Lahat ng Kabanata ng Whispers of the Heart: Kabanata 191 - Kabanata 200

Per tradition at Wood Haven, only the Junior Varsity had a game on the night of the Homecoming dance. The varsity game was held on Saturday. Throughout the evening into the night, a tournament was held that Wood Haven was infamous for. For over fifty years, the same trophy had been passed around to the winning school and that school held bragging rights for the next year. Right now, we were holding onto it and had for the last two years.The tournament pitted Wood Haven, Mecan, Broken Falls and Manauwa against each other. Those four teams have always had a regional rivalry that was unlike any other. That was one of the reasons the tournament was created and to make it even more special, it was created to correspond with Homecoming so that there could be the big dance and celebration the night before.We were not only celebrating the annual Homecoming event, we were celebrating the last night we held the trophy for this year and celebrating in anticipation of bringing it home again for

The moment we made it home, Owen scooped me up out of the passenger seat as I wrapped my legs around his waist. He shut the door to the Yukon, locked it with his key fob and crossed the yard, all the while kissing me so deeply that it took my breath away.He punched the code on the keypad and entered the garage, closing it back behind him. We heard it lock back with a beep as he climbed the stairs as if I weighed nothing at all. At the top of the stairs, he entered the code again and hurriedly opened the door. I slid down his body as he closed the door back behind us. As he locked that door back, I took the opportunity to ditch my heels and toss them toward the couch.As he spun back, I stepped toward him and quickly unbuttoned his tuxedo jacket. I reached up to push it off his shoulders, helping him to shimmy out of it as quickly as I could. While I worked on unbuttoning his vest, he loosened the tie but didn’t remove it. We got the vest off and tossed onto the couch before he scooped

Just when I was feeling good about the possible outcome of the game, Owen was sacked again and there was a loss of five yards. This hit wasn’t as hard or as detrimental as the first one but it was still a pivotal moment that seemed to deflate the crowd. The second down only resulted in a gain of five to get back to the original line of scrimmage.Thankfully, the line protecting Gary and Owen came alive as the ball was snapped on the third down and Owen was able to get a clear line of sight to throw the ball down field to Jonathan. Jonathan made an amazing catch to secure the first down but was only able to run less than five yards before he was tackled to the ground.We were now on the thirty yard line, well within field goal range but still had thirty-seven seconds left on the clock. The team rushed into place and Gary handed the ball off solidly to Owen with the snap. He only hesitated for half a second before he blasted the ball down field to Jonathan again, who caught it and secure

From the moment the game started, something just felt off. I knew Owen well enough, I knew this team well enough to have my suspicions as to what was happening but I would not be able to confirm it until later, when I was actually able to talk with Owen.The pace was slower than normal or maybe it was just my imagination. The first drive down the field, Owen didn’t even look to throw it. Each and every play was immediately passed off to the running back and driven right up the middle into the biggest wad of defensive traffic. We used all of our first three tries four times in a row just to get the first down each time. On the fifth try, we made the first down in just two attempts but then the next two were back to using all three again until we managed to score our first touchdown. The kicker followed with the extra point and we had an early lead but it had taken half of the quarter just to finally score.On the kickoff, our kicker made what looked like the biggest half assed attempt t

He looked over at me, surprised before a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he focused his attention back on the road. He didn’t say anything for a minute or two as he maneuvered the Yukon out of the parking lot and down the road toward the light.“How did you know?” He finally asked me, confirming without coming right out and saying it.“It wasn’t the same team out there. It just felt off. It felt like you all were going through the motions so that it appeared like you were trying but I could tell that either your hearts weren’t in it or you were putting on the act of trying your best but not executing.”“Do you think it was obvious to the fans in the stands?”“No, I don’t. I don’t think it would have been obvious to me if I hadn’t already spent dozens of hours analyzing your play and snapping picture after picture. If you were trying to throw the game without being blatantly obvious that you were throwing the game, I think you pulled it off without a hitch. My question is ‘wh