My Friday night updates are going to start
with a football report for the next few months; and there’s even more to write
about tonight than last week – particularly with the off-field action.
First of all, I have to wonder if Vanessa
and Nora are feeling any better about not making the cheerleading squad now
that we’ve had two games in a row where we had to deal with rainy weather. Maybe not, but the glamour of the ‘job’ is
wearing off fast for Rowen and me – even if we are still having fun with the
other girls while cheering for our boyfriends.
We had a lot to cheer about tonight too; so let’s talk football for a
minute before getting to the off-field news.
Maple Valley is probably our single biggest
division rival, and while that is a good-natured competitiveness between our
schools; winning the game is a big deal for both teams. I’m sure that our rivals were probably hoping
for better results this year than they’ve had lately while Kyle was on our
team; though I doubt that was still true once they heard about the results of
our game against Clairmont. It didn’t
take long for our team to prove that our first game wasn’t a fluke; though
Maple Valley also soon found out that our game play was quite a bit different
than it had been with the team built around Kyle.
I was particularly fired up right from the
start of the game because my amazing boyfriend got that great start to the game
for our team started with a forty-three yard touchdown catch and run that left
two of the Maple Valley defenders looking shell-shocked. Jeff had used Tim and Caleb to get the team
moving up the field until then; so it had also been the first play directed at
Michael and he’d been completely overlooked until it was too late. I just wish that we were allowed out onto the
field to share hugs and kisses with our boyfriends at moments like that; but I
suppose the games would take a lot longer if that was an option. ;^)
There was still lots of reasons for our
fans to cheer for our team after that first big play of the game, and Michael
was kept involved in the game; but that was his last touchdown for a while as
the Maple Valley coaches and players suddenly found it necessary to do
everything they could to slow him down.
Unfortunately for them, that just gave Jeff lots of chances to let loose
with Caleb, Tim, and Lucas. We gave up a
fairly quick field goal, but then Tim wrapped up our second drive of the game
with his first touchdown catch of the night and then Caleb broke a nice run for
a touchdown that again surprised Maple Valley after Jeff had been focusing on
the passing game most of the time until then.
That gave us a twenty-one to three lead
going into the second quarter. Maple
Valley came back with a touchdown to close the gap briefly before Tim ended our
next drive with a twenty-five yard touchdown; and Lucas punched in a six-yard
score for our fifth touchdown of the first half. Maple Valley opened the second half with a
touchdown that had their fans temporarily excited until Jeff then hit Michael
for another long touchdown just a handful of plays later – this one for
thirty-four yards. With a forty-two to
seventeen lead at that point, Coach Robinson put the scoring brakes on our
team; and we kicked field goals from then on even while piling up a lot of
yards for each drive. That made the rest
of the game seem closer than it was with our team just barely out-scoring Maple
Valley twelve-to-ten; but the point of that was to avoid a blow-out on the
scoreboard. Fifty-four to twenty-seven
was still a big win for us; and most of the Maple Valley players and fans went
home disappointed.
I say ‘most’ for that because at least one
fan was very happy – and it had absolutely nothing to do with the game. He was a happy camper because he has a date
for tomorrow night with one of the Ridge River Raiders cheerleaders. Lance Caldwell had waded into ‘enemy’
territory early in the game with some buddies to check out the local girls –
including the girls on our squad; and ended up spending most of the evening
doing his very best to get Jenny’s attention while watching her more than he
watched the game. His efforts were
rewarded, and Jenny definitely smiled more brightly and showed off a bit more
while flirting with him.
Jenny doesn’t really know much about Lance
yet, so agreeing to go out on a date with him tomorrow is definitely a step or
six farther than I’d be willing to risk with someone I’d just met – if I was
single like she is. He’s easy enough on
the eyes, but I wouldn’t say that he’s extraordinary compared to a lot of other
guys; and certainly not in the same class as the best-looking guys in our town –
Michael and Tim included. He’s also
something of a departure from Jenny’s boyfriends to date because while he seems
to be in good shape; he was dressed to impress and looked as though he hasn’t
experienced much in the way of manual labor in his life. So what attracted Jenny to him over other
guys who were obviously interested in her too?
Honestly, I have no idea. The sum
of her girl talk after the game while we were getting changed before she ran
off to spend a little time with him before he went back to Maple Valley added
up to “he’s hot; in Grade Eleven; and about to turn sixteen.” That’s a magic number with her right now;
since that translates into old enough to drive.
Tammy Morris wasn’t at all surprised at
Jenny’s reaction to Lance, so maybe she knows Jenny better right now than I do;
but I’ll also guess that Emily will not be thrilled with the date news. Jessie is way too easy-going to say much
about it; but then there’s also a chance that he knows Lance’s family; since he
seems to know everyone in the area – just as Miranda does. That’s bound to happen when you’re the only
fix-it shop around in a part of the country where people still believe in
trying to fix things instead of throwing them out and buying new toys. That is getting harder to do these days; but
Jessie is adapting as needed too.
That’s not really a story I need to write
about here, though; and there’s other news from the game that I should get on
with reporting. Since the next story
could help cut back on my personal teen drama; I’m all for the potential for
this little piece of gossip. Okay, it
actually isn’t gossip beyond Rowen and me – and probably Vanessa and Nora; but
it will be soon. Vanessa, Nora, and Elliott
were at the game tonight, and sitting near enough to where we were cheering for
our guys that I could see and hear them.
It’s why I caught a few stray whispers they exchanged about Paul Sparks;
and Vanessa started paying more attention to him after Paul made a really good
defensive play against Maple Valley during their first possession of the
game. He plays Safety on defense, and
while he only rotates in on offense for special plays; he’s one of the faster
guys on our team – after Michael, Tim, and Caleb. Anyway, after he blew up an attempted long
play; Vanessa kept an eye on him for the rest of the game; and made a point of
tracking him down and congratulating him after the game.
I won’t suggest that it’s love at first
sight for them because their little brothers are best friends. For those of you who might not remember by
the time you read this, their brothers are Tommy and Julian – the boys who
spent so much time with Dawn and Jillian while they were here this summer. We probably wouldn’t be speculating too
wildly to guess that Paul was off of Vanessa’s radar due to the little brother
issue. From what I saw tonight, she’s
definitely not looking at Paul as nothing more than the older brother of an
annoying brother’s pest-best friend. I’d
like for Vanessa to be happy, but I’ll also be honest and admit that I’m only
writing about it because there’s a good chance right now that she’s about to be
too distracted to be annoyed with Rowen and me.
If she and Paul do get together, she’ll also get that inside track to
the popular teens that she wanted to get through being a cheerleader.
For tonight, that would have meant going to
the after-game party at Jeff and Tammy Morris’ house. While that wasn’t totally new for Tim since
he’d been to those parties after Kyle’s games before; it was an experience for
Rowen, Michael, and me. Fortunately, our
snowed-in weekend with Tammy and her family had made a special bond between our
families – even if we aren’t really close friends; so hanging out at their
house for the first time with all of the guys on the team; our fellow
cheerleaders; and our collective girlfriends and boyfriends was a blast.
That doesn’t mean that we had an all-night party
or anything, and we weren’t in any danger of having the cops called on us; but
we did celebrate the two-win start to our season, and even being a bit crowded
because we were indoors due to some off-and-on rain showers; that just added to
the entertainment and fun. Rowen and I
got to spend quite a bit of time with Michael and Tim, but when they were busy;
we hung out with Rebecca, Jenny, Carolyn, Tammy, and some of the other girls. There was music, lots of snacks and drinks,
and as usual when a group of guys get together; video game competitions.
The good news with the party is that we’re
included with that group of friends now, but the bad is that Michael and I
missed out on having any alone time opportunities that we might have had if we’d
just been able to go home after the game.
We also missed out on dinner and a football game night with my family;
though even some of the guests for that didn’t stay for the entire game. Rain and an lop-sided score will have that
effect on spectators sometimes – especially when it involves unhappy babies or
toddlers – or uncomfortable pregnant women.
I can relate, since it wasn’t much fun being wet a lot of the time
during the game for me tonight – though at least it wasn’t cold too. Let’s not go there; and hope that doesn’t
happen to us this season.
Instead of any alone time, Michael and I
had to settle for a fairly short goodnight hug and kiss on my front porch; and
we also needed to leave the party before most of the older teens due to our
junior curfew. I’m not complaining about
that; and was ready to go home by then anyway – even if Tim wanted to stay and
party on. Michael and I offered to walk
Rowen home and make sure she got some goodnight hugs and kisses if he wanted to
stay, but he’s learned enough to choose correctly and pick walking her home
over ongoing gaming with the guys.
Of course, he might have gone back after
that; but if he did; he wasn’t admitting that to the rest of us while we walked
most of the way to my house and Rowen’s together before splitting up when we
got to Riverview.
Mom and Dad were in bed by the time I got
home, so I only stopped in to Ethan’s and Ehlana’s rooms to kiss them goodnight
before coming up to my room; and I got ready for bed right away before cuddling
with Mandy and getting to work on my computer.
Taking the weekend off from the work and studying wasn’t an option; but
I did cut back a bit so that I can still be done before three o’clock – if barely. I don’t have anything interesting to report
from my studies or family business work; but I should do a family kid and teen
update for school since I haven’t done that yet this week; and I had email
reports waiting for me tonight from most of my cousins.
That didn’t include Chris and Martin, but
Dawn sent me a report that included a little bit of news from her older
brothers. Chris is in Grade Twelve and
ruling the school with his buddies. I’m
sure having his own car helps with that quite a bit; and Martin is happy to go
along for the ride. Having access to a
set of wheels when you’re in Grade Ten – even when it’s through an older
brother – is practically a guarantee for some peer points. Dawn hates to admit it, but her brothers are
probably more popular than Violet was in high school; and even with their ‘catch
and release’ girl policy; that doesn’t seem to deter the eligible girls from
chasing after them.
Dawn and Jillian had a good week in Grade
Eight; and they’re ruling their school with their friends too this year. They also have some boys trying to make moves
on them already; but they haven’t been caught and Dawn doesn’t sound as though
she’s in any hurry to be caught. While I
have football and post-game parties going on here, that doesn’t seem as
exciting as the action Dawn, Jillian, and their best friends have planned this
weekend. They had a sleepover tonight;
are going shopping at the Mall tomorrow; and will either be going to a matinee
or evening movie on one side or the other of dinner at a restaurant. That’s going to be way more fun than the yard
work day I have in store for me tomorrow.
My junior cousins might be Mall-hopping and
going to movies with their friends this weekend too, but if they are; they didn’t
include that news in their updates.
Jaimie and Kaitlyn both advised me that they love their teachers and are
glad to be back at school where they can see their best friends every day
again. Jaimie is in Grade Four and
Kaitlyn is in Grade Two. They’re both
popular, and it’s no surprise that they’re also among the best students in
their respective classes too. On the
Johnson side of the family, Kara is in Grade Two as well this year, her
brother, Eddie, is in Grade One, and their cousin, Nicole, is starting
Kindergarten this year. Their updates
came from their mothers, so other than the basics; I don’t have much on how
they’re enjoying being back at school so far.
The only cousin update I have almost
nothing on is for Jonathan. What I do
have came from Christina; and that was really just a side-note. He’s in Grade Eleven now, and while he’s only
a handful of months older than Martin; they’re on opposite sides of the cut-off
– and is where Martin wished he was compared to Chris instead of being two
grades behind. There was also no news
about girls in his life; which has me wondering how he’ll feel when he finds
out that Jenny’s already moved on and will be dating a new guy this weekend.
I am so glad that I won’t have to deal with
that kind of thing, but I’ve mentioned that before; so let’s not go there
again.
instead, I’m going to do a micro-update for
the rest of the day; wrap this up; and head off to dreamland while I still have
time for a nap before it’ll be time to get up and moving again. The forecast rain didn’t get here this
morning, so Tai Chi by the river was an option; and Michael again stayed for
breakfast before we split up and got ready for school. With just a four-day school week, we were on
the Day One schedule today to even the week up; and the class work part of the
day was fairly uneventful. Michael,
Rowen, Tim, and I did our homework right after school at the computer store;
and then it was time to split up and get ready for the game – including getting
something to eat. Michael did that at my
house, and we dipped into some cold salads that Mom was getting ready for their
meal to go with the burgers we cooked up on the grill.
We were at the school by six for our
respective warm-ups and the rest of the pre-game action around the school and
field; and you have the highlights of the football action already. I haven’t really said much about the
cheerleading, but even though we had fun; there’s only so much a person can
write about the same cheers and a half-time routine before it gets
redundant. That’s why I’ll skip that
this week and save any news from the squad for more interesting moments – like we
could have at our first away game next week.
That’s all I have for tonight, and I’m
way-past ready for that nap time; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
