Worlds Collide

Chapter 1

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 called T. C. Williams High School.

That summer, a black teenager was killed by a white store owner, and the city was on the verge of exploding.

~ Grace's POV ~

"Come on, Kurt, don't let Ray back you down like that! You're twice his size!" Sheryl yelled at the players. "Aargh! What are they doing? If they keep playing like that, we'll lose every game!" She

"I didn't think that was so bad," Yoast said as he looked down at his daughter.

"You might wanna think again, coach," I say as I stand next to Sheryl. Yoast looks at me confused.

"You really think it was that bad?" He asked looking at me.

"Don't worry coach," I say as I put a hand on his shoulder, "you have all of camp to fix it," I say with my signature smirk. Yoast laughs a bit before turning his focus back to the boys when my brother comes running up to him.

"Looks good, Gerry. I can see you've been working." Yoast said, like a proud parent.

"Thanks. Thanks a lot, Coach." Gerry said, he looked back at his teammates before turning back to Coach, the hesitation clear in his eyes.

"Listen, with the schools integrating and all, some of the guys are worried about losing their starting positions," Gerry said.

Being his twin sister, Gerry told me everything. I knew how worried he was about the integration, and losing his starting position himself, and since he was the team captain, he was responsible for everyone else. It made sense that he'd be the one that'd bring it up to Coach.

"Well, that's something we're just gonna have to figure out, but you don't worry about that now," Yoast said with a smile. He put a comforting hand on Gerry's shoulder. "You just keep at it. All right?"

"Yes, Coach," Gerry said with a nod as he turned back to join the others.

Suddenly Alan's voice rang out.

"Hey, guys! Guys!" Alan yelled as he raced down the steps. "It's comin' down! It's comin' down at the store!" He said as he reached the team at the fence. "They want to burn the place up 'cause that colored kid got shot," Alan said worriedly. Gerry shook his head before looking at Ray.

"Come on, man, let's go," Gerry said before taking off with some of the guys

"Gerry!!" I shouted, but of course, being the stubborn brother he is, he didn't listen.

"Hey. Hey!" Yoast yelled to no avail as they took off down the street.

"Coach?" Sheryl said, confused. Yoast put his arm on her shoulder and looked at me.

"Grace, get Sheryl to my office at the school now," Yoast said frantically before jumping in his blue pickup.

"You got it, Coach," I said as I grabbed Sheryl's hand and walked to my car.

~ Gerry's POV ~

We ran all the way from the field to the store. Just as we were able to see the big crowd of protesters, Coach's truck swerved right in front of us.

"Get in the truck." Yoast said, but none of us moved "Gerry, Alan, Ray if you ever want to play for me again, get in the truck now." Yoast repeated a serious. I sighed in defeat before getting into the passenger seat while Ray and Alan got into the back. Yoast put the truck in drive and took us back to the school in silence.