Skye ducked under the metal bar and hopped off the bleachers, running towards the field to be by Levi's side despite Nini calling for her. Megan, who wanted to do the same, hesitated to do so and ended up standing in her place upon seeing Skye run towards him.

"Levi!" Skye called out, getting on her knees beside Levi who still laid on the ground.

"Skye?" He furrowed his eyebrows, not quite sure if his eyes were deceiving him through his helmet.

Levi's coach and the referee walked towards them, urging Skye to step aside so they could do something. "We're gonna have to get him off the field."

"What? No!" Levi said. Even in this condition, he didn't want to give up on the game.

"Levi, you're hurting. At least sit down for a bit." Skye pleaded. "Please."

"Fine." He groaned.

"I don't think he's gonna be able to pl-" his coach began, but Skye didn't want Levi to feel hurt even more, so she interrupted him to stop him from saying anything more.

"Shh. Not now." She whispered, then turned to Levi and extended her hand for him. "Come on, dummy. Let's get you up."

With the help of the referee and coach, Levi gets back on his feet, stumbling at first as the impact from that tackle was huge. As Skye walked with him off and field and towards the bench, everyone (including those from Brandywine) cheered for him, but even that couldn't lift his now tainted spirit.

Levi sat down on the bench, cursing in pain as his shoulder continued to hurt. "Fuck."

"Where did they hurt you?" Skye asked.

"My shoulder, man." He winced, clinging onto his shoulder as it hurt to move that arm. Even the slightest movement made him wince in pain, it was that bad.

Seeing as Levi didn't even take off his helmet (well, because he couldn't), Skye does it for him, setting it beside him so he could be at least the slightest bit more comfortable. "Here. Ya know, cause it'd be difficult to do it with one arm."

"Thanks," Levi said. "And uh, thanks for coming out to see if I was okay."

"Why wouldn't I? I was so scared for you." Skye replied. She was genuinely so scared for him when he got hit by all of those guys. To be honest, her mind had spiraled so much in the heat of the moment she thought he died. Crazy to think that, but the shock made Skye not able to think straight until she saw that Levi was still breathing.

"Skye, I ruined everything." He teared up, which Skye hated to see. She felt like part of this was her fault since she basically jinxed him getting hurt, but she would turn this around somehow. Skye cared for Levi so much now, and she refused to let him give up so easily.

"No, don't cry, please." She said, wiping away his tears with her thumb.

"Everything I feared last night came true." Levi frowned. "None of these universities will want me now. They'll take everything back."

"Stop it, goddammit!" Skye slapped his knee. "If your shoulder didn't hurt, I'd slap the shit out of your arm instead."

"Come on, you know it's true." He said. Sure, everything he feared last night did come true, but Levi has had a near-perfect season. That's impressive for someone, especially in their senior year, and there was no way one of these universities would take back what they said over a shoulder injury that could be fixed. Levi was too good of a football player to miss out on, and Skye knew that.

"Levi, you can't let a little pain hold you back." She said, but Levi didn't seem to be willing to take any risks now.

"There's no way coach will let me back out there. It's over. We're losing already." Levi replied, looking over at the scoreboard. Sure, the score looked bad, but Skye was optimistic that things could turn around in Wintersville's favor.

"Hey, the first half just ended," Skye said, cupping his face with both hands and looking him right in the eyes. "You have all of halftime to relax and maybe you can get back out there in the fourth quarter if you sit out during the third."

"I don't know, Skye." He protested although Skye wasn't giving up.

"Look, I said it last night and I'll say it again; I believe in you, and I mean it." She replied. Hearing her say it in the vulnerable state Levi was in knocked some sense into him, but he wasn't going to guarantee that he would get back out there at the end of the game.

"We'll see I guess."

"Good enough for me," Skye said, sitting down next to him on the bench. "And I'll be by your side the whole time until you make an epic return."

"Thanks." Levi grinned.

Skye leaned her head on his good shoulder, inching close to him so they were as close to each other as possible. The gesture made Levi blush, but he could make up an excuse saying it's because of the cold if Skye were to point it out. Regardless, he was more than grateful to have Skye's support, even despite his injury.

"Whatever happens, I'm proud of you." She whispered to him, and she meant every single word.

•••

It was now the fourth quarter, and if Wintersville was going to manage a win, they needed one last touchdown to do so. The team called for one last time out as there wasn't much time left, and Levi saw this as an opportunity to get back in the game for one final play.

"Coach!" Levi yelled out.

His coach walked towards him, looking visibly stressed. "What, Daniels?"

"Let me get back out there. One last play. Please." Levi pleaded. He had to do this. He wanted to make everyone proud, and thankfully Levi had a trick up his sleeve that would fool his rivals.

"What about your shoulder?" He asked.

"I don't care. I know what I'm doing." Levi insisted.

Levi's coach took a moment of think. He knew how much of an amazing player Levi was. Although he wasn't sure how Levi could pull this off, he had faith that he wasn't doing this aimlessly, so he let him back in for one last time. "You better get us one last win."

"Thank you so much," Levi said.

"Just get your ass back out there and do your thing." His coach replied, patting him on the back (not realizing it kind of hurt on his one side) and walking away.

Skye helped him put his helmet back on, wishing him luck before he got back on the field. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Levi grinned, then ran back out there, met with applause from the Wintersville side. His teammates looked in shock as they saw him come back, but they were also glad at the same time as their backup was nowhere near as good as him.

"Yo, Gonzales, you're out." He said, hearing mumbles from his teammate as he walked away, which he assumed were insults.

"Levi?" Danny questioned, squinting to see if it was in fact him. He and Hunter both thought Levi was done for, but they were happy to spend the games' final moments all together.

"Coach put me back in for one last play," Levi replied.

"Aye, I knew you'd come through!" Hunter exclaimed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well..."

Back at the bench, Nini came over with Xavier, who had been notably absent this whole time. It was actually for a really silly reason, but it made way too much sense considering it was Xavier. "Hey."

"Xavier? Where were you?" Skye asked. "I knew something was missing from this game."

"Um, turns out I was sitting on the wrong side the whole time." He awkwardly chuckled. Yup, classic Xavier.

"Yeah, he spammed me a bunch, and then I managed to find him," Nini said. The poor girl thought her phone was going to blow up with the number of messages she received, but she got him to stop by typing in all caps asking what the hell he wanted.

"I drank the coffee that you left, by the way," Xavier added, which made Skye want to gag a little considering her backwash was probably in there.

"Um, gross." She replied. "By the way, what happened to being the mascot?"

"I paid some freshman twenty dollars to take my place." He said. Long story short, Xavier really didn't want to be the mascot during this game as he wanted to watch it without practically suffocating in the costume, so he managed to find a gullible freshman who was willing to wear it. Little did they know how much of a pain in the ass it was to wear it, but Xavier would face a rude awakening from said freshman later.

"Why am I not surprised?" Skye questioned.

"Because I do stupid shit all the time." Xavier shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right." She said.

The announcers announced that the timeout was now over, also mentioning that Wintersville had zero timeouts remaining. It was a good thing they used to last one now because there was hardly any time left anyway.

"Quick, sit down," Skye ordered, gesturing them towards the bench. "We all have the best seats now."

"Do you know what Levi is gonna do?" Nini asked.

"I honestly don't have a clue." She replied.

"Come on, he's Levi fricking Daniels. He knows what he's doing." Xavier said, which was just what Skye was thinking.

With modifications to Levi's original plan now in formation, the whistle went off, and Wintersville just went for it. Now, Levi usually throws with his right hand, so he used this common knowledge to trick his rival team by making them think he was going to throw with his bad shoulder, but he quickly tossed the ball to his left hand and threw it to Hunter.

Levi dodged his opponents, keeping his eyes on Hunter in case someone were to come for him. Noticing there was someone ready to tackle Hunter, Levi calls for his name, and Hunter quickly throws the ball. The throw wasn't a good one as he tried to get the ball out of his hands quickly, so Levi ran to catch it, catching it with his left hand and clinging it to his chest before attempting to go for the end zone.

As two people came for Levi with one person on each side right as he was nearing the end zone, Levi pulled the most insane move in his entire football career, leaping over the two opponents and watching them collide into each other as he practically ran through the air. He managed to land on the ground on both of his feet, skidding against the grass before making a perfect stop in the middle of the end zone, scoring the touchdown he wanted.

"And in a last-ditch effort, the Wintersville Wildcats score the winning touchdown with just one second remaining!"

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

All of Wintersville's audience erupted into cheers, all running down hopping over the bleachers to celebrate with the winning team. Skye, Nini, and Xavier all hugged before running over to everyone. Nini went over to Danny and leaped into his arms while Xavier did a fist bump with Hunter.

Skye went over to Levi, extended her arms out for a hug, but missed the opportunity as the rest of Levi's teammates lifted him up and started to chant his name.

"Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi!" They all chanted while the Brandywine Devils stood around in bitter defeat.

Skye grinned as she looked up to Levi, who had the biggest smile on his face. He looked around at all of the faces, but Skye watched as his face fell, not knowing why. She turned her head to see who could've been behind her, but then she saw Megan standing in the crowd, looking right up at him before noticing Skye was there. Skye met eyes with her for a brief moment, then looked back up with Levi, no longer smiling for him anymore.

•••

Dear Future Me,

The story's not over yet.

Sincerely,

Past Me.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT'S THE END OF ACT ONE!! WHAT THE FUCK!! WE MADE IT!!

THIS IS THE MOST I'VE DONE FOR ANY ORIGINAL STORY AS THEY'VE ALL USUALLY FAILED SO THIS IS TRULY AN AMAZING MOMENT FOR ME

THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE STUCK BY AND DEALT WITH MY ANGSTY BULLSHIT. I BELIEVE I WILL BE DOING LIKE A ONE OR TWO WEEK HIATUS SO WE CAN ALL JUST LIKE COLLECT OUR THOUGHTS AND ALSO SO I CAN RELAX. I GOT PLENTY OF STORIES FOR Y'ALL TO READ SO YOU WON'T BE DEPRIVED I PROMISE.

UM IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS LMK IG?? I KNOW Y'ALL ARE PROBS LIKE WTF MARIA SO

HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE STICK AROUND FOR ACT TWO AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU ALL TO SEE WHAT I HAVE PLANNED

K BYE FOR NOW <3