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It was third down, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that there were two seconds left on the clock, fifteen yards between the ball and the end zone, and the other team was up by four points. Make this play, and the state title was theirs. Don’t make this play, and the season ended in heartbreaking disappointment.
Dean smirked. The coach had told him to run it, but there was no way he could run fifteen yards against this defense. “They’ll be expecting you to pass. Your receivers will be double-covered. You’ve got this, Dean. Run.” Well, Dean was still going to go through the progressions, because that’s what you did.
And it turned out he was right. He had a receiver in one-on-one coverage with the defender staring at the receiver. He launched the ball, and his receiver made a quick cut to get under the ball and carry it past the goal line. He let out a scream of triumph, and then ran to the end zone with everyone else.
The other team was too busy teasing the defender to notice or care that Dean had caught up to Cassie and thrown his arms around her, kissing her cheek. “I knew you’d do it! I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks, Dean! You threw me the perfect ball, I just had to get under it.” She kissed his cheek in return. “How pissed is Sam gonna be? I know he told you to run it.”
“He’ll get over it. You caught it, it worked.” Dean smirked. “I keep telling him that these jerks always underestimate the girls, and maybe now he’ll believe me. If you’d been a boy, they’d have had better coverage on you.”
“That’s true.” Cassie pulled away as a teammate came over to congratulate her, and Dean headed over to face the music with his little brother. Thankfully, he’d been right. Sam was reasonable and willing to admit that Dean had made a good choice.
With the state title and MVP trophy – the prettiest of the rocks they’d had to clear off the field before the game – Dean thought nothing could bring him down. This was the best day of his life. Then Cassie caught him outside the pizza parlor as they were leaving after the post-victory meal her parents had agreed to take Dean and Sam along on. “I need to tell you something.”
“Uhoh. What’s wrong?”
Cassie swallowed hard and took Dean’s hand. “We’re moving. Dad’s already gone, but Mom agreed to stay until report cards came out. It sucks, we’re going to middle school next year and I know the coach here was going to let me play but I don’t know about at my new school.”
“That sucks so bad.” If anyone knew how much moving during a school year would suck, it would be him. His father had moved him and Sam so often it got ridiculous. If it weren’t for Bobby Singer taking them in when Sam’s fits got to be too much for John to put up with… and that gave him an idea. “Maybe Uncle Bobby could…”
Cassie shook her head. “It’s different with me, Dean. I don’t want to move, but I want to stay with my parents, and they’re still going to give me a stable life. Not like yours was before you came to live with your uncle. I don’t want to move, but I have to. I already talked to Mr. Singer and he’s the reason I’m still here for the next month.”
“Oh.” Dean deflated, wrapping his arms around himself. He’d been looking forward to middle school, to having Cassie by his side as he became the greatest football player Sioux Falls had ever seen. This state title was supposed to be the rehearsal for senior year, when he’d throw her the game-winning touchdown pass and then offer her a diamond ring. It wasn’t fair. Parents ruined everything. “I’m going to miss you. Phone calls and letters won’t be the same, especially if you can’t play.”
Second down after Dean spiked the ball, two seconds left on the clock, thirteen yards to the end zone, and they were down by five. Other than that, it was a lot like the scene seven years earlier. Dean listened to the play his coach called – the same one Sam had, drop back to throw to make sure they committed to the coverage and then take off. Dean looked around at his receivers. Benny was sure to be double-covered, Castiel likely, Cole probably, and he’d really rather not have to rely on Garth as the kid practically covered himself in high-pressure situations like this. That just left Lee, who was normally a running back and not the greatest at actually catching the ball. He let himself wish that Cassie were there as he called for the ball and dropped back. As expected, everyone was covered. He tucked the ball and ran for it.
He felt the tackle and stretched the ball out. It would be close, if he could just keep his knees up for an extra half second… and the refs noticed, and got the spot right. He wasn’t going to celebrate, but he thought he’d done just enough to get the points. He picked himself up and looked for the ref… arms up. Touchdown. He’d done it. Following the coach’s instructions, he lined up to go for two on the extra point and took a knee. No chance of having a kick blocked to run back to flip the game back to the other team.
His teammates gathered on the sideline to celebrate, and fans started streaming onto the field. Benny threw an arm around Dean. “How long till Sam finds you, Chief?”
“Ten… nine… eight…” Dean started counting down. When he felt someone jump on his back as he got to three, he raised an eyebrow at Benny, but Benny didn’t return the amusement. Instead, his mouth was hanging open. “Sammy?”
“Not Sammy,” a strange and yet strangely familiar voice said. “I’m so proud of you, Dean! You did great!”
Dean turned around as the person dropped off his back, and now he was the one whose mouth hung open. “Cassie? You’re here?”
“I’m here!” Her face lit up in a bright smile. “Your uncle hasn’t told you yet, but he worked out a deal with my parents. I came to your game, and you’re coming to mine. He said I could be the one to tell you about your flight next week.”
“Wait… what?” He looked down, noticing for the first time that Cassie was wearing a football jersey with her jeans. “You got to play after all?!”
For the first few months, Dean and Cassie had kept in contact religiously. Letters every week, phone calls as often as they were allowed and sometimes even when they weren’t. Then middle school started, and they both got busy, and things had ended up tapering off. By the time they were in high school, they had completely lost touch. Still, he was pretty sure Cassie hadn’t played in middle school.
Cassie just shrugged. “Not like I’d planned. In middle school, I couldn’t play at all, but the high school coach talked to me when I was in 8th grade. He told me that he wouldn’t let me play a position where I might be hit, but if I wanted to learn to kick, he’d take anyone who he could count on for extra points. That weekend, every game I watched – Friday night high school, Saturday college, or Sunday NFL – ended up being decided by a field goal or a missed extra point. It seems like a sign. My team’s playing for the state championship next week, and scheduling meant I could come back to South Dakota to watch your game without missing mine yesterday.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Dean had to admit. “Any chance of you going to college?”
“Not at a big school, not like the ones that are looking at you, but that’s okay,” Cassie said. “I’ve really enjoyed the high school experience, but I don’t want to go into a room full of strange boys who don’t know me and might resent me. Besides, I want to focus on my career plans, and you know there’s no way I’d have any chance at the NFL. I’m going to be a journalist.”
“Awesome. Any thoughts on where you wanna go to college? Or do you do like an internship or something for that?” It was probably a long shot that they’d end up at the same school. Dean’s decision wasn’t entirely his own – it would depend on what schools were willing to offer him a scholarship. John and Bobby between them couldn’t afford to send him to the big universities, not with out of state tuition.
Cassie reached out and took his hand. “I’ve been following the news about you, and any school that seemed like might make you an offer, I applied to. Just about every school has a journalism program, you know. Rumor has it your top choices right now are Stanford and Nebraska. Is that right?”
“Yeah… Stanford’s the reason I’m bothering to keep my grades up, but Nebraska’s closer to Sammy and Bobby, you know?” Dean couldn’t help the hope that sprung in his heart. “Does that mean that if you get accepted to the school I sign with, you’re going to go too?”
“That’s the plan. My dad hates it, he wants me to go to Lincoln in Jefferson City, but he and Mom have agreed that I’m an adult, I’m the one who needs to make the decision. I’ve already been accepted to both Stanford and Nebraska, just waiting to hear about potential scholarships, which will make it easier for me to convince my parents to actually go through with letting me go.”
Dean couldn’t help himself. He threw his arms around her and kissed her, right there in front of everyone. Cassie kissed back enthusiastically.
After the timeout, there were two seconds life in the game. Cassie’s team was down by one, but they had the ball on the 15. Cassie turned to look up at the stands, finding Dean and sending him a salute. Snap good, hold good, kick was up… and it was good! Dean was running for the rail as soon as the kick sailed through. He wanted to get to his girlfriend and congratulate her first.