This is my Prequel for KnightsRachel's one shot competition. Its for her story One of the Boys, and I don't own any othe characters, they are all hers! Check ot her stories if you havent, she's amazing, and one of my favorite writers on Wattpad. Enjoy, comment, vote:)

~Chaz

* * * * *

"C'mon Brady! Don't fail me now!"Brennan cried as Chase Blackburn tackled his running back behind the line of scrimmage. His knuckles turned white on his controller.

"Just give in," I hinted. "I own at Madden!" Brennan frowned and chose a new play. I expertly switched players and intercepted the ball, before running into the endzone.

 “Mom. Mom, Mom, Mom. Mooooom, MOM!” Brennan whined as I smiled widely at him.

“Yes, Brennan?” Mom asks impatiently.

“Jake already signed up for Little Guy Football last week! We have to do it today!” Brennan whined from beside me on the couch. I was killing him at Madden and he knew it.

“Alright, alright,” Mom sighed, “We’ll go now. Sam, you ready to go honey?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m killing him anyway. It’s getting pretty boring,” I smirked at my twin.

“Whatever!” Brennan said.

"You just got beat by a girl!" I rubbed in his face a little more.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

“Let’s go,” Mom ushered us out the door and into the car. It was a few weeks before the start of 5th grade, and all the boys were signing up to play Little Guy Football. All of us, me included had played football at recess together since 1st grade. The only difference between me and them was that I’m a girl. The other girls played hopscotch and jump rope but I played football with my brother and is friends, which quickly became my friends as well.

And that was when I said the words that would change my life forever, “Mom, I wanna play football, too!” I still remember the look on her face, we were at a stoplight. It was priceless.

“Samantha, are you sure?” She asked.

“Please, Mom!” I whined. Those years playing at recess and we all quickly realized that I had a better throwing arm than any of them. They also liked to say that I was really bossy, too.

Mom smoothly parked the car and led us to the building where signups were taking place. Finally she spoke, “If you're sure, yes you can play with your brother.”

“Yes!” Brennan and I said together and slapped high fives.

I have never regretted that day, and I know that football has made me a stronger person. I pulled my dark blue Riverside middle school jersey and shoulder pads over my head and then laced up my shoes before heading out of the locker room full of cross country runners and softball players. The early days were hell, in both Little Guy Football and in starting middle school football in 8th grade. 7th graders weren't allowed to play for the school. But it’s all been worth it.

“Alright boys, it’s A squad verses B squad today. The loser will run sprints,” Coach Wartnow yelled at the large huddle of boys. We had 2 teams, and the A squad was considered to be the better, stronger players. I was the quarterback for the B squad, and my friends Jake and Wesley, as well as my brother were all on the A squad.

Coach Wartnow took the A squad down to the 20 and Coach Beattie remained with the B squad at the 50. “Alright, boys. This is it. We can beat the A squad, they’re only better than you if you choose to believe that. Now we need to run a strong zone defense, and on the offensive side of things we need to make solid passes,” Coach looked at me steadily, “and catches and make the plays. Let’s go do this thing! Cougars on three.”

“One, Two, Three, Cougars!” We yelled in unison. Honestly, the only reason I got an opportunity to play on this team was because of the fact that I played Little Guy for a good few years. And I wrote Sam instead of Samantha on my athletic registration to play. The coaches didn’t even know I was a girl until we distributed equipment before practice the 1st day.

We played like a normal game, and B squad acted as the away team, so we all tied yellow flags to our belts.  Coach called that we wanted to receive and the receiving team went out on to the field. Luke stood next to me as we watched the opening play of the game, and then it was our turn to go out on to the field.

Coach called the play and sent us out into formation. “Hike,” I called and took the ball from the center. I aired out a short 5 to Luke who had it, and then dropped it. 2nd down and 10 to a 1st down, and 60 to go.

“Cougar Clash,” Coach called, then we took formation. This time I handed off to the running back and he took it for 6 yards. 3rd down, 54 to go. Coach gave the hand signal for the next play following Cougar Clash in the play book.

I made sure the rest of offense knew the play and called, “Hike!” But the defense quickly collapsed the pocket, and I was forced to run or go down. I went with run and took the ball three yards before being slammed down by the defense. 4th and 1. Coach called the punt team.

The rest of the game continued like that, and A quad beat us 20 to 14.

“On the line, boys.” We lined up, and coach blew the whistle. I took off running, leading the pack and crossed the end zone first. The A squad stood on the sidelines cheering us on as we ran our sprints.

Some of my teammates, of course, blamed the loss on me. I wasn’t strong enough to play this game, blah blah blah. Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a football player. Luke walked beside me to the locker room; he was the only friend I had on the B squad.

Brennan was still celebrating on the way home, and I was quiet the whole ride home. I could feel his excitement, and I know he could feel my frustration. “It was just practice, Sam. And you're a great QB,” Brennan finally said.

“Thanks Bren,” I mumbled and stared out the window. He shrugged and continued to recap the game to Mom on the way home.  When we got home I went down to the basement where my room was and stripped the pad off quickly, changing them for soffee shorts and a tank top. I grabbed my cheer bag and ran back up stairs.

“Let’s go, we’re gonna be late!” I called to Mom. We drove there in silence; Mom knew I wouldn’t want to talk about the loss I suffered in practice tonight.

I arrived to practice with just enough time to set my bag down and run to the middle of the gym where the other girls were gathered. I stood next to Carly while her mom, the coach, explained what we were going to do in practice.

__

I ripped off my helmet, "We're getting killed out there!" Jake looked at me with wide as as offense walked off of the field. Now that the middle school season was over, and club season started, I could play on the same team as Jake, Wesley and Brennan.

"Sam, calm down. For my sake, please," Brennan said calmly when I reached the spot he was standing.

"Oh, shut up. We're losing!" I growled. This is the championship game of the Las Vegas tournament. All the top club teams in the nation are here, and we had a lot of blood, sweat, and tears going into this game. we couldn't lose now.

"Look at the clock," Brennan reasoned. I looked, 3:42 remaining, and we were down by 6 points. A field goal wouldnt cut it, and the other team had just gotten a 1st down.

After a painful few more minutes, our defense finally shut down the opponent. They punted the ball, and it landed on our own 15. Brent ran it for 8 more yards, putting it at our own 23. So I had 77 yards to go, and only 2:50 left on the clock to do it in.

"Call a timeout if you need it," Coach slapped my shoulder pads. "I believe in you, kid."

"Thanks, Coach," I mumbled and lead the team into the huddle. "Alright guys, I know we're losing, but we can do this. We're running Blue Man Thru. Brent, you're my primary. Westley, Luke, be on your toes."

"Break," We said in unison and made our formation. I took my position behind the center and he snapped me the ball. I handed off to Brent who powered up the middle for 8 yards.

"Same play, but I'm faking the handoff. Wesley, you're my number one, try to run out of bounds after you catch it. From here on out we're improvising. No time to huddle. Just run a route, and I'll throw it. We need yards. Break."

We reached the red zone with 45 seconds remaining on the clock. 3rd down and 2 with 20 yards to go. "Everyone, endzone. Break."

I threw to Luke who had to leave the endzone, inorder to lose his defender. He caught the ball at the 4 yard line.

1st down, 4 yards to go. 20 seconds remaining. We lined up and I nodded at Brent. "Hike," I got the ball and handed off to Brent. He got tackled behind me.

2nd down and 8 to go, 9 seconds remaining.

 "Block for me, I'm going to run it."

"What?" Jackson, the offensive lineman, asked.

"Just do it," I said.

"Nike!" Wesley said."

"Break," I said with more authority. We took formation, and the ball hit my hands. Everyone raced for the endzone, and I tucked the ball and ran at a slant. The safety took me down as the clock ran out.

But I was only on the 1 yard line. No touchdown, we had lost.

And it was all my fault.

The ref had blown his whistle, and there was a flag on the play. "Facemask, defense number 45, half the distance to the goal, 1st down. 4 Seconds should be on the play clock." Everyone on my team cheered, we had just been given one last shot.

"Alright guys, this is our shot! Let's make it happen. Flood the enzone, I'm going to throw it. Break."

4 seconds: "Hike!" The ball was snapped to me.

3 seconds: I stepped back a moment, scanning the endzone.

2 seconds: My arm goes back, heart beating fast.

1 second: Release. A perfect spiral thrown to Wesley.

0 seconds: He nabs the ball and lands in bounds. Touchdown!

The refs blow the whistles and signal the touchdown while the offense dig piles Wesley. We just needed the extra point to win, which of course Brennan got with ease. My team celebrated the last second win of this championship game.

"Hey Sam," Jake smacked my shoulder pads.

"Yeah, Jake?"

"You should try out for High School football with us!"

"Psht! Like I'd make it, I'll probably just do cheerleading."

"I'll make sure she tries out, if I have to drag her by her hair," Brennan promises,slinging an arm over my shoulder.

"Good," Jake smiles.