“I know most of you have probably heard my football career is ending much sooner than I planned. I won’t get into the decision, since I made it for personal reasons, but it was my time here at Lincoln that allowed me to have that opportunity in the first place. I’m incredibly grateful for that, and insanely lucky to have played with such an awesome group of guys who pushed me every day to perform better. I feel honored to be here today, and…”

Jace stops speaking. Murmurs and movement ripple around the packed stadium as thousands of students crane their necks to see what he’s looking at. I don’t need Katie’s whisper of “The hat is not working!” in my ear to realize why. He’s seen me. I can feel his eyes on me.

Whispers echo around the packed stadium as Jace stands there, staring. The girl sitting across the aisle from me has pulled out her phone and started filming. I curse under my breath.

“You brought security, right?” Katie asks as spectators sitting in the upper levels of the stadium leave their seats and trickle down to the lower section we’re seated in to get a better look.

“They’re outside the stadium. I thought they’d be too conspicuous,” I groan.

More phones appear around us. “I don’t think they’re the only conspicuous ones,” Katie observes.

“What should I do?” I ask her wildly.

“Vivienne, this was your plan!”

“This was not the plan! We were supposed to sit up top, and no one was supposed to see us!” I panic.

“Go Lincoln!” Jace finally finishes his speech. He hands the microphone back to a man I recognize as the college president. I expect Jace to take a seat on the empty folding chair waiting for him, but instead he begins walking over toward the edge of the field. Toward me.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Katie chants next to me. She’s practically vibrating with excitement.

I glance behind me. The cement aisle and walkways surrounding my section have completely filled with people. I have no emergency exit.

There’s someone else speaking now, but the entire stadium’s attention is focused on Jace and me. I keep my head down in a ridiculous attempt to avoid the scrutiny. I expected to have the entire game to plan out what I was going to say to him. Now I have a matter of seconds. What if he’s changed his mind? What if I’m ruining his life—agreeing to this?

Jace reaches the partition at the edge of my section, and I’m out of time. The whole stadium is looking between the two of us expectantly, trying to discern whether this is some sort of pre-planned spectacle. As if. Just poor planning, people.

Profanities run through my head, but I’m out of options. I’m at the edge of a cliff, and the painful, grueling climb to reach this point is about to pay off or crash spectacularly.

I pull off the baseball cap that served as my sad attempt at a disguise, and stand. Fresh noise floods the audience as I walk down the cement stairs to the edge of the field.