Emergency Quarterback by Rich Wallace Read Free Book Online Page A

Palisades.
    Jason raised his fist and shook it. “Like the Super Bowl. Winner take all.”
    “Hoboken has a dynasty going,” Miguel said. “They seem to win the league every year.”
    “Time to end it,” Jason added. “Dynasties are made to be broken.”
    “Overthrown, you mean,” Anthony said.
    “Whatever.”
    Wade slipped past them in a hurry. He hadn’t played at all, barely moving from the bench, where he’d sat with his helmet on. He hadn’t budged when the Hornets had scored, and had nothing to say when the game ended in victory.
    Jason started to say something. A simple, sarcastic “Nice game, Wade” would have been enough, but he caught himself and stayed quiet. , Why stoop to that level?
    Miguel smacked Jason on the back. “Your buddy there must have splinters in his butt from all that bench time,” he said with a laugh.
    Jason shrugged. “Yeah, well, he earned them. Too much mouth on him.”
    “He’s history, man. You proved that tonight.”
    Jason nodded slowly. As much as he disliked Wade, he couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, too. Sitting on the bench for an entire game must be agonizing. Especially knowing that you’d blown a huge opportunity to be the starter.
     
    Tuesday afternoon Jason sat waiting for the bell to ring, ending the social studies class. The teacher had just handed back the tests from the day before. Jason had not done well.
    “Let’s see,” said Anthony, reaching across the aisle for Jason’s paper. “A C-minus? When was the last time you got less than a B on anything?”
    Jason rolled his eyes. “Been a while,” he said.
    “Didn’t you study?”
    Jason turned in his seat to face his friend. “I thought I did.” He took the paper back and stared at it. “Guess nothing sunk in. Everything I try to think about turns into one subject this week: Hoboken.”
    Anthony shook his head. He showed Jason his own paper, which was marked with an A. “We’ll beat Hoboken, Jason. Stop worrying.”
    “They beat Bayonne last week,” Jason said. “Bayonne clobbered us.”
    “Bayonne did not clobber us, Fiorelli. Get over that. Like my ma always tells me when I think I can’t accomplish something, ‘Disavow yourself of that notion.’”
    Jason smiled. “Wish we could just play the game tonight and be done with it. I can’t wait four more days.”
    “You can wait. You better wait. The game’s not till Saturday. And we got another social studies test on Friday.”
     
    It was nearly dark as Jason and Wade stood face-to-face on the practice field Thursday, sizing each other up, but listening to Coach Podesta go over the strategy. Jason rubbed the toe of his cleats into the soft dirt and scratched at a tiny zit on his jaw.
    The other players had left the field for home after a bruising workout. Coach had kept some key members of the offense behind for a few minutes as he went over a new play, but even they were gone now. Only the two quarterbacks remained—the two biggest rivals on the team.
    “Saturday night is going to be brutal,” Coach said. “Hoboken is big and strong—like Bayonne, but quicker. It’ll be the kind of game where two teams just slug each other around the field, and one big play can mean the difference between a championship and a major disappointment.”
    Jason looked across the field toward the parking lot, where Anthony and Miguel were talking. He could hear them laughing—they always seemed loose. He was that way, too; at least he had been. These past few weeks had been tough—the shock of losing Vinnie to injury, the fumble and interception against Bayonne, the pressure of becoming the starting QB against Palisades. Now, with the biggest game of his life staring him in the face, Jason was a bundle of nerves. He wanted to be that guy he’d been—joking, making wisecracks, succeeding while having fun.
    “I don’t know if we’ll even get to run this play,” Coach was saying, “or need to. But you two have to be ready if we do. It