Crash and Burn

chapter 24

L U K E

"WATSON!"

I immediately choked on my Gatorade.

"Come into my office."

I drug my feet all the way there, viewing the flashing events of my life. When I made it to the office, he shut- no slammed the door behind me. I jumped but maintained my balance.

"Yes coach"

"Take a seat." I obeyed.

"I'll make this short. It's obvious you aren't in the place to play ball anytime soon," he stated, glaring at my crutches, "but, I was there for a few of your freshman games last year and I have to say you sure know how to play ball, kid."

"Thank you" I stuttered, not knowing why.

He tilted his head at me. "You alright son?"

"Peachy" I reassured him, controlling my voice.

"Anyways, I'm offering you JV team captain. You can't play, but I could use someone like you to help me choose the best plays and motivate your team."

I was awe-struck. "Yeah I would love to, thank you."

I began to get up. "Watson, I know about your epilepsy. Just know anytime you have a seizure and don't want to finish the day or go home, you just come in here and you can lay down."

"I'll make sure to coach."

And with that I found myself, fleeing his office to many curious eyes. They stared at me, and I stared at them. I realized I was slightly shaking, and I felt a headache coming on and I didn't want to deal with the bombarding of questions. I glanced down at the bracelet Amber got me, weighing my options. Then it hit me.

"Y'all got yourselves a new team captain." I plastered on a fake smile, trying to leave before everyone got too loud.

Cheers erupted making my coming headache, a persistent migraine. I felt my stomach start to churn and my good leg started bouncing all over the place.

Oh no.

I maintained a fake smile and fought my way out.

My head was pounding worse, and my stomach started going crazy, I starte searching for a trashcan, but my crutches were slowing me down.

"Luke?" I heard a distant voice say.

I felt my body getting further and further out of my reach. I made to a trash can and threw up. It kept coming more and more, and soon I tasted blood. I found the strength to grab my bracelet before everything went dark.

C O D Y

We all heard the coach yell for Watson to come over. Me, James, Zach and Ethan almost burst out laughing from the look on his face. A few minutes past and he came out looking a little distant but regained his composure when he saw the whole football team staring at him.

All of a sudden he yells out that he's the new team captain, and when he does I immediately know something is wrong. He's swaying, and he keeps bouncing his leg. Then I don't know how, but he got out of the locker room, looking anxious.

"I'll be right back," I told the guys following him.

I followed Luke all the way to a trash can where he started violently throwing up, sobs racking his body.

"Luke?" I called out to him, but he didn't respond. I knew right then he was about to have a seizure.

I ran back to the locker room as fast as I could and grabbed James and Zach. They looked at me funny, like I was being stupid.