My Sweetheart (Alan Bosley x OC)

9

The next morning, we were all forced to wake up at 6am. I groaned, I was not a morning person.

I ran to the field from my room, wearing hot pink running shorts, a navy blue sports shirt and white sneakers. I watched as they completed their drills with the blocking dummies. I couldn't take my eyes off of Alan. He caught me staring and waved, enthusiastically. I laughed, pushing down the butterflies in my stomach. He had friend zoned me. I needed to remember that.

"Julia, get over here." Coach Boone yelled from across the field.

I ran over, and watched as the boys prepared for another exercise, huddled around uncle Bill.

"What's up, Coach?"

"You're going to participate in this next exercise. It's simple, but you gotta listen to get it right. You stand in rows, and when the person to the right of you jumps up, you have to jump to the ground and roll under them, and up again. I'll put you on the far left next to Alan, he'll go easy on you, and he knows what he's doing so you're safe. Plus he's one of the less heavier guys on the team so it won't hurt as bad if he falls on you."

I laughed nervously, getting in line next to Alan. I forced myself to act normal, our friendship couldn't be ruined by my emotions. Coach Hinds handed me a spare helmet, and I struggled to put it on.

"Alan can you help me put my helmet on, please?" I asked, giving up trying to be independent.

"Of course,"

He took the helmet from my hands, and gently placed it on my head, adjusting the chin strap. He lent in and kissed me on the cheek before shutting the visor. I blushed, a dark, crimson red.

"You ready?" He asked fixing on his own helmet, not nearly as gentle as he was with me.

"As I'll ever be," I said, getting in position.

Coach blew his whistle, and I immediately jumped down, rolling under Alan as he jumped up and took my spot. I looked to Alan to make sure he was ready, before jumping up, and watching him roll under me. I got the gist of it pretty quickly, and Alan and I managed to finish the exercise perfectly.

By the end of the drill my body ached, but I knew better than to complain. We were allowed a quick water break, then moved on to the next exercise; ladder drills.

The defensive team lined up, each taking a turn in running over the ladder. It was my turn. I ran, hoping that not giving myself time to think about what I was doing, would help me complete the drill successfully. I stepped through the gaps on each section of the ladder, almost tripping as I reached the end, but luckily I had good balance. Or it would've been a disaster and I would have never been able to live it down. I watched as Gerry, Alan and Julius went, giving the three of them a high five as they reached the end.

For the next exercise we had to jog on the spot, as fast as we could until Coach Boone blew his whistle, then we had to drop flat on the floor on our stomachs. When Coach blew his whistle again, we were to roll onto our backs, then back to our stomachs, and then to jump back up, continuing the process. It was difficult, I had to admit, but Coach's speech helped me to see through the drill until the end.

"Everything we gonna do is changing. We are change. We're gonna change the way we run. We're gonna change the way we eat. We're gonna change the way we block. We're gonna change the way we tackle. We're gonna change the way we win."

We developed a routine pretty quickly. Drill, water break, drill, water break.

Uncle Bill got the defence team to practice tackles, and I stood with him and Sheryl shouting words of encouragement.