Tom and Jane: Interlude - Majestic!

Interlude -- MAJESTIC

The referee motioned for a scrum, 5 meters out. St. Anne's had knocked on again, having finally just won back possession at the goal line. St. Catherine's had been banging away at the goal line for the past five minutes, and it was absolutely pure luck at this point that they hadn't scored by now. The little pile from the ruck where St. Anne's, the Lions, had won possession was breaking apart.

The St. Anne's Number 8 pulled herself from the pile, and spat. "Fuck" said Jane Majewski, quietly. "Fuck." Both teams were going to arrange for a scrum, when the ref brought the proceedings to a halt for a minute; the St. Catherine's Eagles were making their last substitution, a girl that Jane knew could kick the ball a mile.

Jane, the team captain pulled the rest of her Lions around her. "Alright, we can't lose this scrum. Forwards, when the ball gets in, you push like you mean it. Flankers, when the ball comes to me, I'll pick it up, you get ready to ruck over me, Sally, you get the ball out, and we get down the field as fast as we can. Don't wait for support. Don't wait. Just fucking RUN."

"Jane...your hand" Michelle, one of the locks, pointed at Jane's finger, hanging limply.

Jane looked down, sort of chuckled "guess I'll be one handing it, I'm not going far at least." The ref called both teams in for the scrum. Jane took her place at the back of the pack, looked up for one last time, and saw the two crowded stands. She knew this was the biggest thing she'd be a part of in her life. Nobody did the rivalry like Annie and Cathy, the nickname for the two schools. Taking it in, Jane bound into the scrum.

The little bitch who broke Jane's finger when she stomped it in the previous ruck, the Eagles' scrum half, put the ball in, and the Lions fell back. Jane knew instantly that they had lost the scrum, and anger overtook her. The missed chances the first half, the stupid penalties, the fact that this year's Cathys were, mostly, dirty as hell.

Jane popped her head up, and still bound to the scrum, saw the two flankers were up and watching. Damn, they were doing great. Jane waited a beat...two beats, and broke, timing it perfectly as the ball came to the Eagle's scrum half.

"Balls out!" one of the Lions' flankers screamed, and St. Catherine's scrum half instantly found herself looking at the girl in green and gold, all 5'7" and 150lbs of her, barreling down. Jane saw the deer in the headlights, and flattened the little girl. The ball went arcing gracefully backwards, into clear space; St. Catherine's had spread out to the strong side, the fly half was in the slot, waiting to kick the ball that would never reach her, and the fullback was too far back, in safety.

Jane scrambled back up and kept running, she picked up the ball on the bounce, and a second later ran over the fly half for the Eagles, who had just come onto the field a minute before. The only person who was left was the fullback, but Jane knew her; it was Christine Felding, her best friend since elementary school, now starting fullback for St. Catherine's. Chris was a hell of a tackler, and so Jane knew she was going to have to go against what she said.

Jane slowed up, looking around, and saw both of her flankers were actually following her. Jane beamed, the junior and sophomore that were following her she had taken under her wing, and now they were playing the game of their lives. They were both a little too far back for a good offload. Jane had a full head of steam going, Chris was in the perfect position to stop her, and Jane made the fateful decision to run into her and let the tackle happen; her flankers would ruck over the ball, and the backs would be on the scene soon.

Jane slowed up some more, not out of an attempt to avoid contact, but to control the tackle as best she could. Christine wrapped her up, and they both went to ground. Jane put the ball out, and Joey and Ash covered over it. Sally was on scene a second later, and the ball was in the backs' hands. Everything had happened so fast that the Eagles' backs were stunned by the turn of events, but had recovered enough to get back onside, and Jane saw, as she crawled out from the ruck, that the Lions attack had slowed 10 meters from the try line.

Jane was a good 15 meters back, collected herself, and started running, harder than she ever had. Jane didn't consider herself fast, but she knew that she could get some momentum behind her, at her size. She flew. "BALL!" Jane screamed, and saw Joey was picking the ball up now, Sally probably being in the pile. The ball flew back, perfect spiral, and hit Jane directly in her bad hand. Jane winced for a millisecond, and wrapped the ball for the collision. 8 meters out, Jane hit the first girl, one of their props. Both of them pinballed into a second Eagle, a lock, and Jane collected two more off the side, a center and her counterpart Number 8. The pile moved, and fell forward under Jane's momentum. Jane, with her bad hand, held out the ball and slapped it down as she fell forward.

The ref ran up and blew his whistle. Try.

The St. Anne's sideline and stands erupted. St. Anne's 18, St. Catherine's 17.

Jane was picked up out of the pile, her teammates surrounding her, absolute bedlam. Jane knew the clock was about to run out, and was at first bewildered that they weren't rucking over her...until she saw she was standing a good 3 meters past the try line. "JANE!" screamed Ash, and picked her up into a hug. Jane winced, her bad hand pinned against herself.

The ref blew his whistle again. That was full time. St. Anne's had gone undefeated in the rivalry all four years. The Lions celebrated in the end zone, with Jane at the center, the hero of what was probably the greatest game ever played in the rivalry. And all Jane could think about was Christine, collapsed near the goalposts. Jane broke away from the celebration, picked Chris up, and the two hugged. Both were crying. The picture of Jane being mobbed by her teammates made the newspaper, but Jane would always treasure the picture that the photographer gave her a copy of, the one of Jane and Christine hugging, crying.

Christine was killed 6 months later, by a drunken driver, before her and Jane could play for McGill together.