We Come Alive 3

Whereabouts

The following day, a usual Tuesday for Mateo. He came to the field with Manny, got the plays ready for the day, made sure the field wasn't too wet from the rain last night, and waited for the players to arrive. He was currently watching as all the players either lined up on the line of scrimmage or along the sidelines. He checked his clipboard of the list of names of the players and their positions. As he stood on the sidelines and watched the players warm up and stretch, he saw there was an obvious missing player on the defensive line. The defensive tackle, Ethan Hernandez.

Mateo looked over to Manny who watched the players stretch. "Where's Ethan?" He asked.

Manny looked up at him and shrugged. "I don't know. Haven't seen him since yesterday. We're not friends like that." She answered.

Mateo turned towards the field and walked over to the offensive line where the starters were stretching out their arms and legs. He walked over to Jose and put his hand on his back.

"Where's Ethan?" He frowned.

Jose scoffed as he shrugged Mateo's hand off of him. "Don't know. Don't care."

And with that, Jose walked off to the sidelines. Mateo turned towards Clover who just brought her hands level to her shoulders and shrugged. Mateo sighed walking off the field and to the sidelines again. Clover looked over to Jacob and saw him giving her a saddened look.

Jacob looked over to Stephen who was standing along with Diego with the same expression on his face. Stephen looked over at Diego and cracked his knuckles.

"Someone should tell him." Stephen spoke. "He has to know."

"Then tell him." Diego sighed slightly. "I told Ethan I wouldn't say anything. So one of you all say it, cause I'm not. I keep my promises."

Stephen looked over to Clover and Jacob. Neither one of them said anything, so Stephen walked off the field. He made his way towards Mateo and saw he was sitting on the bench with the other coaches looking over the play book. Stephen knew that the players always had a pact to never rat each other out.  From getting into fights to why they skipped practice or school, they never spoke a word. Stephen stopped mid-step and let his breath hitch in his throat. He made a quick left turn over to Manny and sat down next to her.

"I need to talk to you." He spoke, looking out at the field so they didn't make eye contact.

Manny looked at him for a moment before crossing her legs and keeping her eyes on the field since she had gotten the hint that whatever they were going to talk about, needed to be secretive.

"What's up?" She asked.

Stephen bent his head to the side so his neck cracked before turning it to the other side to make it crack again. "Last night on the news they talked about a kid overdosing in front of Burger King. Tell Mateo it was Ethan. He overdosed on pills. This didn't come from me and there should be no trace of this back to us."

Manny nodded slowly. "From all I know..." she trailed off, "a little whisper in the wind told me."

Stephen nodded subtly before standing to his feet and getting back to his spot on the line of scrimmage. Manny took her phone out her pocket and scrolled through it for a few moments as she heard the familiar sounds of practice around her.