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off his shoes too. He gazed at the wide sweep of sand, the blue sky, and the bluer water. “I miss this place,” he said. “There’s nothing like it at school. Just a lot of woods. All those trees feel like they’re closing in on you. The beach feels open.” He held his arms out. “Wide open.”
    Without another word, the brothers lined up in their familiar positions: Jay at quarterback, Jesse at wide receiver.
    Jay called out plays and pass patterns. Jesse ran square-ins, curl-ins, down-and-outs, and deep posts. Jay put pass after pass right in Jesse’s hands. The football never touched the sand.
    “All right,” Jay said. “Let’s run a deep-out.”
    Jesse took off down the beach. He faked left, dug his bare toes into the sand, and broke to the right. The football spun through the clear salt air right into Jesse’s hands. He tossed it back to his brother.
    “Break time.” Jay stared out at the ocean. The sparkling water spilled onto the sand in small, rhythmic waves. “Let’s go check out the water.”
    “You’re throwing great,” Jesse enthused as they headed down to the water’s edge. “That last pass was right on the money.”
    “Not good enough, I guess,” Jay said.
    “Think you’ll go back and play?” Jesse asked.
    “I don’t know. I’ve always been the quarterback.” Jay let his feet sink into the soft, wet sand. A wave washed across his ankles. “Whoa! This water’s freezing.”
    “You could be a good safety,” Jesse said, ignoring the cold water splashing his shins. “You’re a good athlete. You’re fast enough. And you’ll know what the quarterback is thinking. You’ll probably intercept a million passes.”
    Jay peered out at the water as if the answer to his problem lay somewhere beyond the waves. He stepped a little further into the water. The ripples pooled around his ankles.
    “What about you guys?” Jay asked. “Losing 26–0, that stinks. What’s going on with your team?”
    Jesse didn’t feel like talking about thePanthers. “We’re not that bad,” he said at last. “But it’s tough when you don’t have a decent quarterback.”
    Jay reached into the water and pulled up a smooth, flat stone. He leaned over and tossed it along the top of the waves. The stone skipped several times before ducking into the ocean.
    “What about you?” Jay asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Why don’t
you
play quarterback?”
    “I’m not a quarterback,” Jesse blurted out. “I’m not as big as you … and not half as strong.”
    Jay skimmed another stone across the water. “I don’t know,” he said. “You’re really fast. You’ve got a good arm—”
    “Not half as good as yours,” Jesse insisted.
    “You know the plays by heart,” Jay said. “I think you could be a pretty good quarterback.”
    “No way. I’m a wide receiver, period.”
    Jay just stood there, watching the ocean roll in.
    Jesse could sense that something had changed between the two of them. He wasn’t sure exactly what or how. But now that Jaywas talking about him being a quarterback, Jesse didn’t feel quite so much like the little brother.
    His brother skipped another stone along the top of the still surface. This time it bounced off the water eight or nine times before sinking.
    “Tell you what,” Jay said finally, turning to Jesse. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you try out for quarterback, I’ll go back and try playing safety.”
    Jesse thought about Jay’s proposal. The Panthers needed a quarterback. And Kurt Fuller sure wasn’t the answer.
    Maybe Jay was right; maybe Jesse could play the position. After all, his brother should know. He was a quarterback. The best.
    The sun was high. The ocean sparkled a deep green-blue. It felt like the last days of summer were holding on before the chill of autumn arrived.
    “So what do you say?” Jay asked again. “Deal?”
    Jesse turned to Jay and nodded. “Deal.”

Chapter 7
    Jesse, Quinn, and Langston marched shoulder to shoulder