Ethan
The final whistle echoes around the stadium. For a moment, I just stand there in the middle of the pitch, my lungs burning as sixty thousand voices crash over me like a tidal wave. The scoreboard reads 1–1. Not the victory we came for. But after the way the match started, a point feels almost like a rescue.
A pair of arms suddenly crash around my shoulders. "That's my captain!" Ryan, our veteran center-back, nearly knocks me off balance before another teammate barrels into my side. "You saved us again."
"I told you he'd score."
"I owe you dinner, skipper." Laughter breaks through the exhaustion as the boys crowd around me. Someone shoves my head affectionately. Someone else punches my shoulder hard enough to sting. For the first time since the scandal exploded, nobody is talking
