Chapter 7

Alan walked off the field to where Melody was waiting, already removing his helmet and jersey.

Two weeks had passed since Sunshine started going out with Melody. The Titans had won their first game.

"So how's everything with you and Sunshine?" he asked her, taking the pads out of his pants again.

Melody smiled, "Fine, except the whole school knows now."

Alan laughed, the whole school did know, and he thought it was the greatest thing.

"So I'll bet you're the schools most hated girl," he said, as he sat down on the ground. He leaned back and put his foot up for Melody to hold.

"What?" she looked at him, confused. She pushed his foot forward.

"I mean, by... Ow! Ow, that's good enough," Alan told her, through gritted teeth.

"Oh, sorry! I forgot," Melody's lips went down in one corner, showing her agitation.

"It's okay," Alan gasped, holding the back of his leg. "Just put it down more."

Melody nodded and didn't put as much pressure on his leg. Alan sighed, that was much better. He stretched the rest of that leg and then switched, holding up the other for Melody to hold.

"I meant that Ronnie's got so many girls admiring him, they must all hate you now." Alan finished what he had been saying.

"Ow!" he moaned again, "What was that for?"

Melody had pushed his leg forward more than he was ready for.

"You really make a girl feel better about who she's dating," Melody told him. Alan grinned impishly.

"Well, you should know the facts," Alan pointed out, taking the hand that Melody offered him to help him up.

Julius plowed right into Ronnie.

"Sunshine? Where are you man?" Julius asked, stopping the game.

Some of the guys had stuck around after practice to play some less pressured football and Ronnie was just not paying attention.

"Yeah, why are you spacing?" Blue asked, "You know that's Alan's job."

He laughed and so did everyone else.

"Hello, Sunshine, what's up?" Julius asked again.

He waved his hands in front of his face. Ronnie just pointed off at the sidelines. Melody had just pulled Alan off the ground and was standing next to him, bending over, showing him how to stretch. Alan didn't get it right and Melody had to change his position, moving his hands to the back of his legs. Ronnie squinted angrily.

"Hey, Sunshine, man, don't worry 'bout it. They just stretching," Julius said, trying to turn the big teenager around.

"You don't need to do that to stretch," Ronnie growled starting to walk over to them.

"Alan ain't trying to steal your girl, man," Gary called after him. R

onnie stopped in his track and turned around, coming back to the game,

"Yeah, Alan would never do that." He smiled. "Come on boys, let's play."

Melody laughed, "No, Alan. Can you get any of these right?" She took his leg, stuck it out and folded it in so that the calf was touching the thigh. "Good."

"It's not my fault!" Alan protested, "You make the stretches to darn weird." He shifted his elbow onto his leg, so he could rest his head on it.

"Besides," a deep voice cut in, "He's Alan, he's always wrong."

"Hi Ronnie," Melody said, standing up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "How was your practice?"

"Good," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Alan looked up, "Am I done?" He watched Melody slowly come back to reality.

"Oh. Ummm, no, you have to do the one we did first again," she told him. Alan sighed and leaned back against the ground, foot in the air. Melody pushed it forward, until he grunted for her to stop.

"Good," Melody commented, "See, you're better than you were earlier." Alan noticed that Ronnie bit his lip and looked like he was trying to control something. Suddenly, Alan wondered if it bothered Ronnie that Melody stretched with him.

"Hey Sunshine," he said, getting Ronnie's attention. "Didn't you pull a muscle at practice a few weeks ago?"

Ronnie thought for a moment and then said, "Yeah but what does that have to do with anything?"

Alan nodded his head towards Melody, his hair flicking into his face. "Well maybe Melody can help you stretch it out after practice."

Sunshine nodded, "Great idea Alan!" He helped him up from the ground, whispering, "Man, you know everything."

Alan grinned, "I thought I was always wrong?"

"Oh you know what I meant!" Ronnie laughed, hitting him lightly on the head.

"See you around guys," Alan said, waving over his shoulder as he headed towards the locker room.