Liam's POV
Football Practise. Time to see if the try-outs actually reflect my ability. Today, we also get our play-books too. We also got informed of our Defensive Line-up via E-mail last night, however, none of the names I recognised.
I arrived at the field to see Humphrey walking up to the changing rooms with his dufflebag and his boots hanging off them. Yes, I call them boots, not cleats, welcome to culture class. I walked into the changing rooms receiving a few looks from the other guys already in there, however, not recognising any of them, telling me they were all the defensive players, or offensive players I didn't remember.
As I walked through the changing room, I heard a few comments from them, the likes of "Is that the new Quarterback?" and "Who's the new kid?" I think I even heard someone say "He's too short to be Quarterback," Which made me chuckle a bit, considering the fact that he was right, as I was only about 5'8. I had borrowed some shoulder pads off of Humphrey, as I didn't have any and I hadn't had the chance to get any. I also realised I would need a jersey, which was the case for everyone, as it was a new season.
I mostly ignored what everyone else was doing and just got changed into what gear I had, which consisted of a pair of shorts, my boots, or cleats as most people call them here, my shoulder pads, and a loose fitting t-shirt that managed to fit over the somewhat large shoulder pads. I picked up my gear and made my way out to the field without much conflict or anything unwanted. 'Time to get going,' I said, making my way to sideline of the field.
Time Skip – Roughly 50 minutes
The whistle blew as Regan, our tight-end was tackled by the Free-Safety, Andre, after catching a pass and running for 15 yards or so. So far practise has gone really well. Everyone has performed extremely well on the team.
"Alright guys, we'll run through one more play and then we'll pack it up!" Coach Mathers shouted, one of the other coaches standing next to him running through a folder of plays. Winston didn't show up today due to what he said was work issues.
We went into the huddle, me hopping in the circle to announce the play.
"Okay guys, last play. We'll go with..." I said, thinking of a play, then remembering one I used to do with my friends a while ago. It worked every time with my friends back in New Zealand, but I was interested to see how it would go with these guys, "Shotgun Formation, X Option, Y Drag, Z In 'n' Out. Let's see how this goes," I continued, with the intention of passing to Humphrey, who was running the In 'n' Out route. I was about to leave the huddle before I was met with a lot of confused looks. "What?" I asked.
"That made virtually zero sense to me," Rem said.
"Well too bad. We're trying it. We're in the shotgun, X, you're on an option route, Y, you're on a drag route, Z, you're on an In 'n' Out route. Now line up," I said, clapping everyone out of the huddle, and chuckling.
We lined up and I hiked the ball, catching it as the Center threw it to me. I dropped back, scanning the field for a solid 2 or 3 seconds, but nobody was open, and I was being rushed by one of the defensive linemen, so I scrambled out of the pocket.
Taking the ball in my arm, I ran past the line of scrimmage and continued running straight past the linebackers, however, them not having the speed to keep pace. I thought I was home free for the touchdown, until Andre came out from my right and absolutely decked me. I literally flew a few feet before hitting the ground. Upon hitting the ground, I landed very awkwardly and very hard on my back, knocking the wind out of me. I lay there on the ground for a small while, gaining back my breath, and people crowding around.
"You alright, Liam?" I heard Humphrey ask, crouching down next to me as the rest of the team crowded around.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just winded is all," I said in between my attempts at breathing. Humphrey nodding, and holding his hand down to hoist me up, me accepting the offer and getting back to my feet. "That was one hell of a hit, Andre," I chuckled, turning to him.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Was really in the zone there," He said, chuckling a bit.
"Don't worry about it. Just remember to do that when we're playing in the season, and not in practise," I jokingly said, gaining a laugh and a nod from him.
"Alright guys, come in!" Coach Mathers shouted, gaining the attention of the team, and everyone walking to the sideline where the coaches stood. Once everyone had crowded around, Coach Mathers began to speak.
"Good work from you guys today, although that last play you did seemed a little unorthodox, it was an interesting way to end it," Coach Mathers said, turning to me and chuckling, "Also, jersey's are coming through, so you need to pick your numbers ASAP, or we'll pick for you! Due to the printer running out of ink however, play-books aren't going out today, sadly. If you need one now, we have some, but there aren't enough for everyone," He continued, "Aside from that, you're free to leave. See ya'll later," He said, everyone aside from a few people, which happened to be Humphrey, Jake, Rem, Andre, and Jacob. Jacob was one of the linebackers.
"Now, you guys probably want play-books," Coach Mathers said, heading over to a dufflebag set down on the bench. He opened it and handed out a play-book each to everyone in the small group that stayed.
"Thanks Coach," Humphrey said.
"No problem Humphrey. Remember, day off tomorrow," he replied. Humphrey nodded and we proceeded to take our stuff and walk back to the changing rooms. It was a silent walk to the changing rooms, as Humphrey was on his phone and I was going through the play-book. Humphrey then looked up from his phone and down to me.
"Did you happen to see Kate walk in by any chance?" He asked, me looking up from my play-book.
"I thought she would've had cheerleading practise today?" I said, looking up to him, causing him to let out a subtle 'oh yeah.' I looked up to the stands and surely enough, Charlotte was sitting up there, along with another girl, I think her name is either Sierra or Sienna. I can't remember exactly. I've never been great with names.
I was in and out of the changing rooms rather quickly, not being a massive fan of getting dressed around other men. I walked up to the stands where Charlotte was standing at the bottom of them, ready to go home.
"You did really well out there today," She said, giving me a hug, "You got absolutely wrecked by Andre though," She continued, giggling a bit.
"Yeah that was quite funny actually," I said, "All my stuff is in my car so I'm ready to go. Just gotta wait for Humphrey and Kate." She nodded and we sat and waited for them to come, but as we waited, Kehaan walked up to me.
"Hey Kehaan, what's up-" I said before he interrupted me, grabbing me by the collar and pulling me up off the bench.
"You think you can show up and be a little prick, don't you?" He said, getting in my face.
"Woah, what are you on about?" I asked, Charlotte sitting back in shock.
"Garth is what I'm on about! You fucking think you can just show up and just ruin him?!" He said, turning away from the benches and throwing me to the ground, me groaning and coughing upon impact with the ground, getting winded again.
"Kehaan! What the fuck is your problem?!" I heard Kate shout, running over.
"Stay out of this you whore. This has nothing to do with you," He said, standing over me, but that soon came to an end as he was tackled to the ground. I was still trying to gain my breath back, so I just looked to wear Kehaan was tackled to and surely enough, it was Humphrey, and he had his hands wrapped around Kehaan's throat.
"Don't you ever fucking dare call Kate a whore, again!" He said, lifting Kehaan's head up off the ground and slamming it back down.
"Humphrey! Kehaan! What the hell do you two think you're doing?!" Coach Mathers said, breaking the two apart.
"This asshole just tackled me to the ground for no reason!" Kehaan said, trying to play the victim. Humphrey was silent the whole exchange between the three. I was still on the ground, trying to get my breath back. He turned to me to see me laying on the ground, once again. At which point my brain finally decided to remember Sienna's name.
"Girls, what happened?" He said, turning up to look at Charlotte and Sienna, and Sienna proceeded to recount the whole events that occurred. Once she finished, Coach sighed and looked over to Humphrey and Kehaan, Humphrey standing next to Kate with her making sure he was alright.
"Humphrey, I'm letting you off with a warning. I expect better behaviour from you," He said, Kehaan trying to speak up.
"But Coa-" Kehaan said before being cut off.
"Kehaan, you're coming with me. We're going to the headmaster's office," Coach said. By now, I had finally gotten off the ground and had gotten my breath back. Coach and Kehaan walked away, leaving us standing there in silence.
"I think we should get going," I said, grabbing my stuff and heaving it over my shoulder. "Do you want a ride home, Sienna?"
"No I'm fine. I live around the corner, so it's only like a few minutes walk. Thanks anyway," She said, me nodding.
"Okay. Well, see you later then. We've got tomorrow off," I said.
"Really? That's awesome. See you later guys," Sienna said, waving.
"Come on guys, let's go," Humphrey said, starting to walk off, everyone else walking up next to him. We left the football field and, for some reason, I found Lily sitting out the front by herself, playing some game on her phone.
"Lily? I thought you would've just walked home." I said, walking up to her.
"Hi Liam," She said, sounding a little bit down.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Do you mind giving me a ride home?" She asked. I just nodded, and she got up following the rest of us. Luckily, there was just enough space in the Commodore for everyone to get in without someone needing to ride on the roof or in the boot, or trunk as these guys call it. I opened the boot and everyone chucked their stuff in, along with mine, shutting the boot and everyone getting in the car. Humphrey, Lily, and Kate squeezed themselves into the back seat of the car, while Charlotte and I sat in the front.
"Now Kate, I don't know your address," I said, reversing out of the parking space.
"Oh yeah, that may help a bit," She said, chuckling a bit, "It's 300 Willow Ave."
"Ooo part of the nice houses I see," I said, gaining a small laugh from Lily.
"Humphrey and Charlotte are closer, so I'll drop them off first," I said, them nodding. I decided to turn the radio on instead of my usual CD, and happened to be greeted by a rock channel without needing to change anything.
"Welcome to the evening rumble where we play some of Canada's best rock and metal hits. This is John and Ben tonight and we will be starting off with 'The Diary of Jane,' by Breaking Benjamin." One of the presenters said, and the song starting up.
"Ooo yay, I've always loved this song," Lily said, "Can you turn it up please?" she asked, me turning the volume up on the radio, and continuing to drive to the end of the street and heading to the Rollins' residence.