End Zone

by Tiki Barber

  “Now, how did she know we’d win?” Ronde wondered.

  “She didn’t,” Tiki said, smiling. “She just believed in us, that’s all.”

  They both fell silent, feeling how lucky it was to have someone who believed in you—especially if it was your mom.

  “Come on, yo,” Tiki said. “Cut Manny a piece and let’s go.”

  • • •

  Manny was surprised to see them. Tiki could see that he was glad they’d come—but he could also tell that Manny was trying hard to stay upbeat.

  “We sure could have used you, dude,” Tiki told him. “I hurt all over.”

  “Sorry,” Manny said, his smile fading. “Sorry . . .”

  “Hey, now,” Tiki said, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “No, Manny,” Ronde added. “It’s not like that—if you’d been playing, the game wouldn’t have been close.”

  “Besides,” Tiki said, “now that we’re both in the playoffs, we’ll probably be playing them again really soon.”

  “I think we actually get them first,” Ronde said.

  Manny sighed. “I know. That’s the trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Tiki didn’t like the sound of that word.

  “What do you mean, trouble?” Ronde said quickly.

  Manny swallowed hard. “Well, the good news is, I didn’t have any headaches today.”

  “Great!” Ronde said. “That’s fantastic.”

  “But this is the first day I haven’t had any. And the doctor says that even light concussions sometimes need a month or more to heal.”

  “A—a month?” Tiki stammered.

  “Or more?” Ronde moaned.

  Manny nodded. “That’s what he said.”

  “But that would mean . . .”

  “That I’d be out for the entire play-offs.”

  Suddenly, Tiki felt his whole world turn upside down. He and Ronde exchanged alarmed looks. If Manny couldn’t play, the Eagles would have to somehow win behind Hayden Brook.

  That would mean game after game of Tiki getting pounded. Could he take that kind of punishment and still be a force on the field?

  If he couldn’t—if the Eagles failed to repeat as State Champs—everyone would say it was his fault!

  In an instant, one of the best days of his life had become one of the worst!

  CHAPTER SIX

  BE PREPARED

  * * *

  THE NEWS HIT RONDE LIKE A BRICK. WITH MANNY at the helm, they’d had a good chance of winning the State Championship. In fact, they’d been the favorites, at least according to the Roanoke Reporter.

  Without Manny, the Eagles had two chances—slim and none.

  They’d barely beaten Pulaski today, with Tiki doing double duty! They’d never be able to do that again. Tiki was moving now like he was eighty years old. The next game was less than a week away. Hayden Brook was going to have to be the “man”—or at least, the “Manny”—until the real Manny came back. Which might be never, as far as this year was concerned.

  Ronde and Tiki put on brave faces, smiled big smiles, and told Manny to hang in there. “You’ll probably be back in a couple days,” Tiki told him. “You’ll see.”

  Manny shrugged. “The doc said we’d play it week by week. So that means the soonest I can be ready is Wednesday.”

  “Hey, that’s game day!” Ronde said, clapping Manny on the back. “Dude!”

  “Yeah, that’s if he says I’m ready. If not, it’s another week of torture.”

  “Oh, hey!” Ronde said. “We almost forgot. Here, we brought you something.” Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the piece of cake with VICTORY written on it. Except the word VICTORY had gotten all smushed in the backpack. The icing came totally off as he unwrapped it. “Uhh, sorry, dude.”

  “That’s okay,” Manny said, taking it from him carefully. “Mmm. Good,” he said, tasting the icing with his fingertip.

  “It said ‘victory’,” Tiki told him. “My mom baked it for us.”

  “Wow. Mmmm.”

  “Well, enjoy it,” Ronde said. “We’ve gotta get home.”

  “Okay. Thanks for the cake. And thanks for coming,” Manny told them, giving them a sadder but more sincere smile than the one he’d worn when they got there.

  Back on their bikes, riding home in the dark, the boys were silent, except for Tiki’s occasional grunts when something hurt. Halfway home, he said, “Pull over, Ronde.”

  They brought their bikes to a halt. “You okay?” Ronde asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, man.”

  “Then why’d we stop?”

  Tiki put a finger to his lips. “Sshhh,” he said.

  The night was quiet and cloudy. It was cold, too. December was here, and any day now, the first snow of the winter might arrive.

  “Look up there,” Tiki said, pointing to the top of Mill Mountain. The big neon star glowed brightly in the night, like a beacon in the sky.

  There were other stars up there, Ronde knew. Billions of them, hidden by the clouds. But this one, neon, man-made, and five-pointed, seemed to stand for all the others.

  “That’s our lucky star up there, Ronde,” Tiki said softly. “Get a good look at it. We’re gonna do this thing. Don’t ask me how I know. . . . I just do.”

  Ronde said nothing. He stared at the star, then at Tiki, whose eyes were glowing with its reflection. Ronde had rarely heard his twin talk like this. In fact, he couldn’t think of even one time. He wanted to ask Tiki how he knew, but Tiki had just told him not to.

  Ronde was left to wonder whether Tiki even believed what he was saying. He sure seemed to—but maybe he was just trying to convince himself.

  But hey, so what? Wasn’t that exactly what Ronde had done when he’d talked to Tiki at halftime? Had he really believed half the things he’d said?

  Well . . . he had at the moment he said them, at least. Now, looking back on it, it was hard to tell. Ronde decided to go with the flow; to go with the notion that Tiki had had a vision—a vision that, somehow, they would make come true.

  Suddenly, the chill of the air hit him, and he shivered. “Let’s get on home, Tiki,” he said. “I’m about to freeze to death.”

  “Sure thing,” Tiki said. He gave the star one last look, then pointed his bike toward home. He was about to shove off, when he turned back to Ronde again. “Hey,” he said. “Give me the shake.”

  Ronde walked his bike next to Tiki’s and offered his hand up.

  “We’re gonna make this happen,” Tiki said. “I swear it.”

  Ronde hesitated for only a second before saying, “Me too.”

  The brothers exchanged the handshake they’d invented back in peewee league, where this whole incredible journey had started. It was December now. Pretty soon, their football careers at Hidden Valley Junior High would be history.

  Would it be a story of triumph? Or would it end in bitter defeat, after this final turn of bad luck?

  The image of the shattered mirror rose to Ronde’s mind, but he shut it out, forcing himself to keep looking at the Mill Mountain star as they rode home in the dark.

  • • •

  “Atta baby, Hayden!” Coach Ontkos yelled as the QB launched a long pass that landed softly in Felix’s arms. “Look at that. He didn’t even have to break stride!”

  Hayden smiled shyly, happy to be praised, but not used to all the attention.

  He’d better get used to it in a hurry, Ronde thought. He’s gonna get all he can handle.

  Coach Ontkos was responsible for the Eagle offense, and at today’s practice, he was devoting most of his time to his new quarterback.

  Hayden was looking more confident already. All he needed was experience, Ronde thought, and he’d be a star in his own right. He had a great arm, he threw a ball that was easy to catch, and he was pretty accurate, too—so long as he wasn’t being pressured.

  That was the thing, Ronde knew. No amount of practice could pre
pare Hayden for the speedy, huge Pulaski defenders who would be gunning for him. Sure, Hayden had faced the same defense last week, but since the coaches didn’t let him pass much, there was never any pressure coming at him.

  This week, Coach Wheeler had decided they would show Pulaski a different game plan. Ronde knew this was smart—Pulaski would put extra people on Tiki, and devise new ways to stop the run. If the Eagles wanted to win two in a row from their archrivals, it would have to be through the air.

  It was going well today, at any rate. Everyone on the offense was impressed with Hayden’s skills and growing confidence in the pocket. When they were done, the sweat streaming down their faces in spite of the sub-freezing temperature, Coach Ontkos gathered them around him.

  “Guys,” he said, “I’m telling you right now—by game time, you are going to be ready. What we did today was execute our offense in its simplest form. We’re gonna keep it simple, because we have to. But that’s gonna be enough—trust me—because every one of you is going to execute those few, simple plays to perfection. Understood?”

  The boys all nodded, and a lot of them said, “Yeah, Coach!”

  Ronde kept silent. He wanted to agree, but inside, he just wasn’t sure this was going to work. He had an uneasy feeling he couldn’t shake.

  It was one thing to execute against your own defense, which wasn’t really coming at you hard, trying to knock you flat on your back.

  It was a totally different animal to do it in a play-off game, against an opponent as hungry as you. No—hungrier. Both teams were shooting for a championship, but the Pulaski Wildcats were also looking for revenge.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  REMATCH!

  * * *

  THE ARTICLE IN THE ROANOKE REPORTER CAME out the morning of the Pulaski game. Tiki and Ronde had known the game would be featured in the sports section. Everybody had been talking about it ever since last week’s cliffhanger between the same two teams.

  When the paperboy’s bicycle bell sounded, Ronde was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. Tiki ran out to grab the paper and get the first look at the article.

  By the time Ronde came downstairs, Tiki was at the table, finishing the last paragraph. “Listen to this,” he fumed. “‘One of Pulaski’s star players—’”

  “Wait, wait!” Ronde interrupted. “Read it from the beginning. I want to hear every word.”

  Tiki’s jaw tightened. “All right,” he said. “It starts, ‘Today is the first round of Roanoke’s junior-high football play-offs. In the first game, the North Side Rockets will face—’”

  “No, man, get to the part about our game!” Ronde broke in.

  “I thought you wanted to hear every word.”

  “About our game, not the other one!”

  “Okay, okay,” said Tiki. “Let’s see . . . ah, here it is. ‘In the other matchup, the Pulaski Wildcats are looking to get even with their nemesis, the Hidden Valley Eagles. Last week, these same two teams battled to a near-standoff. But in the end, the Eagles triumphed, behind their unstoppable star running back, Tiki Barber.’”

  Tiki stopped reading. He hadn’t wanted to read that part at all—it was embarrassing to be singled out like that. Besides, he wasn’t really “unstoppable.” And saying he was put even more pressure on him.

  Ronde frowned. “Do they say anything about me?”

  Tiki bit his lip. “Uh, let’s see now . . . yeah, here it is: ‘Tiki’s identical twin, Ronde Barber, had a key interception in the game. . . .’”

  Ronde smiled. “That’s better. Keep reading.”

  “‘For the past ten years, Pulaski has been a league powerhouse. Over the past two years, though—in fact, since the Barber twins joined the Eagles—Pulaski has been bested by their archrivals. Already this season, Hidden Valley has beaten the Wildcats twice.’

  “‘But this time, Pulaski vows the outcome will be different. The whole team seems to be bent on evening the score. “We’re going to win this game,” said quarterback Jeremy Halper. “I guarantee it.’

  “‘Linebacker Jeff Tambor was more specific. “We’re going to stonewall the Barber brothers,” he promised. “If we stop them, the Eagles have no chance.”’”

  Tiki looked up. Steam seemed to be coming from Ronde’s ears, and his eyes were burning with fury. “I’d like to stuff that paper right into their big fat mouths,” he muttered.

  “Never mind that, Ronde. Take it out on the field, man.” Tiki thought for a moment, then added, “You know what I’m going to do?” He folded the paper up and stuck it into his book bag. “I’m going to pin this article up on the bulletin board in the locker room. Just in case any of the guys haven’t seen it.”

  Ronde smiled and nodded. “Good idea. If that doesn’t get the team fired up, nothing will.”

  • • •

  “WHAAAT?” Paco stood staring at the bulletin board, his beefy hands on his even beefier hips. “I can’t believe this! Hey, you guys—check this out!”

  The team gathered around the article. Tiki and Ronde stood watching them, letting it all sink in, smiling with satisfaction.

  “I’m gonna flatten Jeremy Halper,” Rob Fiorilla said.

  “You’re not getting by me today, Tambor,” Paco said, sticking his finger at the newspaper. “You’re gonna eat your words, you punk.”

  “Hey!” Tiki said, stepping forward. “Listen up, you guys.”

  “Listen to what?” Luke Frazier asked. “We already got the message, Tiki.”

  “That’s right,” Tiki agreed. “Hey, I’m the one who pinned it up there. I wanted to make sure you all saw it.”

  The team members murmured angrily. “We saw it, all right,” one of them said.

  “They’re going to be gunning for me,” Tiki said, “and they’re going to try to take Ronde out of the game too. So it’s all on you guys to step up your game. We’re counting on the rest of you to rise up and show those loudmouth Wildcats that we’re a team, not just a pair of twins surrounded by a bunch of empty uniforms! Are you up for it?”

  “YEAAH!!” came the deafening response.

  Tiki turned to Coach Wheeler, who had just entered the locker room. “All yours, Coach,” he said, giving up the floor to the astonished Wheeler.

  As he listened to the coach give his last-minute instructions, Tiki felt a dark shadow come over him. The rest of the team was ready—no doubt about that. Any fear they had felt before was now overwhelmed by their anger at the Wildcats.

  But in spite of Tiki’s rousing speech, he himself wasn’t really convinced. If the Wildcats succeeded in taking him and Ronde out of the game, how would the Eagles—already missing their regular quarterback—find a way to win?

  Who would carry the brunt of the offense? Luke Frazier? Luke was a powerful runner, but he lacked Tiki’s speed and moves. Hayden Brook had looked great in practice, but Pulaski’s defense would hurl everything in the book at him, once they realized he was actually going to throw the ball this time around.

  If the Eagles couldn’t score very much, that meant their defense would have to pitch a shutout, or pretty nearly. Would they be able to stop the Pulaski juggernaut, if the Wildcats avoided Ronde like the plague?

  The Eagles ran onto the field screaming at the top of their lungs, waving their arms to whip up the crowd noise, which was already deafening.

  The Wildcats were already on their sideline, watching calmly with their hands on their hips. They didn’t look scared; not the least bit. They looked determined, ready . . . and dangerous.

  • • •

  Pulaski won the coin toss, and elected to receive. On the kickoff, they devoted two players to keeping Ronde away from the returner. Tiki squirmed this way and that, as if he were Ronde trying to get free.

  But in focusing on Ronde, the Wildcats had to leave someone else unguarded. That someone turned out to be Rio Ikeda. Rio streaked down the field and threw himself headlong at the returner’s legs, toppling him head over heels before he’d even gotten started!

&
nbsp; “Atta baby, Rio!!” Tiki yelled, jumping up and down and punching the air with his fist. The game had only just started, and it already felt like the fourth quarter.

  On first down, Pulaski ran the ball, but Rob Fiorilla was through the line in a heartbeat, stuffing the hole and forcing a loss of two on the play.

  On the next play, Jeremy Halper threw a short completion to the sideline farthest from Ronde.

  It was third and four, and Pulaski elected to pass again. This time, safety Alister Edwards wrestled the ball out of the hands of the receiver, nearly intercepting it, and forcing the Wildcats to punt.

  Ronde was back there waiting for it, but the kicker aimed it across the field and out of bounds. The kick was short, but Pulaski obviously didn’t care—so long as Ronde never touched the ball, they were happy.

  Now the Eagle offense got to work. They gave the ball to Tiki first, just to see how far they could get.

  The answer turned out to be, not far at all. Tiki was met by a wall of defenders, and pushed back for no gain.

  The Eagles had known this was coming. Now it was time to launch their surprise passing attack. “Let’s go to the game plan,” Tiki said in the huddle.

  Coach had already sent in the play—a pass to one of the Amadou twins on a crossing pattern. Tiki and Jonah would stay back to protect Hayden from the Pulaski rush. The Amadous would be outnumbered by defensive backs and linebackers. It would be up to the twins to get free, and Hayden to get the ball to one of them in mid-stride.

  When Hayden faked the handoff to Tiki, the defenders took the bait. They swarmed Tiki and brought him down as if he had the ball.

  From underneath the pile, Tiki could hear the roar of the crowd. When he was finally able to get up, he saw that Frank Amadou had caught the pass and taken it all the way to the Pulaski twenty-five!

  “Right on the money!” Frank said as he came back to the huddle. “What a throw!”

  “Nice take-out,” Hayden told Felix, who had come so close in crossing Frank that the two defenders had knocked each other down, leaving both Amadou twins free.