
The ball hit the turf.
Incomplete.
Zac went back out for the final snap.
The student section started counting down before the clock even made sense.
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
Coach Hayes shouted at the sideline, probably because teenagers could not count when excited.
Zac took the snap and dropped to one knee.
The whistle blew.
The clock ran out.
Briarwick won.
The field turned into chaos.
Players rushed each other. Helmets came off. The student section yelled toward the track. A few boys tried to climb down and got stopped by security. The cheerleaders lined up near the sideline, still smiling, still clapping, while half the squad looked ready to sprint into the celebration.
Angela bounced beside her. "They won."
"I noticed."
"Are you happy?" Karen asked, her eyes on her instead of the winners.
"I am not." She glared at her. "Of course I am. That’s our team."
Karen laughed.
Coach Miller blew his whistle. "Stay together. We line up, congratulate, then clear the track. Nobody disappears."
Roxie straightened. "You heard him. Two lines."
The squad moved, still buzzing.
The football team crossed near them after shaking hands with the Bears. Zac was surrounded by players slapping his shoulder pads and yelling over each other. Someone poured water over Kyle’s head, and Kyle shoved him hard enough to make three guys laugh.
Zac pulled off his helmet.
His hair was damp and messy. His jaw looked worse now, darker under the lights. His smile came fast when one of his teammates shouted something.
Then his eyes found Roxie.
The smile faded.
He walked toward her.
He angled past the water table, accepted a slap on the back from Coach Hayes, nodded at something Dylan said, then came near the track like it was casual.
It was not casual.
A junior girl near the fence lifted her phone.
Karen saw and muttered, "Incoming."
Roxie kept her poms in front of her. "Stop."
Zac stopped on the other side of the sideline barrier, helmet hanging from one hand. Sweat clung to his hairline. His breathing was still uneven from the game, but his eyes were bright.
"You disappeared after halftime," he said.
Roxie gave him a look. "I was cheering. For your team. You may have heard us." freewebnoveℓ.com
"I heard you."
Karen made a noise behind her.
Roxie ignored it.
Zac’s mouth curved. "We won."
"I saw. I was here." She said sarcastically.
His smile grew, then he glanced toward the crowd.
A few students had slowed down near the fence. One girl pretended to take a picture of the scoreboard while aiming her phone at them.
Zac noticed too.
His expression tightened, but he looked back at Roxie anyway.
"Come to the party."
Roxie’s stomach dipped.
She hated that it still sounded like an invitation.
He was not saying it like a joke in front of his friends. He was standing there after a win, asking like the answer mattered more than he wanted to show.
"No," she said.
His smile dropped.
Karen shifted behind her.
Angela went quiet.
Zac stared at Roxie. "No?"
"You heard me."
"I thought you said no promises."
"And now I’m saying no."
His jaw worked once. "Why?"
Roxie looked past him.
The field was packed with celebration. Players hugging parents. Students filming. Cheerleaders clapping through school spirit they would complain about later. Kendall stood a few feet away, pretending to fix her bow while fully listening.
Roxie looked back at Zac.
"Because I’m going home."
Zac leaned closer over the barrier. "You’re really doing this after I won?"
Her eyebrows lifted. "You won a football game. You did not cure disease."
A teammate behind Zac laughed, then coughed when Zac shot him a look.
Zac turned back to her. "You told me to win."
"I told you to win so nobody could blame me."
"And I did."
"Congratulations."
His eyes sharpened. "That’s it?"
Roxie felt the heat rise in her face and hated him for putting it there in public.
A girl near the fence whispered, "Are they fighting?"
Another one said, "Film it."
Roxie’s spine went straight.
Zac heard it too. His eyes flicked toward them, and for a second he looked like he might say something.
Roxie spoke first.
"This is why I’m not going."
His attention snapped back.
"I won’t be caught in another rumor with you."
The words landed between them.
Zac’s face changed.
The anger came fast, but underneath it was something else. Something hit.
He laughed once, but there was no humor in it. "So that’s what I am now?"
Roxie’s fingers tightened around the plastic handles of her poms. "Tonight? Yes."
His jaw flexed.
Karen whispered, "Roxie."
She ignored her.
Zac looked at the students near the fence, then at Kendall, then back at Roxie. His voice dropped. "You care that much what they think?"
Roxie wanted to say no.
She wanted to sound bored. Above it.
But the scholarship papers existed. Coach Miller existed. Her mother existed. Saturday night existed. The pantry. The creek path. His jacket around her shoulders. The whole private-school machine waiting to turn her into lunchroom entertainment.
"I have to."
Zac went still.
That got through.
Worse, it got through in front of people.
Roxie turned before her face could give her away.
"Roxie."
By the time she reached the parking lot, the stadium lights were behind her, and the party was already happening without her.
That was better. Safer.
At least that was what she told herself on the walk home.
