One More Try: The Aaron Street Story

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 1, Arrivals And Departures

July 23, 2010

Riley had been taking college classes for almost a year, he had been studying Architecture. He got as far as he could online, and was going to Youngstown State University. He had also really changed, he was a better person, by far.

"See you bro." Riley said as he left Washington.

"Good luck!" I called out after him.

**********

"I got the house." Coach Smith said as he walked in the front door.

"That's great." I said, knowing that he would leave soon. He had already sold the house for a future date.

"Which brings up a question, where are you going to live?"

"I, I don't know."

"Your brother?"

"Left for college."

"Aunt and Uncle?"

"Rejected the form I sent them about custody."

"You see the problem here, right?"

"Where, where am I able to f*cking go! It seems everyone leaves me anyway!"

**********

"Hey. I'm Damien Michaels Jr."

"Hi, I'm Aaron. Aaron Street. I'll show you around the beautiful town of Washington." I spoke, letting a bit of sarcasm slip out.

Damien looked at me with suspicion, "Okay. Can we start tomorrow, the car trip was long as hell."

"Sure."

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, Bad Moon Rising

August 2, 2010

"Three step drop." Coach Patterson called out. We were at the beginning of the preseason, and it was not fun. Damien Michaels Jr., Timmy Weston, and I had been throwing the football for about two hours.

"Come on coach." Timmy Weston spoke out, it was what the three of us had been thinking for so long.

"One more throw, make it good." Coach Patterson said. He wasn't the same coach as last year, he was already pushing us more than he had last year, and it was only the first day of preseason.

We did the last throw and all left, I had to take most of the rest of the day to show Damien Michaels Jr. around the school grounds. Coach Patterson had made me his personal tour guide, and today he made me show him around the school grounds. The school itself, the fields, and everything else.

"Who's that?" Damien said pointing towards the field hockey field. It's how most of the tour days went, he asked about people and who they were, particularly girls.

"You're gonna have to be a bit more specific." I said back, looking at about forty girls down on the field.

"Practice jersey is 17." Damien said keeping his eyes locked on her.

I scanned the field looking for a number seventeen. "That's Alexis, don't go anywhere near her. She's crazy, and she has a boyfriend, from Wellstown."

"Thanks for the tip man." Damien said. We exchanged a fist bump and walked on.

"Thanks for the tour man." Damien said.

"No problem." I said back, as much as I wanted to hate him, I liked him. He was a cool guy, despite likely stealing the position I wanted so much.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, Skirmish At The Scrimmage

August 6, 2010

The first week of practice was almost over, everyone was tired and we all so awaited the end. Coach Patterson was pushing everyone harder than ever, we already had four people quit. In the huddle or at the water you would hear the complaints and jabs at Coach Patterson. Even Johnny, his son, would make the occasional jab.

"Okay boys, we're gonna scrimmage. Two teams, one quarterbacked by Damien Michaels Jr. and the other one by Aaron Street." Coach Patterson called out, sorting all of the other players into two teams. They were pretty evenly split.

"What about me coach?" Timmy Weston, our senior quarterback asked.

Coach Patterson gave him a look of disgust, "You can take a seat on the bench."

Timmy Weston glared back at the Coach. "Nah, I don't need this." And he left, he just got in his car and left.

"Holy sh*t." Brandon said quietly to me.

There was a bizarre moment of silence where Coach Patterson didn't talk, and all of the players were still shocked at what had happened just moments ago.

"Let's get this scrimmage started." Coach Patterson said finally breaking the awkward silence that had consumed the field.

We scrimmaged, Coach Patterson called the offensive plays and the defense had to call it's own plays. We were going to scrimmage until the end of practice, but that plan didn't pan out.

"32 Right Counter." I overheard Damien say to the huddle, I was playing free safety. We got ourselves in a good run stopping formation.

Damien got the ball in his hands, but he never handed the ball off. He took off running with it on the bootleg, he went all the way to the endzone.

"Good play Damien." Coach Patterson called out.

"What the f*ck, man?" Cameron Graham, our second string running back, said to him in the endzone. "That wasn't the play."

"Get out of here." Damien said, pushing Cameron away.

"F*ck you man." Cameron said pushing Damien down to the ground.

Coach Patterson stared in awe of the events that had just transpired. "Get off my field Cameron."

"Gladly." Cameron said walking away.

I turned to Brandon, "What the hell is going on?"

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Re: One More Try: The Aaron Street Story

I will have a banner up soon for the new posts. I will also start updating more often and commonly.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, Where'd You Go

Practice was finally over, and boy was that practice rough. Two of our players had walked out on the team, with good reason. Timmy Weston, our senior quarterback, and Cameron Graham, our second string running back.

Timmy Weston would've likely been the backup to whoever won the quarterback position, so he wasn't a huge loss. Cameron Graham was the pass catching back and the backup, he would be more of a loss. The backup running back role would now most likely go to Johnny Patterson, who hadn't played since he had been shot in the leg.

I immediately went to Timmy Weston's house, the two of us had developed a weird friendship while sitting on the bench together.

"What was that about?" I asked as I saw him shooting a basketball in his driveway.

"Coach Patterson is kissing Damien's *ss." He said a look of disgust came over his face. "I looked into the guy, coach is risking his job if they find out."

"Find out what?" I asked Timmy, having no clue who they were, or what it was.

"I looked into the grandparents, that were why he moved. They moved here a week before he did. Coach payed him to come play for the team." Timmy Weston said lining up to take another shot.

"Holy sh*t. Are you actually done with the team?" I asked.

"Yeah. I already have an offer on the table to a small college, it's not a full ride, but it covers two semesters, it's for academics. They have a football team I could try out for." He said, missing the shot he had lined up.

"That's great." I said.

I left Timmy's house after that, I was happy for him and his future. However I lost a friend on the team, for the season that looked like it was going to be a terrible one.

****************************

Hey

I looked at my phone when it vibrated. Madison and I hadn't talked since she left in January. There must be some reason she chose this very moment to contact me.

I responded back with "What's up?"

Problems can seem so big and overwhelming when you're younger, but this wasn't one of those. This was a serious issue, what she next texted me, I'll never forget...

[Burger5204]

Re: Season 2, Where'd You Go

This is a good one. I love the story element. WTH IS MADISON GOING TO DO NOW????

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, What The Hell Madison?

I shook my head in a disapproving and angry way as I walked down the hospital corridor. The memories of my last experience in the hospital were still fresh in my head, the aftermath of the encounter with Darren. But, this time I wasn't at the hospital for my own reasons. This time I was at the hospital because Madison said she told me she needed me, I had no idea what to expect in her room.

"Wait, you can't go in there." A nurse said to me as she prevented me from entering the room Madison was in.

"Why not?" I asked, trying to see why Madison seemed so panicked.

"She's not seeing anyone right now." The nurse said trying to get me to stop pestering her about it.

"Let him in." I heard a disgruntled and sickly sounding Madison say.

The nurse let me in, clearly upset that she wasted her time. I immediately saw a normal looking Madison laying in a hospital bed. She looked completely normal, the only thing that looked even somewhat out of place was the sick expression she had on her face.

"What's up?" I asked, as I could see no problem.

"I. I passed out." She said.

"That's all?" I shot her a questioning look and saw that it affected her.

"Alcohol."

"What about it?"

"That's what caused me to pass out."

"God D*mn it Madison! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I just went to a party, and drank. A lot."

"And you had no one else that could come here?"

"Things haven't been easy at this new school."

"You could have said something before you drank so much you passed out."

"Alcohol poisoning."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"I also have that, they need to keep me overnight."

I was furious. Madison was supposed to be at this new school for academic advantages, then on top of that she has me drive two hours to this hospital.

"What the f*ck?" I shook my head and ground my teeth together.

I was beginning to cool down, that was until we had a nurse pop in to ask her a question, "Same payment method as last time."

Madison's face showed guilt immediately, she ushered the nurse out of the room.

"Aaron-"

"What the f*ck?" I started to walk out of the room, I paused at her doorway, turned around and said, "You could have told me."

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Re: One More Try: The Aaron Street Story

Just as a sort of FYI the reason Aaron was so frustrated and furious is because he saw the same situation with his brother and saw how long it took him to get his life back on track.

[ignorantlobsters]

Re: One More Try: The Aaron Street Story

Wow. I was questioning reading all of this because of how long the posts are, but I'm so glad I read it.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Re: One More Try: The Aaron Street Story

Wow. I was questioning reading all of this because of how long the posts are, but I'm so glad I read it.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

I'm glad you like it. I'm even gladder that you stuck with it despite questioning reading it.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, New Start?

August 9, 2010

"Street! Get over here." Coach Patterson yelled at the start of practice.

I had no idea why he wanted to talk to me, after all he had his star child in Damien Michaels Jr.

"Have you spoken to Timmy?" He asked, looking questioningly at me.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked, I had a pretty good idea of why he was asking.

"Is there any way that he'll come back?"

"I doubt it, he was pretty pissed. Also, he knows." And with that I rejoined the team for warmups.

"I got your back Street." Chris Peterson said as he came close to me.

"What?" I said sort of bewildered. What did he mean he had my back, Chris had never talked to me before.

"There's a rift between the team, some want Damien to start. The others support you, most of us support you."

"Who supports Damien?"

"Devin's the only starter that has supported him, but that's only to spite you."

"He's such an *ss."

"What did you ever do to piss him off?" Chris asked me.

"I was the quarterback of his team, while we were in middle school. The coach ran a lot of option plays. And when we did pass, I didn't pass to him. He just couldn't get open, but he comes from a college football family, his dad played."

"He needs to be put in his place, that attitude. Especially for a freshman. At least he doesn't play receiver anymore, now he's a safety."

"Thanks for the support man." I said as we went our different ways for position specific training.

During practice the new quarterbacks coach had me and Damien run the same drill side by side. It was a simple accuracy based passing drill, I smoked him. There were a few cheers as people saw me hit all of my passes on target.

"Nice ones man." Damien said in a sarcastic tone.

"At least I hit some." I retorted back.

"Sorry that I have a future as a quarterback, you're nothing more than an over glorified hard worker with a mediocre arm."

"And I thought you were cool."

"Whatever, Street." He said walking away.

"Damien, where the hell are you going?" Coach Patterson yelled seeing him walking away.

"Home." Damien said back.

"Smug b*st*rd" The quarterbacks coach said to me quietly.

"Damien, come here!" Coach Patterson yelled at him. Coach Patterson was the maddest I had ever seen him.

In a way, I felt bad for him. He had to put up with Damien and give him everything he wanted, or Damien could tell someone what he did and get him fired.

The season hadn't even started, and there was already conflict, and drama, lots of drama.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, Scrimmage Vs. Mandeville

August 16, 2010

We were in the locker room at Mandeville ahead of our scrimmage, Coach Smith had played a major part in setting it up.

"-If we do all those things we can win, Damien, you're starting at quarterback." Coach Patterson said as he was finishing his pre-game speech.

I looked to Cole Samples and he gave me a look that said 'Why not you.'

We would receive.

"Aaron, free safety. Next series." Coach Patterson said as he watched Damien run onto the field. I could feel the anxiety he was feeling, he had risked his job for Damien.

His first throw was incomplete, five yards away from David Pendelton.

Second play, Chris Peterson took the direct snap and got a good chunk of fifteen yards.

Then Damien opened it up, it was a play action pass that Kobe Anderson caught in stride and took to the house.

Damien was taken out after the first half and I was put in at quarterback. I did good, but didn't have the standout numbers he did. We won, but by a narrow amount.

"Great job out there guys." Coach Patterson said looking out over all of us.

"Practice the rest of this week, school starts two weeks from now. We'll practice everyday after school. First game is two days after that." Coach Patterson went on before leading us back to the buses.

Cole Samples turned to me and said, "Party afterwards, Chase Steven's house, you in?"

"Uhhh, sure man." Parties really weren't my forte, the last one I went to ended terribly.

Cole then turned to Johnny Patterson, "What about you?"

Johnny looked surprised for a minute then nodded his head 'yes.'

Johnny was more of a quiet guy in public, but he was loud when he was in the company of just friends. He also still hadn't played a football game since the leg incident.

******************

Johnny, Cole, and I got to the party when it was already going hard.

"Aaron." I heard Damien Michaels Jr. yell from across the yard.

"D*mn it." I mumbled under my breath.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, Party Words

"What? Are you not happy to see me?" Damien said with a smirk on his face. He was walking towards us and was almost there. He was followed by two bigger guys, essentially his possy.

"Man, we just want to party." Cole said before I could retort anything, I shot him a look, but he knew what he was doing. He didn't want either of us to do anything we would regret.

"Just saying hi to my backup." Damien looked awfully smug after that one.

I was right about to say something that I would have regret, but we were both stuck in our tracks when we saw James Kam walk up to us.

James Kam was the projected starter for Wellstown, our biggest rival, he was also ranked as one of the best quarterbacks in the League. He was a transfer from a small school that was personally picked out by Wellstown's football coach.

"Hey, is this the sub-par quarterback convention?" James Kam was obviously referring to Damien, and I, but Cole still looked offended.

"That's pretty big talk for someone who hasn't played in a single game yet." I said back immediately.

"Shush Aaron, let the starters talk." James looked right at Damien as he said it.

Damien was growing angrier as the time past by, but he kept his cool long enough to say, "You think you're the best, we get it. Why don't you prove it?"

Just as James was about to respond Alexis came out of nowhere to pull him away.

"Come on James, don't waste time with these guys. There's plenty of party to be had." Alexis said pointing at the main crowd of people.

James and Alexis proceeded to leave, and what no one had noticed was that Damien's possy had left far before that. Damien that awkwardly left, leaving just Cole, Johnny, and I.

"That was a promising start." Johnny said with slight laughter.

"Come on, forget them. Forget football for once, we're only in high school once." Cole said walking away towards the main party crowd.

"Thank god" Johnny said referring to Cole saying we were only in high school once. Johnny and I then started gradually moving towards the bigger part of the party.

It didn't take long for the three of us to get separated. Johnny was on the outside, and he was fine with that. Cole was in the middle, being the center of attention. And me, I was in the middle of a small group trying to leave.

That was when my attention got caught by a girl standing on the outside, I slowly walked over to her.

"You know the party's over there." I said pointing to the large crowd.

She started to smile, "That explains why no one was talking to me."

"I'm Aaron."

"Valerie."

Me and Valerie talked for quit a while. Then it was interrupted.

I saw that in the main crowd two people were standing close to each other, in a way that looked like they were about to fight. "Is that Cole? It is, crap. I gotta go."

TO BE CONTINUED...

************************************************** ***************
Didn't mean for this post to be so long, or to have to have three different parts. Oi Vey.

It's long because I have to start a bunch of new storylines to go the direction I want to with it.

I will start posting a lot more, I just got caught up during track season.

Next update should be out soon...

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Season 2, Parting Words

I rushed over to where Cole was kneeling down on the ground and put myself between him and whoever he was in the fight with. Big surprise, it was Damien Michaels Jr.

"Back off man." I said squaring up to Damien, we both knew it wasn't about anything that Cole did or said. It was about what it always was, the two of us.

"You need to control his mouth-"

"Shut it Damien, you know this has nothing to do with him."

"What's it about then?"

"Same thing it's always been, me and you."

Damien got a small grin on his face and stepped closer, "It's about time, I was wondering how long it would take you."

"Not as long as it'll take me to get the starting job."

"That's big talk from someone who can barely throw the ball."

I had had it with Damien. Since day one he thought he automatically deserved everything.

He swung and hit me right in the side of the head, I staggered back. It was my turn, I lunged forward and got him right in the stomach. He keeled over momentarily. I took that opportunity to uppercut him.

I thought at that point that I had won, I was wrong. He came back and got me right in the face, nearly braking my nose. Damien took another shot, an uppercut, to get back at me for mine. I was going to lose, but Johnny came in and pushed Damien back.

"You good?" Johnny asked, helping me up.

"I've been better." I replied with a hint of humor.

"Come on, let's go." Johnny replied back, nodding to me and Cole.

"Yeah, that's right. Run away!" Damien yelled from behind us.

"He's not worth it." Johnny said as he grabbed my shoulder and stopped me from turning around.

Valerie rushed up to me, having seen what happened, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. You should see the other guy." I said with a slight chuckle.

"I did, he looks pretty better off." Valerie replied.

"Not helping."

"Good night Aaron, try not to get in any more fights." Valerie said as Cole, Johnny, and I were walking away.

"That was one hell of a party." Cole said jokingly as we all sat down in his car.

"Let's try not to have that happen again." Johnny chimed in. The three of us laughed.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Sophomore Preview

Aaron Street

School: Washington High School, Washington, Ohio
Team: Washington Wildcats
Grade Level: Sophomore
Height: 5-10
Weight: 170
Jersey Number: 7
Position: ?