LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 8: Hell Week (1/2)
(A/N: California Burning! I couldn't update this sooner because my power was out for 18+ hours for some reason. I say 'for some reason' because even though I live in Cali I'm like 40+ minutes away from the nearest fire. You wanna know something crazy? The high school that Michael will be attending was damaged by the fire.)
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It was 9 am when Michael fully woke up. After a night of drugs, wild sex, and booze, his head was spinning as he woke up hungover. He checked his phone and saw he had two texts, one from Jordan Baker and the other from Melissa, but he wasn't in the mood to check them so he plugged his phone in to charge and went towards the house.
When inside he saw Seth eating some breakfast. There were pancakes, bacon, and eggs on multiple plates, so he grabbed his own plate and began to scoop some up to serve himself. "Hey, where's Ryan?"
"Oh… he went back home. To Chino," Seth replied.
"Aw damn, he was cool." He took a bite out of his food. "Mmm, I love pancakes, did your mom make these?"
Seth laughed. "My mom? Heh please, she"--he stopped and looked around him to make sure she wasn't nearby–"she would burn water if given the chance to cook. No, Ryan made these before he left."
They finished their breakfast, placed their plates in the dishwasher and the leftovers in tupperware and into the fridge. It was 9:25 when the front door opened and Mr. Cohen and Ryan walked in.
"Hey! What happened?" Seth asked them. Ryan didn't respond as he walked past the two of them towards the pool house with a sullen look on his face.
"His mom…. His mom left, we don't know where?" Mr. Cohen told the boys.
"She fucking abandoned him? That bitch!" Mike said.
"Language! And yes she did, but she left a note. So Ryan will be staying here for one more night I suppose," Mr Cohen said.
Seth began to walk towards the pool house to check on Ryan but was stopped by Mike. "Hey, let's give him some space, yeah? We'll check on him in a couple hours. Come on, you wanna head down to the beach?"
"Sure… I guess."
They both got changed and walked down to the beach where Seth's catamaran sailboat was located.
"'Summer Breeze'… bro really? You are obsessed with that girl!" Mike said.
"Shut up…"
Seth and Mike went out on his tiny sailboat as Seth began to show off his sailing skills to Mike. The winds had begun to pick up and soon they were traveling along at 25 knots.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mike yelled at the top of his lungs.
He had never been a fan of sailing, but with how fast they were going he understood the adrenaline rush it was. They both wore helmets as they hung on to the boat, but then they found themselves way up in the air as the right side of the boat tipped over sending them and the sail into the water.
"Oh man! What a rush!" Mike said to Seth as they swam back over to the cat to recover it. Mike helped Seth as they pulled the tiny catamaran right side up and they took it easy as they sailed on back to the coast.
The two walked back to Seth's house where they played PlayStation for a couple hours as they waited for Ryan to finally emerge from the pool house. They changed into their swim trunks and began to laze around in the pool lying on floating pool chairs. Mr. Cohen was attending the grill as he cooked dinner.
"Guys, come on, out of the pool! Dinner's almost ready."
Ryan hadn't spoken in a while so Seth tried to make some jokes to get him to open up. "I think that this being your last night and all uh, we should do something special. I don't know what. Possibly get a couple tattoos, or some hookers and lose our virgi–"
Mike let out a snort at that last part interrupting Seth and causing him to remember what he witnessed last night.
"What?" Ryan asked.
"Uh… nothing, nothing at all." said Seth.
"He walked in on me having a threesome in the bathroom at last night's party."
A slight smile appeared on Ryan's face. "So that was you?" he laughed. "You know everyone heard that last night."
Michael laughed boisterously, "Good, I like to give people a show, shit man, they don't call me 'Showtime' for nothing!"
Mr. Cohen came back outside to retrieve them, "Come on boys! Dinner time lets go, lets go!"
The three of them dried off and changed back into their clothes then went downstairs to eat at the dinner table.
"So… the last supper, huh?" Mr. Cohen said in jest eliciting a glare from his wife. "Sorry, bad joke."
Mike had been texting Melissa all day and he decided to stop over at her place to retrieve his tie. Considering Ryan wasn't in the mood for any fun and wanted to go straight to bed after dinner, Mike told Mr. and Mrs. Cohen that he would head out and stay over at a friend's.
So after eating he left and is now parking his car in the driveway of a mansion just as big as the one the Cohen's own. Melissa had texted him instructions to enter in the front and lock the door behind him. Once inside he found that it was pitch black inside, he thought for a second whether or not he should leave but considering he knew he was gonna get laid again tonight he soldiered on through.
Continuing through the dark house with his iPhone flashlight he eventually made it up the stairs and at the door of the master bedroom. When he opened the door he heard two claps and the lights turned on to reveal Melissa lying down on her stomach, feet raised in the air and completely naked except for his tie waiting for him with a seductive look on her face.
"Really?" he said with a grin, "Clapper lights?" He approached her as he began to undress. "Baby I hope you can turn that shit off or these lights are going to be turning on and off all night long."
…
..
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It was day 5 of the summer training camp for the Palisades Dolphins football team and the quarterback race was soon coming to a close, with one of the three contenders clearly outshining the other.
"HORSE SHIT! RUN IT AGAIN #12!" Head Coach Johnson bellowed at #12 Walter 'Ray' Barksdale.
The Dolphins football team found themselves staying at Santa Monica College for the next two weeks. SMC was kind enough to let the Dolphins stay in their dormitories and use their stadium, Corsair Field, for their hell week training camp (for a fee of course).
The offense, which was being controlled by Head Coach Johnson, was scrimmaging against the defense, with Defensive Coordinator Coach Rannals leading them. The boys weren't playing to their full intensity, as they had continued to practice for this first full week without pads on, they wore only their helmets.
If you think Hell Week has been easy for them because they haven't been going full contact, you'd be dead wrong. What made this week hell was the arduous conditioning drills that the coaches made them do. Some of the players perhaps enjoyed their time away from the football field a little too much, and it was their coaches responsibility to whip them back into fighting shape.
Walter Barksdale, who everyone calls Ray, was certainly not Quarterback material. In the three way competition he was deadlast. Coach Johnson had yelled at him earlier because Ray had messed up an easy handoff to the running back and caused a fumble. The Quarterback is the heart of the offense, the QB almost always touches the ball whether it is a run or a pass play. Ray ran the play again and this time he made the easy handoff, but Coach was pissed and had seen enough out of him today.
"Richards! Get your ass in there!" Coach ordered. He yelled quite a bit, it was like he was mad at everything around him.
Mike was standing on the sidelines watching the scrimmage go down, but now it was his turn to shine once more. So he strapped on his helmet and ran over to the offensive huddle where he knelt down in front of them and looked over to the sideline towards Coach Johnson. This wasn't the National Football League where plays could be called from a Coach's microphone to a players speaker in their helmet. This was high school ball, so Coach Johnson communicated with his Quarterbacks through hand signals.
Michael called the play, broke the huddle, and lined up behind his Center, Oliver Jackson, the 6'4" 280 pound 17 year old big boy that had already committed to play at Oregon after he graduated this year. Two players lined up behind him, the Fullback and the Halfback, both were running backs but a fullback was usually slower and bigger than a halfback so the halfback was the one that usually ran the ball while the fullback runs ahead and blocks (and most of the times they don't even have a fullback on the field).
"DOWN! Set…. HUT!" Michael yelled his cadence to signal to the Center and the rest of the offense that the play was live. The Center snapped him the ball and he took a step back and pitched it to the halfback who had begun to run to the right. It was a sweep running play, the fullback charged in front of him to block for him as the defense scrambled to chase him down and make a tackle. Though of course there was no tackle as they were still not practicing with full pads, so a defensive player made it to him and touched him to signal he was down.
The halfback ran for a gain of six, it was now 2nd and 4. Michael received the next play from Coach Johnson and again he lined up behind the center as each player went to their respective position. The ball was snapped, the offensive line formed a protective pocket around Michael as he dropped back and threw the ball over the middle to a wide receiver for a quick gain of five.
Even though the pass was completed he saw a look of disappointment on Coach Johnson's face. Michael couldn't be perfect every snap, and this time he made the wrong throw. If this was a real game the wide receiver would have been lit up by the linebacker that was right in front of him. And because he was focused on catching the ball he would have been defenseless and could have possibly been injured or dropped the ball from a huge hit.
They had advanced eleven yards and had gained a first down. Mike looked to the side but Coach didn't give him a signal. It was a message and one that Mike understood quickly. He was the Quarterback. The Captain. The leader of the offense. This was a test by Coach, he's the leader so it's time for him to lead and make his own damn decision.
"STEVENS!" Mike yelled out to the sideline to summon Jim Stevens, the kid that played Tight End. "Simmons you're gonna sit this play out but come back after," Mike said to the Fullback.
Jim Stevens came in and the FB went out. A Tight End, just like a wide receiver or a running back was an eligible receiver, the difference was a TE was usually a bigger guy that would get positioned at the line of scrimmage with the offensive lineman. He could hang back and act as a sixth blocker or he could move up field and act as another receiver.
They lined up and again Mike said his cadence. "DOWN! SET…. HUT!" He was handed the ball as the running back ran up to his right, he acted like he was handing off the ball but it was a fake to fool the defense. The TE sprinted up field for ten yards and cut to the middle on a post route, Michael stood tall in the pocket as he flung the ball over the middle and towards Jim. The ball was perfectly thrown and it soared into his hands as he caught it and then two steps later spun away from a defensive player that couldn't get him down. There was no one in front of him and he charged forward as the defensive players chased him down to catch him to no avail as he scored.
"Good throw Richards! Excellent!" Coach Johnson said.