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"Hey...hey Louis! Come here!"

Louis inwardly sighed and tried to muster up all the fake kindness he could find within his inner self to turn around and be nice to Mrs. Grayson, the woman who had just called his name.

Mrs. Grayson was QCA's Drama teacher, and she had been on his back about doing a play since she heard him sing sophmore year during a routine theater and performance class. But according to Louis, Mrs. Grayson didn't know the rules around here. Soccer players don't do girly stuff like plays.

"Hi Mrs. Grayson", Louis said turning around and throwing her  one of his charming, beaming smiles. 

Mrs. Grayson smiled back, stopping her small swift steps as she stood in front of him. She was carrying a stack of brightly colored papers in her old, thin arms. 

"Do you need help", Louis asked gesturing towards the papers.

"Nothing I can't handle", Mrs. Grayson said shrugging. "I was actually walking over here to give you one of these."

Mrs. Grayson licked her thumb and index finger and sifted one of the papers from the stack,  and handed it to him. As Louis looked at it, he realized it was a flyer announcing the play Grease and its audition date. QCA's Drama department put on a play every year and he knew she was trying to get him to participate.

"If you try out, your slated for Danny", Mrs. Grayson said pointing at him and sauntering off.

Louis looked after her confused and shook his head. She was a crazy old bat.

He made his way out of the school's main building and to the soccer field, with the flyer in hand. He took a moment to read over the flyer as he dropped his backpack and sports bag onto the bleachers.

Grease will be performed on February 2nd. Auditions will be held October 8th in the Willis James Theatre. The flyer read.

Louis bit his bottom lip and sighed. They had a scrimmage with FC Arizona on that date to kick off the soccer season. It was not mandatory, but as the team's captain, it was an unspoken rule that he had to be there.

He  crumpled up the flyer and threw it, the yellow ball of paper hitting a bleacher several steps below his own. So much for that thought....

He sighed once and sat down to wait for his teammates. 

It was a Thursday afternoon in late August and a few of his teammates had agreed to meet up on the pitch to kick around the soccer ball. 

Soccer was life to Louis. Over the past 3 years of American high school, Louis had dedicated himself to QCA's soccer team. He had lead them into winning two district championships and this season he hoped that they would win nationals.

Yeah, soccer was life....but Louis couldn't help but think there was more. He liked playing sports, but it seemed that playing soccer and winning games was all that was expected of him. To others, he was just a jock. But he had other sides to him too. 

Like a creative side. Mrs. Grayson wasn't wrong in asking him to participate in a play. He loved art, literature, and plays, especially musicals, although he would dare not admit that to anyone. 

He also had a romantic side. He hadn't had one steady girlfriend his whole high school career, only a string of flings with this hot chick and that hot chick at QCA, which had earned him a reputation as a player, which was good and bad depending on who you talked to. None of those girls had actually loved him anyway. They just wanted to date him for their own reputations. 

This weighed on Louis so much. Was he ever going to be able to reconcile these sides of himself and would he ever find a girl that truly loved him? He wasn't even sure he knew how to love, with all his past relationships being so wrapped in if the chick was hot or if other guys wanted her.

God what he would do for true love. Love that would be so deep, the very thought of being away from each other was unbearable.

Louis leaned back onto the bleachers and closed his eyes trying to imagine that girl. Soft skin, sensuous eyes...they would be the type of couple that could make love all day and talk about about anything all the night. He tried to physically imagine the girl, but no one came to mind. 

"Tommo the Tiger!" Tooommmooo!" 

Louis snapped out of his thoughts to see his teammates approaching him. He smirked. These guys had been his good friends for the past three years. 

There were five of them. Danny Gravers, Justin Malkovich, Andy Ulrich, Rudy Hutchinson, and his best friend Casey Soros. They all met freshman year at tryouts and had been best friends since then. 

Louis felt that their friendship bond had made them all strong players and they worked well on the team together; but in some instances it had isolated other good players too. Like DJ Jackson and Diego Garcia who both were phenomenal players but overlooked because they weren't part of the pack. Louis wondered why they never hung out with those guys, he had talked to them before and they seemed pretty cool.

"Tommo what the fuck we waited for you ya loser!" Casey yelled  as they approached. Casey had a bad habit of cussing, but everyone loved it and Louis usually obliged by shouting profanities back.

"You said to meet on the pitch you fucking wanker" Louis shouted back, a grin spreading across his handsome face. He fished out his grey beanie from his backpack and put it on his head. He could never play soccer without his hair pulled back. He hated it in his face.

The guys took to the field and Casey dropped the lime green ball onto the dark green grass. "To Nationals!", he shouted as he kicked the ball and it went into the net. The guys cheered. 

Andy took the ball next and said, "To all those fucking losers who think they can beat us", and kicked the ball into the net.

"Fuck yeah" Danny raved. 

The guys continued mucking around the pitch for nearly half an hour before they took a seat on the soft grass in a circle. 

"So who are you screwing this year Tommo?" Danny asked out of the blue

Louis laughed as he took a sip of his water and said, "Naw mate. We got to win nationals this year. Girls can wait."

"You can have a little fun", Casey said gently swiping his arm. "I heard Heather has the hots for you."

"Been there, done that", Louis said, a bitterness laced in his voice. 

Louis had dated Heather when he was sophomore and she was a freshman.Their relationship had not ended well at all. 

He didn't know why guys were so obsessed with Heather. Yeah she was gorgeous and all, but  she was demanding, self-centered and had a bad attitude. They had argued for the majority of their relationship about stupid things, and it had wore Louis out!

"Naw mate I'm done with girls like that" Louis said brushing a piece of grass off his jeans.

"So you're targeting sleepers" Danny asked.

"Not looking for anyone this year guys" Louis said exasperated. Was that all these guys thought about? Sex and women?

"Man thats unusual" Rudy said. "You're always on the prowl."

"Aw Tommo's growing up" Justin cooed and the others boys joined him.

Louis rolled his eyes. "You guys are weird."





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