Falling Helplessly episode 4

🔥 FALLING
HELPLESSLY 👠

( For his brother’s friend …. 😇 )
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Written by:- Williams Kendall____✍🏽
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🏈 CHAPTER FOUR🏈

The man at the podium introduced himself as the head coach of USC’s football team. He had a serious face that was worn down with wrinkles and a deep tan. He didn’t smile much as he welcomed everyone to the Home Opener Pep Rally but his commanding voice still seemed to s-ck us in. His short speech ended with a promise that the Trojans were going to kick ass this year which garnered a resounding roar from the crowd in the stadium. After he stepped away a tall, lean, cheerleader with a tight blonde ponytail stepped up to speak.

“Hey, Y’all! My name is Holly and I am the head cheerleader for the USC Song Girls!” She shouted as she gave a dazzling smile to the crowd. “We’re about to bring in the men of the hour our USC Division 1 boys, the Trojans!” The crowd went bonkers at this as I shrunk into my seat. Dang, these people were worked up. “Then we have our annual Rookie Race, our marching band, and of course us girls may have put together a little something special just for tonight!” My feet shook with the vibrations of the crowd as they hooted and hollered at the prospect of seeing the cheerleaders jumping around together.

Holly settled the crowd and called each football player out by name. As their name was called a player would walk out of the tunnel with a cheerleader on his arm. They crossed in front of the crowd as everyone cheered their name before lining up in the middle behind the podium. The cheerleaders were all in their full white uniforms with dashes of cardinal and gold, while the boys were dressed casually with their jerseys over top.

I watched as the slew of attractive men came parading out. Most had smiles on their faces as they waved to the crowd or fist-bumped their teammates in line. I laughed when I saw Emmett walkout, he saluted the crowd before tripping over his own feet and stumbled. The cheerleader attached to his arm shot him a glare when he almost pulled her down but they both recovered and moved into line.

“And finally! The man we have aaaall been waiting for! Two-time Heisman Trophy nominee… Our star Quarterback… Archer Johnson!” I covered my ears while the crowd roared loudly for Archer. He came striding out of the tunnel, but unlike the other boys, he didn’t wave to the crowd. He stared straight ahead as his cheerleader led him to the lineup, and once he was there he lifted his face and acknowledged everyone with a small smirk.

The girl attached to his arm was beautiful. She had long red hair pulled up into a ponytail while her makeup was dramatic and eye-catching. She was tall enough to stand on her toes slightly and whisper something in Archer’s ear. Whatever she said obviously pleased him because he looked down at her with an even bigger smirk before he responded with something that made her cheeks flush red.

“Alright let’s hear it one more time for the Trojans!” Holly yelled from the podium. “Now we are about to start the annual Rookie Race so boys lets have all the Rookies step forward.” I watched as Emmett and about 15 other boys stepped forward to listen to Holly. “Okay! We are going to take the next ten minutes to set up your obstacles, in that time you have to go into the crowd and find a girl to partner with you. She has to wear your jersey so we know she is yours and then the two of you will be doing a piggyback race together.”

Holly left the podium to instruct the rest of the football team on where to put each obstacle. Meanwhile, all the Rookies took off like bats out of hell into the crowd to find girls. My heart stopped as I saw Emmett bee-lining it right for me and Madeline. Oh god… please. Please. PLEASE. No. Sure enough, he hopped the barrier and jumped up the few steps to my row before kneeling next to me and giving me a cheesy grin.

“Whaddya say, Smalls? Wanna kick some ass together?”

“Not a chance! I am not going up in front of all of those people!” I whisper-shouted.

“What? C’mon Charlotte I was your Prince Charming! You owe me!”

“No way… You only helped me because you also made me fall.”

“HEY, we agreed we weren’t going to mention that!” He whispered back with mock despair. “Come on Smalls, please! You just have to come out on the field with me and let me piggyback you. I already know I can lift you easily and I will owe you a million favours after this I promise.”

Emmett’s puppy dog eyes were strong I’d give him that. Way better than when Oliver tried to get me to do stuff for him. I looked over at Madeline for some help but she just gave me an encouraging smile and said, “Hey what’s the worst that could happen? Just don’t look at the crowd and have some fun!”

Laughing Emmett reached up and said, “Come on Smalls! Climb over I’ll grab you.” Gingerly, I sat down on the barrier and swung my legs over the side. Emmett then reached up and grabbed my wa-ist before lifting me down and setting me in front of him. “Oh right!” He said as though he had just remembered something. He then proceeded to wh¡p off his jersey—leaving himself bare-chested—and smothered me as he shoved it over my head.

Sighing, I stood up. Was I really going to do this? I guess so… Emmett jumped up and fisted the air in celebration which got a few laughs from the people who had been watching our exchange. Keeping my head slightly bent I allowed Emmett to lead me down the steps. When we got to the barrier he easily hopped over like it was no big freaking deal, leaving me to stare at him like what am I supposed to do?

I shot him a glare as I pulled my arms through the large jersey and attempted to fix my hair. We walked together over to the other rookies who had partners already. The older players were almost done setting up the obstacle course and it looked pretty basic. I kept my eyes forward on the course rather than looking back at the hundreds—if not thousands of eyes currently watching our group.

The rookies would have to run halfway down the field before they weaved in and out of tall wooden poles, then stepped through about twenty tires lined up in a row before running back and climbing up a fifteen-foot wooden wall that had been brought out before using a rope to get down the other side. It would probably be a piece of cake except for the fact that I’d be clinging to Emmett’s back while he did it all.

When the race was about to begin Holly had us all line up in a row and the girls jumped on their players’ backs. As I placed my hands on Emmett’s shoulders he turned back and smirked at me, “Try not to feel me up too much Smalls this is serious. I don’t lose.” I laughed at his sudden determination and gave him my best serious face to let him know I was in it to win it. I didn’t know why, but my serious face made Emmett laugh h-rder which was not my intention.

“On your marks… get set… Go!” Holly shouted and just like that we were off. It was hærd to pay attention to my surroundings as Emmett took off down the field. I could see why he was a wide receiver… This boy was fast. It was all I could do to tuck my face in and hold on to him with my legs and arms as he gripped my thighs and sprang forward. I got a little dizzy when he weaved through the wooden poles, but Emmett’s constant laughter relaxed me slightly. He didn’t seem concerned about falling or dropping me.

Then we were out and Emmett shot towards the tires. I looked up long enough to see that there were no players in front of us. I didn’t dare turn around to check but it looked like we were in the lead. My head bobbed up and down as Emmett jumped through the tires with ease and then ran back to the wall.

“Okay Charlotte hold on tight, I gotta use my fingers in the cracks to climb, so I can’t hold onto you.”

“Alright, let’s just get this over with,” I said with apprehension as I tightened my arms around his neck. With that, Emmett scaled the wall slowly, finding gaps in the wood to pull us both up.

“Uhm… Smalls… It’s cute how much you love me… but your kind of choking me,” Emmett said between gasps right as he pulled us to the top of the wall. I dropped my arms so they hit his chest instead and made the mistake of looking down. Sensing my fear Emmett looked back at me and smiled, “It’s all good girl, I gotcha.”

I closed my eyes as I Felt Emmett swing his legs over. He grunted as he slowly lowered us and then grabbed onto the rope. Keeping my eyes closed, I felt his arms and back muscles clenching as he dropped us lower. I looked up in time to see another player climbing over the wall with a very scared girl clinging to his back but it was already too late. Emmett dropped us the last foot and ran quickly back to his team.

“And the winner is number 12! Emmett Reynolds!” Holly shouted as the crowd cheered for us. Loud whoops and yeahs came from Emmett as he reached back and pulled me around to his front. I laughed loudly and he squeezed the ever-loving life out of me—jumping up and down and acting like a fool. I vaguely heard Holly let everyone know there would be a half-hour break before the performances started but it was hærd to focus with Emmett’s celebration still going strong.

“Okay… OKAY, Emmett! Put me down you’re raddling my brain too much,” I pouted slightly. He laughed and put me down but threw an arm around my shoulders while he acknowledged some of his teammates who had come around to congratulate him. I sunk into his side as I realized I was surrounded by large intimidating men. I think Emmett could feel me tense because he rubbed my shoulder slightly and started trying to separate from the crowd.

Archer stood a few yards away talking to the red-headed cheerleader. He was nodding at whatever she was saying but his eyes were focused on our group. Why did he look so angry…? I mean Archer always looked gruff, but he glared over at us like we had somehow personally offended him. I looked away as Emmett finally got us free from everyone and walked over to the exit rather than back to the bleachers.

“Well Smalls,” he said while he squeezed my shoulder, “after that amazing teamwork I’m pretty sure you’re my best friend whether you like it or not. Phone number please.” I laughed when he stared at me expectantly. I really did feel comfortable around Emmett which never happened with any guys before—except for Oliver.

He was so easy to be around and in the short time I had known him he made me laugh way more than most people. He even managed to get me out in front of a stadium full of people and I enjoyed myself. I mean, that feat alone should earn him my phone number. So with that, I passed him my phone to enter his number.

“Hey Hey!” A familiar voice shouted, “I kind of thought after all of that excitement you might just want to head back to the dorms?” Madeline asked as she walked towards us.

“Honestly yeah that would be great… I think I need to decompress a little after all that shaking,” I said as I gave Emmett a sassy look. He passed me my phone back with a crooked grin. I saw that he had entered his phone number and also texted himself so he had mine. With a final tight hug, he bid us both goodbye and ran back to his team.

An hour later I laid on our couch scrolling through the pictures Madeline sent me. She snapped tons of really great shots of Emmett and I doing the race together. Warmth spread through my chest as I stared at picture after picture of the two of us laughing together. I looked like a normal college girl, enjoying some school spirit with no cares in the world.

One picture specifically called to me. It was right after Holly had announced us the winners. Emmett had one arm wrapped tightly around me holding me to his chest and the other was fisted into the air in celebration. Both of our faces were turned upwards as we laughed at our victory. His jersey hung low around my h¡ps covering anything I could be self-conscious about and the wind had fluffed my hair to make it look crazy voluminous. As far as pictures went, this was basically the cream of the crop for me.

@emmettreynolds has tagged you in a photo on Instagram.

I clicked on the notification and was taken to Emmett’s Instagram profile. He must have searched me out because I saw that he had followed me. I clicked on his most recent picture and realized that someone had taken pictures for Emmett as well. He posted a picture of us when we were waiting at the starting line of the race. It was right as I had tried to give him my serious face and he was laughing at me. I understood better now why that was.

I thought I showed him a peak of my inner Hulk—but turns out I wasn’t nearly that ferocious. My brows were puckered together lightly as I pursed my l-ips into what I thought in my head was a determined scowl, but it ended up looking like I was pouting. Looking down at the 50 likes it already had, I laughed out loud at his caption, “Who likes my new backpack? This beauty’s game face is definitely the reason we won the Rookie Race!”

Feeling brave and more than a little buzzed off of all the excitement—I decided to post a few as well. My Instagram was bare at this point. The last picture I had posted was of my family and I a few months ago and the rest were sporadic moments I shared with Brit and Kayla. Overall, it made me look like a lame person.

I decided to post a picture of Emmett running down the field with me strapped to his back, then the celebration picture that I loved so much. I captioned it, “Obviously I did all of the heavy lifting on the team! #USCRookieRace” And posted it before I could second-guess myself.

I was just about to get up and shower when my phone buzzed. I looked down and saw that Emmett was texting me like crazy.

Charlotte!
911!
Give me your room number!
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!

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