Chapter 3
Alan winced as he collided hard with Julius. His head spun for a second and then he was okay. He stood up, ready.
"Again!" Coach Yoast bellowed, blowing his whistle.
The defense groaned, and then, again, one line of guys charged and the other stood, waiting to tackle. Alan jumped into Julius and managed to bring him down to the ground.
"Switch!" Yoast yelled.
This time, Alan, and the line of other guys he was with traded places with their partners. They stood about 20 yards apart, and when Alan heard the whistle, he hurtled forwards, flying towards Julius. He tried to run faster than Julius, and for a while, he succeeded, but then, he felt something start to pull in his leg. He just had to slow down, or else he would pull something again. With a crunching sound, Alan was pulled to the ground.
When Julius got off of him, he was upset to notice that he had been tackled the closest to where they started running. He was slower than the rest of the team. Julius gave him his hand and pulled him up. Obviously, he could see the disappointment in Alan's eyes because he said:
"Hey, don't worry about it man. I'm just a fast runner, besides, it's the end of practice." Alan smiled back weakly, but he still wasn't convinced.
"Everybody has an off day. You'll be better tomorrow," Julius told him as he slapped his shoulder encouragingly.
Alan grinned on the outside, but inside he felt bad, real bad.
"Hey, you're right Julius. Thanks!" He yelled after him, not wanting to sound ungrateful.
Julius just waved as he headed towards the locker room. Alan removed his helmet and then started walking, dejectedly after him.
"Hey Alan!" Coach Yoast yelled after him.
Alan sighed. Here we go, the old "You're not playing so hard", speech. He got it the most out of anyone on the team. He was good, but some days he just couldn't be the best. Coach Yoast jogged up to him and said,
"Son, I noticed you haven't been pushing it as hard as you can on that leg." He looked at Alan's face as if to verify.
"Well, Coach, if I push it, my leg still hurts." Alan reminded him, thinking of the leg he pulled over the summer, before camp.
"Okay." He said, as if considering the ides, "Okay, well I've got an idea for you. You know Gary's friend Melody, new here?"
Alan nodded, What did she have to do with anything?
"Gary told me her older brother did a lot of running and she knows all these stretches and such that you can do." A
lan nodded, "Okay. Thanks Coach."
He jogged off the field, heading to the locker room. He showered and changed and when he was ready to leave, he saw Blue, Rev and Louie singing a song by The Temptations. Alan laughed and headed out the door, holding his bags.
"Hey! Alan, wait!" He recognized Ronnie's voice, even from a distance. He stopped and waited, turning to watch Ronnie coming over.
"Hey," Ronnie panted, "What did you think about that girl Melody?"
"I think she was cool, I guess," Alan said as they started walking through the pathway in the stands.
"I liked her," Ronnie said, "She's smart and she actually talks about stuff. Not like all those other girls."
Alan nodded, "Yeah."
He wondered if Ronnie was going to ask Melody to go steady, after a while of course. Ronnie could have any girl he wanted, they all adored him. The boys had come to the place where two roads met. Alan took off down one and Ronnie down the other.
"See you tomorrow Sunshine!" Alan yelled.
"Yeah!" Ronnie yelled back, walking away.
(a/n: thank you soo much beautyqueen321! i love getting reviews! and i will update a lot, because i already have most of it written... actually i may have all of it written. its just the task of posting it all that takes a lot of time! thanks thou!)