Peak

Ch. 3: September

To say the least, the first week of school was stressful. I already had schoolwork to worry about, trying to get organized, Aubrey wouldn't leave me the hell alone, my dad hounding me, and the first real game was that Friday.

Everyone was cornering me and didn't even realize it. "Pay attention Sam." "Why do you take so long to text me back Sam?" "You need to focus on the game Sam."

I had one place to breath and get away from it all, so that Thursday evening, I drove up to our stadium and called up Derek to meet me there.

I didn't intend to practice given that I'm supposed to rest up and had no one to really practice with, so all I brought was a playlist of AC/DC songs. That seemed to be the only thing allowing me to relax. By the time I got down to the field I found Derek on the thirty yard line with a bag of footballs next to him doing what he does best for the team: punting.

Derek, like me, rarely punted last year, so the nerves were mutual.

"Hey we need that leg for tomorrow." I said smirking. Derek laughed.

"I'll be fine. It's better than sittin' at home."

"Nervous?" I ask.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah." There was a pause in our conversation as he kicked the ball and it soared perfectly through the posts.

"C'mon man look at that. You don't need to be practicing." I tried convincing.

"No I do." Derek replied shaking his head. "It's different in the game."

As soon as he said it I knew that Derek was right. At practice, everything is fine because you're not afraid of making an error. In the game, every second matters, and if one of those seconds slips by you, the game may slip too. It doesn't always work like that, but if enough fear is there, it just may.

"I don't know if I can do it." Derek continued staring blankly at the turf. "What if I miss?"

"Well, then you find you mistake, fix it, forget it, then try again. As long as coach don't say you're done." I said shoving my hands in my pockets.

"And what if I'm done?" His look turned to me expecting an honest answer.

"Then you prove everyone you're not." I gave a small smile.

After that, we continued to talk and just resorted to walking the circumference of the field a few times. Eventually the sun went down and we both headed home, full minds on nothing but the game.

The next day was even worse. I had zero focus at school no matter how hard I tried. Last year, this was never a problem; I always knew I was going to be benched and only worried about the outcome of the game. I was in no way prepared for this and hoped to myself this fades as weeks roll by. The only football players in the school that seemed perfectly fine were the seniors- they're used to it.

By the end of the day, I was already mentally exhausted. Between and during every class there were slaps on the back and good lucks from a larger number of people than I thought. Sophomore Sam would've loved this attention and support, but all junior Sam wanted to do was go home so he can worry in peace.

Everyday my friends and I meet in the student parking lot by one of our cars. Today the hot spot seemed to be around Antoine's piece of shit BMW. Aubrey was standing with Antoine, Derek, and Eli as well wearing her cheerleading warm-up jacket and ribbon in her chestnut hair.

"Hey babe." She beamed as I approached her pecking her on the lips. I wrapped my arm around her waist as we stood next to each other.

"Y'all ready for tonight?" Antoine spoke up.