Dedicated to @Laurrain for the cover at the top :) Thanks Lauren🖤

Chapter Forty Five: "On Behalf Of The Entire Family"

"THIS CAMPUS IS so big. I'm getting annoyed from all the walking." Caleb muttered, looking at the track where I could spot Derek and Anmol running along with a couple of others.

"You're very lazy." I told him, with a textbook in my hand.

"I thought we knew this. You've known me for over a year. You should know-"

"Caleb," Sam interrupted him with a tight smile, taking out his earphones from his ears. "Do me a favor and shut up, would you?"

He had a textbook in his hand also and the look on his face screamed stressed. In high school I used to try to highest grades I could manage. In university all that really mattered to me at the moment was that even though I tried my best, I really just wanted to pass the classes. Sam? He wouldn't take that. He's always been brilliant especially at math and in high school he rarely studied, he would wing a test and get a good mark. In university it was like a wake up call for him since the beginning.

Caleb let out a sigh. "The love I feel from that sentence is endless. You really are a man of many words Samuel."

"Let my next words turn into an action. I want to pun-"

"Love me?" Caleb interrupted, giving his friend a hug that had eyes turning to the scene. "That's nice. But if you want to fall in love with me you might have to ask Macy."

I rolled my eyes at him when he let Sam go. "I'm not involved in this."

"You don't want polygamy? You don't want a relationship with the three of us? I'd think that'd be a hell of a dream for you."

"I'm pretty sure the correct term is polyamorous," Sam corrected. 

"Well, I'm going to say polygamy because the other poly whatever is a mouthful," Caleb claimed.  "We'll just agree that Macy and I will be married to you and live in harmony. There." 

I bit back a laugh, walking towards Maddy who was sitting by the side with a book in front of her and twisting a volleyball in her hand. "Caleb, your dreams are weird."

"I'M OFFERING YOU THE CHANCE TO A POLYGAMY RELATIONSHIP AND YOU'RE SAYING NO?" He yelled and definitely got the attention of everyone on the track.

I rushed over to Maddy without answering his question. She looked up at me with confusion written all over her face. "Um...you, Sam and Caleb? A relationship?"

"Did you hear me or Sam agree to that?" I asked rhetorically.

Anmol and Derek jogged over to us, looking as confused as Maddy. Derek spoke first. "Who's that with Sam?"

"That is-"

Anmol slapped a hand over her mouth. "Shut up. That's Romero Henderson."

Caleb walked over to her with a smile. A smile I knew very well."Hi and you are?"

I slapped his hand away from hers, pulling him down to take a seat next to me and Maddy. "She's taken. Anmol, this is Caleb who I'm surprised you haven't met and yes he is also Romero Henderson. Also, Caleb this is-"

"Derek, right?" Caleb looked up at Derek with a bright smile as well. "Yeah, I met you last time I came here. Good to see you again, mate."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Don't say mate. You sound fake."

"Shut up." Caleb reached around, grabbing Maddy's waterbottle and throwing it at Sam. Sam dodged the attack and we watched as the waterbottle hit the ground and break. The lid rolled away and water splattered everywhere.

Maddy's eyes went wide. "Caleb."

Caleb quickly got up, trying to get the pieces back together but it was obvious nothing was working. "Oh my God. Maddy, I'm sorry. Here, here," Caleb threw the pieces back down and we watched as he took his wallet out and handed her American bills. "How much did it cost?"

"$100." Maddy said.

Caleb stopped digging in his wallet, giving made a blank face. "You're funny."

Maddy laughed then sighed. "It's okay. I'll just buy another one."

Caleb proceeded to urge Maddy to take money instead while Sam sat down in between my legs, typing on his phone. When he locked it , he leaned his head back on my lap and closed his eyes. I bent forward, pressing a kiss to his lips and pulling back to see a faint smile on his lips. "You good?" I asked.

He rubbed his eyes before taking my hand. "Yeah, just tired. Are you excited for the day after tomorrow?"

I used my other hand to flick his nose and he swatted my hand away with a laugh. He had seemed really upset when he came with Caleb to pick me up from my dorm. I knew he had come back from therapy that and it irked him and changed his mood. So this was the first laugh I had heard from him all day and I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, last game." My finger traced to his lips and he kept the content look on his face.

Maddy ignored whatever Caleb was saying to look at us. "This year went by quickly."

Caleb snapped his fingers in Maddy's face. "Don't ignore me. How much do you want? $50? I'll even buy you one of those fancy glass water bottles so you can carry it around and feel cool."

"Feel cool?" Maddy said, looking a little offended.

"Okay," Caleb tried to correct himself but failed, "How about I buy you two waterbottles instead? it's a two for one deal. You can't pass up this chance."

I, this time, ignored their conversation and turned back to Sam. "We go back home in two weeks." I told him. "You get to see everyone."

Sam sighed, his eyes still closed. He shifted so he was closer, indicted with the pull of my hand to bring me closer to him. It took him a moment to speak before he managed to say the words, "Tomorrow, Caleb and I are driving to Bath. Will you come with us?"

He opened his eyes and I stared back wondering if he was serious. Sam had never gone to Bethany's grave after she died. He didn't want to see it. I knew how much it pained him too. And because he's going on the day she died made me bend forward to give him the weirdest hug ever but I didn't care. I just wanted him to know he had my support.

When I pulled back, he looked up at me skeptically. "So that's a yes."

I nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Another presence cleared it's throat, attracting all of our attention. "What's going on here?"

Matteo had a basketball under his arm and his hair was matted to his face by the sweat covering his entire body. Maddy cringed at his appearance and tossed him a towel. "Here, you look gross."

Matteo chuckled, wiping the sweat off his face while mumbling, "Yeah, that's exactly what you're thinking." Matteo put the towel over his shoulder to stick a hand out towards Caleb. "Hey I'm Matteo."

Caleb took Matteo's hand and used it to pull himself off the ground and wipe himself off. "Ah, so you're the famous Matteo. I've heard a lot about you, mate."

Sam groaned. "Stop saying mate. You've barely said it before, stop trying."

Caleb pointed a finger at Sam. "You're annoying, mate." Sam rolled his eyes as Caleb continued his introduction to Matteo. "Like I said, I've heard a lot about you."

"Good things I hope." Matteo said skeptically.

Caleb shrugged. "Yeah. Bad things at first. Good things in the end. Nice to meet you. I don't know if you know who I am but I'm Caleb-"

I cut him off, my hand brushing against the stubble on Sam's face. "Here's who he is and this is probably what he is going to tell you. He's going to tell you that his name is Caleb Romero Henderson and now he can tell you that he's a famous author-"

Caleb playfully glared at me. "I usually don't tell people that at first."

"Well, now that your secret is out, you're going to be telling everyone who probably doesn't know," I admitted for him and he shrugged in agreement. "He would probably tell you his ethnicity if he introduces himself-"

"I'm half Scottish half Hispanic."

"Yeah. And he's 18 but has his childlike moments. Like when he sees a cake his eyes get really wide and he puts on this wide smile that reminds me of a child."

"Huh?"

"I have a picture if you want to see." I told Caleb.

"Wait childlike?" Caleb sounded offended and I was actually confused as to why he was.

"She's right." Sam muttered.

"But you'll love him anyway," I assured Matteo. "So Matteo meet Caleb our writer. Caleb meet our basketball player Matteo."

Caleb grinned, giving me a thumbs up. "Nice intro."

I laughed and Matteo and Caleb shared a proper handshake. I didn't miss the way Matteo shifted his eyes over to Maddy before quickly looking back at Caleb with narrowed eyes. "Whoa. Yeah, you're that Romero Henderson guy."

Caleb scoffed and waved a hand, looking proud. "Stop it, stop it, I know."

Sam glanced at Maddy. "Mads, do you have another water bottle so I can throw it at his big head?"

"No." She said slowly.

Sam let out a sigh before looking at Caleb. "Shame."

Caleb turned to me. "I didn't want threats involved in our relationship."

Matteo looked confused. "Wait, what? You and Caleb are in a relationship?"

I went to defend but Caleb the amazing idiot kept talking. "Actually it's me, Macy and Sam."

"What?"

"We did not agree to this." Sam muttered. "Just ignore him like the rest of us usually do."

"The rest of us? No one ignores me. I'm one of the best people in life. I'm literally the life of the party."

Sam got up at those last words, grabbing my hand and shoving the textbook in Caleb's hands. "We're going to start our run. Caleb if you can, catch up."

"Um," Caleb looked offended, handing the textbook to Matteo. "In case you haven't noticed my calves are built. They are strong. Hell, they are deezed." He proceeded to lift up the cloth of his shorts so we could see his thighs and Sam pushed him so he would let go.

"If they are deezed like you said they are then you better keep up."

"I will." Caleb proceeded to walk in front of me and Sam and I could hear Maddy and Anmol start laughing.

"We all know those muscles are just for show, bro." Sam yelled at him.

"Well fuck you man." Caleb yelled before starting a jog around the track.

We watched him do two laps before he came back to us, his face flushed. He panted, dramatically holding himself until he plopped himself on the bench, lying his feet up on Maddy's lap. "Okay, so we all can agree on something."

"What?" Derek asked.

"One, I should stick to writing. Two, I'm out of shape. And three? These muscles really are just for show but to be honest my upper body strength is impeccable." He should just stop trying.

"Impeccable huh?" Matteo asked. Caleb gave him a cocky grin and Matteo gestured for him to follow. "Let's go to the gym and test that right now."

Caleb stilled, his grin slowly slipping off his face before he faked a yawn. "You know what? I'm kind of tired after those laps. I'm gunna take a break and-"

Derek pulled Caleb up by grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the gym. "Nah, you don't need a break. You're good. You're impeccable actually."

While Matteo and Derek were dragging Caleb away I could hear him say, "Wait, no one is going to save me. Sam? Macy? I'm breaking up with the both of you."

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The car ride was silent that afternoon drive. Peter was the one driving and Caleb was shotgun and I was surprised that the radio wasn't even on too fill the silence. None of the boys were on their phones either. They would drift off into their own thoughts or stare at the window. Sam slept the entire ride. He holed himself up into a big sweater, keeping the hoodie up and over his head, hiding his face.

I wasn't sure how he was this morning since I wasn't with him. I knew he had been holded up in his room but Peter told me that he had moved, silently, but he moved and got up. He also had heard him talking to someone on the phone as well. The next time I heard a sound come out of him was when we got to the castle.

Caleb reached back, shaking Sam by his knee. "Sam, wake up." Sam grumbled under his breath, shifting so he could cover himself even more with his hat.

Peter groaned, stepping out of the car and stretching. "Sam, get up."

Sam pulled his hat lower and I unbuckled my seat belt shifting closer to him. "We're here." I mumbled.

He looked at me, still leaning against the door before he unbuckled his own seat belt muttering out an, "okay".

Unfortunately, Peter did not see Sam about to get out of the car because he then decided to open Sam's side of the door. Sam fell out with a yelp fell to the pavement, groaning. "Fuck you man."

Peter with wide eyes, helped his cousin up. "Sorry."

Sam dusted himself off with tired eyes and started his trek down the pathway where we had driven up. Caleb and I exchanged a glance before Caleb spoke up first. "Where are you headed?"

"I never said I was going inside that house." He answered and we all quickly ran to catch up with his long strides.

"Sam, you may want to slow down." Caleb told him.

"Sam." Peter tried to say but Sam wasn't listening. Instead, he walked faster ahead almost as if there was a force pulling him to his destination.

"You realize that you're not just going to her grave to get over with it, right Sam?" I told him so quickly I wasn't sure that he heard me. But he stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at the three of us.

"It's not like that." He exhaled looking at me with tired eyes.

"That's exactly what it's like. It's almost as if you just want to convince yourself that you went there one day and you'll never go again." I said.

Sam rubbed his face a couple of times before looking up at the sun as if that would wake him up more. When he turned to look back at the three of us it was almost as if he was even more tired.

Caleb stepped towards Sam. "After today, you're going to go again. Not because you have to or want to or even need to, but because she's your sister. It's not just hard for you. Remember that."

Sam almost glared at Caleb for a moment before turning around and continuing his walk, but slower this time. Caleb caught up to him and I could hear the two talking while Peter trailed back, speaking to me

"So Bethany and Caleb had a thing right?" 

"He loved her and after she died he found she loved him."

Peter unzipped his sweater from the warmth of the day that I knew would be ruined by rain at any moment. He took it off and throwing it around his neck. "That sucks."

"Yeah. It does. So this day isn't just hard for you guys. It's hard for Caleb too. It's hard for everyone Bethany made an impact on to be honest."

"Yeah," Peter's voice got quiet and I felt a raindrop hit my hand.  "Um, this morning this guy Drake called Sam and they talked for like a hour."

"Drake dated Beth." I clarified for him.

"Yeah. I kind of figured. I briefly remember him. I didn't think I was coming with you guys today."

"I had a feeling you would." I admitted, looking up at the sky to see that the grey clouds were starting to hover and I kept a hand on the umbrella that was sticking out of my pocket.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're Sam's family. You don't just live together, you're blood. You're a Cahill. You knew Beth and the fact that Sam asked you to accompany him somewhere he hasn't specifically been is-"

"It's what?" By now the rain wasn't coming down hard, it was just spitting but Peter and I didn't make any notion to cover ourselves.

"It proves that you actually mean something to him. That you're not just someone he's related to. It means he cares about you and he believes you care about him enough for him to show that side of him. That vulnerable side of him to you."

"I never thought about it that way." Peter admitted.

"Every time Sam shows that side of him, it's a reminder for me to understand that things happen."

"And every dumb, stupid, thing he says or does kind of reminds everyone that-"

"That he's not perfect."

"But Macy," Peter slowed down his walk, forcing me to slow down as well. "You don't want perfect. No one truly wants that."

"I don't," I confessed.  "I just want him and everything that comes with him. And he's facing a challenge today and I think he can do it. He has us to help him."

"You put a lot of trust in him."

"Was that how it was with your ex Jenny? Did you have that trust?"

Peter shook his head. "No, we didn't. Years of dating and I don't think trust was something we were able to gain in our relationship. It's over now for good reasons."

I hooked my arm with Peter's but he slung an arm around my shoulder instead. "It's not a happy day but I think it'll be bearable."

It grew silent except for the chirp of birds and the rain hitting the ground  as we made our way through the Cahill cemetery. I stared at each of the passing tombstones as Caleb led the way, obviously since he had been here times before.

Caleb was standing in front of one when we got there and I placed myself beside him. I was about to read the words on tombstone when Caleb had said them out loud. "In loving memory, Bethany Catarina Cahill.  A daughter and sister. January 1st 1996 to April 8th 2012. 'An angel that had walked the earth and now walks through heaven with a smile'."

Caleb sucked in a deep breath. "Yup. That sounds like her." 

I turned back to see Sam his eyes staring hard at that headstone. I moved over to him and just when I was about to touch him he backed up, stuttering, "Uh-we-I didn't get flowers. Don't you get flowers or something? I-I need the keys to the car-"

"Hey." I pulled him towards me, my voice soft. "You don't need flowers. You just need a moment. Remember last year? When I took you to my mom's grave? You can speak to her. We can give you a moment. We can give you all the time you need."

Sam let out a shaky breath, looking into my eyes. "Hazel, I knew it would be hard."

"Then why did you come here? Why did you make Peter drive you all the way out here? Why did you ask Caleb and me to come along? Why?"

"Because she died. Three years ago and I think myself as a coward because I haven't gone to see where she was put to rest."

"You're not a coward." Caleb spoke up and we turned to face to his back, his eyes still on the headstone. "A coward would've given up. They would have given up on everything. You lost two important people in your lives, you've faced family complications and you still are because some people can just be dickheads and only care about money. But you? You Samuel Cahill are not a coward. You're brave. And I'm happy I can call you my best friend. So no, you're not going to go to car to drive and find flowers or never come back here. You're going to stand right here and look at where your sister was buried. You don't don't even have to talk if you don't want to but at least get more-"

"Closure. Get more closure." Peter said.

Sam walked ahead and we watched him stare at the headstone for a while before he spoke. "Um..." 

Peter's phone beeped and he pulled it out to check it. "I'll, um, I'll be back in a second."

When Peter had disappeared down the path we had come from, Caleb spoke up. "We'll give you a moment." Caleb said, grabbing me to so we could exit the cemetery.

"No," Sam stopped us. "I want you guys here."

Sam knelt forward, removing the hoodie from his head. "Uh...this is hard. I'm going to speak to you like you're actually here because my therapist thinks that will help. I want to say something something rude about the guy-his name is Dr. Rolan- but he's pretty nice and he's kind of helpful whether I want to admit that or not. Um...I don't know what to say to be honest."

"Anything." Caleb suggested and I already knew Sam was rolling his eyes.

"Thanks Caleb. You have the best advice." He said sarcastically before turning back. "I wish you could meet Macy. I think you would love her as much as I do. She's great. She's everything you probably wished for me. Uh, everyone's okay. I think. Grandfather died a couple weeks ago and that's been hard too. I think I'm okay but I really don't know."

There was a moment of silence and I felt the rain get slightly harder but I didn't move and neither did Caleb. I waited. I waited. I knew he had more to say. There was a million things more he had to say.

"I, um, I remember the last words you said to me."

"What were they?" Caleb asked.

"She told me to hook up her phone to the aux cord so she and Toby could give us their rendition of Bad Romance in the car."

Despite the sad atmosphere Sam let out a chuckle that led to Caleb laughing. "Was it good?"

Sam scoffed. "Toby can't sing to save his life."

Now I struggled to hold in my laughter because from experience I've learned that Toby really couldn't sing.

Eventually we all stopped laughing and Sam continued, turning back to the headstone. "Um, yeah, so I have soccer trials coming up. I don't know which team I'm going to yet but I don't know. I haven't really had proper time to think about it. I feel like if you were here you'd be happy for me anyway no matter the decision I made. But the you'd probably look at the guys on the team and tell me which team I should join based off the attractive men."

"Yeah that sounds like her." Caleb inputted.

Sam let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "I feel like I'm going to start rambling even more. What I'm trying to say is that-" In the middle of Sam's sentence he stopped. He turned his head around to the path we had come from. Caleb and I's head swiveled as well to see people we didn't expect.

Phillip ran forward, straight into Sam's open arms. Sam's face expressed surprise as he looked at his family. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Peter called me yesterday." Liz said, her hand in Vince's. Peter stood off to the side, his phone in his hand before he walked over to me.

"Good job Peter."

"I'd figure he needs more of his family as well."

Vince handed Sam a white flower. "She liked white," He recalled, nodding towards the tombstone. "Continue."

It took Sam a moment before he spoke again. "Um, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I miss you. We miss you. And love you everyday. You're unforgettable."I heard him sniff before kneeling down and placing the flower before her tombstone.

"Oh, I brought something too. I was going to bring a flower but I thought it would die so I brought this." Phillip reached into his sweater pocket and retrieved a plastic miniature version of the Ninja Turtle, Leonardo.

"Phillip, I swear you love that thing." Christian said.

Phillip shrugged. "I do and I think I'm...outgrowing it anyway. Why not give it her? She'll like it wherever she is." Phillip bent down to place the action figure beside the flower before looking up at Sam.

"Ew."

Sam made a face. "What do you mean ew?"

"Why do you look like that?"

Sam sighed and I could see him quickly blink back the tears forming. "It's been a rough day Phil."

"Hey, man." Toby hugged Sam and grabbed Phillip into it. Before I knew the entire family was hugging along with Peter who had wound up in the middle of it all.

Caleb and I glanced at each other before Caleb grabbed my hand, pulling me into it as well. "We're family too."

"God to see you again." Cedric said to Sam, slapping him on the back when that giant hug was over. Sam sucked in a deep breath, wiping a tear and I could see the content look form on his face.

"You too."

"You know I was in the middle of homework when Mom literally tells us that we're packing our bags and leaving and suddenly we're on a plane." Lucas said.

"You're just kind of mad because you and your girlfriend have barely had time to spend together and her birthday is coming up."

"How long have you been in the country?" Caleb asked.

"Since Saturday." Greg answered. 

Sam's eyebrows raised. "Wow. That's um, a lot of days you've missed for your senior year guys." He told Lucas and Joey.

Joey rolled his eyes. "Don't be talking. You missed like a million classes when you were in high school."

Sam shrugged. "That's because teachers at my old school got lazy and put everything online." Lucas and Joey exchanged a glance before equally shrugging.    

"Why are we acting like we haven't seen each other in a long time?" Christian asked.

Ivan smacked him on the back of the head on behalf of the entire family. "Shut the fuck up."

"Ivan." Liz warned him.

"Mum," Ivan said, pointing at Phillip. "We've been over this. Phillip isn't the little innocent boy you think he is anyway."

"What?" I had to question.

Ivan laughed. "Just the other day he-"

Phillip had gone up to Ivan and raised his foot stepping forcefully on his older brother's foot. "Fuck." Ivan yelled out, hopping and holding onto his injured foot.

"Shut up." Phillip demand.

I heard a laugh sound from the whole family except Liz who started scolding Phillip instantly. Even from the corner of my eye, Vince was biting back a smile.  When I was leading Phillip towards the house with with a couple of the others he was holding onto my hand.

He was kicking a rock on the ground when I brought up what he had just done to Ivan. "You're not like that with other people, are you?" I asked Phillip.

He shook his head, his expression trying to assure me with a sneaky smile. "Never. Only with my family." At those words, I saw the smile appear on Sam's face.

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The last game of the school year summed up everything. The entire campus came out as each sport had their last games. Many won championships, tournaments, simple exhibitions and more. Many were recruited for other teams, spotted to watch out for drafts. The possibilities were endless at HDF.

There were people watching your every move every time we had a game.

So when Tanya was freaking out right before our last game it was understandable. Annoying, yes. But still understandable.

Anmol groaned beside me. "Can she shut up?"

I shrugged. "She's just worried that she won't be picked for a trial on a team."

Anmol rolled her eyes. "She has three more years here to make a chance. Not even the fourth or fifth years on the team are complaining as loud as her and some of them have been playing soccer for the love of it even though they haven't made a club team."

"True." I agreed leaning back.

"And you've confirmed everything for next year? You're going into photography?"

"Yeah. I think it'll be good." Nah I knew it would.

Anmol gave me a smile. "Who has your camera right now?"

"Sam. Caleb is probably arguing with him over who can film me or something."

"How is he?" Anmol asked concerned.

"He's okay."

"That's good. He looks better than he looked two days ago actually."

He did. I think something Sam really needed especially after everything was time with his family. With all of them at once. Even when they were in town for his grandfather's funeral there was too much tension because of their extended family. But just them?

If there was something evident about Sam it was that he loved his family. Through all their fighting in the past and acting like they didn't care about one another he did. I knew he would do anything for them. So their appearance made him happier than he would admit because in a way they helped one another even on one of the worst days of their lives, just them being together helped them heal overall.

The sight of everyone moving outside of the change room caught my attention and I followed through.

Whilst doing practice drills to get a familiar touch on the ball before we started, I looked over to the stands.

Just my luck, I could see them in the stands. Maddy waved at me beside Sam who had my camera in his hands. I spotted Caleb reach over for it and Sam swatted him. Matteo was talking to a guy beside him but shot me a smile when he caught my eye. There were other faces in the crowd I had recognized from this year. Faces from registration, classes, from parties, from just walking through the halls or going to the library were in the stands. Sure, those faces and names have not made as much of an impact as my friends I had made when I arrived in Manchester but they were faces I remembered well enough.

And this year despite the stress, slight ignorance and loss, was bittersweet.

I was glad I had gotten the chance to meet someone important to Sam. I was glad that Caleb finally had the chance to reveal himself because my eyes I could see the girls and guys glancing at him because his face had been trending multiple times over the months anyway.

I was glad that Andrew kind of moved on. There wasn't much to say with him and that girl Gianna but he sounded better. I didn't know if he'll fully got over Jasmine breaking his heart but he will.

And there was a whole lot of things I was glad for too. But for Sam and me? I just wanted our relationship to progress. For us to actually have a future together. A future doing the things we love and be with one another.

That's what I wanted because like we tell each other all the time, we didn't just love each other. We were in love with each other. And like I'm there for him, he's going to be there for me.

So with nine minutes of the game left, I had the ball. I had been dribbling it after a pass from another player who had previously stolen it from the opposing team.

The way she had stolen the ball wasn't complex. The opposing player had been trying to make a pass but she didn't put much force on the ball then she should have. So our player intercepted it. She intercepted their chance of the ball.

But when I had the ball, that fate that I hated so much at the beginning of the school year just because I had met Tanya Nesmith, intercepted my chance.

It came out of nowhere. The first thing I had was the loud pop. I felt it before the pain.

The pain. The severe pain that suddenly flared up and I didn't even know how I ended up on the ground. I heard the blow of a whistle and the hard stomping of footsteps towards me but the only thing I could feel was the pain and that was thing taking over my mind that it didn't just hurt badly. It felt excruciating.

I was certain that I screamed out in pain and I don't know how long it took before I felt someone touch me but my eyes that were tightly closed. I could hear Sam but the pain, everything happening didn't let me understand what he was saying. But by the frantic way he sounded I knew that everything went wrong just then and there.

As a soccer player there were many injuries you face or potentially face. But the one thing I've always been scared of facing happened. The worst injury I thought I would face happened. And the pain felt like it was never going to stop.

But the worst part wasn't even that the pain was severe. It was that the pain was in my knee.