Always Upbeat / All That

by Stephanie Perry Moore

  “I miss you, Blake,” Jackie said, as her hand went up my jersey.

  I heard her talking to me. I remembered the amazing night we shared. However, I could not stop my mind from looking across the fence and seeing adorable Charli Black.

  Moving away she said, “Blake, are you even listening?”

  I had not promised Jackie anything. No commitment was made. She was not my girl. We were just kicking it that one time. While it certainly was not my intent to hit it and go, I never looked back, never called her again, and never tried to take her out on a real date.

  Peeking over at Charli, I wondered why I was tripping. I had no clue why I was stuck on something I passed up. I could not get my eyes off Charli.

  Jackie said, “Are you listening?”

  Quickly looking back at Jackie, I said, “Yes.”

  When my eyes roamed back over to where the cheerleaders stood, Charli was gone. I moved my attention from Jackie. I searched the track, and I found Charli upset with her girls all around consoling her. Did she want me too? Did she see Jackie’s hands on me and get upset? I knew I needed to figure it out. Something inside of me made me forget about football—forget that in fifteen minutes I was going to have to suit up and play. I ignored the thought that if my dad saw me talking to a girl, he’d have my hide. None of that mattered because I saw a girl who I cared for in distress.

  With Jackie I was preoccupied, and that told me I needed to speak to Charli right away. I had to find out if I could rectify my mistake. I excused myself from Jackie and headed over to the girl I wanted back.

  Her girls gave us privacy. Charli batted her eyes at me and smiled. I started apologizing. However, like I was with Jackie, I could tell Charli was half into what I was saying. I looked behind me and noticed the problem. Though Charli was standing before me listening to what I had to say, clearly her eyes and her heart were elsewhere. Brenton stood behind me, peering over in our direction.

  That’s when I knew I had a decision to make. Brenton had always been true about his feelings for Charli. I was always indecisive. It touched me that she came to me the second day of school saying she was sorry about my mom, and had she known, she would’ve made time to be there for me. But I had already moved on. It was not fair for me to keep leading her on.

  Seeing she was torn, I kissed her cheek and whispered, “Go to Brenton.”

  She smiled at me in a way that made me feel real good about doing the right thing. When she went to my cousin, he did not seem too interested. However, I knew that was because he did not know what I had told her and probably did not want to deal with coming in second again.

  When we were in the locker room, I went over to him. He rolled his eyes my way. Maybe he thought I was coming over to gloat. That was not the case. I pushed him in the back.

  “Get off me, man,” Brenton said, as he came to my face.

  I pushed him again, but this time from the front. He pushed me back. Anger was written all over his face.

  “That’s what I’m talking about. Fight for something,” I yelled.

  “There’s no need to fight,” he said to me.

  “Sometimes it’s every reason to fight. I messed up. You got the girl,” I said boldly.

  “Whatever,” Brenton said with our teammates surrounding us. “I can’t deal with her being with me sometimes and then with you other times. It’s just not what I wanna deal with.”

  I came closer and said, “Look, Charli’s a special girl. I know that now. We both have interest, but the best man for her won. She wants and needs you.”

  He pushed me back and said, “And don’t you forget it. I’ve always liked her, man. It’s not about looks. It’s not about sex. It’s just about Charli. She’s just—”

  “I know, like I said, she’s special. Take care of her, cuz,” I said.

  My dad called the team to the center of the locker room. “All right, guys. It’s the first game of the season, show time. I want to apologize to y’all for being a little crazy at times this summer, but Blake and I have been going through something personal. Some of you may have heard, but I do want to confirm that my wife’s been diagnosed with cancer. She had her first radiation treatment today, and she’s remarkably strong. I didn’t want her to come to this game. The doctor told her she needed to get her rest, but she said she wouldn’t miss this for the world. Mrs. Strong has to cheer on the Lions, and if she can muster up the strength to sit in those stands to be here for you guys, then you find a way to play your hardest for her, for each other, and for yourselves. All hands in, 1 … 2 … 3 …”

  And we all yelled, “Lions.”

  It was fourth quarter, and we were down by three points. I had the ball, and there were two minutes, three seconds left on the clock. We needed a TD to win.

  In the huddle with my offense, I said, “It’s been a tough night for the defense guys. We’ve been going back and forth, but we’re in this thing. We can do this. Wax, I’m going to hand it off to you. Toss it back to me, and I’ll throw it deep to the left corner.”

  “I don’t know if I can catch it, man,” Landon said, remembering the couple times he choked.

  I placed my hand on his shoulder pad and said, “Look, dude, we gonna win this game.”

  “I had two corners sweating me all night,” Landon said.

  “So what? Shake them off, take them out, find a way to be open. You can do it,” I encouraged.

  “They gonna think I got the mail,” Wax said also telling Landon to relax and just play. “I’m sitting on one hundred forty yards. We gonna fake ’em out.”

  When I said hike, it was on. I handed the ball off to Wax, faked like I kept it, and had defenders following me. But when they realized Wax had the ball and switched to defend him, he threw it back to me. He was able to do that because we had not crossed the line of scrimmage.

  Landon was far down field. Knowing I had not thrown a deep ball all night, I was actually a little scared of my shoulder. However, just like I told Landon he could do it, I had to believe I could as well. I threw the pigskin up in the air, and it was caught by my boy for a sweet touchdown.

  The crowd went wild. My dad was going nuts. He was about to get thrown out of the game for being all over the field. My team was pumped. We only hoped that we did not score too soon because there were still forty seconds left on the clock. Our kicker showed up, pinned it deep down, and I went up to Brenton to say a good word.

  I said, “You got this.”

  “That’s right, man. We had a tough one tonight, but you guys held it up for us. We won’t let them score. Some things are worth fighting for.” He smiled, put on his helmet, and jogged onto the field. Sure enough, the clock wound down and we won.

  At the after party, Jackie was standing alone. I knew I owed her some type of explanation. I went over to her and stood beside her.

  I said, “Can we dance?

  “You know I want more than a dance. I give myself to you, and you give me the cold shoulder,” Jackie replied with attitude.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I truly felt bad, but I didn’t know what else to say.

  “I want more than that,” Jackie said. “You want Charli though, right?”

  “That’s over,” I responded, knowing it was the truth.

  Being intuitive, she said, “But that didn’t answer my question.”

  “I don’t know what more I can tell you. She was my girl for a long time. To be honest, I’m gonna have feelings for her, but you knew that already.”

  “I just thought with what we shared, she’d be history, ya know? I give you all I got, and that’s not enough to erase her memory? I want your whole heart, Blake. Charli called me out in school, and she told me I get what I deserve. I did know y’all were involved. You’re right. I can’t just expect your feelings to just flip off like a switch. But I can’t share you. I won’t do that.”

  “Well, if you’re willing to try and take it slow … I got a lot on me right now, and you know that. My mom is sick. I’ve go
t to keep my grades up. I want you in my life; don’t get me wrong but …”

  “As long as you’re telling me you want to give us a try, then we’ll make it work,” she said, taking my hand.

  When she put her hand around my neck and pulled my lips toward hers, I felt I was right where I was supposed to be. Jackie did get me excited. She did not want to compromise who she was. She still wanted to show herself off a little too much for my comfort level. As long as she knew I wasn’t signing up to say we were boyfriend and girlfriend and all of that, then maybe we could figure this thing out. As long as both of us were having fun and nobody was getting hurt, then what was the problem?

  Later on that evening my Mom and Dad were nestled in front of the TV. He was as happy as he could be. The ole ball coach had gotten a W in the win column. My mom was holding up. She looked good. Lola was over at a friend’s place, so the house was quiet.

  My mom said, “Give me a hug, son. Good game.”

  “Are you okay, Mom?” I said, needing a double check.

  “Don’t I look fine?” she joked.

  “You know you didn’t have to come to the game. You should have been getting some rest.”

  “I’m resting now, and I did have to come. I told you I’m going to be there. You’re not going to get away that easily.”

  We both smiled. I loved that lady, and I was thankful she was happy. My mom had grace, even going through the drama of the past couple of weeks. If she was upbeat, then I would be too.

  My dad said, “Why don’t you go check on the kitchen table? Some mail came for you.”

  “Mail for me?” I asked, wondering if it was a school.

  He eyed me, letting me know it was the kind of mail we both wanted. “Yeah.”

  I had headed over, and I knew it had to be something from the University of Florida. My dad made sure I got in his alma mater’s system in the ninth grade. The way he was smiling, it had to be something from the Gators.

  I was surprised when I saw Notre Dame’s letterhead. I looked at my father, and he was standing tall and proud. I tore open the letter. It read:

  Congratulations Blake,

  The University of Notre Dame is pleased to inform you that we will be recruiting you. We believe you have talent, character, and heart. We feel Notre Dame will be the perfect institution for you. We will be following you all season long and would love to have you come up for an official visit. Call if you have any questions.

  Sincerely,

  The Head Coach

  “Dad, Dad!” I yelled.

  “I know, son. They called the school wanting your transcript. The Fighting Irish are serious about recruiting you. I know you do not want to be a Gator. Your loss though, cuz,” my dad teased. “I’m proud of you, son. You’re a playmaker with options.”

  “But I don’t want you to go that far,” my mom said.

  “If the Irish call, Mom, I’m going to have to go.”

  “Be proud of yourself,” my father said.

  It had been a rough summer and a rocky start to the school year, but things had smoothed out. I learned you can’t take women for granted. If you snooze on a good relationship, aren’t able to deal with your problems, push your teammates too far, and get too cocky, you’ll find yourself isolated. However, if you lead, care about all, own up to your own mistakes, do better next time, have hope and faith, then things do work out. The events of life can have happy endings if you stay calm. During a two-minute drive, you not only have to be a playmaker, but a way maker.

  STEPHANIE PERRY MOORE is the author of many YA inspirational fiction titles, including the Payton Skky series, the Laurel Shadrach series, the Perry Skky Jr. series, the Yasmin Peace series, the Faith Thomas Novelzine series, the Carmen Browne series, the Morgan Love series, and the Beta Gamma Pi series. Mrs. Moore speaks with young people across the country, encouraging them to achieve every attainable dream. She currently lives in the greater Atlanta area with her husband, Derrick, and their three children. Visit her website at www.stephanieperrymoore.com.

  DERRICK MOORE is a former NFL running back and currently the developmental coach for the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also the author of The Great Adventure and It’s Possible: Turning Your Dreams into Reality. Mr. Moore is a motivational speaker and shares with audiences everywhere how to climb the mountain in their lives and not stop until they have reached the top. He and his wife, Stephanie, have co-authored the Alec London series. Visit his website at www.derrickmoorespeaking.com.