I drove Knox, Miley, and DeeDee home, going off of chance that Mom hadn't gone off with the nudist yoga idea again. When we got home, Caspian was sitting in my room playing COD, my parents were outside eating dinner, and Thalia was hiding away in her room. I decided not to go into Thalia's room. We went downstairs to the TV and turned on the football game. My favorite team, the Rams, were beating the Chicago Bears.
"Why did Connor do that?" Knox asked, rubbing a mark on his eye.
"Not sure." I replied.
"He knows we're his only competition, so he wants to take one of us out." DeeDee suggested.
"Get real." I smirked. Connor's not THAT smart.
"Yo! Winston!" Knox leaned over and tapped my shoulder. The Rams running back had broken free and was hauling it down the field, gaining distance on 3 Bears defenders. The defenders lunged to catch up to him, but the Ram pulled some crazy move where he cut to his right and juked the last remaining Bear for a touchdown. We all yelled. Even though we were from Missouri and the Rams moved to LA, we still rooted them on.
"Knox, throw me that ball!" DeeDee piped up. Knox obliged, tossing him my foam football.
"Did you see that move?!" DeeDee demonstrated. "He just wiped the floor with those dudes!" DeeDee copied the move perfectly. Good enough to break anyone's ankles. Miley, who was now swaddled in a blanket on the basement recliner, giggled as I pretend-fell. The night went on, with multiple dares, laughing fits, and face-timing Alex. By ten, Miley's mom showed up in the driveway.
"I had a lot of fun tonight." Miley said as she gave me a surprise-hug in the doorway. "See you Monday," she smiled. As she got in the car and drove away, I went downstairs.
"BOYS!" I shouted, tearing down the stairs. "SHE SAID SEE YOU MONDAY!" Knox, DeeDee and virtual Alex broke into raucous cheering, pausing a heated Madden game. I got high-fives all around, bringing down a bag of Doritos that I bought yesterday.The rest of the night wasn't too out of the ordinary for a Saturday, with me and the boys playing Madden and watching the pros.
In the morning, I checked my phone. DeeDee was snoozing on the couch and Knox was nowhere to be found.
New message from Knox
hey sorry had to bounce early for weight training if you guys wanna come sign yourself up for a day pass
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MeadowRidgeFootballOfficial is feeling pumped.
Fridays game will be AT Long Lake HS and is still going strong, no cancellations! Dress warm and come out to cheer on our Ravens as they push for their 3rd straight semi-state trip!
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From jv nerd to varsity nerd. I feel like i've been promoted.
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Eyeglasses722 is feeling proud.
Today, after long, hard consideration, I will announce that I am officially decommitting from Clemson University. I won't exclude Clemson from my list of options, but I am emphasizing thinking long and hard my choice of college. It's been a long road, and I'm very excited to see which school I want to continue my academic and football career with. I will announce my choice of commitment on November 4 at 3PM.
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____________________
Closing my phone, I shook DeeDee awake.
"Knox got us passes to workouts."
"Let's boogie."
We walked upstairs, snatched a couple of pop-tarts, and hopped in the car. After blasting Pop Smoke all the way there, DeeDee shoved a new pair of white and gold gloves in his pocket. When we arrived, Knox, Devin, and an old guy in a jacket of a college I had never heard of.
"Hey, fellas." I greeted them.
"Alex got, like ten more offers from D3 schools." Knox reported. Alex was wanted by about every D1 school you could think of, so D2 and D3 schools were pretty much junk mail. He acknowledged them, though, even if he was certain he didn't want to go there.
"He texted me the full list." Knox showed me his phone. It was a text from Alex.
Alex
I got new offers from 35 schools today
Knox
Whatttt that's cap
Alex
California, Southern Mexico, Hiram, Depauw, Texas Tech, Wooster, Texas, Wabash, USC, Allegheny, Denison, Florida State, Florida, Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan, Oklahoma State, Maryland, Kenyon, Wisconsin, North Carolina, San Diego State, Indiana Wesleyan, Michigan State, Rutgers, Earlham, Indiana, North Dakota State, East Carolina, Indiana State, Ohio, Michigan State, SMU, Wake Forest, Oberlin, Wayland Baptist, Appalachian State, and James Madison all contacted me this week.
Knox
Who are you gonna want to go to?
Alex
Thinking about Texas Tech, North Dakota State, FSU, USC, or Florida.
Knox
It takes balls to just decommit from Clemson
Alex
I wanna play for Ohio State.
Shh, don't tell anyone.
Knox
Ok
Wow. All of those colleges and I still didn't have one college coach talking to me. There was only one way to change that, though.
"OK, guys, let's get to work!" The offense set up, snapping into formation. DeeDee, Norman Bradley, and Seth Cunningham had lined up on O against a DB tandem of Darius, Kekee Bush, and PJ. I snapped the ball. Darius was on Seth, making him a no-go. PJ was doing a surprisingly good job of fending off DeeDee's evasive maneuvers, making my only option Norman. I launched a pass. Norman turned around just in time to see the ball hurtling toward him, sticking out his hands and strongly hauling it in as Kekee tried to swat it away. Norman came down, shoved Kekee out of the way, and bolted for the sideline.
"NORM!" The offense yelled as Norm scrambled down the sideline. It eventually came down to a footrace between him and Darius. Darius, with longer legs and 2 years, won pretty easily. Norm got shoved out of bounds and onto a nearby gymnastics class, before getting up, profusely apologizing to a bunch of eight-year-old girls, and slapping me on the helmet.
"Good route, Norm."
"Good throw, Winston." We exchanged compliments. Norm was a year younger than me, so I didn't know him all that well, but he was good enough at catching the ball and running fast that he was okay with me. We set up for more.
After throwing about 20 TDs, getting swiped by Darius now and then, and getting completely embarassed by Kekee after trying to save a pick-six, we called it a morning and all went out for lunch.
YOU ARE READING
QB Sneak
ActionHi, I'm Winston Paddock. As the backup quarterback for my state-contending powerhouse Meadows Ridge high school, I really am fine with just sitting on the bench, twiddling my thumbs, and watching 5-star starter Alex Iglesias, my best friend, lead th...
