Page 58 of Guarding the Star

Twenty-five thousand people stand. From the field, their screams are a wave that lifts you off the ground no matter how deep you've been, and makes you give everything you've got inside.

This time I don't rip off my jersey to celebrate. I think about it for half a second, but I don't want Hades to have a stroke on the sideline. I raise my fist and scream toward the south stand. Row seven.

Paula smiles. I see her from the field. Wesley goes nuts clapping.

The game keeps going. The other team pushes, but Lucía is a wall in the back and Jamie wins aerial duels that defy physics. Tina runs like her life depends on it. Ninetieth minute. Three minutes of stoppage.

In the ninety-second, Zoe has the ball in the middle of the park and sends a perfect pass to Jade Herrera, who has joined the attack.

Two to one.

The stadium explodes.

Jade drops to her knees and stares at the goal. We all sprint toward her. The pile. The screaming. Tina jumps on Jamie. Lucía runs across half the field. I hug Jade so hard I feel her ribs.

“Jade! Jade, oh my God! You absolute legend! You just put us in the Playoffs!”

***

I burst out of the locker room with wet hair and my sneakers untied. Behind me I've left a couple champagne bottles I smuggled in for the celebration, but right now I need to hold Paula.

“We won,” I say against her lips.

“I almost had a heart attack. What a game.”

“Did you see my goal?”

“Of course I saw your goal.”

“What about Jade's?” I press.

“That too.”

“Which one did you like better?”

“Well… yours was good, but Jade's was a volley into the upper corner and…”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Tonight you're on your own, because you are officially cut off from you-know-what,” I joke, pressing a hand to my chest and faking deep offense.

“Get over here, you idiot. I'm so proud of you, even though your hair is wet and you're soaking my shirt,” she says, pulling me in for a kiss.

“Iris, team photo!” someone yells from the locker room door.

I start running, but stop halfway and turn around. There's a photo I've been wanting to take for a while.

“Borrowing the boss for a second,” I say, scooping Wesley out of Tessa's arms.

I call Paula over, we put Wes between us, and a reporter snaps a few shots. The kid claps like he's the one who won the game, and I'm sure that photo will be my lock screen until the day I die.

Chapter 20

Paula

Iris has filled the walls of our bedroom with photos.

It's strange. She used to live in a space without a single one. Like she didn't want evidence of her own life.

Now there are five. Big. Very big.