Tridon walked up to the school alone. He wanted to enter the school alone as people hadn't seen him in the last month and a half. Same with the girls. He was nervous. Would people question his absence. He had been turning his work through Tiffany, so he hasn't lost his spot in the school rankings.

However, he was still nervous. The government was paid off to keep his identity in the raid on Robert's building. However, there were still people there. He's afraid for the girls. Tridon gripped his bookbag and slowly walked into the front yard of the school.

"Tridon!" A student called out, "It's been a while."

Tridon waved to them and continued on inside where he was greeted by many other students. Tridon was confused. He had never thought that the students would be so welcoming on his return to school. Yeah he was number 1, but he was never popular.

Tridon arrived at his first period class. He looked inside to see Monika and Natsuki surrounded by other students. Tridon leaned on the wall outside and took some deep breaths.

"Hello Mr. Pierce." Tridon looked up to see the principal, Ms. White, standing in front of him, "It's good to see that you've returned to school now."

"I'm still nervous."

"I would expect that. You had to fight in a mini-war. A young one like you shouldn't go through that."

"I'm not that young Ms. White."

"But you're still in high school. A senior at that. The number 1 in the class. This must've been stressful for you."

"Not about the situation. I've been worried about the girls. They've never dealt with something like that. I've dealt with it my whole life and I've prepared for it. Not them."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know."

"Well," Ms. White looked inside the classroom and then to Tridon, "I'm here when you need to talk to someone. But you should get in there now. Late bell is about to go off."

"Alright." Tridon stepped into the room and once the students saw him, they hounded him, "Whoa." It was hard for him to understand everyone since they spoke at the same time, but he could get the idea.

He looked over at Monika and Natsuki who were laughing and smiling at him. He smiled too and laughed nervously while scratching his head.

Later that school day during free time, Tridon walked aimlessly and noticed Sayori and the others waving to him. He started to walk to them, but stopped when he saw the Athletics Director of Lingston, Jayson House.

"Hi there Mr. Pierce," he started, "it's good to see you back in school."

"Y-Yeah."

"Well, I know you haven't played since middle school and I've been looking to see how you play. Coach Johnson would like some film on how you handle the ball in a real-game situation."

"How do I do that?"

"There's a spring league starting the week of your spring break. It'll span over the next month and a half."

"A spring league." Tridon smiled and nodded, "Yeah. I'd be down for that."

"Tryouts are after school today downtown. You'd be signing up for the senior tackle league. I think you'd do well. It'll be just like Pop Warner."

"Alright. I'll think I'll do fine too."

"I'll be watching and capturing game film of you to send to Coach Johnson. Then we'll see about getting you on the team."

"Thanks Mr. House."

"No problem."

"Oh Mr. House."

"Yeah?"

"Where is it exactly?"

"At the sportsplex downtown. You can't miss it. There'll be quite a few kids your age and younger there."

"Sweet." Tridon waved him off and walked over to the girls, "You 4 mind coming with me to the sportsplex later?"

"Why?"

"I'm trying out for this football spring league and I'd like if you girls were there to support me."

"I've heard about this." Chelsea commented, "It's a spring league just for fun. Kinda like Pop Warner."

"Since I want to get back into football, I need to get back into the game. So why not join this spring league."

"So you want us to support you at these tryouts?"

"Yeah. I'm really looking forward to it."

"Well, we can do it."

"Alright. It's after school. I'll c'ya girls then. I gotta psych myself up for it."


Later that day, the girls met up with Tridon in front of the sportsplex where he stood outside in his workout attire. With his gym bag at his side, he paced around psyching himself up.

"You'll do fine bud." Sayori reassured Tridon by shaking him, "You killed it when you played. It's only been a few years."

"5 years, 22 days, and 8 months."

"Oh..."

"But haven't you been practicing?" Yuri wondered, "Since last year right?"

"That was one of the lies I told. I've been practicing immediately after I got kicked from the team I was on."

"So you're more than ready." Natsuki pushed Tridon inside the sportsplex and continued doing so until they got to the locker room, "You are ready!" She gave him one last push and he stumbled into the locker room and a loud crash was heard, "Oops. Sorry!"

"So where do we go?" Chelsea asked.

"I guess the stands." Sayori answered, "I think this'll be done at 7 maybe? Let's go!"


A few moments later, the girls watched the players walking onto the field. It took a minute before Tridon walked out onto the field.

"There." Monika pointed out, "He's looking good." Monika cooed.

"I'm assuming they're gonna run basic drills and stuff." Sayori commented, "Just to see how they would fare and maybe for the coaches to figure out who's gonna go where."

"This particular league's tryouts," Chelsea started, "works like the NFL combine. Just at a quicker pace. They work on basic drills to see where they would belong. A coach either comes up to you while playing or calls you the day after to say if you've made their team."

"What about players that don't get chosen?"

"They still have a chance to get chosen, but they'll probably get limited playing time."

"So what are Tridon's chances of playing as a starter?"

"Depending on if they still believe he still attains his skill or not. His chances are probably very, very slim."

A coach blew a whistle to make earn the players' attention, "Alright!" A coach shouted, "I need quarterbacks here, running backs here..." The coach ordered players of certain positions to certain coaches to begin tryouts.

Ironically, Tridon's coach was actually someone named Coach Johnson, but not the same Coach Johnson that's at Lingston. It was actually his brother, a recently retired NFL quarterback. Tridon recognize him since he retired last year. He wasn't a prominent quarterback and served mostly as a backup, but he knows how an NFL team works.

"Alright," Coach Johnson started, "first, we'll run the 40 yard dash. One run per player." Coach Johnson looked at Tridon and said, "Maybe Pierce can do the first run."

"Uh." Tridon steppe up and inhaled deeply, "I don't know coach."

"Oh come on. I know you'll do fine."

"Alright." Tridon started at the 10 yard line and took some deep breaths. He got ready looked around to find the girls. He found them and waved to them. Tridon psyched himself up and readied up.

He stared forward and waited for the go. When the coach shouted go, he sprinted forward. Everyone watched at how fast he went and was more surprised when he past the 50 yard line. He slowed down and looked at Coach Johnson who had a big smile on his face.

"4.3 even!" He shouted, "Nice job."

"Is that fast?" Yuri wondered.

"Normally a quaterback would run a 4.9 I believe." Sayori answered, "Tridon ran a time similar to that of elusive running backs and speedy wide receivers."

"Interesting." Monika nodded, "Who's the fastest?"

"Ever since they started electronically recording times, the fastest has been 4.22 by wide receiver John Ross III who was actually drafted in the first round of the draft. However he hasn't done much. Namely his rookie season where he barely played due to injury."

"That shouldn't happen to Tridon, right?"

"Probably not." Sayori clicked her tongue and said, "I don't want to be negative, but due to Tridon's lack of play time since middle school, he'll probably be 2nd or 3rd string. A backup or a contingency plan quarterback."

"That kinda blows." Natsuki pouted, "He played well in middle school from what he's told us."

"Yeah, but that was middle school." Chelsea added, "He hasn't played an official game in over 5 years. He'll have to work really hard during practice in order work up to the get the starting spot on a team."

"Either that or someone gets injured." Yuri interrupted, "But the chances of that are slim to none."


Time passed and the girls watched Tridon run throwing drills with receivers and there moments where he shined, but it was not on throwing drills. It was on speed and agility drills. He was average at throwing, but he was the fastest player there and the most agile there.

It didn't stop there. Out of players his size, he had the best bench press. He got 31 reps on the 225 pound bench press. Despite this, he was frustrated. He was only athletic and couldn't get throwing down.

Once some players were being picked up by coaches, Tridon was left on his own with other quarterbacks. Tridon sighed and walked over to the stands where the girls were. He waved them over to him and waited.

"What's wrong Tridon?" Sayori asked, "You're doing well."

"In the physical areas. But I'm not throwing at all like I used to. I'm definitely ending up as a backup or utility player."

"That won't get you anywhere in college." Sayori groaned.

"It might." Chelsea interrupted, "One particular player in the NFL is a utility player. They receive, run the ball, block, and even tackled on special teams."

"Taysom Hill..." Tridon muttered, "The swiss army knife of the NFL."

"You'll get onto a team Tridon." Monika reassured Tridon and said, "Everyone has to get a spot. Just prove it to them during practices and become a starter."

"I guess."


Once everything was situated, everyone settled in Tridon's house while he paced around. The girls watched him while he phone sat on the coffee table.

"Tridon," Natsuki started, "chill out. You're just gonna pass out from stress if you keep acting like that."

"I'm not gonna- oh here we go." Tridon collapsed behind the couch .

"He'll be fine." Sayori commented.

Just a few moments later, Tridon's phone started ringing. Tridon popped his head from behind the couch and stared at his phone. He leaped from the bed and crashed onto his coffee table. He grabbed his phone and continued staring at it.

"Answer it!" The girls yell in unsion.

Tridon quickly answered and asked, "Hello?"

"Hi," it was Coach Johnson, "is this Tridon Pierce?"

"Yes sir, it is."

"Well, I hope you're looking forward to playing for the West Side Lightning. Practices start tomorrow at 3:30. You'll be competing for the starting QB spot for the season. Once you arrive at practice, you'll be receiving the game schedule and the playbook."

"Yes sir." Tridon responded, "I'll be there."

"Alright. I'll see you at practice tomorrow."

After the coach hung up, Tridon grew a large smile on his face and stood up. He ran towards his backyard and jumped onto his trampoline. He tore his shirt off and started doing flips.

The girls followed him as he gleefully flipped and jumped on his trampoline. They smiled at him acting like a kid and began to think that all the trouble they went through the last few months was worth it to see him like this.

"Leave some room for me!" Sayori jumped onto the trampoline and jumped with him, "Whoo-hoo!"

This was what they fought for so many months. Tridon's freedom from Robert and being an enigma. Tridon finally being able to live his life is something the girls have been wanting since they met him. Now he finally gets to live his life without any worry.


A/N: Things are finally normal now for the crew! Tridon can, probably, play football again, nobody seems to suspect anything about their mysterious absence over the last month and a half and now they can live a normal life? A question mark. That's not suppose to be there. Wait, does this mean that this new normal way of life might be harder to deal with? Only I know, haha.

Anyway, this break has been neat. I've spent time working on some of the chapters on this and the sequel novel to this. I've also been doing my own thing on YouTube and Twitch, but I won't shout those out here and most of you probably don't care and are tired of my endlessly self-advertising myself. So for now, I'll just leave you all with this last bit of updating for this chapter.

I won't do much with Tridon being in this spring football league. It's just there to really show how normal their lives will be. Since I'm not doing a College After Story type of thing, I won't really need to focus on Tridon's football career. We'll still deal with Sayori's path to Lingston and such as well as Tridon's final choice (which is already set in stone). From this point on, it is obvious that either Sayori or Natsuki will be chosen in the end. So what team are you on?

Team Sridon? Triyori? Saydon? I'll let all of you figure that out.
Or what about Team Natsudon? Nah, that sounds like a pokemon
Trisuki? Yeah that works.
Choose now!

I also have a filler that'll be uploaded soon. It's a rather short, sweet chapter about our childhood best friends. So look forward to that!