GAME SAVER

• Josh Quince, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2015

Sitting in English Class at the back, finished my notes and constantly checking my watch. The teacher talking to us and assigning our homework for the weekend. I think to myself "Why, oh why! is there always weekend homework." Tic-toc my watch is ticking away super slowly seven seconds feeling like one second. I'm writing out my homework for the weekend and putting a reminder in my record book about my English Assessment Task being due that very next week.

The school bell erupts through classrooms everywhere. The class burst into a furious chatter at this sound. It took the teacher about 30 seconds to calm the class. "You may leave" our teacher said sounding calmer than usual.

I return home and finish my homework rather quickly and am ready to sit down and chill for the night.

I am violently shaken awake by my Mum telling me to get up and get ready for Rugby. Now, me being the lazy person I am, I take 5-10 minutes to wake up completely, but it eventually happens. I go to the garage and grab my footy boots and boot tape (electro tape) and put on my boots with tape around my boot and laces.

I make it to my football game and start warming up with my team mates on the spare field up the top of the hill. I am on top of my tackling game today and I'm ready to start the game. They call out the line up and I'm on the bench for half the game, but that's fine.

It's my time to go onto the field, so I run out there. By now I'm pumped and ready to go but everyone else n my team is very fatigued. Looks like I'm going to be carrying the team for a little while. "Oh well" I think. I'm rather happy though because I have never taken a captaincy role in my team but as the saying goes, "There's a first time for everything".

3 minutes left in the second half and we are up 45-40. One enemy player makes a blistering run down the middle of the field but I'm hot on his heels. Time pauses for a second and I think "If I don make this tackle it's all over, we would lost and I would have failed my team." This is when I release he is ten meters from our try line and he will score directly under the posts which makes in an easy conversion for them and puts them in the lead.

Time resumes and I dive for their player and once again time stops and starts playing in slow motion this time. I'm almost flying through the air at this point.

Time resumes again and I feel a heavy pound on my right shoulder. It is at this point I realise I made the tackle two metres from the try line. The full time siren sounds and I am an instant hero in my team for thus was the Grand Final. THIS IS MY STORY