The Calling

Weston

I was sweating my ass off and out of breath when we finally reached our final sprint.

Let's say Coach looked pissed and probably knew about what we did the night before. "Now go get your asses showered and report back to the media room for a meeting. Is that understood?" We all yelled "Yes Coach" before practically sprinting to the locker room.

I slid back on some sweats and a hoodie after my shower and started heading to the media room. The shower room was quiet today probably because we all knew we were about to get our ass chewed. Matt and Bry caught up to me on the way there.

"You think were fucked captain cowboy?" Matty looked at me with all seriousness besides his nickname for me.

"Well the cramps that I have been having since the shower point to yes," Bry and Matt let out a groan in response and we continued our way to the media room.

We all sat in silence together while we were waiting on Coach, a lot of eyes falling on me with worry. As Coach walked in everyone straightened up, following behind Coach were our other assistant Coaches, our team supervisor, and the dean of students, Mr. Hinrichs. This shit must be serious. Coach sat in the back relaxed in his chair beside his face all furious looking.

The Dean talked first, "So guys, does anyone know why we are here today?" he asked while looking around at us before stopping on me, "Captain? Any guesses?"

"No Mr. Hinrichs," I dropped the eye contact and looked over at Matt.

He then turned on the projector and I just about shit my pants when pictures of us partying at the baseball house showed on the screen. The team doing keg stands, making out with multiple girls, and the last picture demonstrates when we made Matt streak down the street of our house. His ass on full view, I looked over at him and he coughed and straightened up stiff even more than he already was.

"So these pictures have been taken at your baseball house in previous parties but this one was taken last night, maybe it will refresh your memory," Mr. Hinrichs voice deepened before he clicked on the next slide.

A picture of everyone in the room shotgunning a beer with our shirts off showed up on the screen. Yeah fuck, this was from last night.

"I don't know why anyone in their right mind would throw a party and drink so much before your first day back in the gym before the season. You all are making not only our baseball program, but our school look like a joke. I'm only gonna say this once now, no more being stupid. I know I can't stop you from throwing parties and drinking since some of you are legally 21 but we need to stop this monstrosity of pictures and choosing these parties on stupid dates. If I see any more of these pictures on the internet demonstrating our school in this way there will be consequences." He stood tall before giving a nod to Coach and walking out of the room.

An awkward silence filled the air before Coach stepped up from his chair. "If we want to continue our good streak this year you guys got to stop being a bunch of dumb assess. It's as simple as that. Drink if you want but if I ever hear of another party like this or drinking days before our practices you will be benched till I say otherwise. If these things keep being a problem during the preseason workouts then say bye-bye to even touching a beer during the season. If this can't settle down a bit and you can't stop taking stupid ass pictures of yourselves committing these actions then I will make a rule of no partying during the whole baseball season and if I were to catch throwing a party you would be suspended or lose your scholarships. So I would think wisely next time you throw a party at the baseball house cause it could be your last."

We all said "yes Coach" in unison before he continued. "That being said, this week of conditioning will be harder with more reps of cardio to help get it through your thick skulls of how serious I am. For the next month we will be conditioning, weight lifting, and practicing so we can be ready for the spring season. We did great last year but no best. We got second in the championships and if we want to get first we need to be serious about our practicing and what we do outside of it. Media coverage like this can get teams kicked out of tournaments, and the championship and I know we don't want that, right?"

Another "Yes Coach" was loud in the air before he dismissed us. As I'm about to head out the door I hear another demand from Coach. "Collins, stay" I knew he was serious now because he was calling me by my last name and not by my usual nickname.

I gave a quick look to Matt and Bry and told them to wait by the truck for me before I turned around and shut the door. "Yes Coach?"

"You know Collins, I didn't just pick you to be captain as a junior because we lost all of our seniors this year, but I also picked you because you are a hard worker and a good leader. But good leaders don't let their team make stupid decisions. The house you guys throw these parties at is your house along with 5 of the other guys which means it's your responsibility. Just because your living off campus doesn't mean we don't find out about your "events"."

I nodded silently at him. "I think you should have a talk with the guys you about these parties. I'm not saying you guys shouldn't have fun once in a while but you have to admit it was stupid to throw a party the day before conditioning. Was it a party for the last night of a baseball-free schedule or what?"

"Yeah I guess, it was stupid we shouldn't have done it Coach," I replied back at him before he let out a chuckle. " Like I said, I don't think you guys shouldn't have fun but you need to use a bit more of your brain and not be so careless all the time. The Dean is right when it can give certain backlash to the team and the school. Please just do the right thing, I picked you as captain for a reason." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Now go and rest your hangover cowboy."

"Yes Coach and I will talk to the guys, we will be on top this season," He then gave me a silent nod before opening the door.

"I still can't believe how the dean kept a straight face while displaying Matt's ass cheeks on the projector though," Coach let out a big laugh, and I joined in with him before going out to the truck where Bry and Matt were waiting.

The drive home was filled with Bry's and Matt's laughter but I was just in my head. I knew I had a responsibility for this team and I had to make it right.

"Matt, text the group chat that we are having a meeting at our house," I looked towards Matt and all the laughter was gone now as he pulled out his phone. Pulling into the driveway we got out and realized we still had to clean up. We grabbed some trash bags and started collecting all the beer bottles and red solo cups.

Sooner than later all the guys started walking through the front door and making themselves comfortable. I stood up in front of them and prepared for what I had to say. "Guys Coach was right, what we did last night and have been doing is stupid." I looked at everyone before Tucker chimed in, "Cowboys right, we could get in serious trouble or get suspended."

"I'm not saying we should stop partying but I think we should take back a few notches and create a better schedule and only be hosting a couple of parties a month here. We can always go to parties at the football boys' house and the soccer boys."

"Yeah fuckers and by take it now a notch he means not blackmailing me to streak down the street with my ass and balls hanging out," Matt stood up and yelled with a finger pointed at everyone. All the guys started laughing their asses off and I joined in.

"Marty's right though guys we got to start thinking about our team and how we make our team look so let's please just try to not be stupid. We all need to watch ourselves and what we are doing at parties, don't be the one to fuck it up for the team," I looked around and everyone nodded and agreed.

To end the night we all sat around eating pizza while watching some of our rival team's games on the TV.

This is gonna be a long season.