Out on the Field

Chapter 13

Colby's POV

I opened the front door and saw all three of my family members waiting for me in the lounge. Great a fun family meeting. I took a seat opposite them and I knew that it was about Bio today.

"Your teacher called about the incident in Bio and we need to talk about it," Mom started, trying to be nice and kind.

"Maybe I didn't go about it in the right way but I physically couldn't do it," I said plainly.

"You refused to do a test that your teacher gave you," Dad protested.

"I couldn't do it. You don't fucking understand and you don't give a fuck. It was one pop quiz that doesn't even count towards my GPA which is higher than Adam's," I added.

"This isn't about Adam. If you couldn't do it then I would expect that you would calmly inform the teacher of that and ask for a different test," Dad said.

I rolled my eyes. No matter what I did it would be the wrong way to solve it in Dad's mind.

"Colby, calm down, you don't need to yell at Dad," Adam tried to calm us down.

"Yeah, I'll just forget about it and it won't be a big deal but then I'll do something else that Dad thinks is wrong and we'll argue again about how I can never be as perfect as you are Adam and how I am a complete failure," I said sarcastically.

Our argument got worse from there. Dad then took that as a sign that he could tell me about all my faults and then Adam had to butt in.

"I mean why would anyone want to be friends with you? You are just a disaster," Adam said.

I jumped at him and punched him. Mom started yelling and Dad had to pull me off Adam. I was spitting with anger because Adam said that. I didn't hang around for much longer and I headed upstairs.

I climbed out my window and jumped down onto the ground. I started walking away from the house. I didn't know where I was going but I knew that I had to get away. I had grabbed a mostly empty bottle of vodka on the way out because I needed a drink.

I don't drink much but sometimes after an argument I need a bit to calm down. I ended up in an empty park and sat down on the swing. I took a swig of the alcohol and felt it burn my throat. I thought about staying with Clara and Coach but I knew that I had to deal with Dad at some point.

I didn't mean to punch Adam but he was annoying me. I took another sip and knew that I shouldn't be too hungover for the game tomorrow. I dropped the now empty bottle in the bin and started to head home. I climbed back in my window and curled up in bed hoping I wouldn't regret this in the morning.

Clara approached me before Bio the next day.

"I'm guessing your conversation with our family didn't go so well," she said.

"Now did you guess that?" I asked.

"I saw Adam this morning and he has a black eye and I would guess that that came from you."

"Yeah, well, he told me that I am a disaster and aren't worth anyone's time and I snapped."

Clara wrapped me in a tight hug and it took all my effort to not move out of it. I wasn't used to being hugged.

"You are worth my time. You are really good friend to me and lots of people deserve someone like you," she said as the bell rang.

We headed to Bio and what Clara said to me made me feel weird. I wasn't used to people talking to me like that. Adam didn't talk to me for the day and I headed onto the bus for the game. Clara was on the bus but I didn't want to sit with her because I just wanted silence.

I got my silence and it didn't take us long to get to the game. The preparation for the game never seemed to take very long and we won the toss so Adam and the offense were going on first. It was just a normal screen play and then when Rory got tackled he got caught under bodies and he wasn't able to get up.

The medical team helped him off the field and it look like a torn ACL. One of the JV players ran on but he dropped the first three passes that he got thrown and it didn't look like it was going to get any better.

I happened to walk passed a conversation between Coach, the offense Coach and Adam.

"Do we have someone that is more reliable?" Coach asked.

Adam and the Coach Thompson both exchanged a glance and I knew what they were thinking. I had now walked further away in the hope that they weren't thinking what I was thinking. Unfortunately I was wrong as I got called over.

"These two told me that you can play receiver," Coach said.

"No, I can't, you need someone else," I protested.

"You are going onto that field whether you like it or not," Coach told me.

The other team kicked off after they scored a touchdown to make the score 7-0. I walked over to Clara before I headed onto the field with the offense.

"I heard that you can play receiver," she said as I chugged a cup of water.

"I'm nervous though. I have never done it in a real game," I admitted.

I was never going to admit that to anyone else but Clara was growing on me.

"You will be amazing, I have seen you practice," she said and sent me onto the field. Their defence was surprised because they know that I don't usually play offense. I was running a long route and Adam aired the ball out to me. The switch from cornerback to receiver isn't too hard for me because I have spent hours practicing as a receiver with Adam. I caught the ball and immediately got tackled. I tossed the ball back to the centre and ran back to my place at the line of scrimmage.

I ended up catching the touchdown pass from Adam to level the score. I pulled my helmet off and headed over to Coach.

"You make a good receiver and you need to go in at cornerback as well," Coach said.

I groaned but ran back onto the field. I was times like this when my hours of practice paid off. I was on the field for pretty much the whole game. We won and I collapsed on the ground and didn't want to move for at least a couple of hours.

Clara came over and offered me a hand.

"I think that the team might leave without you if you don't get up," she teased.

I pulled myself up and my legs almost gave way under me. I headed over to the locker room after stripping off my pads. I really don't want to do that again but I was pretty sure that it was going to happen. The locker room was noisy and I immediately took a seat on a bench.

The bus left not long later and the rest of the team hadn't got any quieter. I moved from my original seat so I was now sitting next to Clara because it is quieter with her and the Coaches then with the rest of the team at the other end.

"You look tired," Clara noted.

"I feel exhausted. I only got a couple hours of sleep last night," I muttered.

The lull of the bus helped me fall asleep. It wasn't a very long trip but the nap helped me feel better when I woke. I groaned and realised that I had been using Clara as a pillow.

"Sorry for falling asleep on you," I said.

"It's alright. You were tired," she said.

We all got off the bus and I headed towards my motorcycle.

"I'll see you on Sunday," Clara called as I left the parking lot.

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The Wise One