For Us: American Dreamers

Chapter 3: Try Your Luck

  Stone's residence.
Past midnight...

  Hayley finds herself in the middle of a long hallway, everything is dark and  voices, women screaming her name, telling her to run. She walks faster and faster towards the door but for some reason she can't reach it. Then she looks behind and a middle aged guy is looking at her, smiling as he walks closer and closer to her.

  "No please...not again..." she asks him to stop coming towards her, to leave her alone, begging for her freedom. Once the man is exactly in front of her, he punches her and she falls down. The he tries to grab her but she wakes up, screaming. "Oh holy motherfucking shit!" she says loudly and looks at her phone, she doesn't have to get up for school for quite some time but she can't go back to sleep too. "I'm not going to be haunted by you..." she whispers as she looks at the ceiling, lost and afraid.

  Five hours later...

Her sister wakes up and finds Hayley already having her breakfast, dressed for school with her leather boots on, red lipstick and dark jean jacket. "Are you okay?" the sister asks and Hayley gives her a hint of smile, not wanting to seem vulnerable. "Yeah, just a bad dream. I'm off to school, if you want me to go by the grocery store later, text me!" she responds and departs, leaving her sister worried.

  Orleston High.
In the meantime...

George pays a visit to Olivia, just to check how her first week as a teacher is going. The two of them seem to hit it off like they never left home and for a second they remember their more innocent days like when Olivia had a crush on Noah or George was running across the mall just to find a perfect present. "Well time has certainly passed. So many years and one degree later, yet the only thing that I have mastered is working at a bar." George points out as he and Olivia drink their morning coffees. "Yeah but you were amazing while you worked at Bluelife. Being in that bar was your life for two very critical years of our lives. I remember when me and Ramon came-" suddenly she stops.

  She obviously hasn't been able to move on since her former boyfriend's passing. George holds her hand and says, "Still suffering from survivor's guilt? How many times do I have to tell you that the only one responsible for what happened that night was the asshole who put the whole building on fire Liv..."

  She smiles at her best friend and before they continue talking about her issue, Sean walks inside, clearly nervous about today's try outs. "So you guys are catching up. Good, let's talk about the terrible situation I will be if I don't find any fresh talent today at the try outs..." he frowns and George tries to light him up. Olivia gets up and grabs her notes since she has to be in class, leaving the two men behind. "Sean, we talked about this and last night, if there is one person who can find talented athletes, it's you."

"I certainly hope that you are right, have to go...talk later?"

"Sure, I will...cook?" George responds and they laugh.

  One hour later...
Try outs.

Sean, the team's leader and Anastasia with the cheerleaders are at the stadium, waiting for the try outs to start. The young coach tries to be hopeful but that stops by the time he sees all the possible recruits, failing the test, one after another. It is then that Sean notices Cameron and Hayley at the stands once again, enjoying the cafeteria's terrible veggies. He grabs a football ball and yells to Cameron. The young man turns to him and wonders what is going on. Then Sean throws with a of his power the ball to him and without a blink of an eye, Cameron catches it.

  Hayley looks at him surprised, "That was awesome." she points out and tells him to go ahead and return the ball to the team, having realized what the coach is doing. Once Cameron is at the field, Sean tells Roy and another team member to run after him and bring him the ball, but unfortunately for them Cameron is way to fast to catch up, they fall and he jumps over them. Hayley laughs at Roy's fall while Anastasia turns her attention to the new talent. "Girls, who is that tall black Pegasus? Actually don't tell me, I plan on finding out on my own!" she says with a devilish smile on her angelic face.

Eventually Cameron after unknowingly has passed every single one of Sean's tests, he gives the coach his ball back. "That was amazing, you have to be part of the team you know that son?" he says to the young boy, trying to recruit him. Cameron although charmed at first, knows that he can't handle football while he looks out for his mother and working at the Pizza Store. His smile quickly fades away and declines Sean's offer. That leaves the coach in shock and Roy extremely mad that he won't be able to have a chance to beat Cameron the same way he just beat him.

Wilson's residence.
A few hours later...

Later that day, Sean and George and Anastasia are sitting at the table and George doesn't understand why his husband frowns and hasn't said a word since he came back from work. Anastasia turns with wit to her big brother and says, "Mr coach over here found a golden chocolate gem that had the talent of a hundred men. Unfortunately for baby Sean, the gem turned the opportunity down..."

George looks at Sean, he drinks his cola and asks his husband, "And what? You are going to give up on that gem? Cause if you do that, where is the guy that I married?" he concludes and Anastasia almost vomits from the romance. Sean winks at his husband and grabs his jacket. "I'm going to buy a pizza, want something else?" he asks and he heads out. George turns to his sister...

  "Why every single time I cook, you guys take junk food?"

She turns to him and smiles, "I see you haven't tried your steak yet!" and then she looks at her phone's screen to correct her hair and heads to her room. George takes a bite and decides to ask Sean to bring him a pizza too.

  Pizzazz.
Ten minutes later...

  Sean arrives at the place that Cameron is working at and thankfully at the moment it's pretty empty, making it even more easier for him to  talk to the young teenager. "Working hard I see." he tries to break the ice and Cameron laughs...

  "Yeah, school nights are always pretty calm, can I get you anything Mr Tucker?" the young boy asks.

"Two specials and a cola, family is hungry tonight...I have to admit that there is an agenda behind my visit tonight." Sean adds.

  Cameron nods and responds by saying, "I figured...Look Mr Tucker, you have no idea how much I want this. Maybe more than you do. A chance for me to do something..."

  "When I saw you, I saw myself...I lost my mother pretty young and my father when I was even younger. I had to work and study and try to keep up...life sucks, especially at you age, but doing something that you actually enjoy can make your worst night seem a little bit brighter!"

"I will think about it...Coach!" Cameron gives a hint on where he leans towards. They look at each other like a father embraces a son, then Sean takes his order and leaves. Then Cameron looks at the time and he knows that he has to make a stop somewhere before he returns home after his shift ends.

  Stone's residence.
One hour later...

  Hayley is trying to finish her literature assignment but she can't stop thinking about her recent nightmare that keeps repeating in her sleep since her arrival in Orleston. Then her sister tells her that someone is here for her and at first she is worried. She walks out of her room hesitantly before she is relieved to find out that it's Cameron, holding a pizza and two cans of beers in his hands. She smiles and asks him, "What are you doing here athlete?"

"I want to celebrate...with you..." he tries not to be uncomfortable.

"Celebrate? What did I miss?" she looks at him, trying to figure out what does he mean.

"I decided to give football a try!" he announces excited and Hayley immediately hugs him. "That's amazing Cameron. Hey why don't you sit at the porch? I'm going to grab a jacket and join you!" she says with a smile. Her sister stops her and makes a comment, "He is cute, try to be a teenager for today alright? You owe it to yourself baby girl." and Hayley looks at Cameron eating a slice at the porch, waiting for her to hang out. She smiles softly and starts thinking that maybe Orleston isn't that bad after all.

To be continued...