Sam was exhausted, and that was saying something. Edgar and Alan were no better, the three of them practically limping, fell down before the bike rack outside of the high school.
"This is torture." Alan said he lay forward stretching out his overworked muscles slowly.
"Torture, who has the best run time," Sam asked incredulously, as he flopped on to his side to better resume the ongoing argument.
"Who has the best stamina?" Alan asked.
"Doesn't help my time," Sam stated.
"We just have longer legs… Aaah!" Edgar gritted through his teeth, as once again the pain of stretching too fast came upon him. "Besides, who has the…the… better stretching technique?"
"Anyone but you," Alan quietly stared at the approaching offenders; Edgar simply looked at them in annoyance and Sam ignored them completely.
"Don't you have something better to do, like go home?" Edgar asked.
"Are you going to come to the practice session after school?" The question was directed at Sam who turned his head towards Connor.
"I don't know, Mom has to work again and someone needs to be there when the repairman arrives."
"You still fixing your grandpa's house?" Evan asked.
"It's a very slow work in progress, and not getting anywhere any faster, considering we can hardly get anyone up there."
There were seven boys in the group. Connor was the smallest, wiry and fast, a game fighter with a little more punch than his appearance would give off. White was the first thing that came to mind, not pale, just very white, accentuated by deep chocolate eyes, and almost black hair, he had a strong penchant for wearing red. Evan was black, tall, strong leg muscles which made him good in basketball, track, and lifting. Nick was big, tallest of the group, dark brown hair and well built a formidable opponent for anyone. He has penchant for dark colors and exercise pants as well as being rather quiet. Jim was the athletic Asian, simply in the sense he was on every single team, well built, mean, and horny. Ted aka Theodore was a tree, literally, he had trunks for legs and limbs that could suck the breath right out of you. Blond and very Californian looking, he was every girl's dream. Only unlike most guys his weight, this one had a brain, he just sucked at math, which many girls were more than happy to help him with. Keith was the older brother of the one who started the encounter. Keith was medium build but was very popular, he was also very athletic and for the most part a nice guy. His younger brother Aaron was a dick. Keith had brownish-blond hair and a decent tan. Aaron had shoulder-length blond hair and an attitude the size of his home state. He was a pain in the ass if there ever was one, but like Keith he had his moments where he could be pretty cool. Sam was fairly acceptable where the boys were concerned, partially because they all liked Mike. Sam of course was a rather likable guy, but they did not like the Frogg brothers, and Sam's friendship with them was an issue the boys had been trying to undo, or at least diminish. Sam was a decent runner, he was getting better, and the coach said if he kept it up, he'd be a reserve and on the second string. As soon as the house was fixed, he could go to practice regularly, for now he went off and on, and attended some make up sessions.
Where Keith and Nick differed was that they did not harass the brothers, thinking that Alan, who was also going to make the reserve or second string so to speak team, could be made into a somewhat fashionable teen, if nothing else and ally, they tended to be courteous to both him and his brother. If only for Sam's sake, having learned that neither Sam nor Mike were cool with the brothers being insulted, and Mike putting his foot down on the matter; the two decided that while Aaron could not take a hint, they would. The others were nice, simply because upsetting Sam wouldn't get him on their good side, and they were the counterpart to Aaron, someone all the boys had an issue with, one way or another.
"Well, if you get there and need a ride home, one of us will take you." Aaron said.
"Thanks Ron, I appreciate it." Aaron shrugged, he turned to Alan.
"Same for you, anyways, the makeup attendance is on Saturday at nine in the morning, and there's one at six pm. You guys can attend whichever."
"Thanks," Alan said, "We should probably go to both, considering we were waiting and missed the one."
"Yeah, you're right on that one." Sam said.
"I'll be at that one because of a doctor's appointment, and Nick and I are going to the other one for some exercise, we could drop you off at home, or back at the shop." Ted offered.
"Since, you guys are generally hanging out on the weekends." Nick chimed in. Sam and Alan nodded and gave their thanks. A horn honked and Sam turned and groaned.
"Hi boys, how are you?" Connor waved.
"Hello Mrs. Emmerson, how are you?"
"Oh just fine," she came out. "Sam honey, are you and Alan and Edgar okay?"
"We're fine Mom, we just can't move."
"Hello Mrs. Emmerson, you're looking nice today."
"Oh, thank you Theodore, I'm so glad to see you again, now you boys have a good day and you be careful going home."
"I'll help Mom." Mike came up, and hauled the boys to their feet. They said their goodbyes and the Emmersons and Froggs drove to the house way up on the hill that was very slowly being repaired.
