Chapter 17

“So how does it feel to be the president’s daughter?” Nate asked as I walked into the locker room.

I just looked at him, then kneed him in the balls. He groaned and fell down, clutching his manly parts.

“Oi! Don’t be mean!” Ryan frowned, stepping in front of me. I glared at him and shoved past him.

“Damn. Is it that time of month again?” Luke teased. I stopped walking, and slowly turned to face him.

“I- I mean- Uh- Uh- Hi?” Luke stammered, cowering under my glare.

I huffed and walked to the back of the locker room.

“Sam! Can I talk to you for a minute?” Coach called from his office. I sighed and silently walked over to him. I shut the door, but didn’t sit down this time. I just stood there with my arms crossed.

“Are you okay?” He asked, sighing.

“Am I okay?” I asked. “Seriously? My dad just got elected president. In 2 months I’m moving across the country, away from the team, and Dylan, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I haven’t been home in 4 months because of how stupid my family is. My back feels like it’s been chopped in half and I’ve been so fucking pissed at the world I can’t even begin to put it into words.” I exclaimed, getting seriously annoyed. “So no. I am not okay.”

“Uh if you don’t want to play you can-”

“Of course I’m playing this is the only thing that keeps me sane.” I said harshly.

“Is everything okay with you and Dylan?” He asked carefully.

“Absolutely. Why the hell wouldn’t it be.” I replied, crossing my arms.

“No reason, just checking. Um, we need to actually talk about something though...” Coach said seriously. I frowned and sat down across from his desk.

“A few things actually... One, I have 4 voicemails all from different colleges wanting you to play with them... One of them is big 10.” Coach said. “Second, we need to really talk about where you’re going with this whole girl thing, okay? Your dad called me this morning and told me that it was even more important now that you make sure you’re identity stays hidden. Now that he’s president, his campaign can not in any way be in question. ” Coach said.

I rolled my eyes.

“I already told you, I’m taking my helmet off at Nationals and I-”

“I know that you don’t care but Sam you have so much resting on this, you need to cooperate.” Coach said seriously.

“Yea. Fine.” I shrugged.

“Good. Now go get changed.” Coach smiled.

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“You can do it.” I said, looking Dylan right in the eyes. 

“I don’t think I can-” 

“Shush. You can do this. Dylan this is easy okay? Piece of cake.” 

“Sam it’s 45 yards.” Dylan said doubtfully. 

“Okay I’ve seen you do it in practice.” I told him, putting my hands on his shoulders. “You can do this.” 

There were 25 seconds left of the second half, and we were down by 1 point. It was 14-13. It was the 3rd down with 7 to go, and we were on the 45th yard line.

Dylan was our kicker, and we were going for the field goal.

“You can do it.” I said, his eyes meeting mine. He gave me a soft smile.

“I love you.” He said softly,.

“I love you too.” I smiled.

“For God sakes stop.” Nate laughed, shoving our shoulders. Dylan and I laughed, and we got into the line.

Dylan jumped a few times, stretching out his legs. I gave him a thumbs up and he gave me one back.

“Dylan Peters attempting for a field goal from the 45th yard line.” The announcer said.

The whistle blew and the ball was snapped. Dylan ran up to it and kicked it. I held my breath as the ball spiraled to the posts. I heard the clashing of pads behind me, but I was focused on the ball. I let out a yell of joy as it soared through the posts.

There was no cheer.

I turned around to see who’d gotten hit, and everything seemed to stop. Dylan was lying on the ground.

Not moving.

I screamed, running up to him. I knelt down next to him and grabbed the front of his head, pulling his head to face up.

“For God sakes open your eyes.” I said urgently, slightly shaking the helmet. Tears filled my eyes as his motionless face did nothing.

“Dylan stop messing around open up your eyes!” I said, a tear falling from my eyes.

“Dylan please...” I whispered, shaking his helmet again. “Please...”

“Sam back up.” Coach said, appearing next to me. His voice was grave.

I was pulled back by Nate, who held me tightly in place. I could barely breath, my heart was beating way too fast to be normal.

“He got hit after he kicked it.” Nate said quietly to me.

I felt anger boil up inside of me. What kind of ass hole hits the kicker?!

The medics came out on the field and everyone was crowding around Dylan, and the rest of the team took a knee. I pulled away from Nate and walked over to coach.

“Sam go back to Nate.” He said, his voice low. “Please.”

Shivers ran down my spine, his voice too serious for it to be the coach that we joke with every day. I just nodded, swallowing nothing as I walked back to Nate.

“What’s going on?” Ryan asked, walking up to me.

I just shook my head, seriously unable to breath. I clasped my hands behind my head, squeezing my eyes shut as tears spilled from my eyes.

“Sam?” Nate asked carefully.

“I can’t breathe.” I whispered, the helmet becoming suffocating. Nate and Ryan exchanged looks, then both looked at me.

I felt myself close to a break down, and I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself down. I turned to look back where everyone was crowding around Dylan, to find him being lifted onto a stretcher.

I ran up to coach.

“What’s going on?!” I exclaimed.

“He’s not responding, they’re taking him to the hospital.” Coach said softly.

My chest tightened and I felt myself getting light headed.

“Sam, just take a deep breath.” Coach said quietly, putting his hands on my shoulders. “He’s going to be fine, alright?”

I just closed my eyes and shook my head.

Coach took a deep breath.

“Go with him.” He said.

I opened my eyes and looked at him in shock.

“But the game-”

“Go.” He said, pointing after the stretcher. “He’s gonna need you.”

I just nodded.

“Thank you.” I whispered, turning away from Coach. I didn’t give a damn as I pulled my helmet off and ran after the stretcher. My hair had been in a french braid, but sweaty pieces fell in front of my face. I pushed them away and walked up next to the stretcher.

“You can’t be here.” Someone said to me as they opened the doors of the ambulance.

“Yea I can.” I replied, not looking at them.

“Oh my God.” I heard Kate say and she appeared quickly behind me.

“Family only.” The paramedic said seriously.

“She’s family.” Kate said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the ambulance with her.

I sat on the bench next to Kate, and her hand tightly grabbed mine.

I squeezed her hand as they cut off Dylan’s jersey and pads. One of the paramedics looked down at a certain mark on Dylan’s collar bone, then looked up at me with a smirk, then back down at my boyfriend. I didn’t react. I just closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall, squeezing Kate’s hand again.

The evening went by in a blur, Kate and I were put into a waiting room when we got to the hospital, as Dylan was rushed into the hospital. About 30 minutes later, the dead silence was interrupted by 15 sweaty boys still in there pads burst into the room. Dylan’s brothers and dad were there too, as well as a few girlfriends of some of the guys on the team.

“What’s going on?” Nate asked nervously, walking up to Kate and me.

“We don’t know yet.” I said quietly.

The boys gravely looked at each other and quietly sat down. I tightly gripped my helmet in my hands, trying to keep back the tears.

I silently sat there, trying to think of happy thoughts.

“You can see him now.” A nurse said, walking into the waiting room.

Everyone stood up, and the nurse looked shocked.

“Um, only family.” She said quickly.

The team sat down, but I stayed standing with the rest of his family.

The nurse’s eyes widened.

“Wow you have a big family, uh, only 3 people.” She said. I went to sit back down but Kate took my hand.

“Come on.” She said quietly. I just nodded and followed the nurse with Dylan’s parents.

I hesitated as I walked in the room, and Kate’s hand tightened on mine when we saw Dylan, still unconscious, looking so small on the hospital bed.

“Hello, I’m Doctor Gillson.” The doctor told us, turning to face us from next to Dylan’s bed. 

I squeezed Kate’s hand. 

“Dylan suffered a severe blow to the head, resulting in a very serious concussion. He also broke his right ankle. No surgery was needed. When he wakes up, he’ll be a little bit out of it due to the amounts of heavy pain medication he’s on. Once he wakes up, we’ll need to keep him awake so that we can monitor his condition. If he wakes up before the night is through, we’re out of the woods. It is very unlikely, but possible, that the damage to his brain was so severe, and we might have to take further measures to make sure he has complete brain function. Our preliminary tests tell us that everything will be at least normal, but the brain is a very delicate organ.” Dr. Gillson explained, a soft smile on his face. “I’ll leave you three alone with him.” 

Kate let out a deep breath, pulling away from me as she walked up to her son’s bedside. 

I awkwardly hung back. “I’m um, I’ll go tell the news to the guys.” I said, leaving the room unnoticed by Rob and Kate. 

I took a deep breath, pushing my hair back from my face as I took the stairs instead of the elevator to get back to the waiting room. 

Everybody stood up when I walked in, looking at me expectantly. 

I stopped in my tracks, startled at the attention. 

“Well?” Coach asked, speaking for everyone in the room. 

“He’s got a concussion and a broken ankle. He’s still out.” I said quietly. “Does anybody have my bag?” 

“None of us have our stuff it’s all back at school.” Nate told me as I walked towards him. 

“Can I have your keys?” I whispered, my hands shaking. 

“Where the hell would you be going?” Nate raised his eyebrows, pushing them into my hands. 

I didn’t reply as I turned around and walked towards the doors. 

“Where the hell is Sam going?” I heard Coach ask as I walked into the cool, dusk evening. 

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Funny story, there was supposed to be a chapter before this, which was going to be the homecoming game and dance, but then I was rereading it, and it was complete shit, so I deleted it. Maybe I'll post it as like a bonus at the end but probably not. 

Update: Later today

-Panda