The end of football season was approaching and it was time for the Covington players to show what they were made of. The new Quarterback replacing John Cena was his backup, Jack Swagger. This was Jack's fifth practice as a starting QB and his nerves were taking over him.

Am I throwing it too low? Am I throwing it too high? Should I run? Should I just stay in the pocket? Was that fast enough? Was that too fast? How would John have done that? – These were the questions that were constantly repeating in his mind over and over again.

The pressure wasn't all on him though. Every player had the same overall motive in the back of their mind; win this for John.

Cody Rhodes was sitting on the metal bench watching the defense run their course. It was hard for him to concentrate on the game though. His mind was in someplace else entirely. For the past 72 hours the thoughts consuming his mind did not waver. Guilt, wasn't that the word of the century?

Nobody really considered how hard this was for him. It was a pretty large pill to swallow. John would've been one of the top 10 draft picks in the NFL. He only had one more college game left, that was it? One more game and he would be a million dollar franchise. It just didn't seem fair.

Suddenly the stadium grew quiet. You no longer heard the murmuring of side conversations but instead the sounds of tires gliding across the grass. Cody's eyes moved up from the green to see a certain someone rolling his way.

John Cena was wearing his football jersey, number 12; Him wearing that jersey signified that he was still a part of the team. It wasn't as much about what he wore on his back as much as it was what he was wearing on his face. On John's chiseled exterior wore a smile, the way he smiled so gracefully even after the Boston nightmare was just inspiring.

Covington's wide receiver just didn't seem to understand it. Wasn't he mad? Wasn't John let down? Wasn't he torn apart inside after losing all of his plans and dreams within a single second?

The answer to the question is, yes. Yes, of course he's upset. Sure, John hid it very well behind that smile but that didn't mean he wasn't let down. Of course John wanted the championship and he definitely wanted to be drafted into the NFL but his main concern right now was leading his team.

Everyone stood to their feet to pay respect to their leader. It was the first time they've all been together as a team in a while. For some it was the first time they had seen John since the accident.

"I know you're all looking at me to tell you guys what to do, where to go. Perhaps you want me to tell you all that it'll be okay and to go out and play like nothing ever happen and that you as a team will play this game as you've played every other game. But, that would be a lie and I don't plan on lying to you. You all will not play at the same performance you did before. You will do better."

"See, we have something that no other team in this damn league has. We've faced adversity. Not the type of adversity that we face on our own that just goes away as we individually step on the field and then take it back home with us. We have faced this adversity together as a team, and that is what will give us the advantage."

"We all now know what it's like to hurt as a family. We are stronger than the other team. We are closer than the other team. And we are so much damn better than the other team. So there is no reason to worry if you are going to perform as good as before because fact is, you will all do better."

All of the players were humbled by John's words. He got the job done and brought the team what everyone thought they had lost, confidence.

Calculus…it just had so many numbers and formulas. Randy failed to understand why he would even need calculus, two thirds of his class wondered the same thing.

A knock approached his wood door. That sound single handedly broke all of his concentration. The pen tapping stopped and his feet fell from the bed to the tile floors. As he opened the door he saw a twin standing in the doorway, immediately he was all smiles.

"I was going to come by yours this evening. To be honest I didn't think you'd come."

"Well, I almost didn't come."

That one hurt. Randy and Brie's relationship had gone through several changes over the school year but something about them was just really different now. The hardest part about her coldness towards him was that now she really knew him. Their relationship started out the same way but that was when they were just strangers.

"I haven't seen you since before I left. After I told you I was okay I didn't hear anything from you. You wouldn't answer my calls or my texts…"

"That's not true Randy. The one time I answered you dropped a serious bomb on me."

In response Randy licked his lips and stroked his beard. He went to respond but was quickly cut short.

"Do you even know what it was like here when the bus crashed?"

"What? Brie, how would I? I wasn't even here."

"This place was torn apart. I've never seen a student body so scared in my life. No one knew exactly what happened, we didn't know who was hurt or how many were hurt. All we knew was that there was a crashed bus and a couple of students fighting for their life."

The tatted man had a hard time comprehending why she was telling him all of this, but he didn't believe it was right to interrupt with questions just yet.

"Randy, when I didn't know if you were one of the healthy ones, I couldn't handle it. I couldn't think or breathe, I could barely even eat. I was so scared and anxious and that feeling didn't stop until I got the call from AJ saying you were okay. I can't even put into words how happy I was when I heard that you were okay, Randy. Every part of my body chilled. I can't remember the last time that I was that relieved."

From Randy's ears this sounded like great news. A subtle smile spread across his lips. Brianna however was quick to knock it down.

"Randy, I know what comes with drugs. It's ugly and dangerous-"

"Brie, I cut that part of me out of my life. I'm not going back to that."

"And if it was that easy then that would be great but you and I both know that once you get involved there is always that temptation."
"So let me get this straight, the mistakes I've made in the past affect who you define me as now? People change. You expect me to believe you were the same person that you were in high school?"

"That's not what I'm saying! I am not holding anything against you. It's just….if I am going to hurt this bad over my friend I can't even handle you being my boyfriend. I just can't."

"People get hurt all the time, that's normal. You can't be afraid!"

"Maybe so but when drugs are involved it gets much more dangerous and you know that. You can't tell me that's not true."

A chill ran through the air. The atmosphere between the two went from intense to heart breaking within a split second.

"It hasn't even been a year since you almost died by drugs. Not even a year, Randy. It didn't even take a year for you to get hooked again. I can't handle the pain of always being afraid. I just can't."

Brianna's voice began to crack and she began to stutter her words. Randy could see the tears build up in her eyes. In that moment he understood.

It truly pained him to see her like this. What hurt worse was that he caused this. His thumb trailed up her face and wiped the tears away. The man kissed her forehead and whispered the word okay.

April's favorite place on Covington's campus was the comic book store located on the east side. It maybe nerdy and dorky but she didn't care. Hugo's Comics was practically a hole in the wall. No one really knew about it and its main source of customers came from the bakery next door. Not many students from this party school appreciated this place as much as AJ did.

April walked over to the counter with a hand full of comic books. She greeted her friend Hugo with a smile as he began scanning her items.

"How are you today girl?" The cashier smiled while flanking up at her.

"I'm good. Well really good actually. You have the new Wolverine I've been waiting for for months now which is pretty exciting."

"Well it looks like that's not the only one you're excited about." Hugo hinted with a smirk as he eyed the handful of comic books in the brunette's hands. She giggled softly and nodded her head.

"You caught me I went a little crazy, but you have a lot of great additions." AJ began to pull out her wallet from her back pocket but she was quickly put down.

"No worries, Lee. You're already paid for, your moneys no good here."

AJ raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What?"

"Punk came in and gave me a big stack of cash. He wanted to cover your next couple buys. But by the amount of cash he gave me you should be covered until late spring."

A little taken back the woman thought it through before retaliating. She reached for the bag of Comic books and shook her head vigorously. "No, no way. Give me the money I can return it."

"No can do. He specifically gave me orders to not give it to you. Also, I don't want to. I have tuition to pay for." A smirk spread across his features as he gave her a small little wink. "See you Lee." He continued before making his way onto the floor to help some customers.

This left her to stand and think for a couple seconds. A deep and heavy sigh came from her lips as she quickly walked out. Her tiny feet walked all the way from East to North Campus at full speed so she could get to Phillip. Once AJ arrived face to face with her door she laid a few heavy knocks on it.

Phillip was a little shocked from the inside hearing this abrupt knock but after he opened the door to see the tiny woman standing in the door frame a laughable smile came across his face. He puffed a faint chuckle and questioned why her knock was so loud.

Instead of answering the question directly the brunette raised up her comic books and glared at him with a questioning expression.

"Do you even consider the guidelines?"

Again another chuckle came from his lips. "Guidelines?" He questioned.

"The friends with benefit guidelines. You sent me flowers when you were out of town, total boyfriend thing to do. You continue to surprise me with frappes which is another boyfriend thing to do and you know what you really need to stop that because I hate frappes they're overrated. And now lastly you put a down payment for all these comic books has boyfriend written all over it. That's not fair and it's against the rules."

"You say this as if there is a handbook?"

"It's self-explanatory."

"Oh, you're one to talk. Is your constant jealousy in the guidelines?"

AJ huffed at his response. "Are you joking? When have I been jealous?"

"That's cute."

"Shut up, I haven't."

Phil ran his fingers through his hair and rolled his eyes. "You're just lying to yourself. We're practically dating without the labels. We have the physical part mastered and the feelings are there whether you want to uncover them or not. What's a few gifts and nice gestures going to do to change that?"

There AJ was stopped in her own tracks. The woman licked her lips and took in a breath. Her mind was blank. "Well, um… It just does."

That caused Punk to smirk, he raised his eyebrows at her as he began to speak. "You didn't deny that you had feelings for me, see."

April ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "So what are you saying? That you want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"No, I want you to admit that you want that too… and maybe you're just afraid."

A moment of silence crept in and then cued the stare off. Their eyes matched as well as their hearts and something occurred that caused AJ to let her guard down, again. The woman began to tip toe over to her mate with a loose smile. Their faces were now inches away from one another.

"Do you want me?" She tenderly said while keeping locked eye contact. Phillip didn't respond with words just a dramatic nod. A relieved smile/giggle was placed on her features now. AJ placed her head on his shoulder while wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. His tattooed arms wrapped around her waist tightly as he took a whiff of her hair.

And this story is winding up! The story will end in 2015 for sure. My question for you guys is do you want the story to end the way I originally planned or throw in another chapter five years into the future? Its up to you!

Next chapter is the biggest game of the year, sounds like trouble or a really great time.

5+ Reviews for update