Coming Together

Chap. 2

 Aaron's POV

“Wow Aaron,” Elaine breathed, squeezing my biceps, “you’ve really been working hard.”

“Just trying to get my strength back after the injury,” I said, with a smile.

“You’re so brave.”

“Hey, do you plan on showing up to practice?” Xavier called.

“Call me,” Elaine whispered.

I headed down to the locker rooms, running later than usual, which meant I was bound to run into Colby.

I went to open the door and my vision blurred. I growled, cursing Colby under my breath. It was his fault I had this stupid black eye.

Don’t get me wrong, I deserved this black eye. If Colby ever said anything about my mom, I wouldn’t hesitate to do the same. But the difference was I would feel guilty afterwards, check to see if he was alright. Colby honestly didn’t give a shit, and to be honest, if dad hadn’t pulled him off of me, I’m pretty sure he would’ve beaten me to a pummel.

So I didn’t blame him for giving me the black eye, that was understandable. I should’ve never said what I said about his mom, especially under the circumstances. But the least he could do is ask if I was alright.

Once my vision cleared, I headed inside. There were only a few people left getting ready, one of them being Colby.

“You’re running late there Aaron,” Barry, wide receiver, teased.

“Had to do some campaigning after school,” I said, grabbing my stuff out of my locker.

“Speaking of campaigning, get me some more flyers and I’ll start handing them out again,” Paul called.

“Sure thing man.”

“Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?” Barry asked. “Don’t tell me you’re falling into that.”

I looked over at Colby, who was engrossed in a conversation with Michael. Angered that he wasn’t more concerned over my black eye, I went ahead and slid off my sunglasses.

“Holy shit dude,” Barry said, jogging over to me. “What happened?”

Colby’s eyes flickered over to me, taking in my black eye for the first time. But there wasn’t a sign of remorse on his face.

“It happened after practice yesterday.”

“That sucks man. Are you okay to play?”

“Of course.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to sit out a few games?” Colby asked, heading towards the locker room door. “It looks serious, like something you need to rest and ice.” He left the locker room.

“You two really need to work out whatever you have going on,” Barry said, shaking his head.

“Why do you care?” I asked, slipping my sunglasses back on before shoving my stuff into my locker.

“Because the only way we have any hopes of winning this year is if we build a team,” Barry said. “And you two suck at team building.”

We headed down to the field, ready for a hard day of practice.

Waiting down at the field was a man I’d never seen before. The team was gathered around him, and Barry and I quickly joined.

“My name is Garrett Thompson,” the guy announced. “And I’m the new head coach of the Lincoln Academy Hurricanes.”