Friday Night Stage Lights

by Rachele Alpine

  Mia held up her microphone. “I better go get some interviews while people are fixated on the game. I’ll catch you guys later.”

  Mia ran off and Mom pointed to the bottom of the bleachers.

  Mom nudged me. “I think you’re wanted down there.”

  Tanner stood on the field and waved his hands at me.

  “What does he want?” I asked her.

  “I have no idea; go find out.”

  Jayden stood up and grabbed my hand. “Come on, I’ll go with you. I’m always up for a good mystery, and we’ll see how I can do with this boot,” he said. I followed him down the steps, totally aware that most of the people in the stands around us were watching us.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Tanner when we reached the bottom.

  “Put this stuff on,” he instructed. He tossed a duffel bag up to us, and when I unzipped it, I discovered it was full of Leighton High stuff. Shirts, a big poufy red tutu to wear over leggings, hair ribbons, and even those giant foam fingers.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Just do it. I only have a second,” he said. “I need to go to the locker room, so be quick.”

  I eyed him suspiciously. I had no idea what he was up to, but from the rushed look on his face, he wasn’t going to give me time to ask. Jayden began to put a bunch of the clothes on, so I did the same. When we were dressed, Tanner gestured toward the other end of the bleachers.

  “Okay, follow me,” he said, and we had no choice but to do it, especially since it appeared we were the entertainment at the moment for those who had stayed seated in the stands.

  Jayden shot me a look, but I shrugged and the two of us walked along the bottom of the bleachers as we followed Tanner. He took us all the way to the other end, where the student section was.

  The high school student section.

  Aside from being on the team and sitting on the players’ bench, the student section was the most coveted spot in the stadium. You could only sit there if you were in high school, and even then, the seniors sat on the bottom while the lower classmen were stuck at the top. It was the rowdiest, wildest part of the stadium, and anyone who was anyone made sure to have a spot there.

  “Those are your seats,” Tanner said and pointed to an open spot on the bleachers, right in the middle of the craziness. The area was nothing but a sea of red and white. Kids were decked out from head to toe in the colors. Two rows below our spot was a group of shirtless boys with paint across their chests. They each had a white letter on them that spelled out LEIGHTON and did some chant where one of them would yell something and the rest would respond.

  “No way,” I said. “We can’t sit there; we’re not allowed. In case you forgot, Tanner, Jayden and I aren’t in high school.”

  “Maybe not, but you’re my little sister. And I don’t usually play the quarterback card, but this is a good time to do so. Logan filled me in on how he’s been teaching you about football, so I think it’s time you have the ultimate fan experience.” Tanner turned toward the crowd in the student section and cupped his hands so that he was making a megaphone with them. “What do you all think? Is it cool if Brooklyn and Jayden sit here with everyone?”

  The student section went wild. Everyone cheered and welcomed us into their group.

  “There you go,” Tanner said. “It looks as if the crowd has spoken. No one is going to give you any trouble. So go and have fun.”

  He gestured to the seats and gave one more wave to the crowd before heading down. Everyone stomped on the bleachers, and the ground below me vibrated. Tanner really knew how to get everyone revved up.

  Jayden sat down, waved one of the foam fingers that Tanner had given us, and grinned at me.

  “This doesn’t mean that I’ve gone over to the football dark side, but it is pretty cool to sit here. Your brother rocks,” he said.

  “Step—” I started but stopped. Why did I need to correct everyone? Was it that important? Instead, I smiled back at him. “He is pretty cool, isn’t he?”

  The excitement of the student section was contagious, and I quickly found myself dancing and chanting as loud as everyone around us. The sun sank down, and with the stadium lights shining onto the field, the music from the band, the shouts from the crowd, and the cool breeze in the air, the night had a sort of magic to it. Like this was exactly where I wanted to be at this moment.

  Chapter 51

  It seemed like it would be impossible for the town to get any crazier about the football team, but it was happening, and I was swept right up with them. Leighton High finished the season undefeated and then blew through the playoffs, eliminating every team placed in their path until suddenly they were headed to the championships, with Tanner leading it all.

  “I guess if I’m going to finish my days playing football, this is the best way to do it,” Tanner said as the four us of sat around a table at Sweet Danny’s, our favorite barbeque restaurant. The table was loaded up with meat slathered in different sauces, sides of corn bread and beans, and glasses of iced tea. I may have missed a lot of things from Oregon, but the one thing Texas did better than anyone was barbeque.

  “You could play in college,” Stephen said, but this time his words weren’t the start of another fight. Instead, he said it playfully, as a joke. At some point, after a lot of late-night conversations between Tanner, Mom, and Stephen, conversations I wasn’t invited to, Tanner said our parents had accepted his decision not to play football. And not just accepted it, but embraced it. When Tanner officially turned down the scholarship, they stood up against some other parents who couldn’t believe Tanner’s choice.

  Tanner waved his forkful of pulled pork at Stephen. “Nope, nope, and nope, but if you want me to tell them you’re interested . . .”

  Stephen pretended to flex his muscles. “I’m pretty tough. Do you think I can stop a three-hundred-pound lineman?”

  “I’m not so sure about you, but Brooklyn could,” Tanner said and leaned in closer to us as if telling some kind of secret. “I heard that she held a plank longer than any of the guys on the middle school team the other day at the conditioning class. She’s tougher than me!”

  “Yeah, well, it’s all in a day’s work,” I casually said, but it was kind of a big deal. A huge deal. I couldn’t help but grin when I remembered the looks on their faces when every single one of those boys fell to the floor and I held my plank.

  “But I don’t have time to play football, I’m going to be too busy dancing at Texas School of the Arts.”

  “Are you ready for the Showcase?” Mom asked.

  “Totally,” I said. “And what better timing? Tanner can win the championship next Friday, I’ll perform my Showcase pieces to rave reviews on Saturday, and then we’ll have the biggest celebration ever on Sunday. How does that sound?”

  “The Showcase is Saturday?” Mom asked.

  “Yeah, at two p.m.”

  Mom shot a glance at Stephen that worried me.

  “Is there a problem?” I asked.

  “The game is next Saturday,” Tanner said.

  “But what about Friday-night lights?”

  “That’s regular season play. The championship is always on a Saturday. It gives the teams time to get to Arlington and practice early on the field, and it’s easier for parents and students to be there on a weekend.”

  Parents to be there, I thought. Parents like Stephen and Mom.

  I took a moment to try to ground myself before I got too upset. I focused on the second hand of the clock as it moved slowly around and thought about the problem and how there was no possible solution but one. I knew the way this was going to play out. It was what I’d been dreading all along.

  So before Mom could say anything, I turned to her. I needed to speak up before she made the choice for me. A choice that might not be in my favor. “And you and Stephen can go cheer Tanner on.”

  “But the Showcase—” Mom started.

  I cut her off. “You don’t have to go. You’ll be able to see m
e dance a million more times. But the championship is Tanner’s last game ever. You can’t miss that. I’ll be dancing for years and years and years.”

  “But I want to be there to support you.”

  “I need you and Stephen at the game so you can come back and tell me everything that happened. And then we’ll celebrate both of us,” I insisted.

  “I don’t know,” Mom hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t want me at the Showcase?”

  “Positive,” I told her, which was a complete lie.

  “If you’re really okay with it . . . ,” Mom said and I pushed down the disappointment that had crept in. I told myself not to cry. I’d told her she could go, so I had no right to get disappointed. Right?

  I turned to Tanner instead. “I’m sorry I’ll miss your game,” I said, and it was true. I’d wanted to see him play. If you’d told me this was going to happen a few months ago, I wouldn’t have cared. In fact, I’d have been glad to have an excuse not to go to the game. But now things were different. I wanted Leighton to win, and I wanted to be there to see it. And support Tanner, especially with how supportive he had been to me.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s not your fault. We’ll both make the town of Leighton proud that day. No one will ever see it coming.”

  “Still, I wish I could be there.”

  “You will be. Just not in person. Make sure you impress the heck out of those talent scouts, so you can get into that school, and we’ll call it even.”

  “That’s all I have to do?” I asked, and I knew he meant it as a joke, but right then the idea of dancing at all seemed impossible.

  “Yep, that won’t be a problem, will it?”

  “Not at all,” I lied. “But that also means you have to promise me to win the championship and maybe set some records along the way.”

  “Easy, I can do that in my sleep.”

  Stephen held up his glass of sweet tea. “I propose a toast. To the most talented kids I’ve ever met. The world will never be the same after next Saturday!”

  I picked up my tea, and Tanner and Stephen followed.

  “We’ve got this,” I said, but the enthusiasm in my voice was fake, because just like Mom, Logan was going to want to be at that championship game, which meant that if I was going to be a part of the All-City Showcase, I was going to have to dance my solo.

  Chapter 52

  The thing about football in this town is that it’s always going to rule.

  Always.

  Which was why Logan had to go to the championship game.

  He might not play for the high school team yet, but he was a part of it, especially if he wanted to get one of those spots for postseason training with them. I’d heard him talk about proving his dedication to his coach and making a good impression on Coach Trentanelli enough times to know that he had to be there. But I also remembered Logan’s promise to me about dancing in the Showcase. I didn’t want Logan to have to make the choice between one or the other. It wasn’t fair to put him in that position, not after everything he’d done for me. Football meant so much to him, and he had worked so hard. He needed to be at the championship game, and I had to convince him of that.

  I figured it would be easier to talk to him in person, so I had to get Tanner’s help. I found him watching TV in the family room.

  “What’s up, twinkle toes?” Tanner asked, using the same term Randy had used, which I’d hated, but somehow, coming from Tanner I was okay with it. It reminded me of the way siblings would tease each other, and I liked the idea of having a brother like that.

  “Is there any way you can give me a ride to Logan’s house? I need to talk to him, but I promise it won’t take long.”

  “Sure, happy to help. When do you want to go?”

  “Now?” I asked, because this had to be like a Band-Aid. It would be easiest to rip it off right away.

  “Now it is,” Tanner said, and didn’t even seem bothered that I interrupted him to take me somewhere. “Let me grab a sweatshirt and we’ll leave.”

  “Thank you,” I said, relieved that he was willing to help so easily.

  Tanner was back downstairs in a matter of minutes and we headed out to his truck.

  “What’s the top secret mission you have me going on?” he asked as we pulled out of the driveway.

  “It’s nothing. I just need to talk to Logan for a minute. In person. “

  I told Tanner how to get to Logan’s house, and it wasn’t long before we were in his driveway.

  “I’ll try to be quick, okay?” I said as I jumped out of the truck.

  Tanner held up his phone and waved it. “Take your time and don’t worry about me. I’ll watch stupid videos online. Have fun talking dance strategy.”

  I nodded and didn’t bother to correct him.

  I wish we were going to talk dance strategy. It stunk that after all our practice and hard work, we wouldn’t perform in front of anyone, but I couldn’t take the game away from Logan. He had to be there to show his coach and the rest of the team that he was serious about the team, especially since he was part of the postseason training. If he wasn’t there, it would look bad.

  But how could I dance alone? I was nervous as is about dancing the solo. Could I really depend on only that to get me noticed by the scouts? I didn’t know the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that Logan needed to be at that game, so I had to make it at least sound as if I could dance that solo.

  I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders like I do before a grand jeté tournant, and headed toward the front door. I pressed the doorbell, and when Logan opened the door, there was no turning back.

  “Brooklyn, what are you doing here?” he asked, confused.

  “Can we talk for a minute?” I tried to make my voice sound strong and sure, even though I felt anything but.

  “Sure. I have a paper I need to write for school, so you’ve given me a great excuse to procrastinate a little longer.”

  “Happy to help,” I told him and followed him into a small kitchen that was bright and sunny. There was a bowl full of fruit on the table, and Logan pointed to it.

  “Do you want something?” he asked.

  I grabbed an orange, simply because it would give me something else to do with my hands while I talked to him.

  We sat down together and he turned to me, giving me his full attention.

  “So what’s up?”

  “It’s about the championship game,” I started.

  “Coach can’t stop talking about how good the team is. He’s pretty sure they’re going to win. He’s told us a bunch of times how we’re the next generation of players and we have a legacy to continue. It’s scary to live up to those expectations, but also pretty great. He’s talking to us like we’re real football players.”

  “Uh, you are a real football player,” I told him.

  “I know, but he’s never made us feel that way before. Like, he thinks we’re going to do a good job next year when we get to high school. That’s so far from how he viewed us at the start of the season. And we’re invited to go to the game, too, if we want to. There’ll be a bus for any interested middle school players, and we’ll get to sit close to the field during the game. It’s going to be incredible, and I have you to thank for it.”

  “You don’t have to thank me,” I said. “You’re the one who helped me. And speaking of help, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t know if you realized it, but the championship game is on the same day as the All-City Showcase.”

  “Oh shoot, Brooklyn. I didn’t even think about that,” Logan said, and the excitement in his eyes disappeared.

  “It’s okay. You don’t need to be there,” I said before he said anything else.

  “Nope, never,” Logan immediately said. “I made a promise to you that I wasn’t backing out again, and I’m not breaking that promise. No way, no how.”

  “But I’m giving you permission to. It’s not a problem. I’ll can still dance my solo.”
/>   “Is that enough? I thought you needed to dance with a partner, too,” he said.

  “A partner would help, but—”

  “Exactly,” Logan cut in. “Which is why I’m dancing with you.”

  I held my finger up to signal to him to stop for a minute. “Dancing just the solo is okay. It works for both of us because you don’t miss out on the game and I’m still able to showcase what I can do on my own. It’s the perfect solution.” Well, it might sound like the perfect solution, if I weren’t still so scared to dance the solo and thought I stood a chance against all the other dancers, who were probably amazing.

  “But we worked so hard together on the dance,” Logan said. “And we don’t have to be at the game. It’s not mandatory. I can go to the Showcase.”

  “We did work hard, but at the end, football is your ballet. It’s everything. Even if you don’t have to go to the game, you need to be there and make sure that you let Coach Trentanelli and Coach Konarski know that you’re serious about the team. And I’ll dance my solo. This way, we both get what we want. Maybe we can do our dance in the talent show instead. The boys on the team would love that, right?”

  “Okay, let’s not push it.” Logan laughed.

  “We’d probably win,” I said as Logan picked up his napkin and tossed it at me.

  “I just don’t know, Brooklyn,” Logan said. “The championship game is optional, but being your partner isn’t optional in my eyes. I told you that I wasn’t going to back out again.”

  And that’s what made Logan such a great person. Football meant more to him than anything in the world, and yet here he was, trying to argue that he should miss the game to dance with me.

  “You’re not backing out. I’m telling you, it’s okay. I’ll dance my solo. Besides, weren’t you the one who taught me to respect football? And I know how important this game is and how much work you put into improving yourself as an athlete. You need to be at this game. You earned it.”

  “It doesn’t feel right,” Logan said reluctantly.

  “Believe me,” I told him. “Everything about this choice feels right. Go to the game; I’ll stun everyone with my incredible solo.”