Chapter 31: Friday Night Lights Again

By Friday evening, the traditional weekly ritual of the high school football game felt entirely transformed by their new reality. Lily sat comfortably in the crowded aluminum bleachers surrounded by cheering parents and screaming student fans, but her eyes never strayed far from the number 42 rushing across the turf below. When James brilliantly intercepted a desperate pass in the third quarter and sprinted fifty yards down the sideline for a touchdown, the roar of the crowd was deafening, but the only person he looked at when he reached the end zone was Lily, pointing straight up at her in the stands.