Finally, after an entire day of walking back and forth across the enormous campus of St. Faia Embrim Academy, Mark found the place he was looking for: the head coach's office. This was the school's first year of starting a football team, and none of the other teachers were experienced when it came to coaching. And when they had some people who attempted to take the job, they were either too old and on the verge of retirement, or just had no idea what they were doing. So when Mark, who at the time was jobless, penniless, and a recovering alcoholic due to the declining economy, received word of the school's plight, he was immediately drawn to the opportunity like a moth to a flame. Yes, months of binge drinking have done a number on his brain cells as well as his liver, but he still had the one thing that made him more than capable for this position: military strategy; only instead of an army of soldiers, he would be commanding a team of high school football players. Close enough.

As Mark waited to be called into the coach's office, he thought it strange how such a big and prestigious school as this would be lacking in athletics. What did these students even do in their free time if not sports? Studying? That's just not normal for a run-of-the-mill high school. After a moment or two of waiting, the door to the coach's office opened, and Mark was called inside. The moment he stepped in to the office, he was greeted by an enigmatic redheaded woman and a burly-looking purple-haired man.

"Ah, you must be Mark!" The woman chirped. "Welcome. I cannot explain how happy we are to have you here with us. My name is Anna, this here's my husband Jake. It's so nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure's all mine." Mark chuckled awkwardly as he shook both their hands. "So, what do you..."

"The players are in the weight room. You can go introduce yourself now."

"Er, pardon?"

Jake snorted. "She says to go get acquainted with our team."

"I heard her fine. I'm just…well, I thought you were going to interview me."

"Interview?" Anna rested a finger on her chin as she looked up in deep thought. "Nope, no interview."

"No questions? No background checks? You're not even going to glance at my resume?"

"Uh, no we don't do stuff like that around here."

"Are you sure? But…"

"Look, buddy," Jake stood bent over his desk as he stared down Mark right in the eye. "This is our first time doing something like this. The educational board threatened to close down the school because of our lack of an athletic department, so the kids are getting lazy and physically weak. Our first game is next Friday night and we just don't have the time to conduct no 'fancy' search or complicated process to recruit the finest coaches in the area. Understand?"

"…uh…"

"Look, we need a coach, you got the job, now shut your pipe, and get to work."

"Jake, that's enough! You're going to scare him away!" Anna intervened upon seeing how clearly disturbed Mark was becoming under Jake's cold glare. "Forgive him. He's been a little high strung from the threats of closing down our school. You know how bad the economy is."

"Oh don't I know it…" Mark grumbled.

"Anyway, we'll deal with the difficult application process later. For now, let's take you back so you can meet the kids."

Mark made no response as he wordlessly agreed to be led by Anna and Jake to the weight room. Anna paused in front of the door to retrieve a clipboard from the plastic bin hanging on it.

"This is the list of students who are signed up." She explained. "And let me just say this: they are very excited about this new sports program."

Excited was definitely not the word Mark would use to describe the students' feelings about playing high school football. When Anna opened the door, all Mark could see were kids lounging about on the machines, texting, doing homework, and even sleeping. He was surprised, to say the least, for there were only fourteen of them, four of whom were girls. They didn't even look like a high school football team at all. Maybe this school wasn't so normal after all…

"Hey!" Jake boomed. "Is this a study hall? No? Didn't think so! Get out on the field!"

The students made no argument as they fearfully dropped whatever they were doing and ran straight through the doors that led outside. Jake smirked satisfied to himself and gave Mark a reassuring grin.

"They're all yours, kid. I got them all riled up for ya." He laughed and clapped Mark on the shoulder before walking away.

"Uh thanks, Jake." Mark stuttered. His day had officially just gotten weirder. He was about to leave when he noticed that Anna was still standing in the weight room. Already, a thousand questions were on his mind.

"Why isn't Jake the one coaching these kids?" He couldn't help asking.

Anna laughed. "He is a coach, but he's been so bombarded with paper work that he hasn't gotten a chance to properly 'train' them."

"Oh, I see. And…now that I think about it, what were those girls doing there? Are they cheerleaders?"

"Cheerleaders? Ha, no way! As I said, football is our first sport we've started here. Only a handful of boys signed up, so why not take in a few girls as well? But don't worry about that. I'm sure you'll be surprised. Well, gotta go. Good luck on your first day, Mark!"

As Anna turned and left, Mark pondered what she just said to him. "I think I'm beyond surprised at this point. No… I'm completely dumbfounded…"

"Twelve, thirteen, fourteen." Mark inwardly counted out the number of players present on the field, not that there were many anyways. "Well, it looks like we're all here."

One of the students, a muscular kid with spiked blue hair, raised his hand.

"Hm, yes? Guy in the headband." Mark pointed at him.

"Uh…Ike. And don't take this the wrong way, but…who exactly are you?"

"I'm one of the new coaches here. My name is Mark D'Tactician. But you may call me Coach Mark."

"Okay…Coach Mark. Are you…actually going to make us do stuff?"

"Of course. That's my job."

Mark heard someone snort from the crowd, and noticed a girl with green hair in a ponytail trying to hold in her laughter.

"Young lady, what's so funny?" He questioned with a frown.

"You do realize this is a joke, right?" She said sarcastically. "The only reason we're doing this is because the school's going downhill, and it's suddenly up to us to keep it from doing so."

"Well, that's…"

"She's right." A boy with dark, red hair spoke up. "Everyone's already expecting us to fail."

"You won't know if you never try." Mark was beginning to get fed up with these kids' negativity.

"Seriously, this is all a waste of time. The entire student body is pretty much laughing at us."

"ALL RIGHT! LISTEN TO ME!" Mark shouted, instantly grabbing everyone's attentions. "You wanna know what's more pathetic than your athletic program? YOUR ATTITUDES!"

No one responded.

"So what if they laugh at you? So what if you're already destined to fail miserably? That doesn't mean you quit before you begin!" The military side of his personality that he thought he drank away a long time ago was returning…and with a vengeance. "Now listen carefully; I am going to turn you rag-tag group of deadbeats into a team of unstoppable warriors. I don't care how much blood, sweat, and tears it's gonna take. I will not tolerate whining, protesting, arguing, or any form of ridiculous excuse you can come up with. By the time I'm done with you, you are going to be champions! Mark my words…do you understand?!"

Dead silence.

"I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

"YES SIR!" They shouted.

"Damn straight." Mark sighed. "And enough with this quitter bullshit. It's no wonder everyone's laughing at you. Now, let's get started with a couple of warm up drills. Five laps around the field."

"But…"

"UH-UH! What did I just say? No protesting!"

The teens grumbled incoherently to one another as they unwillingly began to run their laps. Mark swore he could overhear a boy with short blue hair calling him an "asshole." They hated him already. Good. From afar, he caught sight of Jake and Anna staring at him with agape expressions on their faces. He couldn't begin to describe the bubbly feeling in his chest when he realized that his lecture was enough to terrify even the "big, strong" Jake himself. He smiled a sinister smile; this was going to be an enjoyably long season.

A/N: Because I was bored and this idea suddenly came to me. As for my other story "Altering History"...well, it's not really one of my priorities at the moment :/ if someone else would like to take over the project, then let me know, but I'm not planning on updating it anytime soon.