Tryouts Arc 2: All On The Line

"If I told you that all of you did good out there and gave it your all.... I would be lying strait through my teeth!" Coach Lamburn exclaims "Jeon I'm very disappointed in you, you only ran for seven yards what a shame, I expected better" Jeon looks down shamefully "and as for you Donald, clearly you don't know what clutch means, you let the game deciding throw get smacked all the way to bleachers, if this was a real game I would've kicked your ass!" Donald looks away shamefully "Taylor!" Coach Lamburn exclaims looking over at him "your the only one on the loosing team who gets a pass, I won't lie you did well" Taylor looks surprised "oh uh thanks coach- "but when your on that field stop being so egotistical, your head will explode out of that helmet if you don't!" The others chuckle and laugh as Taylor turns red with anger and embarrassment, the coach walks over to the winning team, Jacobs team "now as for all of you, good work, George I like the leadership and you ran for forty-five yards that's good" "thanks coach" George says as he looks over at Jeon, Jeon looks over at him annoyed "Markus good work out there, you were a tank as usual keep that up" "yes coach!" Coach Lamburn walks over to the small frail boy who played quarter back and looks at him up and down, the room silent as they listen to what he has to say "you have potential, but you look like a stick, I'm not sure how I feel about you yet" the boy doesn't respond or even show a shred of emotion. "Now finally, Jacob Jones" Lamburn stares at him "you were holding out on me until the last play weren't you" "uhh I um" Jacob fumbles his words "I want to see you at your fastest tomorrow, that's all for today's try outs come back out tomorrow to show out or don't come at all it's your last chance, now go home you all smell." Jacob smiles as he puts his football gear away, he thinks about how fast he ran when he smacked the ball away from the receivers hand on the last play "man I haven't ran that fast in a while, it was weird like something lit up inside of me" suddenly Markus and George walk up to Jacob "hey nice work today Jacob you did good, you saved our butts on the last play" George says "yea well I was just making up for before when I missed the interception" Jacob replies Markus pats Jacob on the shoulders before him and George walk away. Jacob continues to put his equipment away when he notices the frail boy in the corner of his eye putting his equipment away aswell, "oh man I didn't even know he was here, talk about a shallow presence" he finishes putting his gear away and walks over to the boy "h-hey" he says, the boy stops and slowly turns toward Jacob, his thick black hair covering his eyes "I just wanted to thank you, for helping me find the gym" the boy slightly nods his head awkwardly, there's a long pause of silence between the two in the empty locker room before Jacob decides to go "alright catch you tomorrow" he says turning around "Noel" he says causing Jacob to stop and turn "huh?" He says "my name is Noel in case you didn't hear me before" "oh" Jacob lights up "my name is- "Jacob, I know" the boy cuts him off "he knows me too?" Jacob thinks. The boy shuts his locker "I'll see you around" he says leaving the locker room and shutting the door behind him. Jacob exits the locker room with his back pack around his back and as he does he runs into somebody "s-sorry I didn't mean to- Jacob stops as he sees it's Taylor he ran into, the two stop and stare at each other "hey good game today" Jacob says, Taylor grits his teeth furious "I know what your thinking" he says "huh? Jacob replies "you think you can take over this school just because it's shit don't you, you think just because you were a top prospect in middle school, that because everyone knows your name that immediately everyone would give into you huh?" Taylor barks at Jacob "uhh what no I- Taylor cuts Jacob off "well I'm not like the others, I've fought hard my entire life to get where I am and I wont just let you stroll into this school and take my spot, at least not without a fight" Taylor walks away before Jacob can say another word, he simply stares at him as he walks away. Jacob leaves the school, the entrance nearly empty with only a few cars still in the parking lot, he has a conflicted look on his face as the wind blows his curly hair "what did he mean by that" Jacob thinks "take over the school that's not what I want, I, I just want to play football" "how was try outs" a familiar voice says Jacob stops and looks over to see Jamie, the girl who had shown him around the school earlier sitting on the ground with a book in hand, Jacob turns to her and smiles as the bright sun shines behind them "I thought you didn't care" he says "hmm I don't but I thought I'd check up on you just in case" "in case what?" Jacob asks "listen I'm being nice here ok the least you could do is stop asking so many questions!" Jacob chuckles "alright alright I'm sorry, it was good thanks." Jacob looks around, the front of the school is completely empty "what are you doing here?" He asks "waiting for my dad to pick me up" she replies "this late, school ended like an hour and a half ago" "yea sometimes he's late, he works so..." Jamie says "oh..." Jacob replies "it must be boring" he says "mm kind of but I've got my book so I'll be fine" "well if you say so" Jacob says walking away "see you around, Jamie." Jacob shuts the front door and enters his home exhausted, his little sister quickly runs over to him and gives him a big hug "Jacob!" She exclaims, a huge smiles rises on his face "hey Natalie" he says "how was practice?" She asks "it was good" "i wana play football too!" She says looking up at him, Jacob smiles "oh yea, if you practice hard enough I know you can do it" "Natalie come back here and finish your vegetables" Jacobs mother's walks over and sees Jacob with Natalie "oh, Jacob your home" she says walking over to him "yea" he says "how was practice?" She asks "it was good, Coach said I did pretty good but he expects more from me tomorrow" "then you know what to do" "yea work harder" Jacob replies "no, take a shower you stink" his mom says "yea pee-yoo" Natalie adds. Jacob stands in the warm shower, and as the hot water runs down his body he reflects on his day but mainly he thinks about the words Taylor spoke to him, the hostility and the anger in his voice what will happen between the two Jacob thinks. Jeon arrives home and shuts the door, he makes his way into the kitchen to see his father standing there with his arms crossed waiting "h-hey dad, whats-whats going on?" Jeon asks, his father looks furious "what's going on, what's going on is that I asked coach how you did today" Jeon swallows "dad I- "no Jeon you will not utter another word, I need you to be a star player you know that I need you to be the best, do you know how important this is!" "I know you tell me everyday!" Jeon yells back "then why do you still perform poorly" "I'm trying my best dad!" Jeon exclaims "your best is not enough!" his dad yells striking Jeon in the face, Jeon stumbles back into the dining room table dazed and surprised, his legs shaking as he stands before his father "Jeon, football is all we have, it's our ticket to the good life, you will not ruin this for me, tomorrow you had better do good, you better make the team and you better be starting I expect nothing less." Jacob walks toward the kanto high on his second day of school "ah second day I can finally breathe, I know where my classes are and I guess I made some new friends so that's pretty good but still, I need to do better today, I need to make the starting line up" Jacob walks into the school, this time, it's a lot more tamer and quieter, not as many kids gossiping about him as before. He shows up to his locker and opens it up suddenly a boy walks over to his locker and stand next to him "what's up!" The boy says, Jacob turns and sees George standing next to him "oh hey George what's up" he says "not much, you ready for today's game if our team wins again we might all get a guaranteed spot on the team" "yea, that's sounds pretty nice" Jacob says as he shuts his locker. The two of them begin walking down the hall toward their class "gotta ask though, how did you do it?" George says "do what, what do you mean?" "On the last play yesterday you came in almost out of nowhere like a streak of lightning" Jacob chuckles "I guess I'm just really fast- "no" George says shocking Jacob a bit "your like them aren't you" George's tone shifts into complete seriousness, Jacob is thrown off "George w-what are you talking about" "your just like those football players that left Kanto high years ago, your a Kanto prodigy.... aren't you." George and Jacob both stare at each other. "Hey boys!" a girl says walking over, it's Emilia, the popular girl with the long blonde hair and green eyes "hi Emilia" George says slightly unnerved "hey, Jacob I heard you did good practice yesterday" she says "uh yea, I guess I did alright" Emilia laughs "so humble, anyways I'm going to find Taylor can wait to see you two on the field toodles!" She says walking away, George and Jacob do nothing but watch her as she skips through the hallway "what a weirdo" George comments. Taylor shuts his locker as Jeon walks ups to him, "hey Taylor" he says, Taylor turns to him and sees the purple bruise on the side of his face "Jesus man what happen, did Tiffany go too rough again?" "what, no?" Jeon says "well whatever happened I hope it's not stopping you from playing today" Taylor says "no, if anything it's made me more ready, we will win today" Taylor smiles deviously and both him and Jeon clasp hands. The final bell rings letting all the kids out from school, Jacob immediately gets up and walks over to the Noel "you ready?" He asks, the boy nods and gets up out of the chair. It's kick off on the football field, the sky is cloudy and grey, with thunder rumbling in the distance, the smell of rain surrounds the air as the two teams prepare, the kicker on Taylor's team kicks the ball to the other end zone and Jacob is there to receive it; "this is it" Jacob thinks as the ball comes toward him "this is the last day of try outs, if I don't do good here, I may not make the starting line up, no, I may not make the team, and I can't let that happen" Jacob grabs the ball and clenches down on it, he looks up as his eyes glow bright blue through his helmet and as electricity emerges from his pupils "I can't let that happened!" He exclaims, suddenly lightning surges through the grey clouds behind him before Jacob boosts forward at an immense speed destroying the terrain behind him as he runs, coach Lamburns eyes widen as he sees the blue streak of electricity run down the field. Jacobs zooms pass all his teammates with an explosion of power that knocks even Markus over sending him slamming into the ground, Jacob rushes into the mess of defenders charging at him "no problem" he says as he zips through all of them evading their tackles and maneuvering down the field, sixy yards, seventy yards, Jacobs getting close suddenly he's faced with Taylor "I won't let you pass!" He exclaims Jacob grits his teeth runs at him head on and the two clash, Jacob lowers his shoulders into Taylor's gut and speed overwhelms him "augh!" Taylor exclaims as Jacobs blitzes him sending him flying back and slamming onto the grass terrain sliding and uprooting the grass and terrain, the others are all shocked and amazed at Jacobs power. Finally in just thirteen seconds Jacob runs from their end zone to the enemies end zone for a touch down. Everyone on the field stands around in shock as rain begins to pour, everyone except Noel as he stands and looks out un phased "t-touch down, George's team!" Coach Lamburn says still shocked Jacobs exhales as his eyes cease glowing and the electricity dies down, George's team cheers as they rush over to him "Jacob, dude how did you do that!" Markus exclaims "yea!" One of the freshmen add "uhh I don't know I just started running, you know" Jacob says "so the rumors are true!" "You really are fast" the team congratulate Jacob as Taylor lays on the grass shook looking up at the grey sky as rain droplets hit his helmet "w-what the hell just happened" he thinks, Jeon walks over to Taylor "come on get up, we don't have time for this we have a game to win" he says, Taylor thinks for a moment before shaking it off and getting up "you're right, he's fast so what, it's our turn now, let's give em hell" Jeon looks over at Taylor and smiles. George's team kicks the ball down the field to team Taylor, Jeon is on the receiving end ready to run the ball. The ball is caught and immediately Jeon rushes down the field, Georges team comes rushes toward Jeon to get the tackle. Jeon rushes through traffic he navigates past the forty yard line, a defender rushes him and leaps toward him "get out of my way!" He exclaims, Jeon plants both of his feet down into the grass hard as he bends both knees downwards and rockets up leaping high into the air over the defender hurdling him, Coach Lamburn is impressed, Jeon slams into the ground and is immediately met with another defender, he spins juking the defender and continues running to the sixy yard line where he's tackled by Markus. "Yea good shit!" Taylor exclaims helping Jeon up" Jeon stares over at George "George, I will be the starting running back, just you wait." Second down Taylor's team forty yards from the end zone "down set hut" Donald grabs the ball and surveys the field he see an open receiver nearby on the sixth-seven yard line and tosses it to him for a complete catch. Third down Taylor's team only have three yards to cross to get the first down "down set hut!" The ball is passed back to Donald and he passes it back to Jeon, Jeon immediately rushes over to the open right lane and dashes down the field toward the end zone. "No, don't let him score!" George exclaims, suddenly electricity emerges off of Jacobs body and he boosts down the field toward Jeon, Jeon passes the seventy-five yard line "yes I can do it, I can make it to the end zone "Jeon watch out!" Jeon turns and see a blue blur charging towards him, his face is overwhelmed with shocked "w-what the!" Jacob slams into Jeon knocking him back into the air and causing him to loose grip of the ball sending it flying into the air, he fumbled. Jeon and Jacob slam into the ground as the ball falls and lands on the ground out in the open for the taking, George and Taylor light up "Mine!" The both exclaim, George and Taylor both dash toward the fumbled football both battling each other for it, they both reach it at roughly the same time and dive for it, coach Lamburn watching them both closely. They both slam down onto the ball as the others arrive, "alright back it up back it up "I got it, I got it coach!" Taylor exclaims "no it was me I got it first" George's argues "relax, I was watching closely and... Taylor gained possession of the ball first, they got the first down" "what!" George exclaims "yes!" Taylor says, he rushes over to Jeon whose still of the ground "sorry I fumbled" Jeon says "don't worry about it, come on let's get this touch down" Taylor extends out his hand Jeon smiles and takes It. First down, twenty-five away from the end zone "down set hut!" Donald catches the ball and hands it off to Jeon, Jeon grabs the ball and runs into the mess of defenders, he gains ten yards before he surrounded and forced out of bounds "good run Jeon, we're close" Taylor says. Third down fifteen yards from the field goal, Donald catches the ball and surveys the area "we can't let them even the score" Jacob thinks as he runs against one of the players on Taylor's team, Donald sees the open Taylor and chucks the ball to him "no!" Jacob activates and dashes toward Taylor in an attempt to intercept the ball like yesterday, the others watch over shocked, Jacob leaps into the air arm stretched out towards the ball he tries his best but isn't quick enough Taylor manages to catch the ball out of the air and slams into the end zone for a touch down. "Yes!" Jeon exclaims clapping his hands in excitement and team Taylor cheer as they score their first points of the day putting them at odds with team George. Taylor gets up and celebrates with his team as Jacob lays in the mud "I was too slow..?" He thinks to himself "I'm never too slow", he looks over at his team, they all look disappointed "shit" he thinks to himself. Lightning surges in the grey clouds in the distance as rain pours down on the football field, it's tied up 7 to 7 with a lot on the line, the kicker for Taylor's team boots the ball sending it flying towards the other end of the field towards Jacob, Jeon watches as the ball flies towards the other team and the others begin rushing towards the opposite side, as Jeons running he slows down to think "Jacob is fast, he manage to catch up to me quickly even though I was yards ahead of him with ease yesterday, I can't try to be him in a foot race it's impossible, but I can try to outsmart him." Jeon analyzes the field, "the majority of defenders are on the left side so he'll most likely go right" he thinks, Jeon begins moving towards the right side of the field as Jacob comes rushing down with the ball " but I can't make myself too obvious, if I do he'll avoid me for sure so I gotta bait him" Jeon begins to slow down his speed and wander off towards the middle of the field, coach Lamburn notices Jeons odd movements "what the hell is he doing?" He thinks, As Jacob approaches at high speeds with the ball in hand. Jeon slowly bends down almost creeping as to not have Jacob notice him "he'll be too focused on that touch down zone to notice me..." Jacob approaches Jeon at the 40 yard line "then once we've lined up..." Jacob steps foot on the forty yard line his focus strait towards the end zone and away from the middle of the field "I'll make my move!" Jeon exclaims as he dashed to his right towards Jacob, Jacob looks over to his right shocked as Jeon has almost come out of no where, Jeon thinks back to yesterday when his father struck him in his face, how he felt, the pain and anger he replays the scene in his head as he approaches Jacob, he's suddenly overcome with rage "Raugh!" He screams as he slams his shoulder into Jacob with all his might actively knocking Jacob into the air sending him flying out of bounds and slamming his back into the nearby bench on the side lines, Jacob let's out a wail of pain as Coach Lamburn blows the whistle calling for a time out, George's team quickly rush over to Jacob as he lays on the ground him clearly in pain "Jacob hey man are you alright!" George exclaims, the others console him as Jeon stands feeling a little guilty as he calms himself down "Jacob!" One of the players call to him as he's on the floor "ugh y-yea I'm alright" he says, Jacob tries to get up but he suddenly gets a sharp pain in his back causing him to grunt and fall to the ground as all the other players start to converge around him laying down on the sidelines including the coach, George and Markus both get up and turn towards Jeon both furious as Coach Lamburn arrives on the scene "how's Jacob is he alright!" He exclaims "yea coach, I'm good" Jacob responds, George storms up to The coach "coach that hit was clearly illegal he knocked Jacob all the way to the side lines!" He exclaims "hell no!" Taylor exclaims as he arrives "tell blue blur over here to get his weight up this is a contact sport if he can't handle it that's his problem." He says in defense of Jeon "bullshit!"Markus exclaims stepping up into Taylor's face "that shit was dirty and you know it." "oh you wana go big guy?" Taylor says scowling at Markus "alright everybody calm down!" Coach exclaims, he walks over to Jacob "can you stand boy?" He asks Jacob tries his best to get up, his back physically hindering him, Jacob grunts in pain as he slowly rises "yea, yea I'm fine coach I can keep playing" he says, everyone gives Jacob an unconvinced look "what?" He says "I can play really see I'm fine" he says "is that so.." Coach Lamburn says, he opens up his hands and swings towards Jacobs back as to hit him but Jacobs quickly cowers and falls to the ground before his hand can make contact. "Augh!" He exclaims as he lands on the ground causing him tremendous pain "this is a contact heavy sport Jacob if your not willing to take a hit you can't play, especially as wide receiver." Jacobs sighs "you, take him to the nurse" Coach's points out one of the other players who help Jacob up off the ground "as for the rest of you we keep playing truly outs aren't over just yet." "W-wait but coach what about Jeon, he doesn't get penalized for that play, he purposely put out one of our receivers!" George exclaims, Coach Lamburn sighs "George this is football this is what happens in the sport I can't penalize Jeon for that play he did nothing but play the game aggressively which is what I'm looking for." "Yea but coach I- Coach Lamburn cuts George off "Listen I've seen bigger guys and harder thrown stiff arms than that if Jacob wants to play he'll have to toughen up." George grits his teeth and looks over at Jeon and Taylor, Taylor has a smug look on his face as he looks back but Jeon stares over at Jacob as he limps away off the field, he looks unhappy, he regrets what he did.