We Come Alive 3

Confrontation

Friday morning practice was already starting off bad for Ethan. He had to pull his car over on the way to practice to throw up since his body was craving his pills. Ethan had no longer took Xanax and was purely on Oxycodone. He had ran out of them and didn't have any from yesterday and today, meaning he needed money and quick. He could always work over the weekend and earn a pay check but Ethan knew it'd take too long for the money to get to him.

Ethan got out his car and walked up to the field with his duffle bag full of football gear over his shoulder. He felt like he was in a daze and was going to throw up again at any moment.

When Ethan got to the field, he saw Mateo telling the players to sit in the bleachers while the coaches and Manny sat on the sideline benches. Ethan dropped his bag down with the others before he sat down in the second row next to Jose and Stephen.

"What's happening?" Ethan asked, sitting down next to Jose. Both of the boys shrugged as they saw Mateo count them once a few more players arrived. Once he saw all of them were there, he started his speech.

"Alright," Mateo begun, "as most of you know, when it comes to most of the things we do, I need to get approval from the school. In return, I have to do what they ask of me. They're concerned because there have been a lot of news stories of football players, and other sports players, both high school and college level using steroids or other enhancement drugs. So, the school is making me make you take a surprise drug test thing."

Mateo sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "So group by group you have to see the school nurse who's in her office. Now, if you don't want to do this, they said you either have to take it today...or it's as if you failed it and there's consequences. She'll ask you if you already take prescriptions for something else so they can eliminate that out of your...results."

Ethan sat there and dropped his head down as his heart was beating at a million miles per hour and his head was spinning. He felt a hand on his back, before he heard Jose's voice next to his ear.

"You alright, man? You look pale."

Ethan nodded slowly as he tried to get his sickness together before he sat up again. "I'm fine." He spoke, forcing a smile. They could hear Mateo calling out five names to go visit the nurse.

Once those players went off to the nurse, Mateo told the rest of the players to get geared up. Mateo walked over to the sidelines and took his playbook from Manny who was rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"You gonna go to sleep in my office again?" He chuckled. "You have a blanket and pillow in there."

Manny smiled softly as she stood up and stretched in her white shirt and grey joggers with black slides. "Yeah. It's to early to be sitting around and watching football players running around in circles. I can do that any day."

Mateo chuckled. "Alright. Have a good nap." He kissed the top of her head before letting her go and watched her walk off to the locker rooms to sleep. As he watched her walk away, he looked over to the players and noticed Diego standing with Clover. Diego was putting on his helmet while Clover was drinking some type of protein shake instead of drinking water like she usually would.

~**~

After practice was well and over, Manny was sitting in the weight room on a yoga ball she had found. She had been watching Clover workout for the past 45 minutes. As Manny took action pictures of Clover working out, they heard a voice speak in the doorway of the weight room.