Free Touchdown by Garnet Hart Page A

lied.
    “Then why are you cheering for the Jets? You should be supporting him. He is your boyfriend.”
    “W-well…” She was lost for words. This girl was very inquisitive. Who the hell said Troy was her boyfriend anyway?
    “Booo!”
    Her eyes darted back to the field. What happened?
    The patriots were rejoicing. Everyone’s congratulating that annoying number twelve.
    He just scored a touchdown! Again?
    It happened so quickly she didn’t even notice it. That prick had suddenly changed his strategy, something that the Jets couldn’t have anticipated. And it was working.
    Now, the Patriots were in the lead, and they only had three minutes left in the game.
    After the time out, the Jets had the ball, but their quarterback’s pass got intercepted and Kirk Dobson made a run for it, all the way to the end zone.
    “I’ll kill you in hell, fuckboy!” a man behind her furiously roared while those around her uttered their own self-made version of profanity.
    She covered Bessie’s ears. This was the reason she didn’t like taking kids to football games. It was a perfect place to enrich one’s vocabulary for profanity.
    Often times, she’d utter dirty words herself, but not within a kid’s hearing range as much as possible.
    The ball was back with the Patriots. It all seemed hopeless now, but who would have thought that the star quarterback would mess up a pass. It was the dumbest pass she’d ever seen. Troy just threw the ball right at Wayne.
    The crowd yelled and rose to their feet. Wayne made a run for the ball. None of the Patriots even tried to stop him, instead, they protected their quarterback as he ran toward Wayne.
    Her jaw dropped. What the hell was happening?
    Myers tackled Wayne. For the second time, he had sacked the fastest running back of the decade. The crowd went more furious than ever.
    With barely a minute left, and the Patriots leading by twelve points, the game was practically over. But the Jets didn’t give up, not even the fans. Miracles often happened in the field.
    The time out called by the Jets was useless. As soon as Troy Myers took possession of the ball, he played with his usual game—he threw the ball forty yards to the end zone, where the wide receiver was waiting… and he got it—a touchdown pass.
    The game was over. The Jets lost. The crowd was disappointed.
    As the Patriots celebrated their victory, the angry audience threw their garbage at them.
    “Troy won!” Bessie exclaimed.
    Zoey quickly covered Bessie’s mouth. If anyone heard that, they’d be dead. Luckily, no one did.
    “Are you Zoey Graham?” a stadium security guard, who suddenly came from out of nowhere, asked.
    “Yes,” she replied.
    “Logan Norris wants you down the field. Please come along.”
    Perplexed, she picked up her crutches and stood up. She took Bessie with her and followed the guard down the field.
    “Let me have the girl,” Logan said when he saw them coming.
    Zoey frowned. “You called us all the way down here for Bessie?” she asked.
    “Something like that,” Logan said, smiling mysteriously, as he took Bessie away. When she followed them, he shooed her away. “Go back there.”
    “Why?”
    “Just… go.”
    Confused, she stood right where she was. She turned around to see the Patriots, still celebrating while the field was being filled with garbage.
    A petite woman pushed a wheel chair toward her. “Please take a seat.”
    She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she did not complain when the woman assisted her into the wheelchair and took away her crutch.
    The crowd was starting to disperse, when suddenly, someone spoke through the microphone. Everyone kept quiet, and the world stood still.
    Troy’s voice. She looked around and found him standing in the middle of the field.
    “Before anything else,” he paused to calm down his breathing. “There’s someone that I wish to introduce to all of you.”
    “Boo!” the crowd uttered and threw more garbage at him. Fortunately, he was