Peak

Ch. 12: Fearless

Six months later (June)

It was the first day of summer conditioning/practice and to say I was excited was an understatement.

By February I had the boot off. At that point I hadn't used my ankle in months, so it felt like there was no muscle there at first. Terrifying experience to say the least. By March, walking was back to normal. And by spring, I was running- no, sprinting. The first thing I did when I was able to sprint again was a suicide just like I told Red, and dammit it felt good to feel like I was going to die again. I missed them, still hate them.

Us Eastside Bighorns ended the regular season 6-3. We got knocked out of the playoffs in the third round though. Good news, it wasn't Brigfield this year (they won yet another championship), bad news, it was against Ross Academy High School and we should've been able to beat them.

I mustered up the balls to ask Lauren to be my girlfriend back in December. We've been dating for almost six months now and I've never been happier in a relationship. I promised her a seat in the front row of the student section every game this year, all the guys think she's great.

So that brings us to senior year. Where did the ti-

"Goddammit senior year! Where did the time go?" Antoine chanted.

"We're doin' this shit right this year, nobody snap their leg!" Eli joked. We all laughed, I know that experience took my junior season away from me, but I had to laugh; you just can't change some things, so you laugh.

"Derek, this year I expect one hundred percent of field goals made." I teased.

"Let's see you only miss two all season, asshole." He shoved me jokingly.

"Sam, can I speak with you for a sec?" I heard Coach call to me. I ran over to him by the bench.

"Sup Coach?"

"I don't know if you're thinkin' about this just yet, but you are gonna have to earn back your position." He stated.

"I understand, Coach."

"But...there's not a doubt in my mind that you can." He shot a crooked grin. "Good to have you back Shoes." He slapped me on the back.

I smiled, thanked him and ran back over to the guys.

"So, last first day of practice." I said. They all nodded trying to register that thought alone.

"It feels like yesterday was the first day of freshman year and we were terrified to walk down here." Derek reminisced.

The four of us were deep in though when we heard clapping and commotion behind us.

One guy's voice rose above the rest to me:

"Well if it isn't the man, the myth, the legend, Jimmy Adkins!"

Author's note:

Guys...guys...I have never finished an entire story/book...until now. Peak is over...cue post-writing depression. Seriously, I've never felt what it's like for a story to be over.

Well, this thing has over 100 reads which in my book is a milestone. Thank you to the Wattpad community, even if this wasn't read by many, just the fact that you guys were there and kind of acknowledging it motivated me. Huuuugge thanks to Gigi Balsamico for patiently waiting for updates and attentively following the story. Thanks to the YouTube inspirational video that...well, inspired Peak. This is so dramatic :'(

All of my stories I write have a purpose or a message and I promised myself I would write it when Peak was finished. Don't let fear stop you. Don't just quit because you're afraid. ...That's basically it. I'll just drone on if I beat that theme like a dead horse.

So let me tell you the story about Peak. I got the idea and thought "this can be like a warm-up to get back into fiction or a fun story". Then by the time I realized this was the first story I've had that was 1) easy to write 2) fun to write 3) had different options or paths I could take as I wrote. So then I thought hmm better start taking this thing seriously. And I love how this ended (I don't mean that as like complimenting myself I mean that like 'yes I'm so proud of myself!')

Oh gosh I don't want to end this. I'm sorry there won't be a sequel that covers their senior year, I don't do series' :(

Hopefully in the future this story can still pick up some fans and reads even though it's over! Thank you all so much again for your support, interest, and acknowledgement!!

Godspeed, Wattpad~