I've been waiting all my life for this day. Today is the day that history will be made in my family. Everyone in my family has always doubted me. "It's impossible", they always told me, but they don't understand that I am doing this for their benefit.  I will change history in my family. We will no longer be known as "the poor family of failures."
Everyone in my family, for as long as we can remember, has either dropped out of high school or failed to go to college. No one in my family has ever gotten a degree. I plan to change this, but not only am I going to get my degree, I plan on exceeding even more than just a degree. I will go to Yale university.
  Since I was little, I've always believed that one day, I was going to be driving a nice Lamborghini through the streets. I remember telling my mom, when I was only eight years old, that I would change our families name, when I graduate from Yale university. I remember I cried and refused to talk to her for a month, for my mom looked me straight in the eye and laughed. I will never forget this day, for my mother created this eagerness in my heart to prove her wrong.
I called my girlfriend at ten this morning to ask if she was coming to see me at the big game tonight. "Willy, you know I wouldn’t it miss it for anything, but it's not till eight, can I sleep for a little bit," she told me. I laughed at how she loves to sleep in and told her, "I always feel confident when your there. I'll be there at one to pick you up for lunch and a movie. Now I will let you rest for today's a big day, bye babe."
I then began to gather my soccer uniform, for tonight was the championship game. I made sure to iron my uniform and gel my hair perfectly. I need to look perfect for the scout. I need this scholarship. I need to get into Yale. I need to prove my mom wrong. I am not a failure. I stared at my MVP trophy for a few minutes and gave it a kiss for good luck.
As I drive to pick up my girlfriend, I look at the people laughing on the street as they see my little Volkswagen Beetle pass by. My parents couldn't afford to buy me a new car, so they decided to give me my grandmother’s old car. It is not one of the things I am most proud of, but as long as it gets me around I’m okay with it. This tiny neighborhood is always covered in car accidents, so it did not surprise me that it took me an hour to get to my girlfriends house, which normally only takes me twenty minutes.
I sit outside and beep three times as I always do to notify her it's me. Her room light flickers three times and I know she's on her way. She runs over and jumps in the car giving me a kiss and telling me "Today is the big day!" We begin our drive to the movies. We decide we to watch Mission Impossible. After the movie, we went to eat at a small Argentinian restaurant. I wanted to make sure I got in touch with my soccer playing roots.
As we started nearing the soccer field, I began chewing on the ice from my soda. Amanda turned to me, grabbed my hand and said, "what's wrong?" I looked at her and said, "nothing's wrong, why do you ask?" "You only chew ice when your nervous," she told me. I knew this was true, and I tried to stop, but I couldn't help it. "It's just that if I don't do this I fail, my mom would be right, my future and life plans will be ruined," I told her. She said, "don't worry your grades are amazing you have the highest grades in our whole class." "Even though I have the grades, I will never be able to afford to go to such a collage. You have seen my house, my car, my neighborhood, and I am already working two jobs. Babe, without this scholarship it's impossible," I said looking her in the eye chewing my ice harsher now.
  Now I'm here staring at the other team's players straight in the eye. There is one minute left on the clock, and we are tied. My team and I are exhausted, but we refuse to show it. The ball is continuously being stolen from team to team. I see an opening, I can totally make this shot, I will win the game for my team. There's no way I will lose this scholarship. Everything is moving in slow motion now, fifteen seconds on the clock. I look at the sidelines, I see Amanda cheering with all the other cheerleaders and feel a rush of hope. I look at the bleachers and see the scout staring me down. I'm frozen. I can't find myself moving. What's happening to me?
I am moving again, but not in the direction I want. I'm not running toward the ball. I'm falling. I was shoved, and the other team took the ball. Richard, Richard has the ball now. Richard is the other team’s all star player. Two seconds left on the clock and he's twenty-three feet away from our goal, he will never make it, we will enter overtime. I watch as he kicks the ball, and I feel my heart shatter into a thousand pieces as the ball goes directly into the goal.
I hear the crowd cheering. The speaker announces, "the wolves are now the San Francisco champions, maybe next year raptors." I can't believe what just happened. I just lost the game for my team. My future is now gone forever. I will be a failure like everyone else in my family. There will be no fixing this situation, I am a high school senior and my team just finished their season, thanks to me.
I walk away without saying anything to my team. I refuse to even look at the scout. I know if I look at him I will probably begin to cry. I walk over to the cheerleaders and look at my girlfriend without even saying a word to her. She knows it's not a good time to say anything. As we walk to the car, neither one of us say a thing. I just hung my head in shame.
I am driving her home now, and neither one of us choose to say a word. Amanda looking over to me noticed I was at the verge of tears.  She silently begins to plug her iPod into my car and plays an Eminem song. I have my finger on the button to turn off the radio, but I hear Marshal rapping about how every house he lived in kept getting broken into and robed or shot up on the block, but he never lost hope and fought to help his daughter, live the best life he could give her. I continue driving for an hour listening to Eminem's messages. I finally reach her house and park out front. As she is gathering her stuff to leave, I look over to her for the first time in this whole drive, and I simply say "Thank you". She looks over to me and smiles. She gives me a kiss, gets out of the car, and walks toward her house.
I finally make it home, I begin to shower and get ready to go to sleep. I continue to think about what Eminem said in his songs. I think about how rough his life has been and how he still ended up so successful. No matter how hard his life got and no matter how many obstacles got in his way, he never gave up and continued to work hard to help his family. I know that this loss was just an obstacle and I will be able to reach my dream and change my family’s name for the better.
Two months have passed now.  I am at Amanda's house. My phone is getting a phone call. I don't have the number saved so I ignore it. Amanda looks at me and says, "answer it, it won't kill you". I laugh and answer it to make her happy.
"Hello, Wilfred speaking," I say. "Hello, Wilfred, this is Armando. I am calling from Yale University," says a voice through the phone. I automatically jump out of my chair saying, "Hello, Armando, how may I help you?" "Actually, Wilfred, I viewed you at your championship game. Even though that game was a sad loss, I still believe you are a great soccer player and after reviewing your grades and emailing your teachers, I have come to the conclusion that you would be a great student for Yale University. Would you like to attend our school with a full paid scholarship, Wilfred?" said the man on the phone. I become ecstatic and say, "Of course, I would! Thank you, Armando. Have a great day sir." The man on the phone says, "I am looking forward to seeing you play soccer and study with us, Wilfred. Have a great day."
I turn around as I hang up the phone to look at my girlfriend staring at me in a confused way. I look at her smiling and say, "I did it!”