Hitting the Crossbar: A Bad Boy and the Tomboy Romance
Hitting the Crossbar: A Bad Boy and the Tomboy Romance
“I just wanted to see you,” he said as I bent down to reach for my camera bag.
I took out my camera and watched as he took cleats out of the small bag he had brought with him and put them on. “You wanted to play?”
“Yeah,” he said, tying the laces. He glanced up at me with a light smile. “I’ve missed playing football with you.”
I’d missed it too. The game, the easy awareness of where the other was on the field, the understanding that would connect us up near the goalkeeper. Soccer was our game. “I miss playing with you too,” I said.
When he finished tying his laces, I turned my camera downward, taking a picture of our shoes. I showed him the simple photo, grinning from ear to ear. He rolled his eyes. “Very aesthetic.”
“Why thank you,” I said, placing my camera back down on the ground and rolling the ball under my feet toward the net. Sam shuffled ahead, and I passed him the ball. The two of us went back and forth for a while in silence. There was never any communication that needed to happen in these moments, but he was clearly attempting to distract himself from something, having driven all the way here.
His team had placed first in the outdoor league, and he had been ahead in goals. He had been focused this season—I’d noticed it at his first game back in August.
I didn’t resent him for the natural talent he had, given the training he had put himself through once he’d established that he was going to strive for his original goal, to turn pro. Sam was great. He had been great in high school, but he had only gotten better.
He shuffled forward, passing me the ball over my head. I angled myself, bouncing it off my chest toward the ground as I got in control. We rallied for a bit, triangle passes, passes we each attempted to control. But when Sam shot a pass toward me that was completely out of my reach, bypassing me by a mile, he burst out laughing while I glowered. “That wasn’t fair!”
“Since when are things fair in football?” I left the ball where it was, rolling off to the side, my jaw agape as I stomped over to him, but his amusement only increased at my expression. “You cannot be mad. After that terrible pass you gave me two seconds ago?”
“You got the ball, you dumbegg!”
“Barely,” he snapped back with a grin, and when I pushed his chest, he only grinned wider. “Hazel, you can’t be losing your touch now.”
“I am not.”
“You sure? That shot at the net was looking a little weak.”
“Shut up!”
He was beaming now. “The love of my life is a football goddess. Where did she go?”
His smirking face. His taunting words. I hit his shoulder against my own hard before I went to get the soccer ball he had brought with him. I rolled it ahead of me as he stepped in front of me. I dribbled the ball, intent on getting it toward the net, on getting it past him. Sam met my eyes with a challenge. He was going to give it his all. He never backed down from me. He never cared for gender. When we played, it was always with equality, and there was never an easy pass on who was better. When he defended, pressured, and jockeyed me, it was with every intention of securing the ball for himself.
I didn’t let him.
Bringing it to my left, then rolling it back when he tried to reach out to get it once again, I saw the opening. Passing it through his legs in a fluid manner, I rounded him, getting the ball. Before he could steal it, which I knew he was fully capable of doing, I shot the ball outside the box. The two of us watched it curve beautifully, go across the goal line, and roll into the net. When I turned to Sam, he was beaming.
“You definitely still have it, Hazel.”
Sam Cahill and Macy Anderson are madly in love. They are both soccer stars who play for their respective university teams while living an hour away from each other. The romance between Sam and Macy began when they were in high school and Sam was going through a rough patch after the death of his twin sister. Now they are in a solid relationship and dealing with the complications of becoming adults and living away from home. Macy has to prove herself on the field and not let mean girls get her down. She is studying chemistry and struggling more than she would like. Some unsavoury characters from Sam’s past resurface, pushing him to his emotional limits. And Macy can’t accept that Sam is still close friends with a catty ex-girlfriend, the globe-trotting model Alexis. Will the two be able to keep their fairytale romance alive?
Hitting the Crossbar is another Wattpad book, the sequel to The Bad Boy & the Tomboy which was a platform favourite, read by an astonishing number of people (almost certainly girls). Like most stories that originate online, it is too long. It has its share of awkward writing but is generally one of those breezy, readable books. It may be low on genuine content, but it contains lots of realistic dialogue and character development. The attraction of the story is all about the romance and a beautiful boyfriend who is attentive and thoughtful. There is also exciting melodrama in the form of the bad crowd from Sam’s past who infiltrate a family wedding and initiate a fistfight. These elements are clearly addictive and create a strong wish-fulfillment story which is enjoyable for many readers.
In order to continue the series, Nwosu has transitioned the characters to university, a setting not traditionally successful for young adult books. The characters are stuck in a place between being kids and being grownups, a fruitful area for literary attention. One of the most interesting themes of the book is the desire to halt change. Though Macy’s large friend circle has scattered, they stay in touch, and Macy is clearly hoping that she can add a new dimension to her life while retaining the old. Her two best friends are a couple, and, when she discovers that one has fallen in love with a new partner, she is devastated. Macy has to find a way to allow herself and her friends to change while still holding on to what made her high school relationships special. It is clear in the novel that this is not always possible. There is a compelling subplot here about how to adjust to university, but there are so many strands to the book that this mostly falls by the wayside.
The real appeal of the book is Macy, a heroine who is just relatable enough. She is a jock but also feminine. She’s a real everygirl, girl-next-door type who loves playing video games, hanging out with her friends and family, and eating. These qualities make her down-to-earth enough to counterbalance the fact that she is a gifted soccer star who is dating one of the most eligible boys in the country. Sam is so good-looking that he is a part-time model, and so talented that he is projected to become an international soccer star. He’s also a member of a fabulously wealthy and famous family, including a mother who is a pop star. That existence of his troubled past, caused by the grief of his sister’s death, makes him less perfect, but also more attractive. Whenever Macy is out with Sam, girls ignore her and flirt with him. This deepens the fantasy of having the perfect boyfriend while also establishing a problem for Macy - defending herself from all of the jealous girls. This romantic fantasy still provides a few real-world problems.
Macy and Sam’s natural and comfortable relationship takes centre-stage. Much of the novel is the two of them hanging out, teasing each other. This is the most successful aspect of the book and the most appealing to readers. It depicts a healthy relationship which is trusting and adult. The misunderstanding that leads to the breakup of our power couple is rather flimsy and abrupt. It is easy to see why Nwosu felt the need to create a cliffhanger and set up a plot for the next book in the series, but it undermines the real bond that exists between Macy and Sam.
It is a bit hard to take a book seriously which features a group of 18-year-old millionaires, globe-trotting models, the next big soccer stars, and writers who have just attracted a literary agent. But Nwosu combines this fantasy with a lot of downtime and banality. The story features a dizzying array of characters, many of whom have special nicknames for each other (Sam calls Macy “Hazel”). Many of these are surplus to requirement, but the core characters, and especially the power couple, themselves, are very well-rounded and believably drawn. The desire to see how Macy and Sam reconnect will keep loyal readers coming back for more.
Kris Rothstein is a writer and editor in Vancouver, British Colombia.