When Football is Life

Chapter 2: Pregame Rituals

When I got back to the apartment, I saw that I didn't have time for a nap. I had to get dressed for football practice. "Stupid library ruined my nap." I mumbled under my breath. 

As I was changing, team captain, Ethan, text me. 

Ethan: OTW

Everyday, I rode with him and three other football players to practice. Ethan was quarterback and was like a brother to me. He took me under his wing in our freshmen year at orientation. We had been best friends ever since then.

I quickly put on my athletic shorts and one of the many polo shirts that read: "Ally Jo Stewart, Athletic Trainer, Football" on the top left. I put my naturally curly hair in a quick ponytail and grabbed my training bag and headed out the door to meet Ethan. 

Ethan pulled up in his white Suburban as soon as I walked to the curb. We always had good timing like that. I threw my bag into the cargo space and jumped in the backseat beside Jonathon, Ethan's roommate and defensive linebacker. 

"Hey Jonathon." I sighed. 

"Sup, Al." He smiled, not looking up from his phone. 

"How was your nap, Al?" Ethan asked, as he drove off. 

"Didn't get one," I growled. "I was at the library."

"Whoa! What?" Ethan laughed. 

"You went to the library?" Jonathon finally looked up from his phone and exclaimed. "for what?"

"Stupid Business Finance." I said, scooting over to the middle as we pulled into another apartment complex to pick up two other players. 

"Oh yeah," Ethan chuckled. "I forgot that class was kicking your ass." He parked and honked the horn. These two guys always took their sweet time. 

As we waited, I looked over at Jonathon who was back on his phone. I looked and saw a nude picture. 

"New girl?" I asked. 

Jonathon quickly looked up and removed his long dreads from his face. "Met her last weekend at Dave's."

"They've been smashing every night." Ethan laughed. 

"Bruh," Is all Jonathon could say. 

Finally out walked Craig and Boomer. Craig is tight end and Boomer is offensive tackle. Both of them were big guys. Boomer got his nickname in high school because when he tackles someone all you hear is a loud boom.  No one got past him. 

Boomer got in beside me and Craig got in the front. 

"Hey big guy," Ethan said to Craig. 

"Y'all got any snacks?" I asked. 

Between the two of them, one of them always had snacks for us when they got in the car. 

"Yeah, here." Boomer tossed us all a small snack pack of Oreos. 

"You da man." Jonathon smiled. 

When we got to the stadium, me and the guys went our separate ways. I met up with my other athletic trainer, George. He was in his early forties. He was the one who had hired me in my freshmen year. He had always told me that he saw me going far in life. 

"Hey Ally," He greeted me as we both set our bags down on the sideline of the field. "how are you you today?"

"I'm good, George. I didn't get my nap in, but I'm good," I chuckled. "how are you?"

"Couldn't be better. Tomorrow is a big game."

Our opponents were the Florida State Seminoles. Same state games were always huge. I was honestly excited. All of the players were as well and knew that they had to bring their A game.