He pulled into the parking lot as the sun was setting. It was Saturday so it was empty for the most part so Jake parked in the teachers' section to keep from being seen. He didn't want anyone else to find out what his team was up to. Jake called his dad and said he was going to be late. He started in on his normal lecture, but Jake hung up the phone before he could get going too much on the subject. Some things were more important than his dad's opinion, one of which was his teammates' futures. They had all worked their butts off to keep their grades up and practiced hard to stay on the team. Their coach didn't allow slackers.
Jake waited nervously for his team to show up. Around nine o'clock he fell asleep, but was woken a few hours later when a car drove past. He glanced at his phone and seen that it was already after midnight.
“Damn it!” he cursed.
He looked around and saw that Craig's car was already parked a few rows over. The newest arrival looked to be the pom-pom girl, as he came to refer to her. Could she have possibly found out Craig's plan? Was her car full of her boyfriend and his teammates? If it was this could get uglier than Jake had first thought.
To Jake's relief she got out of the car alone and looked to be dressed for jogging. He's have to circle around the school quickly and hope to beat her to the field. Hopefully, the guys hadn't had a chance to get started yet. Jake couldn't believe he had fallen asleep on guard duty!
He waited until the pom-pom girl was out of sight before he got out of his truck. Quietly as he could, Jake sprinted around the school, which was larger than it had seemed from the stadium. When he was nearly there he heard the pom-pom girl screech and threaten to call the cops.
“Damn it!” he hissed and quickened his pace.
He was too late! Jake knew he should leave before the cops showed up, but what if the guys decided to try to keep her from calling the cops? Would they hurt her to get the phone away? Surely, they wouldn't, but then again they hadn't been acting normal at all today.
He ran onto the track to see Craig arguing with her.
“Give me the damn phone,” he said, taking a step towards her.
“NO!” she shouted and stood her ground.
“That's a girl,” he thought to himself, “don't back down to Craig, he's more hot air than anything else.”
“Come 'on,” Craig said.
He looked more frustrated than anything. Jake could tell his teammate had counted on not being caught.
“No! This is our field and look what you've done to it!” the girl shouted.
“It's not like you have to clean it up!” Craig retorted.
The other guys were laughing at him now.
“No, but the school will have to pay people to clean it up!” she shouted.
“Come on,” one of the other guys said, “let's just go. It'll be her word against ours.”
“I have you on camera,” she said bravely.
“What?” Craig said, his brow furrowing in anger.
Jake watched in shock as the pom-pom girl quickly began dial nine-one-one.
“Please don't,” he said before he could stop himself.
“What?” she said looking up.
Craig took advantage of the distraction and snatched the phone from her and stomped on it. She screeched in surprise and stepped towards the much larger Craig.
Acting quickly, Jake sprinted in between them before she could slap Craig. He didn't want the situation to get any more violent than what had happened to the phone.
“Just leave guys,” he shouted at Craig, “Go now!”
His teammates didn't need told twice, they ran like dogs with their tails tucked between their legs. Once he was sure they were gone he picked up what was left of her phone.
She snatched it from him and examined the damage. The case had held up pretty well and it looked to Jake that the screen was only cracked.
“I'm still calling the cops,” she said.