War of the Roses: Redux Edition
Posted: 30 Sep 2019, 18:47
Pulling It Together
After weeks of summer camp, filled with two-a-days in the heat and humidity and more than a few scuffles in the realm of hyper aggressive male children, Terrebonne’s football team had made it to the beginning of the school year without killing one another. There were, however, no triumphant parties and greetings as they walked onto the campus. They didn’t fully bond and they were still very much two teams shoved into one set of colors.
The coaches still had a monumental task on their hands. But first, the players had to get through the first few weeks of school before their first game.
“You know what’s the worst fucking part about coming here?” Ron asked as he, Caesar, Britton, Bentley and Anthony walked along the sidewalk to campus.
Caesar rubbed at his eyes before downing what was left of the coffee in the cup in his hand. He threw the cup in the bushes nearby. “I’d put a lot of money down that you’re going to say the fact that fucking school starts at 7 in the fucking morning.”
“The guidance counselors got me, man. Hit me with the early dismissal talk then realized I played football and said I couldn’t because I have to have weights fourth period. Got me right here, man.” Britton tapped on his chest.
“At least, y’all are graduating and won’t have to deal with this shit anymore,” Bentley said.
“Don’t know how I’m going to do two more years of this shit,” Anthony agreed.
“Bright side, Ron’s going to be waking up before the roosters when he brings his ass up to West Point,” Caesar said, giving his friend a playful shove.
Ron brushed him away and shook his head. “Nope, I’ll be heading to Texas. I gave my verbal to TCU last week. Didn’t want that shit hanging over my head for my senior season. I have the note all written up to throw on social later today.”
“That’s a smart move,” Britton said, nodding. “Even though you’re going the pretentious ‘respect my decision’ route.”
“Respect my decision to say respect my decision, bro.” Ron laughed.
Caesar raised an eyebrow at the revelation. “If you’re going to go to a Big 12 school, why aren’t you going to Oklahoma State? I’m sure whatever TCU is offering you isn’t as good as whatever Oklahoma State put up.”
“Oklahoma State wasn’t offering me shit, but a chance to throw to the son of Cowboy legend Deion Jenkins. But you haven’t even committed yet. Getting cold feet?”
“Just following orders and waiting to make the announcement.”
He wasn’t going to say so, but Caesar was slightly pissed off that Ron would choose TCU over going to Oklahoma State. The prospect of another two years tearing up the NCAA with a quarterback that he knew could hit him was pretty hard not to get excited about. The guys who the Cowboys currently had running the offense simply weren’t as good.
“Were the hostesses at least a better lay in Fort Worth?” Caesar asked.
Ron wagged his finger at the receiver. “A true gentleman never kisses and tells. Maybe you should take advantage of your recruitment and go and find out what the hostesses are like in Fort Worth for yourself.”
“They got smacked by the NCAA for that shit. You know their hostesses are freaks,” Britton said. “They probably get some of the jersey chasers who follow the Cowboys around to go down to Fort Worth and go down on teenagers who might end up in the league.”
“Will, sir. Will end up in the league,” Ron corrected.
“That’s some good shit, Ron. We got an offer this weekend, too,” Bentley said, nodding to Anthony.
“Yep. Southern Miss wants us both.”
“Y’all really fucking each other,” Caesar said, laughing.
Anthony shrugged. “Game recognize game as they used to say. Their defensive coordinator came through and wanted to get in on that Houma pipeline in case anyone else wanted to trade one Magnolia State for another.”
“No one wants to go to Southern Miss, man. What the fuck are you going to do out there? Try to steal someone from their cousin?” Ron said. “Right, Britton?”
“Yeah, no one wants to go to Southern Miss,” he said, hoping no one would hear that his hear that his heart wasn’t in the insult.
“Hey, a football team isn’t all stars. Someone has to do the gritty work and that’s what they want up in Hattiesburg. Real hard-working guys,” Bentley said.
“Hard-working. A synonym for ‘not very good at football so we have to give them some kind of platitude,’” Caesar said.
“He’s a real workout warrior, Mel!” Ron shouted, imitating ESPN’s old NFL draft analyst, Mel Kiper. “He’s the first one in the gym and the last one to leave. A gamer!”
The group turned the corner into the main bit of the campus. Caesar glanced across the circle that the buses used to unload students and locked eyes with Jamie, standing with Bart. She gave him a bit of a wave to which he nodded to.
Ron shoved Caesar almost causing him to fall over. “You did not fuck Bart’s girlfriend. Your dick is going to get you killed.”
The rest of the guys laughed and nodded in agreement.
“I didn’t fuck her,” Caesar said. “I just saw her a couple weeks back in the neighborhood and gave her my number. It’s kinda hard to get away when you have a fucking kid. I’m just giving her someone else to talk to.”
“Don’t do that shit, Caesar,” Ron said, pointing an admonishing finger at him. “That motherfucker is probably really affiliated. You know how those Up the Bayou motherfuckers are.”
“Yeah, bro. We have enough problems on this team,” Britton said.
Caesar only shrugged and let the conversation thread die.
Devin and Scarlett sat at their typical table in the bus circle. The first half of the first day of school had gone by slowly and Devin was dreading going back to class for the final two periods of the day. It didn’t help that he had both football practice and work to look forward to after school.
Hiding his phone under the table, Devin looked through the brochures that schools had been sending him over the last few weeks as his grandfather went into overdrive to send film to coaches around the country and put him on their radars. Despite a mostly lackluster sophomore season, it seemed that a lot of coaches were banking on the potential that Devin would continue to grow into a better player.
“You’re ignoring me again,” Scarlett said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
He looked up and glanced around at the people around him, looking for any teachers. He personally loathed the rule that students couldn’t have their phones on campus. An ancient rule from 50 years ago when the school board was convinced that every student would make drug deals if they had their phones on them. Little did they know, you didn’t need a phone for that.
“No, I’m not.”
She leaned forward, propped her head up with her hand and faced him. “What’d I just say then?”
“You weren’t talking. You didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, because you wouldn’t have been listening anyway!” She sighed and looked down at his phone. “What’s got your attention anyway? You’ve been looking at that damn phone everytime I’ve seen you today.”
He held his phone up so she could see it better. “Just looking at info that schools had been sending me thanks to my grandpa calling coaches and shit.”
She flicked her finger across the screen. “Marshall.” She swiped again. “Eastern Washington.” And again. “Villanova.” And once more. “Temple. Your grandpa does know that there are college football teams in Louisiana, right?”
“Yeah, but I was already getting stuff from them,” he paused and then corrected himself. “Well, from all of them except for LSU, UL and Tulane.”
“You need to get into LSU so we can go to school together. Isn’t there some way that you can pull some strings and make that happen? You are the grandson of a former pro football player, after all. It works for Caesar.”
“Well, fuck him, first of all. Secondly, his dad is also a former pro and a current agent. He’s got a bit of a head start on the normal kids there.”
Scarlett ran her finger across the screen a few more times. “Well, you should ask him for some help so you can get into LSU.”
“I’ll pass on that. I’m sure I can get in there myself if that’s something that’s on the cards for me.” Devin slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Speaking of, do you still have those ACT prep books that your parents got you last year? I need to get ready for that.”
“Yeah, I can help you study if you want. I’m taking it again next month.”
He nodded his thanks. “Yeah, I need to make sure that I get a good enough score that Clearinghouse isn’t up my ass about it. And it’d be good if I didn’t need any damn remedials. Most schools don’t even let you in with them anymore.”
“As a thank you, I’m going to need you to make good on those dates you promised over the summer plus interest. We can just go somewhere every Saturday for the rest of the year.” She smiled up at him to try to pour on some persuasion.
“I can do that. I’ll tell one of the other guys to take some of my shifts at work so I don’t have to work late on Saturdays.”
Scarlett leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the best.”
Devin cringed a bit when an upcoming event came to mind. “But I’m going to have to double up on a weekend in a few weeks. I’m going to Starksville for a visit.”
“What is in Starksville?”
“Mississippi State. I gave my grandpa some lip about it over the summer, but it was an unofficial one then. It’s an official one now. I’ll meet the coaches and shit.”
Scarlett rolled her eyes before she shoved up from the bench and headed toward the building. Devin thought about chasing behind her and trying to apologize but he decided to let her go. He’d have to wait until she blew off some steam before doing so.
Instead, he pulled his phone back out of his pocket and opened up the information that Mississippi State’s admissions office has sent him. The Bulldogs had been a bad program for a couple decades, but they were an SEC school and it would be hard to pass that up if they gave him an official offer.
After weeks of summer camp, filled with two-a-days in the heat and humidity and more than a few scuffles in the realm of hyper aggressive male children, Terrebonne’s football team had made it to the beginning of the school year without killing one another. There were, however, no triumphant parties and greetings as they walked onto the campus. They didn’t fully bond and they were still very much two teams shoved into one set of colors.
The coaches still had a monumental task on their hands. But first, the players had to get through the first few weeks of school before their first game.
“You know what’s the worst fucking part about coming here?” Ron asked as he, Caesar, Britton, Bentley and Anthony walked along the sidewalk to campus.
Caesar rubbed at his eyes before downing what was left of the coffee in the cup in his hand. He threw the cup in the bushes nearby. “I’d put a lot of money down that you’re going to say the fact that fucking school starts at 7 in the fucking morning.”
“The guidance counselors got me, man. Hit me with the early dismissal talk then realized I played football and said I couldn’t because I have to have weights fourth period. Got me right here, man.” Britton tapped on his chest.
“At least, y’all are graduating and won’t have to deal with this shit anymore,” Bentley said.
“Don’t know how I’m going to do two more years of this shit,” Anthony agreed.
“Bright side, Ron’s going to be waking up before the roosters when he brings his ass up to West Point,” Caesar said, giving his friend a playful shove.
Ron brushed him away and shook his head. “Nope, I’ll be heading to Texas. I gave my verbal to TCU last week. Didn’t want that shit hanging over my head for my senior season. I have the note all written up to throw on social later today.”
“That’s a smart move,” Britton said, nodding. “Even though you’re going the pretentious ‘respect my decision’ route.”
“Respect my decision to say respect my decision, bro.” Ron laughed.
Caesar raised an eyebrow at the revelation. “If you’re going to go to a Big 12 school, why aren’t you going to Oklahoma State? I’m sure whatever TCU is offering you isn’t as good as whatever Oklahoma State put up.”
“Oklahoma State wasn’t offering me shit, but a chance to throw to the son of Cowboy legend Deion Jenkins. But you haven’t even committed yet. Getting cold feet?”
“Just following orders and waiting to make the announcement.”
He wasn’t going to say so, but Caesar was slightly pissed off that Ron would choose TCU over going to Oklahoma State. The prospect of another two years tearing up the NCAA with a quarterback that he knew could hit him was pretty hard not to get excited about. The guys who the Cowboys currently had running the offense simply weren’t as good.
“Were the hostesses at least a better lay in Fort Worth?” Caesar asked.
Ron wagged his finger at the receiver. “A true gentleman never kisses and tells. Maybe you should take advantage of your recruitment and go and find out what the hostesses are like in Fort Worth for yourself.”
“They got smacked by the NCAA for that shit. You know their hostesses are freaks,” Britton said. “They probably get some of the jersey chasers who follow the Cowboys around to go down to Fort Worth and go down on teenagers who might end up in the league.”
“Will, sir. Will end up in the league,” Ron corrected.
“That’s some good shit, Ron. We got an offer this weekend, too,” Bentley said, nodding to Anthony.
“Yep. Southern Miss wants us both.”
“Y’all really fucking each other,” Caesar said, laughing.
Anthony shrugged. “Game recognize game as they used to say. Their defensive coordinator came through and wanted to get in on that Houma pipeline in case anyone else wanted to trade one Magnolia State for another.”
“No one wants to go to Southern Miss, man. What the fuck are you going to do out there? Try to steal someone from their cousin?” Ron said. “Right, Britton?”
“Yeah, no one wants to go to Southern Miss,” he said, hoping no one would hear that his hear that his heart wasn’t in the insult.
“Hey, a football team isn’t all stars. Someone has to do the gritty work and that’s what they want up in Hattiesburg. Real hard-working guys,” Bentley said.
“Hard-working. A synonym for ‘not very good at football so we have to give them some kind of platitude,’” Caesar said.
“He’s a real workout warrior, Mel!” Ron shouted, imitating ESPN’s old NFL draft analyst, Mel Kiper. “He’s the first one in the gym and the last one to leave. A gamer!”
The group turned the corner into the main bit of the campus. Caesar glanced across the circle that the buses used to unload students and locked eyes with Jamie, standing with Bart. She gave him a bit of a wave to which he nodded to.
Ron shoved Caesar almost causing him to fall over. “You did not fuck Bart’s girlfriend. Your dick is going to get you killed.”
The rest of the guys laughed and nodded in agreement.
“I didn’t fuck her,” Caesar said. “I just saw her a couple weeks back in the neighborhood and gave her my number. It’s kinda hard to get away when you have a fucking kid. I’m just giving her someone else to talk to.”
“Don’t do that shit, Caesar,” Ron said, pointing an admonishing finger at him. “That motherfucker is probably really affiliated. You know how those Up the Bayou motherfuckers are.”
“Yeah, bro. We have enough problems on this team,” Britton said.
Caesar only shrugged and let the conversation thread die.
-*****-
Devin and Scarlett sat at their typical table in the bus circle. The first half of the first day of school had gone by slowly and Devin was dreading going back to class for the final two periods of the day. It didn’t help that he had both football practice and work to look forward to after school.
Hiding his phone under the table, Devin looked through the brochures that schools had been sending him over the last few weeks as his grandfather went into overdrive to send film to coaches around the country and put him on their radars. Despite a mostly lackluster sophomore season, it seemed that a lot of coaches were banking on the potential that Devin would continue to grow into a better player.
“You’re ignoring me again,” Scarlett said, bumping his shoulder with hers.
He looked up and glanced around at the people around him, looking for any teachers. He personally loathed the rule that students couldn’t have their phones on campus. An ancient rule from 50 years ago when the school board was convinced that every student would make drug deals if they had their phones on them. Little did they know, you didn’t need a phone for that.
“No, I’m not.”
She leaned forward, propped her head up with her hand and faced him. “What’d I just say then?”
“You weren’t talking. You didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, because you wouldn’t have been listening anyway!” She sighed and looked down at his phone. “What’s got your attention anyway? You’ve been looking at that damn phone everytime I’ve seen you today.”
He held his phone up so she could see it better. “Just looking at info that schools had been sending me thanks to my grandpa calling coaches and shit.”
She flicked her finger across the screen. “Marshall.” She swiped again. “Eastern Washington.” And again. “Villanova.” And once more. “Temple. Your grandpa does know that there are college football teams in Louisiana, right?”
“Yeah, but I was already getting stuff from them,” he paused and then corrected himself. “Well, from all of them except for LSU, UL and Tulane.”
“You need to get into LSU so we can go to school together. Isn’t there some way that you can pull some strings and make that happen? You are the grandson of a former pro football player, after all. It works for Caesar.”
“Well, fuck him, first of all. Secondly, his dad is also a former pro and a current agent. He’s got a bit of a head start on the normal kids there.”
Scarlett ran her finger across the screen a few more times. “Well, you should ask him for some help so you can get into LSU.”
“I’ll pass on that. I’m sure I can get in there myself if that’s something that’s on the cards for me.” Devin slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Speaking of, do you still have those ACT prep books that your parents got you last year? I need to get ready for that.”
“Yeah, I can help you study if you want. I’m taking it again next month.”
He nodded his thanks. “Yeah, I need to make sure that I get a good enough score that Clearinghouse isn’t up my ass about it. And it’d be good if I didn’t need any damn remedials. Most schools don’t even let you in with them anymore.”
“As a thank you, I’m going to need you to make good on those dates you promised over the summer plus interest. We can just go somewhere every Saturday for the rest of the year.” She smiled up at him to try to pour on some persuasion.
“I can do that. I’ll tell one of the other guys to take some of my shifts at work so I don’t have to work late on Saturdays.”
Scarlett leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the best.”
Devin cringed a bit when an upcoming event came to mind. “But I’m going to have to double up on a weekend in a few weeks. I’m going to Starksville for a visit.”
“What is in Starksville?”
“Mississippi State. I gave my grandpa some lip about it over the summer, but it was an unofficial one then. It’s an official one now. I’ll meet the coaches and shit.”
Scarlett rolled her eyes before she shoved up from the bench and headed toward the building. Devin thought about chasing behind her and trying to apologize but he decided to let her go. He’d have to wait until she blew off some steam before doing so.
Instead, he pulled his phone back out of his pocket and opened up the information that Mississippi State’s admissions office has sent him. The Bulldogs had been a bad program for a couple decades, but they were an SEC school and it would be hard to pass that up if they gave him an official offer.