Quicksilver - Jamilton -

Chapter 24: Quack

"Jefferson, at that moment you really should have gone left, not right! Use your head! You're the Quarterback! And then you should have just thrown the ball, what were you thinking!" 

We're watching the video of our practice, and it's not looking good for me. I mean, I didn't really play during  summer, and not since I was back to school, so I'm a little out of it. Still, I could have done better! Wash's probably disappointed. 

"I want all of you to follow the fitness plan I gave you!"

And with that, he ends the practice. I go to the changing room with the rest of the team, and they all give me the cold shoulder. I can understand why they might not be fans of me, after all, I beat them multiple times with Chilton school, and I wasn't the best winner either. I'm quite competitive when it comes to this, and when I win (or fail) I have a big reaction. What can I say? I'm just passionate about football. I think about taking a shower for a second, but I'm going home after this, so I'll just take it there.

"Hey, Jefferson! I thought you were, like, super good, what was that?" My teammate says with a grin.

"I'm just a little out of shape, nothing to worry about."

"If being 'little bit out of shape' means being that bad, I don't know what being in shape means! Were you on steroids before?"

"What? No! Of course not."

"That's the only logical explanation in my mind. Like you were real shit today. I'm not telling you this to be mean or anything, but we can't have losers on our team! I don't even know what coach was thinking." The others nod at what that guy says.

"Listen, I'm going to work on it. It's not the first time I play football on a team. I know how to practice on my own, so I don't need your small talk. I'm going to get better, it has just been a while."

And with that, I exit the changing room. The soft breeze hits my face. I feel like this is not the last time this conversation's going to happen. I sigh at the thought. I'm exhausted, but I still need to work, lucky for me, though, after we showed mister Adams the video and the 'proof' he had no choice but to let us go with a warning and no detention. I take my bike and start heading home, I have an hour of free time in my hand and I don't know what to do with it. Maybe eat something and do my homework? Naah, eat and play video games? Way better. Or maybe watch a video, or text a friend? Talking about texting, me and James have been talking for three days now. After the car ride and the eventful day, I went home and work up the courage to text first. In the end, I had nothing to worry about, we just started chatting like before, and it felt damn good to talk to him. It's so easy! I get lost in our conversation like I do with no one else! He's like my diary, I can process my life when I tell it to him. I don't need to care if I'm making a fool of myself or if he'll tell someone else. When I talk to him, I feel like a child all over again. Like when I'm with him watching a TV show and pretending we're the characters, or when we read on my bed, being citric and saying everything we like and dislike about our book as if we know anything about writing. Our professors hated us, we were so annoying in class. Always talking to each other and not paying attention. People think we were popular, but not all that much! Our classmates surely found us a bit  weird, but we were so much in our bubble we didn't care. He's the closest thing I have to a brother, and I honestly can't live without him. Maybe I'm even too dependent on him, but that's not a problem for now. 

After watching videos while eating, I hop on my bike again to go to the café. It's not that long of a ride, so I arrive fast. Today's probably going to be busy, we're a Friday, so a lot of students will like to spend some time with their friends. I go directly to my locker to exchange shifts with the boy that's there. Whilst putting my apron on I notice that Hamilton's late. Weird, he's normally there before me. I decide to text him, after I took his keys by accident, I ask for his number. I'm supposed to text him only if there's an emergency of some sort, but I want to know why he's late. Maybe he's hurt? Maybe he got into an accident? It's normal to be worried about a coworker, right? I search his name in my contacts, then remember what he put in instead. So I search for "Awesomeness itself" while chuckling.