SHOUTOUTS AND ANSWERS

ShalBrenfan: I'm glad you like it.

Queen Of Shadows: Yeah, I know what you mean. I never liked Elaine myself, though I am a fan of Emmanuel Vagier.

Linkie: I'm glad you like the twist I've decided to go with. Sorry this isn't up as soon as you had hoped.

DnAJunkie: Glad you like it. I'm interested in where I'm taking it myself.

PonygurlCurtis: Glad you like it.

Sam1 (Ch 1): I think you're a new reviewer. Welcome.

JadeAlmasy: Glad you like it.

Melms213: I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Keke1: As usual, great to hear from ya. Glad to hear that you're enjoying the story. Right now, I'm a little lost as to where I want to take the story after this chapter.

OthfanAnna: I like Scott drama too.

AUTHOR'S NOTEDISCLAIMERS

Hey, everyone! I'm back from vacation. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this submitted, but my Net was down for the longest time. As usual, Higher Ground characters belong to Fox Family and I own anything you don't recognize. And I put in Rusty's because I liked it.

Later that day, Scott made his way to the football field. He had heard from one of the guys in his class that the school was holding tryouts to replace a wide-receiver that had suddenly moved away. This would be great! This was what he lived for! Football was the only thing that could make him forget. That was why he always seemed to have tunnel vision out on the field; it was his way of blocking out what was happening to him. The boy took his place beside a guy who was about six-two. Oh, great. This is just perfect, he thought sarcastically as he took note of the various tryouts. Meanwhile, he was unaware of the audience he had.

"Wow. Look at all these tryouts," breathed Juliette. "You think he has a chance?" she queried, turning to her friends.

"There's always a chance," Daisy responded. They watched as the coach began the scrimmage.

"Come on, Scott! Go!" Shelby shrieked. They watched as Scott doubled his efforts. The girls followed his movements and even Daisy had to admit she was impressed. Barringer had skills. He was certainly running faster than any of the other jocks. Despite herself, Daisy became interested in what was going on.

"Come on, Jocko. Come on," she murmured when he had caught the ball. Almost as if he had heard her, Scott put on an extra burst of speed. The ball moved through the air and Scott quickly caught it, moving towards the end zone. When he made it past the goal line without being touched, Shelby, Juliette, and the others screamed excitedly. However, the tryouts weren't over. They lasted for another couple of hours, with different boys playing the part of wide receiver. When the boys were finally finished, Scott jogged over to his new friends.

"You were great. I can't wait to see if you made it," Juliette squealed, throwing her arms around him. Scott chuckled nervously, and managed to disentangle himself without seeming rude.

"I don't know about anybody else, but I'm hungry," Katherine stated.

"I could eat," confirmed Shelby. "How 'bout you guys?" she queried, turning to her friends.

"Yeah, sure," they all agreed. With that, they all made plans to meet at Rusty O'Brien's, a popular teen hangout, with Scott getting directions from Auggie. As he walked to the car, Scott pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Yes?" he heard his stepmother ask.

"Elaine, I'm going out to eat with some friends. And no, you haven't met them. But that's only because I haven't had a chance to invite them over yet," Scott said.

"Okay," Elaine accepted. They hung up and Scott got into his car, started the engine, and drove off. Once there, the teens quickly got a table.

"You're gonna love this place. It's awesome," Shelby told Scott.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," she confirmed. A few minutes later, the head waitress and owner of the diner, Annie, came out.

"What can I get you queried?" she queried.

"Usual," almost everyone replied.

"New boy, how 'bout you?" Annie asked.

"Cheeseburger-cheeseburger, chocolate-cherry shake," Scott responded.

"Coming right up," Annie promised, as she finished writing up the order. Then, she left. For a while, they talked. All conversation stopped however when their food arrived. After they ate, they each went their separate ways. Once home, Scott changed clothes and tumbled into bed. A few minutes later, he heard the knob of his door turning.

"No," he moaned. Cecilia walked up to the bed and Scott resigned himself to what he knew was coming.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Sorry I skipped over the diner scene. I was just anxious to get this up. Due to the fact that my Net conked out on me, I lost most of my favorite stuff, which included a Dreaming of Hayden website and a Higher Ground site that had a photo gallery of each of the characters. If someone knows if either one of these one of these sites are still current and could tell me, it would be appreciated.