Sorry for the hold up with the updates, I am working on this as well as my other stories, all featuring female OC-inserts. Thanks for reviewing, reading, following, and favoriting!
DISCLAIMER: The only things I own are my OC(s), Disney owns everything else!
The next day was hell, pure hell. Waking up early was never a strong suit for Rae, and it didn't help that Sheryl was shaking her and almost yelling in her ear to get up, "Alrigh', I'm up." The day was filled with sounds of players hitting the football dummies and player shields. "Get up, boy! Get up, get up, get up!" Coach Boone was yelling at some players who were doing a rolling drill. "Get that head up!" Coach Tyrell was drilling players who were working on their knee-high steps. Then the coaches lined everyone up in rows and had them stepping in place quickly until the whistle sounded, they dropped to their hands and knees until another whistle, then the players were lying down on their front sides, whistle, roll over on their backs, whistle, roll back over, whistle, pop up on hands and knees, whistle, squatting positions, whistle, stepping in place, and repeat the whole process over again. Coach Yoast was on the sidelines with a group of offensive and defensive players and Sheryl was yelling at them to watch defense. The players in the rows were still doing their drill when one player didn't exactly go down at the same time the others did and Coach Boone noticed this. "Get outta here! Go!" he dragged the player back the back of his jersey and threw him out of the formation. Next came sit ups, and every player was grunting in effort. They ran drills throughout the entire day. Then came a practice drill when a few offensive and defensive players were running through a practice play. Everything was fine up until Petey dropped the ball he caught and was tackled right after. "Fumble, fumble, fumble!" someone shouted and that distracted Rae. The one who she was guarding took advantage of her not paying attention dove after the ball, tackling her in the process.
"What is wrong with you?! Why are you fumbling my football?!" Coach Boone shouted at Petey who was looking down in shame. "If my blockers were better…" he started. "No, your blockers ain't got nothin' to do with you holding the ball! Did your blockers fumble the ball, or did you fumble the football?!" Boone demanded. "I did, sir," Petey responds. "All right, now how many feet are in a mile? How many, Petey?" he continued. Petey didn't answer right away and Coach Boone smacked his helmet and asked him again. "5,280 feet! You pick this ball up, and you run every one of them! Ya killin' me Petey!" the irritated Coach yelled, and Petey started running his punishment mile.
"Now where do you think you're going, Barstow?" he called as he spotted Rae moving out of formation and running on the track. "I'm running my mile, Coach," Rae declared. "I did not tell you to run, I told Petey," Coach Boone said. "Yes, but…" she started and that was the wrong thing to say. "Yes, but what? Are you contradicting me?!" Boone shouted. "No, I am not contradicting you, sir" Rae responded. "Then why are you about to run a mile, while nobody told you to, when you are supposed to be in your formation?!" "I got distracted from someone yelling fumble and missed an important block. And I believe you said that if you miss a blocking assignment, to go run a mile," Rae explained. "Alright then, go run your mile. Were you paying attention to how many feet are in a mile?" Coach asked. "There's 5,280 in a mile, sir!" Rae answered. "Then go run those 5,280 feet!" Rae eventually caught up with Petey, who had his head lowered while holding his football and ran. "You okay?" she asked, but he didn't respond. "Petey?" she tried again, and no answer. "Petey!" she called and finally he said in an irritated tone, "What?" "I asked if you were okay, but I guess not," Rae backed off. "Why you here, doll?" "Missed a block." "Why does he always gotta rag on just me like that?!" Petey shouted in frustration. "It's bad enough we get heat from those people," he said pointing to the white players, "but now he's constantly on my back! I'm about to ditch this stupid camp!" "Hey, you ain't leavin' as long as I'm here. There's a bunch of times where I feel like I wanna leave. You think I got it easy? These guys, both black and white have been trying to knock me down since day one, just 'cuz I'm the only girl player and keep telling me that I don't belong here. I hafta work twice, maybe even three times as hard as you boys do. I do that to prove why I need to be here," Rae rebutted. "How come you don't hear it out loud?" Petey asks, slightly intrigued. "Cause they're smart enough to know when to say it and how to make it hurt," Rae said. "Also, think about your position, man. You THE running back, remember? You're one of the most important players out there on the field, being the fastest and first responders. The running back is valuable! You're one of the fastest people out there. That's why Coach harps on ya like that. True, he doesn't need to be harsh like he was, but he knows that you can do your job." "You serious?" he questions her in a low voice. "Hell yeah I'm serious! Don't focus on the yelling, focus on the message he's tryin to tell you. You ain't THE running back for nothin'," Rae finished and continued her mile.
Later at lunch, Rae was looking for a seat. She finds Rev waving her over and sits next to him. "Look at that traitor, sitting next the she-nigra" Ray Budds, the stern-faced boy who was sitting next to Gerry and Alan Bosely, mutters. The traitor he was referring to was Louie Lastik, who decided to take a seat with the black players. "What you doin', man?" Julius asks. "Eatin' lunch," Louie answers, like it's the most basic thing. "I see you eatin' lunch, but why are you eatin' over here, and not with your people?" Julius asks again. "I don't have any people. I'm with everybody, Julius," Louie says with a smile. "Yeah, he's just a light-skinned brother!" Blue joins in. "Yeah, and I'm a dark-skinned cracker," Julius mumbles. "You okay, girlie? That eye of yours ain't lookin' too good," Louie comments. "It just hurt for a second. It'll get better in a little while, I'm okay," Rae waves off. "Yeah, one of your people did this to her," Julius mutters to Louie. "Whom you happened to be fighting, but it was an accident, so just let it go, 'cause it wasn't your fault," Rae said. "Come on, Julius. He's just another other blessed child in God's loving family," Rev piped up and started humming Amazing Grace with Blue. Then he moves on to praying to God to 'soften Julius Campbell's heart' and Rae responds with an 'Amen!' which earns her a glare from Julius. She starts humming along with Blue and Rev in harmony. "Whoo! Sing it, girl!" Blue praises Rae's humming and the three of them end on a sweet 3-tone finisher.
"Rev, he better be praying that I block his black behind" Ray sneers in disgust. Gerry catches this and says "Yeah, but Ray, if you don't block, you're not gonna start." "Oh, I'll start. I'm just bidding my time," Ray replies. Gerry just looks at him for a while, decides not to dwell on it anymore, and goes back to eating his food. Meanwhile, Alan is caught between listening to his white teammates' conversation and looking over at the black table, specifically Rae, whose humming catches his ears.
"Lastik," Coach Boone calls and the whole cafeteria is quiet. Louie stands up next to him. "I want you to tell me something about one of your black teammates." "Sir, yes, sir! I'm rooming with Blue, sir, and I noticed that he wears those leopard-spotted underwear, bikini-style, sir!" Louie says with conviction, and causes Blue to go red in embarrassment, and some of the guys laugh. "Okay, maybe someone who's not your roommate," Coach Boone revises his statement. "Sir, I eat lunch with Rev. That's Jerry Harris, sir!" Louie says. "People call him Rev 'cause he's always praying, and he won't abide a foul tongue, sir!" A few others call out "Rev!" in response. Boone keeps his stern face on, but Rae could see that he is happy with Louie's attitude towards his fellow black players. "And what's Rev gonna do after high school?" "I don't know. Go to college and all that, I guess," Louie lowers his voice. "What about you, are you gonna go to college?" Boone asked. "Not me, Coach. I ain't a brainiac like Rev," Louie responded. "Think you got a future in football?" Boone wondered. "Heck no, I just figured that if I gotta be in school, I might as well hit some people while I'm at it," Louie said with a smile, and got everyone to laugh. "A self- aware man; I like that," Boone responded, and whispered something to him about school. "So, what kind of music does the Rev like?" he continued. "Oh, me and Rev dig the Temptations," Louie replied and started soulfully singing a few lines of Ain't Too Proud to Beg. "Alright, alright, stop beggin'" Coach Boone laughed.
"Anybody else?...No volunteers?" he asks. "Campbell?" Boone says looking at Julius, but the boy shakes his head. "Bertier?" he tries again, but Gerry just huffs and goes back to eating. "Each of one of you will spend time every day with a teammate of a different race. You will learn about them, and his or her family, their likes and dislikes. You all will report back to me until you meet every one of your teammates. Until that time, we will go to three-a-day practices," Coach Boone ordered. There were groans everywhere, and the man continued his demand, "If you continue to ignore each other, we'll go on to four-a-day practices. Now is there any part of this you don't understand?" The room was filled with complains but everyone understood.