Locker Room Judgement

Chapter 3

  At Football Practice:

I walked into the school gym and made my way to our team meeting. Our coach Mr. Don or coach Don is a really good coach. He believes in us and wanted to see the best in us. He said we had great potential and It gave me confidence. I have a sucky dad so having someone support me makes up for it.

"Good afternoon Michael. Congrats on your new score in running laps, I heard you had Ryan in a loop." He laughs and I shyly smile. He announced it in front of the team which makes me shy. I'm a bit anti social even though I have very social friends, I get pretty timid when the attentions on me.

"T-Thank you, coach." We fist bump and he starts to explain our next game plan. I study the chalkboard with are game plan on it. He explains where each position is placed and since I'm the running back, I will try to receive the ball the quarterback throws which is Ryan.

I had the play down pat in my head so now I'm ready to practice playing it out. The first few tries, were a bit messy and some of the players weren't understanding it. I could tell Rye (Ryan) was starting to get frustrated with them.

Next try, Ryan receives the ball and throws it. I run out far and caught it. I quickly ran as fast as I could to first down and dogged many players. I skid and made it to first down. Out of breath I look up. The coach is overjoyed and is cheers me on. He blew the whistle to stop the play. We went in a group huddle and Ryan is beside me with his arm around me.

He quickly whispers in my ear. 'Good job Mikey.' I blush and try to focus on the coach. "Alright that was great guys! I believe with great focus during practice, we will have a good season."

He excused us to the locker room. Which me and Ryan had to outrun the others to get the best showers. Which we did because we're fast and we work as a team. Rye holds our place and I quickly grab our things.

I was stopped by Dustin. He looked like he wanted to ask me something so I gave him my time. 

"Yeah?"

"Hey, are you free tonight? the guys and I are having a party and we wanted you to come."

"Sure. What time should we arrive?"

"Oh...Sorry, I wasn't clear before. Ryan's not invited."

That's weird. Why don't they want their other friend to come? 

"Why not?"

"I can only have a small group tonight and every time I ask him he always says no."

Oh, that makes sense. Ryan's not really into the party scene. I want to go though, it's just weird because we always hang out together.

"Ok what time?" 

"8:30pm." I nod. Dustin puts his arm around me and I start to feel uncomfortable. "Relax, one night without him ain't gonna kill ya!"

I guess that's true. I need a night to clear my head and have a bit of my own fun. Plus he probably has plans with Jazz.

"Ok I'll go." 

"Yas! I'll see you there babe." He winked at me which I thought was weird but I let it slide. 

I felt a tap on my shoulder which made me jump and Ryan giggled. "That was something."

I cross my arms. "Shut up, you scared me." I'm was done with him so I walk towards the showers with him walking beside me. It occurred to me that Rachelle never showed up. I'll give her a call later tonight.

  At Home:

   I was gonna walk home but Ryan insisted on giving me a ride. I didn't feel like arguing so I got in his truck. "You know I have my own vehicle I can clearly drive you know." I sass him. He looks at me when he was at a stoplight. "Yeah but you got to admit my trucks pretty badass." I roll my eyes. It is pretty cool, whenever we go mudding it's super fun.

"Yeah. It is." I smile.

We arrive at my house and he wanted to come in. I pleaded with him to not and he sighed and let it go. 

"Wanna come to my place tonight? So we can finish our show we were binge watching?" Awe he wants me to come over...but I just made plans with Dustin. I can watch tv with him any night. I closed the door to his truck and peeked through the open window on the passenger side.

"I'm sorry I made plans for tonight but we can do it tomorrow if you want?" He looked a bit disappointed but I really wanted to go out tonight but If I tell him, he'd want to come with. "It's cool. What are you doing tonight?" I figured he would ask. My downfall is I always use Rachelle as my gateway out of theses conversations. Of course Ray is cool with it.

"I promised Rachelle we would go out tonight." He nods looking down at his steering wheel. "Are you okay?" I hope he's not mad at me. "I'm ok Mike. Have fun." He reassured me with a fake smile and I know it's bugging him that I'm not hanging with him on a Friday night.

Once he drives away, I walked inside my house and I'm not surprised it's quiet. It's 6:30pm and it's a Friday night. Of course my whole family is out doing there own thing. Normally the weekend is when Ryan can come over so I understand the confusion in him. My sister would always be at a friends and my parents would be out partying and won't come back until Sunday morning. So I would be home alone for two days...

I got dressed for the party. I wore some blue jeans with rips near the knee caps and a Navy blue sweater. I styled my hair and brushed my teeth. I decided to call my girlfriend.

"Hey I didn't see you at practice." I say taking a sip of water. "Oh yeah, I sorta forgot because I was studying with Skylar." I laugh.

"Who study's on a Friday night?" She giggles. "Well it was Sky's idea." I roll my eyes.

"Hey I sorta used you as a excuse, I hope you're still okay with that?"

"Yeah of course, what was it so I can keep up with your fibs. lol" 

"I told Ryan we went on a date so I could go to a party he's not invited to." I sounded mean and I didn't like keep things from my best friend, it's not a good feeling.

"Aw! Why wasn't he invited? Does he know?"

"I was told because he always says no and they didn't even ask him so he doesn't know." 

"Hey Mikey, tomorrow is the state carnival and since you owe me for this little lie, can you please take me tomorrow?"

I think for a moment. "Sure." She squealed on the phone and I move the phone from my ear a bit. She gets excited & hyper very easily.