“It’s not my grace that should concern you.” I pull away from him. “You ruined a girl’s senior year. She had to give up her sport because of you. If that shit doesn’t weigh on your conscience, I don’t know what will.”
“I know.” He swallows. “That’s something I will forever be indebted to her for.”
“She put you behind her. You don’t owe her shit. Do better, bro.” I cast him one last hard look before turning to my teammates and jogging toward the sidelines, where my parents and Jo’s are. Jo, Misty, Mitchell, and Mav are also there. My teammates run over to where the cheerleaders are, each grabbing a whiteboard that the cheerleaders helped write, and jog over to where I am. After I climb up and say hi to my parents and hers and my brothers, I pull myself up completely until I’m standing right beside Josephine, who throws her arms around me. I’m sweaty, but she doesn’t care.
“That game was crazy,” she says against my neck. “You did so good, baby.”
“Since it’s my last game here, I figured I’d make it memorable.” I pull away from her and take a step back. Her brows pull in. “We’re supposed to pack up our shit and move out of our house by the end of the week, but I can’t imagine not living with you. I don’t want to wake up and miss you.” I get down on one knee and stick my hand behind my back, where Mitch drops the ring box into my hand; when I pull it around me, Jo gasps, her hands covering her mouth. “I know we haven’t been together long, but when you know, you know. Josephine Marie Canó, will you marry me?”
“Oh my God.” She laughs, then wipes tears from her face as she nods frantically. “Yes.”
I slide the ring onto her finger and stand up, cupping her face with both hands and brushing her tears away with my thumbs.
“I love you, Jagger,” she whispers against my lips. “This was so unexpected and perfect.”
Our family starts cheering for us as we kiss and I realize that even if we hadn’t just royally kicked ass this game, I would have won, because there’s no competing with Jo.
“Hey, over here!” someone yells from the field. I pull away with a laugh. I’d forgotten about them already. We look over to see my teammates waving signs that spell out, “Will You Marry Me?”
“She said yes,” I shout out.
“Dammit, Jag, she was supposed to look at us first,” Jordan yells back. “Did she say yes?”
We laugh. I nod. “She said yes!”
My teammates break out into a dance and start shouting congratulations as our families throw their arms around us.