"Come on, Pace!" Rib screamed.

"That medal's as good as ours!" Nix cried.

"I cannot watch," Max peeked through his fingers.

"Neither can I!" Charlie squinted anxiously.

Just then, Printz edged slightly out of his lane, bumping into Pace, but before Printz could cross the finish line, Pace made a wide sprint, his foot passing through the goal just inches before his opponent.

"ARGHHH!" Printz moaned in defeat as Pace tumbled onto the ground on the other side of the finish.

"10 points to Athens! 9 points to Sparta!" the first of the scores were read.

"WE WON! WE WON!" the twins shouted as Max uncovered his face.

"Take THAT!" Rib called to the Spartans as he led the team towards Pace.

"Athens has received the most points and will now be trying to reach the coveted Olympus Academy Olympics Medal!" the King of Olympus announced.

"Pace! You did it! Now we can do Casey's pyramid!" Charlie squealed with delight, but as Pace made to stand up, he cried out in pain.

"Ow!" he inhaled.

"Are you alright?" asked Max.

"I'm fine," said Pace, limping slightly. "Let's go get that medal."

"I'm sorry, but if you're injured you can't continue to participate," a stern voice said suddenly. One of the judges had walked over, the school nurse right behind him.

"I'm fine," Pace said again, but the nurse had already started to inspect his foot.

"No. You're not," he told him as he looked at his swelling ankle. "You twisted this pretty bad. I'm afraid you'll have to sit this part out. But great job out there and congratulations on the win."

Pace said nothing as the nurse helped him off the track.

"Athens Dorm- Please make your way to the center of the field," the twins' father's voice boomed.

With a helpless glance back at Pace, Charlie and the others trudged out to the middle of the stadium.

"What do we do now?" Max frowned up at the highly-suspended medal above them.

"Yeah, Casey's pyramid takes 6 people," grimaced Rib. "It won't work with only 5."

"Well we have to do something," Charlie stared out at Pace.

"But what?" wondered Demeter.

"Yeah, it's not like any of us can fly," said Apollo.

"Well, you never let me make Charlie those wings!" Rib argued, but suddenly an idea hit Charlie.

"Guys," Charlie looked around. "Let's do it."

The others froze, staring at her.

"The basket toss?" the twins asked unsurely.

"But we have never succeeded before," added Max.

"Yeah, last time we tried, you ended up like that," Rib pointed at Pace who was icing his ankle.

"Well, we don't have any other choice," said Charlie. "Let's do it. For Pace. And Casey."

The boys glanced around, then, smiles broadening, they all cheered.

"For Casey!"

"Let's go!" Rib called, leading the rest into position.

"We can do it!" Max beamed.

Then, with all their strength and concentration, they lifted Charlie above them.

"Okay, this is it!" she shouted, and with a boost, the boys tossed her high into the air.

It almost seemed to happen in slow motion as Charlie sailed upwards, spinning around, and stretching out her arm. The medal was just inches from her hand, then suddenly, she felt her fingers wrapping around the cold, hard gold just as gravity began to pull her back towards the ground.

Down she quickly flew- and right into her teammates' arms.

"WE DID IT!" the twins screamed as they placed Charlie back on the field.

"We did not drop her this time!" Max cried happily.

"AND WE GOT THE MEDAL!" Rib shrieked. "WE WON!"

The events hitting Charlie all at once, she held up the medal she was still tightly clutching as the stadium began to boom with deafening cheers. The entire crowd screamed as the Spartans stalked angrily out of the arena. Sugar and Star presented the winners with a bouquet of flowers. Then, despite the nurse's objections, Pace abandoned his ice pack and hurried over to join his team in the center of the field.

"We did it! We did it!" the twins continued to shout as Rib excitedly smacked Pace on the back, but passing the others, Pace stepped up to face Charlie.

"You did it," he said, then slowly, a smile appeared on his face.

"Nah," Charlie shook her head. "We wouldn't have even got to try it if you hadn't broken the tie," she told him, handing him the medal. "Take it. You deserve it the most."

"No," said Pace, holding it back out to her. "Without your stunt, we'd have never reached it. We got it thanks to you. It's yours."

"That is true," Maxsim nodded.

"Yeah, Charlie. You really saved the day with your cheerleading!" Rib laughed.

"We knew we loved cheerleaders for a reason," added Apollo and Demeter agreed.

"It's yours. Take it," Pace said again, but Charlie still did not accept the medal.

"No. I have a better idea," she said at last.

~~~

The sun was beginning to fade as the Athens Dorm stood together on the lawn. Charlie smiled down as Pace placed the medal gently over Casey's headstone. Then, straightening back up, Pace stood with the others, looking meaningfully over the scene.

"There," said Charlie, as she placed the bouquet of victory flowers next to the stone.

"Beautiful," said Max.

"Casey deserves it the most," nodded Rib.

"We did it, Casey," Demeter whispered.

"We won," smiled Apollo.

Pace was silent, still staring down at his brother's grave.

Then, slowly, Charlie grabbed his hand.

"You know what?" she said softly. "Remember that wish you made that day at the fountain?"

Pace looked at her curiously.

"I think it came true," she finished.

Pace smiled, and tightly squeezing her hand, kissed her on the top of the head.

Then, as the sun set, the entire Athens dorm shared a heartfelt evening of celebration and joy with the team of friends they knew would last forever.

~~~THE END~~~

---Author's Note---

Hello friends! I just want to thank you all for coming on this journey with me. Thank you so much for reading this story and I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it.

Although we have reached the end here, the comic version continues for a SEASON 2 at

www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/boy-oh-boys/list?title_no=19141
OR
tapastic.com/series/BoyOhBoys

Let's meet again there!

xox Ray

[email protected]