In Virginia, high school football is a way of life. It's bigger than Christmas day.
Up until 1971, in Alexandria, there was no race-mixing. Then the school board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one ca...
I was at Coach Boone's house with Sheryl, while Gerry was at the school with Julius and the team. I was sitting on the living room floor with Nicki while she dressed up her Barbie dolls while Sheryl sat at the kitchen table watching our game films with Coach.
"That veer's getting better. I'll admit that. But you're still weak on the left side." Sheryl said.
"We're not weak on the left side. We just got to work harder on the left side, that's all." Boone defended.
"That's not the problem," Sheryl mumbled.
"What is the problem?" Boone asked
"You think it is, but it ain't." Sheryl began.
"Well tell me what the problem is," Boone said over her.
"It's your pass reads," Sheryl said.
"It's not-- It's a run anyway. It's not a pass. The veer is a run." Boone explained. The two began bickering when Mrs. Boone came into the room.
"All right, you two, that's enough of that." Mrs. Boone said as she passed by. "Sheryl, don't you want to play with Nicki?" She asked.
"I hate playing with dolls," Sheryl grumbled as she glared at the doll in Nicki's hand.
"I'm not playing. I'm accessorizing." Nicki snapped. I put my hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, why don't you go accessorize? Don't you want to go accessorize with..." Boone trailed off as Sheryl glared at him. I laughed a bit.
"It's okay, Nicki. You still have me." I say winking at her. Nicki smiled and went back to dressing her doll.
I tilt my head to the side as I notice a car's headlights through the front window.
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"Hey, Coach Coon!" I heard a man yell. Suddenly a brick came flying through the window. It was heading straight for Nicki. Out of instinct, I pulled her into a tight hug, shielding her from injury.
The brick hit me in the back of the head leaving a big gash and sent a shock wave of pain throughout my body. I felt the blood begin to travel down my neck. I shook my head trying to get rid of the dizziness as I picked up Nicki and brought her to the back of the house where Mrs. Boone, Karen, and Sheryl already were. Mrs. Boone's eyes widened as she noticed the blood on my neck. She grabbed a towel and began to apply pressure to the wound.
"Grace, are you okay?" She said, panicked.
I nodded my head slightly but it was getting hard to focus as my vision started to blur.
"I'm fine," I mumble as I leaned against the wall for support. Sheryl looked at me with a concerned look on her face.
"Grace?" She asked tentatively. I turn my head to look at her, but I could barely keep my eyes open.
