“ He can’t play! He’s not good at all! He’s too small!” These thoughts had been pounded into my brain since I started school. I’ve been the shortest kid for 4 years now, Kindergarten through 3rd grade, actually. Always the shortest one, never someone smaller than me, not even one! I’d always been made fun of because no one thought I could play football or any sport for that matter, but today was the day that I was going to change everything. I was determined to get the football!

As a matter of fact, the momentum was rising quickly, almost too much for me to handle. I had hoped for this moment to come for a long while now, but it might’ve been too fast. Before he hiked the football, every possible awful memory that could’ve been seeped into my brain, terrible thoughts, emotions, bullying to the point where I started to doubt myself. Am I ever going to be good at football, what if I’m not? What will happen to me? I changed my thinking with milliseconds to spare before the hike, though. I’m going to prove everyone, everything that’s ever been said about me, wrong. This is my moment! I was lined up beside Donald, the Quarterback. I heard “ hut, hut”, and for some reason I didn’t move for a split-second, maybe frozen, maybe startled that the football was there, 2 yards away, to be taken by someone. Me. I crash into it, my momentum carrying me through the gaping hole, gaining me 10, 12 yards without my legs using the energy I got from that Mountain Dew I had at lunch, which was delicious. In front of me the gaping hole is still there, just like a red carpet, with reporters trying to get dialogue in, just with busted up grass, and a line of fiery beasts on either side trying to crush me. All of a sudden, my blockers to the left of me get creamed by the beasts, and I see hungry men rushing towards me with a ravenous look in their eyes. The air was thin. It was like a cold, dark night when you’re being chased by a pack of hungry wolves. I look behind me, and see in gratefulness that since there was no one rushing the quarterback, there were 3 guys coming up behind me as extra blockers to block the beasts. “C’mon man, we can do this, let’s finish ‘em!”. One beast came within 6 inches of getting me, but my teammate blocked him, and I juked around to the left of my blockers. The goaline was now only 20 yards away, so close, yet, so far. As I reached the left sideline of the football field, I realized that there was only one guy unblocked, and that he was coming fast for prey.  He was sprinting parallel with the goaline, two yards out. He was about 20 yards away from me while I was 20 yards away from the goaline, so, technically, it was, who’s faster? He was easily the fastest kid in school, so I prayed my plan would work. I kept sprinting towards the goal, as he did too.

Moreover, we were both two yards away from the goal and each other when it happened. At the last second before he got me, I completely changed my sense of direction from straight to directly right, a perfect juke move. “Woohoo!!” I yell. He had kept running straight, and I walked in untouched, even I was amazed at what I had done. I had juked the fastest kid in school. I had amazed everybody on that football field, especially Reagan, the fastest kid in school. I had just been thinking of the weirdest, most randomest thing then, I was thinking of when my family went to dinner the other night with me, and I had ordered lobster as my main meal. I was thinking then that the lobster looked gross on the outside, but cooked, and you see the goodness on the inside, that’s kind of like me scoring that touchdown. No one saw how good I was, they just saw the bad part on the outside before I played football, and people saw the great inside. Nobody picked on me again, ever. I think the story must’ve gotten around to other bullies or something because I wasn’t bullied again, ever. I had my bad days and good days in football, but I will never forget that moment, and I don’t think they will either.