I put in my ear phones to drowned out the noise surrounding me. It was game day and that was the only thing on my mind. Tonight was possibly the biggest game of my highschool career. I had just confirmed a couple days before, 3 college scouts from my 3 top college choices to come out and watch me play. Thank god for not having a class my 6th hour, a break away from everyone talking about how hard their lives were, that they were going through more stuff than everyone. I laughed to myself because, in all honesty, no one had any idea how much I was going through. I walked out the back doors of the school and headed out towards the field. My home. I knew the combo to the back shed so I was able to get a couple balls out. I dribbled over to the goal and threw off my shirt. Just me and the goal. I began to work on my foot work, weaving the ball in and out perfecting anything that might mess me up tonight. I took the ball to the box, and practiced the hat trick that I’d seen Messi do a couple nights before. It was going to take work, but I really wanted to perfect it by tonights game to really impress the scouts. I placed the ball on the line, as if I as in a free kick situation. I completely zoned everything out around me. Taking a deep breath I started for the ball. I ran at it and kissed the ball off of the top of my foot. Completely missing the goal I stood in complete shock.

“What in the hell, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I said aloud to myself.

I took another ball and placed it on the white marked line. Something must have been wrong before. Maybe the ball was flat or there was wind, but I know I sure as hell wouldn’t of missed the goal if it wasn’t for messing it up. I always made it, always. I ran up again and shoot, this time the ball skimmed across the net, making a swoosh sound as it ran down the back netting of the goal. I made it this time, just not the way I wanted it to go in. I sat on the ground and pulled out my phone. If I wanted to impress the scouts I needed to stand out. I needed to catch their eye, and by scoring such a basic goal I’d look like any other guy on the field. I pulled up the website and watched the Messi video again. I watched as he ran up to the ball and put just enough curve into the ball and so much power that it hit the far right post and shot up into the opposite left connor. I wanted, no I needed to have this down my tonights game, I tried a couple more times and finally got the hang of putting just enough curve into the ball and before it was time for me to go back into school for 7th hour and 8th hour, I was confident.

7th hour seemed to fly by, considering I slept the entire hour. It’s World History anyway, so I mean seriously, who cares. But 8th hour seemed to drag on. The clock seems to barely move, math was terrible. Miranda, the girl behind me was smacking on her gum like a horse eating.

I turned around, “Hey Miranda?” I said sounding like I really had a question.

“Yeah John?” She batted her fake eyelashes trying to flirt with me.

“Could you stop chomping on your gum like you're a friggin’ zoo animal.” I turned around.

God, girls like that really pissed me off. Just everything about them, being so ungrateful. Thinking that the whole world revolved around their big ‘ole heads. I heard her talking to her friends that all I cared about was soccer. And I couldn’t help but smirk in agreement. For someone so obsessed with herself, to call me basically selfish, made me laugh. I pulled out my phone and drowned out the voice of Mr. Griffith ramblin on from his desk about how trigonometry will help us with real things in life. After failing a couple levels on Plants vs Zombies, and playing stick jump; class was finally over. I met up with a couple of guys on the team by my locker.
I was never one to try and converse so much during game days. From the time I wake up to the time I hear that whistle, I really don’t want to talk too much to anyone. I want to be in my zone, winning is my focus on the day. Never school, drama, or my homework, just my goal on winning the game. I just want to win, whether it’s me scoring or my teammates. But tonight I needed to show my abilities, I needed to score or at least show my ability to give assists to my teammates.

“You ready for this game John?” Asked Cole. He was the goalie and a damn good one. 6 shutouts this season and he wasn’t letting up.

“Uh he better be,” Answered Max, the mid forward.

“Don’t worry guys, I have scouts coming. I have to be in my zone no matter what,” I answered pulling out my earphones and putting them in.

I didn’t really want to be rude to the guys, don’t get me wrong; they're my bestfriends. But I mean,God their loud as hell and I’m just not in the mood to listen to them when I’m trying to get ready for the game. We walked out to the field together, and went into the field house locker room to change. I could feel the pre game jitters start, they started with me twitching my legs and then to the point where I couldn’t even stand still. I went out to the field where half the guys already were.

“Hey John come here!” Yelled one of the many freshman who I had no idea what the kids name was.

I jogged over to the circle of guys, “Whats up?” I asked.

They were watching some video on an Iphone. I couldn’t really see the screen at first but someone passed the phone to me so I could get a better view. It was a video of the guys varsity soccer team from Broken Arrow, on the bus, on their way to our field, our home, talking crap and saying that we had another thing coming tonight if we thought we were going to win. I passed the phone back and looked up to everyone staring at me.

Finally, the no name freshman spoke up and said “Sooo..”

That “Sooo..” cut through the silence like a knife through warm butter. It let me know how mentally unprepared some of are. We should never be questioning if we will win.

“So what? they can talk all the stuff they want. This is our home. Were going to lay them out right here. Were going to make them look pathetic.” I said turning my back and jogging over to the goal on the opposite side of the field.

“Lets start our warm ups and get this show on the road!” I yelled at everyone on the field.




Time flew by until 5 minutes before the game. I looked up into the stands and saw the scouts scattered along the 1st and 2nd row. It honestly made my insides turn to see them up there, possibly determining my future. We took our places along the field. Jack was right forward, Max the mid forward and I, the left forward all met around the small circle in the middle of the field.

“We gotta want this guys,” I said closing in on our 3 person circle.


“We do. Now lets wipe their a**** all up and down this field,” Jack said smirking.

“Mhmm, language boys,” The ref said as he walked past listening to our conversation.

“Awh do you hear that Quentin, boys? I didn’t know we were playing wittle boys. Oh no!” I heard the voice and I didn’t even have to turn around to know who it belonged to. It was Ashton, the captain of BA. Before I could say anything or think to say anything, the refs blew the whistle and we got in our positions.
I looked up into the bleachers one last time, only one thing going through my mind. And that was I had to show them who I was, I had to. The whistle blew and the game started. I ran across the midline towards their goal. Jack had the ball, weaving past 2 midfielders, but getting stopped by a defender. The ball was sent to the other side of the field, and was bouncing around from player to player. I saw ashton try and fake Cole, but he wasn’t letting up so easily. Coal kicked the ball, with the wind picking up behind it, carrying it not to far in front of me. This was my chance. I took the ball and faked a defender and passed it off to Max, he took it down the middle and looked like he was going to take a shot right before a defender kicked the ball out. The ref blew the whistle and motioned for a corner kick. Alex came from mid and so did jaxon. Alex went to go take the kick and put 2 fingers in the air. I knew this play all too well and was pretty stoked when I realized what was going on. I went into the middle of the goal box why everyone else took either a post or went out a little further.
“Here we go guys,”Jaxon yelled as alex kicked the ball into the air. The ball was perfect. It was just high enough that it looked like it would have gone to the back post but started to drop short. I ran and jumped into the air, meeting the ball about halfway. There was enough power in the ball, and in my body from jumping that the ball went right into the left corner, easy as pie. I landed on the ground happy as ever. I got pushed from behind and I knew it was someone from the other team butt-hurt because I just laid their defensive out.
I looked into the crowd and saw one of the scouts writing something down on a pad of paper, and the other two were just watching me. I jogged back over and thanked the guys for giving me the opportunity to show off to the scouts. They play started and I was pretty pumped from the last play so when Ashton tried to pass it off to one of his teammates, I went and stole the ball. I nutmegged the left defender,and passed the back to Max. I let him take it into the goal and try and score but he got caught up and tripped and fell over his own feet and the goalie beat him to the ball after he got up.
“Hey man it’s alright, you got it next time,” I yelled encouragingly to Max.
Time seemed to fly by, before I knew it half-time was being called. We were up 3-1. Cole was pissed because there wasn’t going to be a shut out, and I was missed because I needed to impress these scouts. I needed something, I needed a chance, that all I need. Coach Jim brought us over to the bench and just went on about how we needed to be aggressive, I knew BA would come back mad, they wanted this just as much as we did. We went back on the field, I did a couple of jumps to get my body back warmed up.
“Hey John,” yelled Jaxon from behind me. I turned around to look at him, my way of answering.
“We’ve got this. Don’t worry man.” He said right before the ref yelled to check in with Cole to see if he was ready.
The second half seemed to fly by. There were 5 minutes left and no one had scored the entire half. My body was getting anxious every time I looked at one of the scouts. They all looked bored. Unimpressed. Just freaking great I thought as Cole stopped the attempted goal BA tried to make. I had one thing on my mind, to show them I was worth it. Cole kicked the ball to Alex who dribbled to the right side of the field and passed up to Jack. Jack managed to get by 2 mid’s and trailed the ball of to Max who wasn't following too short behind him. I expected Max to take the ball himself but I could tell by his body language he was about to pass to me. I just got the ball, I was in the middle of the field. I was coming into the box about to take a shot when I felt a huge blow to my side.
“JOHN!” I blinked my blurry eyes to see Max standing over me. Both refs on either side of him and my coach Jim upside.
“What happened?” I asked confused sitting up.
“BA captain over there thought it be a great idea to slide tackle your scrawny a** in the box,” said Max.
“LANGUAGE!” the ref yelled again looking him in the eyes. I stood up.
“Alright well, lets get this show on the road,” coach Jim said walking away.
“PK boys!” the ref yelled walking away.
I looked at Max and I already say the answer on his face. I looked around the field and all the other guys were looking at me to, They knew how long I’d been waiting on this and how long I’ve been working on this one thing, for this one opportunity. I walked up to the line and could feel the adrenaline pulse through my veins. I closed my eyes and just remembered that video. I couldn't stand still I had to keep my body moving so while the ref was making sure the box was clear I jumped a couple times. He blew his whistle and I knew what I had to do. I ran for the ball and kicked it into the air. The ball smacked off of the right post with so much power sending it off into the left netted corner. The goalie divided right but still completely missed the ball. Before I could even turn around I felt the guys jump on my back. I managed to get a look at the scouts before celebrating with the team and I knew the look on their faces. They we were, impressed. I couldn’t walk past Ashton without saying something.
“Hey Ashton,” I stopped where I was so I wasn’t walking past him anymore. he looked at me. He was pissed and you could see it on his face.
“How’d it feel to play with the big boys ya little b****?” I turned and walked away before he could answer, because in all honesty; I could care less what he had to say.
After the game, I just wanted to meet the scouts. Shake their hands and approach them in a none cocky manner, show them that they matter but do not show it too much. I was afraid if I showed how much I needed them to scout me, that they would most likely lose interests. My coach said, “go to them, don’t worry about talking to us..”