The few days leading up to going back to the school to start football went really quick for Greg, quicker than he expected the few days to go. The next thing he knew he was packing his bag and loading then into the car. Both his parents where driving him back to the school. He and Nick had talked over the few days before going back and Nick was going back to day too.
Greg, always moving around, had never really made friends. Whenever he did start to make a friend his family would have to pack up and move. He was glad that he had made a friend right off the back, so even if he did move later on in the year, he wouldn't have to go through most of the time that there here trying to get to know people.
He looked out the car window, seeing terrain that told him they were getting closer to the school. He was happy that he is going to play sports again. He missed playing them, but they usually didn't stay in town long enough for a sport to complete a season. This time he might get to stay for two seasons and maybe a third.
He felt the car leave the bumpy off road and pull into the smooth parking lot of the school. He saw other parents dropping off other kid, who he assumed were also on the football team. He was nervous about how the team would take him. He didn't want to be the kid getting picked on and tortured by the football team because he was new. The of course Nick is new too.
He parents parked in front of the school. He said good bye to his parents and grabbed his stuff out of the trunk of the car. He began walking to the school when he heard someone yell his name. He turned around and saw Nick. He was about 20 feet away from him. He stopped and waited for him to catch up.
"Hey, Nick," Greg greeted him.
"Hey, so you ready for practice tomorrow?" he asked.
"Yeah, I just hope they don't pick on me cause I'm smaller than all of them and new," Greg told him.
"If they pick on you then they'll probably pick on all the new people."
"Yeah, hopefully they won't at all."
"Yeah, that would be better," Nick agreed.
Greg unlocked the door to their room and they both walked in and set their bags on the floor by the door. "Let's unpack later," Greg suggested.
"Yeah, good idea," he agreed. Nick looked over at the clock on the desk across the room. "Diner here is around 6:30," Nick told him. It was 5 now. "So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know. What is there to do around here?"
Nick shrugged. He got the look like he had an idea. "Let's go see if there's away to the roof."
Greg shrugged. "Okay."
The two of them head out of the room and started looking for door that looked like there would lead to the roof. They wandered for around 15 minutes until they came to a door that looked like a janitor's closet, but if it was it would be marked.
"Jackpot," Nick said as he open the door and saw there was a latter on the far wall going up. Nick stepped the rest of the way into the room and head of to the latter. Greg looked around to make sure no one saw and he headed in too. "Let's go up," Nick told him and began to climb the latter. Greg followed him.
Once he reached the top, Nick was lining on the side across from where the latter comes up to.
"I use to do this all the time before my dad started shipping me the boarding schools," Nick told him. "I think that's one of the reasons my dad sent me to boarding school. Because I stopped listing and would run away to my hiding spots."
"You and your dad don't get alone very well I take it?" Greg
"No, not after he started trying to control every little thing I did."
They sat in silence for a while. Greg walked over and lied down looking at the sky. They stayed there for a while until it was time for dinner. They went back down the latter and sneaked back out into the hall without getting seen.
"First day and already have somewhere to hang out at that no one knows about," Nick commented.
"Yeah," Greg agreed.
They walked into the room where everyone at. The room was pretty empty because it was build to hold the whole school and only the football team was here. They got their food and sat down at an empty table. They began to eat when another boy sat down across the table. They both looked at the boy and then looked at one and other.
"Who are you?" Nick asked.
The boy looked up. "I'm Steve," he told them.
"Are you new?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, aren't you two?"
"Yeah," the both confirmed.
"So, you're playing football?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, and I don't want to sit with the other plays that have played here before. You two looked new so I sat with you."
"Okay," Nick said. Greg just nodded. He wasn't the only one that was worried about the older players. At least he had the build of a football player.
The three of them made small talk for the rest of the time.
They returned to the room around 7:15. The kid that sat with them was cool. They were going to hang out with him later this week.
Nick looked around the room. "It's only 7:17. I'm not ready to go to sleep yet," nick told Greg. "Let's go back up to the roof."
"Aren't we risking it just going up there that one time," Greg tried to talk him out of it.
Nick sat down on his bed and sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But let's go up there after practice tomorrow before dinner again."
Greg agreed. The both lied down and just sat there in silence. Greg was half asleep when Nick asked, "Why did you parents send you to boarder school?"
Greg rolled over onto his side. "Because they know they're going to be here for a while and public school classes don't challenge me enough," Greg explained.
Nick nodded and stopped talk and just laid there staring at the ceiling. Eventually they both fell asleep.