~Jason~
"Jason," Derek shouts from outside my door, " You're going to be late for your first practice it you don't get out of bed."
Sometimes I wonder if football is worth it, then I remember the feeling of winning games and hanging out with the team.
" Jay I'm serious," my step dad shouts, " If I don't see you downstairs in ten minutes I wil personally call your coach and have you running."
"Okay, okay," I groan as I get out of bed, " I'll be down soon, gosh."
Derek married my mom six years ago. My real dad died when I was eight, and three years later my mom remarried. As far as step-dads go, he's one of the better ones I guess. He understands that in my mind he'll never replace my real dad and seems cool with that.
After throwing on some shorts and a shirt I walk out to the kitchen to grab a protein bar before heading out to my car. Even during summer we have football practices where we prepare the new players for the next season, and do some conditioning to stay in shape. Although we still had to get to the field by 7:30, which is a crime in and of itself, we weren't dressing out till next week. This 'practice' was just an informational meeting and the coaches introducing themselves to the juniors.
Before heading over to the field, I had to go pick up a probably hungover Connor. I dropped him off and drove his car home last night, not wanting him to drive drunk. I parked outside his house and honked twice to let him know I was there. Two minutes later his door opened and he walked toward my car, already wearing a pair of sunglasses.
" I swear bro," he says in greeting, " if this meeting is longer than twenty minutes I don't think I'll make it."
I laughed and turned up the radio to mess with him as I drove towards our school.
I parked next to the other guys' cars before getting out and heading over to the gym, which is the easiest place to hold meetings besides the locker room due to the size of our team.
At 7:30 on the dot, our head coach, Coach Ray walked to the middle of the floor, and the guys in the bleachers quieted down.
" Alright men," he starts off, " thank you all for showing up on time today. I don't want to make this too long, so I'll review the schedule for this summer,and go over a few things, then have the other coaches introduce themselves. After that it's up to you to come up to us personally with any question you have. Sounds good?"
The team responded in 'yes coach's and 'yeah's before he got started. We were going to have three practices every week starting at seven and running for two hours. Every practice we were expected to bring our hundred percent effort and a good attitude. He kept droning on with the usual speech about effort which I started to tune out and look around the gym. He caught my attention again when nearing the end of his speech.
" Now for a few special announcements before I hand it over to Assistant Coach Dan. This team has a no drug, no violence policy. Every year is a fresh start, and I believe a new opportunity. As of today you are all part of this team. If I find that you have been involved with anything that goes against our policies as a team and as a school, I will be required to take appropriate measures against the incident."
My heart rate increases as I wonder if Coach knew what happened at the championship game, but I realized that this was the usual speech he gave every year.
" One last thing, as you know, these summer practices are seen as optional in the eyes of the school board. That means all these coaches, myself included aren't being paid as well as we are during the school year. This being said, you might be seeing some new volunteer staff around the field during practice. We as a coaching team expect you to treat them with the same amount of respect that you treat us. Thank you all for coming out today, and I hope we can have an awesome summer and a great season next year. Here's Coach Dan with some more information about our workout schedule."
Coach Ray walks to the side as we clap and Coach Dan takes center stage. I zone out and am brought back to reality when everyone around me starts moving towards the doors.
"C'mon man, Izzy says she's on her way to Pete's," Connor says.
Pete's was a local restaurant near the beach that the kids in our area claimed as the local hangout spot. During the school year you would see groups of us studying and hanging out, and during summer it was to go to place for lunch before heading back to the beach.
We get to Pete's and it's surprisingly empty for a summer day. When I see the clock read ten o'clock I understand why. The restaurant was made to look like an old surf shop. The exterior was made of wooden planks covered in a sea green paint that's chipping from the weather. Inside, tables were laid out in the middle with booths running against the left wall and a bar to the right. The wall directly across the entrance wasn't there, instead replaced with glass doors that lead out to a patio with even more seating.
" Conny, Jay," Izzy shouts from a booth, "over here!" We make our way towards where she's sitting next with our other friends. Izzy and Gabby were fraternal twins and both on the soccer team. Mason and Chase sit across from them and are both starters on the basketball team. We've all known each other since elementary school, but really bonded through high school, when we all sat at the same table at lunch one day. It's funny to think that the place where you choose to sit decided your friend group for the next three years.
" You know," Connor says as we sit down, " you could not shout Conny, which is a girl's name, across the restaurant when we walk in."
" I suppose," Izzy says with a grin, " but then I wouldn't get to see you turn into a tomato, and that's the best part."
Before Connor could respond, a waiter comes to take our orders. After ordering an egg breakfast for Izzy and Gabby to share, and pancakes and bacon for the rest of us, Gabby taps her knife on her cup, silencing us.
"Alright guys," she says seriously, " time to get down to business. This is our last summer as high schoolers, how are we gonna play this."
" Here's what I'm thinking," Chase says, " Connor and Jason have practice in the mornings three days a week so on those days we can just chill at the beach then they can join us later."
" Wait," I say confused, "how did you know when we have practice?"
"I have my ways," Chase responds with a smirk, "Away way like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. We spend those days relaxing then we meet up at lunch and take it from there for the afternoons. On the other days we can plan an activity like jet skiing or taking Mason's boat out. I also want to spend at least a few days driving around and trying new restaurants. Like a road trip but for food."
Mason's mom was a realtor and his dad was some kind of attorney so out of all of us he was the most loaded. Luckily for us, he wasn't a snob about his money and was fine with taking us out on his family's boat.
" Ok that was pretty solid," Gaby says regarding Chase's plan, " Do we have any objections?"
"No"
"Nope"
"Sound good"
They turn to me.
"So what's it gonna be Jason, you down?"
" I'm in," I say with a smile. I lift my glass of water and gesture for everyone else to do the same.
" To our last high school summer!"
" To our last high school summer!" We click glasses and drink like we were royalty, just as our food arrives.