We Come Alive 4

Best Of Luck

Wednesday rolled around soon after which brought on another day of school. Instead of being in his fifth period class, Diego was sitting in the trainer's room in the athletic building taking deep breaths nervously. He had just gotten another examination by Danny to check his neck to see when he'll be possibly be able to play again.

Diego was taking deep breaths when he heard Danny walking out of his office and walking up to Diego with his file in his hand.

"Alright, I went over this and it's gonna be complicated." Danny admitted, scratching his beard as he spoke. "So, you fractured your neck pretty well in the car accident. It was decently stabled when you got out your neck brace, but your goal of state game is still...your goal really."

Danny looked Diego in the eyes and saw the desperation in them, so he chose to just look at the file again. "I can't allow you to suit up and play out there. Especially as outside linebacker. There's no way. You have no numbness, no tingling feelings, no tense muscles which is great, but you can't take or give a tackle. You can run the drills, you can run the 3 mile run, you can do all those things, but no playing. No tackles. No hits."

Diego sighed as he put his face in the palms of his hands and doubled over as he sat on the exam table. "Stop beating around the bush, you're killing me. Just give me the truth."

"Honestly, my guess is you'll be cleared by the playoffs. If that." Danny sighed. "Diego, you're asking for a lot here."

"No senior year season, no scholarships." Diego said muffled in his hands.

Danny put his hand on Diego's back and let out a deep breath. "There comes a time when every player needs to get prepared to hang up the jersey, you need to start mentally preparing for that."

"No!" Diego cried out. Danny rubbed his back as Diego started to cry having to watch all his dreams come crashing down in front of him.

"You can run the drills at practice today and I'll get a better idea of when you'll be cleared. Throw on the pads and helmet. Okay?" Danny assured him. "Clean yourself up and I'll escort you back to class."

Diego got up and walked out of the trainer's room where he took a walk around the athletic building to calm down before meeting Danny at the front doors.

~**~

Hours later when football practice begun, all of the players were doing their stretches on the field. Like usual, Jacob was standing by himself as he stretched out his legs and arms. He looked in the corner of his eye and saw Ethan doing back flips to the amusement of his friends.

Jacob took a few deep breaths before shuffling over to the group of teenagers. When he walked up, all their smiles faded and their amusement disappeared.

"Can I ask y'alls advice about somethin'?" Jacob asked, scratching his arms nervously.

Ethan walked into the middle of the group and stood in front of Jacob. "What you want, blanco? What? Mommy ain't give you the toy you want?"

Jacob glared at the Spanish boy in front of him before looking at the teenagers behind him. Clover pulled Ethan back and motioned for Jacob to ask his question.

Jacob took a deep breath before speaking up. "So...last night my um...my dad came back. He said he'd been looking for me for, like, 13 years."

"What? Think cause we ain't white we ain't got no fathers?" Diego scoffed, putting on his practice jersey. "What the hell you want?"

"Hey!" Clover yelled at them. "Stand down, hounds. What'd you want to talk about, white boy?"

Jacob chuckled quietly at the way all the boys back down instantly from the African American girl. "I just know y'all are better at intense situations then I am. I was just wondering what do I do? Do I just open my arms and forgive him or just...I don't know. The dude walked out of my life when I was a kid. Never wanted to do anything with me since. Got remarried, got a kid, a great job. Just left me and my family in the dust."

Stephen shrugged as he leaned his arm against Jose's shoulder. "Well, to be honest we ain't never been in that type of situation. I mean, shit none of us have been abandoned like that. Clover's dad cared enough about her mental, physical, and emotional health so she can still make it through life to be a quarterback. Ricky's dad might've beat his ass all the time but he had a lot of times where he was a good father and raised Ricky well enough that he isn't a murderer. Ethan's dad neglected him but when he was around, he took good care of him. Took him to the doctor, went to his games, played ball with him despite in the eyes of American laws he was committing child abuse most of the time. And Diego's dad at least made time with him between his other 13 million kids. None of our dads are father of the year, but we've never just been abandoned by 'em. You're in a category of your own."

"Thanks." Jacob sighed. "I appreciate it." He walked around them and headed towards the sidelines only to hear Jose yell after him,

"Best of luck, Blanco. Let us know how it goes!"

Jacob smiled to himself as he sat down on the sidelines and rubbed his hands together. He went into his bag that was on the ground and went through it to put on his gloves.

"What's with you?"

Jacob's head shot up to see Manny standing there with the playbook in one hand and her dad's clipboard in the other.

"Oh. Nothin'. Personal bullshit." Jacob shrugged, going back into his bag to put on his gloves.

Manny sat down next to him, but kept a great deal of space between them. "Like what?"

"My dad who abandoned my family 13 years ago came back yesterday wanting to be a part of my life with his new wife, new kid, and new amazing job while we've been moving from state to state scrapping for money my whole life with my mom's old job." He explained, looking up at her as he slid his gloves on.

Manny nodded her head slowly as she internalized what he said. "Rough." She breathed. "Well, If you want some help with bad fathers, Ricky's use to beat him half to death, tell him he wanted a family, get drunk and beat his mom, then he disappeared into the dark and never came back. Hasn't come back since."

"He died." Jacob said, standing up. "Ricky's dad died. He told us over the summer. I guess Clover never told you. He committed suicide in his prison cell after he was getting his ass kicked for nearly choking out his son, breaking his wrist, and trying to ruin Ricky's life. But Ricky's dad had good times with him. The deadbeat left him a note telling him how much he loved him and how he wanted to change. I never had good times with my dad, it's different. And your dad gave up his dream of being in the NFL for you, so no one around here can help me out."

Manny gave him a sympathetic look before getting up and sitting in the second row of benches while he went onto the field for practice to start.

"Wish you the best." She whispered to him.

Jacob just gave her a half smile as he walked onto the field and begun the drills that the coaches were telling them to start.