Chapter 3

6 0 0

by ijewkesyouout

by ijewkesyouout

I had just arrived home, it was 3:15 and fifteen minutes past when school would end. So I thought I was safe from getting a punishment. I was lucky, my mom had been notified about the incident but she didn't care, she just told me to not try and kill people. I knew she meant not to kill people sarcastically and what she was telling me is don't get into fights. However, at the same time, I received a call about football. the coach talked on the phone and said, "Hello? Yes, is this Joe," I replied, "yes" "Well, we have reviewed many players and make sure they are capable of everything we have asked of them," He said "We just want to notify you that you have made the varsity team. We have practice at 4:30. Our first game will be on September 3, Friday at 6:00 against Birmingham High School." I jumped up and said let's go! It made me filled with joy and even left a smile on my mom's face.

It was already 3:30 and I still had an hour before practice so I sat down in my bedroom and finished the book that I was reading. It wasn't really like a novel, it was a book about the greatest NFL players of all time. The book went over many people in the Hall of Fame. Steve Young, Dan Marino, Bo Jackson and so on. I was so caught into the reading that I lost track of time and it was fifteen minutes until practice. I grabbed my helmet and pads and went to talk to my mom so she could take me to practice. Three minutes had passed and we were finally on the road.

I arrived at practice at 4:24, six minutes before practice would start. My coach greeted me and told me to get on the field. He spoke with a deep voice and seemed to be about in his 40's. I played catch with the rest of my team until practice started. "Alright listen up," the coach said. "This is no baby sport. When we're on the field we hit to hurt. We hit like a hurricane. We play until the whistle blows. We sweat. We don't stop. We hit harder, we play harder than the other team." The whole team cheered and put their helmets on.

We started warming-up and did the usual routine, the same thing as the junior varsity had when I played on the team. After warm-ups had finished we moved on to basics. It didn't seem like it, but we needed to remember how to tackle, how to block, and routes and holes. The coach seemed overjoyed by my speed and agility. He wondered if I had any experience at running back. I answered yes, considering I had played running back last year. I even put up some fat numbers last year. 784 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns as running back last year. At least my friends were impressed.

During practice, I figured out most of my teammates' names. Headmost, there was Ian. He was an agile and speedy kid who had almost identical abilities to mine. There was Steve, John, Noah, Lucas, and James who all looked like they played lineman. and like 10 others who I knew the name of. The team consisted of 38 players and I was able to count off about 20 that I knew. All of them I've seen before and they go to my school but I didn't care, I'd learn their names later.

The time was 6:30 and we were running routes we had thirty minutes till practice would be over. Last year's quarterback was throwing the ball (who I'm sure would be a quarterback again considering he was a senior) He threw a pass about 8 feet from where I cut. I was about 3 feet away from the ball and I had to decide what to do. I dove out so I could make the catch, feeling like I was defying gravity, I hit the ground with a painful and heavy impact. I whimpered on the ground clutching my hands to my skull and signaling pain. My first thought was I had a concussion, and with the enormous impact, strong enough to penetrate my helmet. The team ran to me, still whimpering and clutching my head. They took a knee around me with about a ten-foot radius and the coaches tapped me to ask me what happened. I managed to squeak out that I hit my skull and I might have a concussion. The coaches raised me to my feet and I walked off the field feeling I had lost and did not want to accept defeat.