The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 32: Chapter 32 - Won

The cheerleaders took the field for halftime.

Fairmont’s cheerleaders finished first.

Their routine was clean.

Straight lines. Safe jumps. Big smiles. A low pyramid that got polite applause from the Briarwick side and screaming from Fairmont like they had just invented gravity.

Kendall leaned closer. ”That was it?”

”They were boring,” Keren added.

Roxie adjusted her grip on her poms. ”Let’s focus on ours.”

The announcer called Briarwick.

The home side started clapping before he even finished.

Roxie lifted her chin and walked onto the field with the squad behind her.

Fairmont had been clean.

Briarwick had to be remembered.

Roxie moved to the front with her smile locked in place, poms high, counts already running through her head. The band started behind them. The student section clapped along, loud enough to cover the Fairmont side for about three seconds.

Then the Eagles cheerleaders started stomping from across the field.

Their fans picked it up fast.

Roxie heard Kendall mutter, ”They are so annoying.”

”Smile,” Roxie said.

”I am smiling.”

The music hit the first count.

Roxie snapped into motion.

The squad moved clean through the opening section. Arms sharp. Feet together. Lines straight enough that Coach Miller stopped pacing for once and actually watched them without looking like he wanted to retire early.

Then came the tumbling pass.

It started from the back corner and moved forward in a ripple. One girl went first, roundoff into a back handspring. The next followed. Then another. The crowd reacted, clapping harder each time the line traveled closer to the front.

Roxie kept smiling.

This was the part they had drilled all week.

This was the part that had to land.

Lacey came through near the end of the line, fast and bright, her face set with that terrified confidence freshmen got before doing something difficult in public.

She hit the roundoff.

Hit the handspring.

Then her feet came down wrong.

Her knees bent too deep, and she stumbled forward two steps before catching herself.

The Fairmont side booed immediately.

The sound hit ugly.

A few Eagles cheerleaders covered their mouths and laughed behind their poms.

Roxie’s smile stayed on her face, but heat rushed up her neck.

Briarwick’s student section tried to clap over the boos, but the damage had already spread. Phones lifted. Some boy near the railing groaned like he had personally trained Lacey and been betrayed.

Lacey’s face went pale.

Roxie turned through the next count and caught Angela’s eyes.

Angela understood.

Karen did too.

They had one choice.

Make the crowd forget.

Roxie snapped her poms down and shouted over the music. ”Lift set!”

Angela moved first.

Karen followed, already pulling two bases into position. The back line adjusted fast because they had practiced this enough times to hate it. Coach Miller’s eyes widened from the track.

They were not supposed to use the regional sequence tonight.

Too risky, he had said.

Too much pressure, he had said.

Roxie was currently being booed by girls dressed like Christmas trees, so Coach Miller could yell later.

The bases dropped into place.

Angela stepped in as back spot, hands ready, face calm in the scary way that meant she was about to make everyone obey physics. Karen took her spot near the bases, breath fast, eyes bright.

”You sure?” Karen asked through her smile. ”We’ll never recover if we fail this.”

Roxie smiled harder. ”Do it.”

The count came.

One.

Two.

Dip.

Up.

Roxie rose clean.

The crowd shifted.

Roxie heard it happen. The boos thinned. The clapping started again, uncertain at first, then louder when the stunt locked in. Angela’s hands stayed steady. Karen called the next count. The bases held, shoulders tight, feet planted.

Then they hit the extension.

High.

Clean.

The student section exploded.

Roxie’s chest loosened, but she kept moving because relief could wait until no one was filming.

”Hold,” she called.

Angela called the cradle.

She came down safe.

Clean catch.

Briarwick roared.

Angela looked at Lacey as they reset. ”You’re fine. Keep moving.”

Lacey nodded fast, eyes shiny, and snapped back into position.

Good girl.

The ending hit harder after that.

Roxie led the final counts with everything she had left. The squad followed like they were angry now, and honestly, that helped. The last pose landed under the stadium lights with Briarwick screaming loud enough to drown Fairmont out completely.

Across the field, the Eagles cheerleaders had stopped laughing.

Roxie held her smile until the music ended.

Then she lowered her poms and turned off the field like nothing had gone wrong.

Behind her, Karen whispered, ”We are so dead when Coach Miller talks to us.”

Angela breathed out. ”Worth it.”

Roxie kept walking. ”Very worth it.”

Lacey hurried up beside her. ”Captain, I’m sorry. I slipped. I swear I had it.”

Roxie looked at her once. ”You got back into formation.”

Lacey blinked.

”That’s what matters,” Roxie said.

Lacey swallowed and nodded.

Across the field, the Eagles cheerleaders had recovered their smiles. One of them lifted her poms toward Briarwick and shouted, ”Fly high!”

Fairmont answered immediately.

”Eagles!”

Roxie raised her poms before their noise could settle. ”Who owns the sky?”

Her squad hit back.

”Ravens!”

The two sides went at it again, louder than before, and this time Lacey shouted so hard her voice cracked. Roxie heard it and smiled toward the field.

Embarrassment either ate you or trained you.

The third quarter moved faster than anyone wanted. Fairmont received first, and the new quarterback looked calm enough to be irritating, completing two quick passes before Kyle broke through and forced one high. Fairmont punted, Briarwick answered with Mason pounding through the middle and Zac finding Dylan in the corner of the end zone.

Ravens 14. Eagles 10.

Roxie screamed the touchdown chant until her throat burned worse.

Across the field, the Eagles cheerleaders tried to answer.

Briarwick drowned them out.

Karen shouted beside Roxie, ”That was hot!”

Angela yelled back, ”You say that about everything!”

”I mean it about everything!”

Fairmont came right back. The new QB hit two short passes, Johnson dragged defenders near the sideline, and three plays later the Eagles scored again.

Eagles 17. Ravens 14.

”Who owns the sky?”

”Ravens!”

The student section joined, louder with every repeat, until the chant rolled across the field and hit Fairmont’s side in the face.

The fourth quarter felt mean from the first whistle.

Nobody sat. Parents crowded the fence. Alumni yelled advice that made no sense. Students kept lifting their phones whenever players got too close after the whistle.

Coach Hayes was one bad call away from walking onto the field and solving it with his hands.

Fairmont tried to slow everything down, chewing the clock with short plays and smug little celebrations. Briarwick’s defense started hitting harder. Kyle got into Johnson’s face twice. Mason dragged him back once and looked annoyed about having to be the reasonable one.

Fairmont got stopped near midfield.

Briarwick took over with five minutes left.

The whole stadium stood.

Zac jogged onto the field.

Dylan clapped once near him, still grinning, still acting like pressure was a hobby. Mason slapped Zac’s helmet as he passed. Kyle said something to the line and pointed at Johnson like he had assigned him as a personal enemy.

Roxie lifted her poms, but her fingers had gone tight around the handles.

This was the kind of moment people remembered.

Briarwick started moving.

Mason pushed through for a few yards.

Zac threw to a backup receiver near the sideline.

Then he looked toward Dylan.

Dylan ran his route fast, too fast for the defender behind him. Zac threw before Dylan even turned.

Dylan caught it near the line.

Then the Fairmont defender hit him low from the side.

Dylan went down wrong.

The stadium changed.

Noise broke apart into shouts, gasps, and people asking the same thing at the same time.

Dylan rolled once and grabbed his ankle.

Coach Hayes shouted for the trainer.

Zac was already moving.

So was Mason.

Kyle reached the Fairmont defender first and shoved him hard with both hands. The defender shoved back. Johnson stepped in, smiling like he had been waiting for the excuse.

Then he said something.

Roxie did not hear it.

Zac did.

His whole posture changed.

Mason put a hand on his chest.

Coach Hayes yelled his name.

Zac pushed forward anyway.

The ref threw a flag.

Fairmont’s side booed.

Briarwick screamed.

The Eagles cheerleaders started clapping like the penalty had already gone their way.

Roxie’s stomach twisted.

Dylan was still on the ground. The trainer crouched beside him. Kyle looked ready to swing. Mason was trying to hold Zac back while looking like he wanted to hit someone too.

And Zac looked close to making the whole stadium remember the wrong thing.

Lacey whispered, ”Captain?”

Roxie lifted her poms, but her eyes stayed on the field.

Coach Hayes was in front of Zac now, shouting into his facemask.

Zac’s head turned.

For the first time all night, he looked toward the track.

Toward her.

Roxie froze.

The stadium kept screaming. Fairmont kept booing. The Eagles cheerleaders kept smiling across the field like this was entertainment.

Roxie lowered her poms a little.

Then she shook her head once.

Small.

Barely anything.

Zac stared at her through the facemask.

Roxie did not smile.

She mouthed, ”Win.”

His shoulders rose with one hard breath.

Then he looked away.

He stepped back from the Fairmont player.

Coach Hayes grabbed the front of his jersey and said something that made Zac nod once.

The ref announced the penalty on Fairmont for the late hit.

The Briarwick side exploded.

Fairmont booed so hard their cheerleaders had to shout over them.

”Fly high!”

”Eagles!”

Roxie snapped her poms up before Fairmont could own the sound.

”Who owns the sky?”

The squad hit back.

”Ravens!”

”Who owns the sky?”

”Ravens!”

The chant rolled across the stadium as Dylan was helped to the sideline. He could put some weight on his foot, but Mason stayed close. Kyle slapped Dylan’s helmet when he passed, gentler than Roxie expected from someone who treated violence like cardio.

Zac waited until Dylan reached the bench.

Then he turned back to the field.

Two minutes left.

Briarwick down by three.

Dylan out.

Roxie’s throat felt raw.

Coach Hayes called the next play from the sideline.

Zac nodded.

The offense lined up.

The snap came.

Mason took the handoff and slammed through the middle, carrying the pile forward while the whole stadium screamed. He got enough for the first down and came up pounding his fist against his chest.

Kyle yelled at the line.

The next play, Zac threw short to the backup receiver, who caught it and got out of bounds before anyone could hit him.

The clock stopped.

Fairmont’s coach started shouting at his defense.

Coach Hayes shouted louder.

The ref looked tired of all of them.

One minute left.

Briarwick reached the twenty.

Karen grabbed Angela’s sleeve. ”I feel sick.”

Angela nodded fast. ”Same.”

Roxie lifted her poms. ”Chant.”

Karen stared at her. ”Now?”

”Now.”

Roxie turned to the squad.

”Ravens rise!”

They answered.

”Ravens fight!”

Again.

”Ravens rise!”

”Ravens fight!”

The student section joined, then the parents, then the alumni, until the whole home side was shouting with them.

Across the field, Fairmont tried to answer.

”Fly high!”

”Eagles!”

Briarwick drowned them out.

Zac stood behind the center.

The stadium shook under the sound.

The snap came.

Fairmont rushed hard.

Kyle caught Johnson at the line, both of them locked up while the crowd screamed. Mason slipped out to the side, turned, and Zac looked right at him.

Fairmont followed Mason.

Zac pulled the ball back and threw left.

The backup receiver broke open near the front corner of the end zone.

Caught it.

Fell.

The ref looked down.

The whole stadium held its breath.

Then both arms went up.

Touchdown.

Briarwick lost its mind.

Roxie screamed so hard her voice cracked.

Ravens 20. Eagles 17.

The extra point made it 21.

Eagle’s new quarter back came back out with less than thirty seconds.

He completed one pass.

Then another.

The Eagles reached midfield.

Coach Hayes was shouting. Coach Miller was shouting. The student section was shouting. Even the parents along the fence sounded like they had forgotten how to act normal.

The new quarter back took the final snap.

He threw deep.

The ball went high toward the end zone.

A green jersey jumped.

A Briarwick defender jumped with him.

The ball hit hands.

Then turf.

Incomplete.

The clock hit zero.

For a second, Roxie could only hear the whistle.

Then the stadium exploded.

Ravens 21. Eagles 17.

Briarwick beat Fairmont.

The cheerleaders screamed. The student section slammed against the railing. Parents hugged. Alumni yelled like they had personally coached the final drive. Coach Hayes grabbed Zac by both shoulders and shook him once before half the team swallowed him.

Across the field, the Eagles cheerleaders stood in their green bows, smiles tight.

Roxie looked at them and lifted her poms.

”One more,” she said, voice barely there.

Karen laughed breathlessly. ”You’re insane.”

Roxie raised her poms higher. ”Who owns the sky?”

The squad screamed back.

”Ravens!”

The whole home side joined.

”Who owns the sky?”

”Ravens!”

Fairmont had no answer this time.

Dylan sat on the bench with ice around his ankle, grinning like an idiot while Mason leaned over him and said something that made him shove Mason’s arm away. Kyle stood beside them, still glaring across the field like he hoped someone would give him permission.

Zac finally pulled off his helmet.

He looked exhausted.

Then he looked toward the track.

Straight at Roxie.

The noise kept going around them.

Roxie held his stare.