We Come Alive 5

Epilogue: Stephen Coleman

Stephen Coleman

Once all of his friends graduated from high school and went off to college, Stephen became the captain of the football team, trying to fill Clover's shoes. He thinks he did a pretty good job too since he leads the Jaguars to his third consecutive state game. They win with a final score of 25 - 19 making him the only one out of his friend group to win three high school football state championships; something even Mateo doubted would actually happen.

Stephen held the state trophy high above his head as he sat on the shoulders of his celebrating teammates. He looked into the crowd and saw his friends cheering him on. He pointed to his parents who were on their feet with the rest of the Dallas home crowd.

Stephen planted a big kiss on the trophy, not caring that it had been touched by many of his teammates already. He laughed as he was let down to the ground and let some of his teammates have their moments with the trophy. He ran over to Mateo and right into his arms, Mateo expecting it and caught him.

"I told you! I told you!" Stephen laughed, latching onto his head coach. "I don't need no girl captain, I don't need all of them! I don't need them! I did this with my team with me as the leader! I'm the best damn captain this team as ever had!"

Mateo chuckled and forced Stephen off of him as Victor and Sam gave him their congratulations. Danny checked Stephen's eyes with a small flashlight as he stood in front of them, creating Stephen to slap his hand away.

"Congratulations. You proved everyone wrong." Mateo smiled. "I'll admit it, I was wrong. Good job, Coleman. Good job, captain."

Stephen took pride in being the youngest out of his friends and of the star eight athletes, despite them all of them seeing him as a baby who couldn't take care of himself. He knows that every time he takes the field against one of them, it's just like old times, but he wants to prove that youth would always prosper. What he hated the most was them looking at him or checking on him after games when took too hard of a hit or got injured. It was a feeling he hated. Pity.

Stephen was playing middle linebacker for Clemson in a game in the middle of the season. He personally liked this game just because it was against the University of Florida, meaning he was playing against his old friend Ricky.

Stephen tackled the Florida receiver and jumped up with ease. When he saw Ricky a few feet from him, he smiled at him.

"You're getting too old for this." Stephen teased.

Ricky rolled his eyes and shook his head. "And you're getting too cocky, kid. Remember I'll always lay your ass out."

Stephen shrugged off his comment and went back to his respective spot on the line of scrimmage. He kept his eyes on the Florida quarterback who was calling the play not too far from him. When the game went back into action, Stephen was on his feet sprinting towards the quarterback. He was stopped in his tracks by an offensive linebacker who tackled Stephen. Unfortunately, when Stephen went to doge him, the two got tangled up sending the younger player on the gridiron with a hard thump on the back of his head.

Stephen felt like he had just blinked and he was on the ground with a massive headache. His vision was blurry as he could see one of his teammates Aaron standing above him, waving their trainer over.

"You alright, man?" Aaron's voice traveled through Stephen's helmet but sounded like he was miles away. "Stay still. Don't hurt yourself more."

Stephen put his hand up to his face mask and let out a few deep breaths. He slowly stood up with the help of Aaron before the trainer was all the way to them. The trainer grabbed Stephen's left arm when he finished taking off his helmet and giving a quick assuring wave to the crowd.