The Wait Game-Varsity Blues

Welcome to West Canaan

I remember moving to West Canaan with my mother my sophomore year. It was nothing but rednecks and country in the middle of nowhere in Texas.
It was over the summer so I had plenty of time to make friends that go here. I knew I was probably going to be the only black girl at my school but that was ok. I only knew one person when I arrived and that was my cousin Wendell Brown on my mother's side.
After hours of endless driving, my mother pulled into a gravel driveway with a brick house.
"You know this is only temporary right?" My mother says as I was looking out the window.
I didn't say anything to her.
"Maybe you could see your old friends here," she says trying to make me feel better.
"Or they'll probably use me for my dad," I muttered while getting out the car.
I looked across the street and saw there was a mini billboard in someone's yard that had a picture of a football player across from it that read: West Canaan Coyotes Lance Harbor.
The football player had blonde hair and he was kind of cute.
I got a box out of the car and went inside the house. It smelt weird a little but it was alright for the two of us. Me and my mom didn't have much stuff with us because we were waiting for all of our stuff back in San Francisco.
I went back outside to get more stuff and saw Mom was talking to a family. There was a girl my age but looked much older, that boy from the mini billboard, I'm assuming there father and mother.
I walked outside to see who they were or to greet them rather.
"And this is my daughter Nyla," Mom introduced me. "She's going to be a sophomore this year."
"Well ain that peachy?" The man says. "Our Jules is a sophomore too."
"Maybe Jules can show her around the town, give her a little warm welcome around West Canaan," Mom says.
"That'll be nice," the guy says.
I nodded hesitantly. Mom talked to them for a little longer before we exchanged goodbyes.
"What a good mother for making me go with a complete stranger to tour a town," I say sarcastically.
"Nyla don't be that way," she pouts. "I want you to have friends around here. You know I'm going to be gone a lot because of my job."
"But mom I barely know her."
"And this is an opportunity to you know get to know her. Next thing you know you two could be good friends!"
"Yeah I can't see that happening," I say rolling my eyes.
For the rest of the day, me and mom got a lot done and unpacked since we didn't have much stuff. We got everything out of the boxes and had enough time to set everything up.
I laid down in my new bedroom when it was time to go to sleep on the floor. It felt like I couldn't even go to sleep matter of fact. I kept thinking about my old life with my father in San Francisco and walking around the city just being me. I thought about how life was good, my brother went off into the military to pay for some of his college(in reality he wanted to get away from Dad), and everything else.

I heard a loud knock on the door the next morning. I checked the clock and it read 10am, Mom was gone for work in Houston and I was left alone in the house. I peeped through the peep hole and it was the girl from yesterday. I opened the door and there she stood already dressed.
"Did I interrupt something?" She asked me.
"No I was asleep," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"To ask you if you want Girl Scout cookies," she says sarcastically. "But seriously, to give you the tour of the town to see what it's like."
I quickly got dressed into something comfortable and took a shower and did my hygienic routine. I was finally ready and me and Jules began walking.
"So where are you from?" Jules asked me.
"San Francisco," I said.
"Your daddy's that big NFL star that was from here right?"
I nodded and she smiled a little.
"A little ol' celebrity, Michael Kane am I correct?" She asks.
I nodded again.
"You don't talk much do you?" She says nudging me a little.
"Nope," I giggled.
"How about we swing by the school so you can get a tour of it?" Jules offers.
I nodded because I wanted to see what the school was like.

It took a long time to get to the school since we were walking. It was a small but quiet school. The football players were practicing over the summer and when we went inside the school so were the cheerleaders.
"And those are the cheerleaders," Jules said.
They were all on their break or whatever. They weren't doing much but just talking and walking around. A cheerleader with blonde hair and blue eyes came over towards us and Jules whole mood changed.
"Hey Jules," the girl greets Jules.
Jules gave the girl a fake smile and a little wave.
"Who's your friend I've never seen her around before?" The girl says looking me up and down.
"This is Nyla she's new-"
"I'm Darcy," Darcy interrupted Jules. "And you like you'd be a great cheerleader. Interested in joining?"
"Umm, I'll consider it," I say.
"I hope you consider it well," she winks and walks away.
"Don't pay attention to her," Jules says rolling her eyes.
"Who is she?" I asked.
"My brother's girlfriend," she says. "You'll see him in a bit there almost out of football practice."

Me and Jules continued to tour the school. There wasn't much in the school, she showed me where the classrooms, bathrooms and cafeteria was.
By the time we finished the tour, football just finished their practice.
"Hey Lance," Jules greets her brother.
"Hey," he says sounding out of breath.
He was all sweaty and he was kind of cute.
"Who's your friend?" He asked.
"This is Nyla she just moved here," Jules introduced me.
"Hi," I said and did a little wave.
A group guys came up to us and greeted me.
"Yall this is Nyla," Jules introduced to the guys.
"Hi I'm Billy Bob," the bigger boy out the group says.
"I'm Johnny but call me Mox," a guy who was the same height as Lance.
Mox shook my hand and gave me a smile.
"I'm Tweeter," a much shorter guy than the rest of the guys introduced himself to me.
It was something different about him. He gave me a little wink and a smirk.
"And you already know me," Wendell says and puts me in a little headlock.
I rolled my eyes and the rest of the guys laughed.
"Hey I'm hungry let's go get some burgers," Billy Bob said.
The rest of the group agreed with Billy Bob.
"You wanna come?" Jules asked me.
"Sure," I said. "Why not?"