Chapter 8

When I returned to school the next day, I was surprised to discover that I was treated so differently now. It seemed that the kids that had witnessed what had transpired the day before had spread the word even farther.

That really didn't bother me much. I was just hoping that it didn't last too long. The last thing I wanted was to be known as the school bully. I wanted people to leave me alone but I also wanted people to think of me as a nice guy.

I went about my day and paid attention to the twins. We sat at lunch together and enjoyed talking to each other. We were approached by some of the more popular guys in school who were trying to obviously hook up with the twins. I felt like I was on top of the world because they always "politely" told the guys that they were only interested in me. I couldn't help but blush a time or ten when I heard them say that, but I tried to act as blasé about it as I could.

I was so wrapped up in just spending time with the twins that I never even noticed the posters around school that were announcing the beginning of football practice that was starting at the end of the day. My first hint of the posters was when Debbie told me that she was curious if their mother would allow them to stay and watch how the tryouts went.

I excused myself from them and went to the nearest signup roster and put my name down. I can't believe I almost missed this because of a couple girls. Then again these were some exceptional girls. I cut myself some slack and finished out the rest of the day.

At the end of the day I went out to the football field where the tryouts were and suited up with the rest of the hopefuls. The team had lost most of their people last year because of graduating seniors. They had almost every position open. I had never played before so when the coaches were asking everyone what they wanted, I simply said that I would play anything.

The coach thought I was nuts. My spare time with Jason had helped me to study all aspects of the game. I had also studied all the books I could find on the subject. All of that and our usual Sunday football had given me quite a feel for the game. There was that and the fact that I would be able to use the game to release some of my pent up anger.

I was still planning to take Mr. Lughillion up on his offer to train me in fencing but I figured I had enough energy to do all the things I wanted to do.

I went through the usual conditioning drills like everyone else for the first part of tryouts. I quickly discovered that I was far ahead of everyone else that was there, including all the guys that had come back from last year.

The coach decided to start everyone out with a run. We hit the track that was around the field. Coach told us to start running and not to stop until we couldn't run anymore. He also told us to run as fast as we could to start so he could judge us on our speed as well as our endurance.

I started out passing everyone else up before we had even made it half way around the track. I was even holding back some because I didn't want to show how good I really could be. We lost about half of the people who had started out with us before the first mile was even up.

The kids kept on after that until we were almost at two miles. I was almost a full three laps ahead of everyone else when the most hardcore were dropping out after about three miles. When I was the last one running, the coach blew his whistle and I came running in.

He looked at me and shook his head. The head coach stepped aside to confer with his assistant coaches. They all kept whispering to each other and glancing over at me. I knew I had run good times so I wasn't surprised at their reactions.

After about fifteen minutes of sitting around talking to each other, the coaches finally came over. They started calling out names.

"Ok gentlemen, if I call out your name then please go see Coach Stevens." The head coach said.

We all knew what it meant if your name was called. We had all heard the returning football players talking about how the coach would eliminate people quickly with his tryout techniques.

I noticed that the returning players were surprised when they didn't hear my name. None of the other kids had found out how old I was yet so I couldn't wait to see their faces when they did.

The coach then called us to order and told us to head onto the field. He had us start doing calisthenics for the next thirty minutes to see if he could get anyone else to quit. Only ten more kids left the field when we were done. There had even been a couple of people that had thrown up in the middle.

I was actually starting to get into the spirit of things. I still had barely broken a sweat but all the kids around me were pouring down sweat and groaning from the effort. I could actually see now why I never saw a human make it very far in the pits. There were a lot of races in this universe and quite a few of them were much faster and stronger than humans.

I noticed that the coaches kept looking at me every so often. I ignored them and continued with what I was doing. When the coach finally called us back up to him, I jumped up and ran over to him as quickly as possible. I noticed his approving smile.

The coach then put us through some basic moves to see how we were with our agility. I decided to go all out so I made sure that I was the best one on the field. I wanted to get in as much game time as possible so I was doing my best to be noticed for once.

We did tire drills and side runs and even a bit of an obstacle course. Because I had told the coach that I didn't know what I wanted to do, the coach had me throw the ball and kick it also. After my first kick, I got a feel for how it flew so I was able to kick farther and straighter than the returning kicker. I was also able to throw the ball farther and straighter than the player who was returning and trying for the starting QB position.

The coach then told us that the rest of us that were remaining were to return the next day for practice. He told us that final cut and positions would be filled by that Friday.

I was excited because I had made it so far. I was hoping to be one of the guys to make the team. When I went into the dressing room to change I was confronted by one of the other new guys.

"Hi there." He said. "My name is Luke Krats. What's yours?"

"Hi, my name is Jakstar." I told him. "Are you trying out for the team for the first time like me?" I asked.

"Yeah, you sure were good out there." He said "Are you like a robot or something? No one was able to keep up with you."

I smiled at him and said. "No I am just as human as everyone else. Besides you didn't do too bad yourself."

He blushed at my compliment. I left at that point to take my shower. I had forgotten about my scars because of how much fun I had Wanting to wash the sweat off was probably a factor as well. An elf normally doesn't scar much but because of the blood transfusion that I had received, my body didn't heal correctly from the gunshots. The results were scars that were as bad as a human would have received from gunshots.

When I removed my shirt and pants, I just grabbed my towel like I had seen some of the other guys do. I heard a couple gasps from some of the guys but I just figured they were because they were getting undressed.

I didn't realize what everyone was gasping at and staring at until I got out of the shower. When I walked back towards the lockers, I noticed that all the guys were staring at me. I stopped and looked back at everyone. Even one of the assistant coaches was staring.

I cleared my throat and everyone turned to look somewhere else. I walked to my locker and got dressed. I didn't like that kind of attention so I was now in a hurry to get out of there.

When I went outside, I was surprised to see that the twins were outside waiting for me. As soon as they saw me they waved and started to walk towards me. I smiled at them both and met them halfway.

"You were so hot today." Debbie said. "Dorra thought you were really sexy running around like you did."

Dorra blushed a dark red. I smiled at her. "Debbie told me that she wished she could've gone in with you to help you wash up." Dorra said.

It was Debbie's turn to blush now. I figured that this was normal for them. They probably liked to see who get the other to blush more. I thought it was actually cute.

"So Jakstar, would you like a ride home?" Debbie asked. "Our dad is right over there."

"Sure girls that would be great." I told them.

We all went over and climbed into Mr. Lughillion's car. It wasn't a very large car so it was a bit of a squeeze to fit us all into the car. We managed it and were on our way. We talked about my making it on the team so far. The girls kept telling their mother about how well I had done. She just smiled and nodded her head whenever her daughters would stop to take a breath.

When they dropped me off in front of the house Ellen came out and ran up to me. Ellen threw her hands around my neck and looked like she had been crying.

"Where in the hell have you been?" Ellen asked me as she was stepping back. "We have been worried sick about you."

"I'm sorry." I said. "I forgot to call is all? I wanted to try out for the football team. The tryouts were today. I figured that dad knew where I would be. I had said that I wanted to play. That was why I wanted to skip to tenth grade."

"What?" Ellen said. "I thought that was just a joke. It is too dangerous for you to play. You are much younger than the rest of those boys. You might get hurt."

"There is no more chance of me getting hurt there than if I was just running." I told her. "Besides, you did say that you wanted me to try to make more friends. Well this is the perfect way."

At this time, Jason came walking out. He put his arm around Ellen to calm her down. "Are you sure this is what you want to do Jakstar?" Jason asked me.

I nodded my head. I figured that the less I said, the less likely it was that Ellen would start raving again. Jason smiled when he figured out why I had shut my mouth. I smiled back at him where Ellen couldn't see. We all went inside and sat down to discuss it. It was a long night talking but I eventually got Ellen and the other girls to relax and trust that I could do it. I was surprised that the other girls were so much against it.

I couldn't figure out what had my sisters so dead set against me joining the team. I figured that they would be happy that I was trying to fit in. I always figured that they would want me to make more friends. I just couldn't figure out what their problem could be.

I went up to my room to get some sleep. I had no sooner lain down then there was a knock at my door. I told whoever was there to enter. I was surprised when Jason walked in. I sat up and looked at him. I had a questioning look on my face that he laughed at.

"Do you mind if we talk for a minute?" Jason asked me.

We don't talk too much but I had learned to listen to him when he had something to say so I just nodded my head and asked him what he wanted.

"Well I saw the confusion on your face when your sisters started getting upset about your joining the team." Jason said. "I figured that you wouldn't understand so I thought I might be able to explain it to you a bit."

I thought it was funny that I had been thinking about just that. I motioned for him to continue.

"Well, you do know that your sisters do care for you very much right?" Jason asked me. At my nod, he continued. "Well, the problem is that they have gotten used to you being very close to them. I think they are scared that you won't be as close anymore when you start to make some more friends on the team. Plus I think they are worried that you will fall into the whole clique that surrounds the sports teams."

This was one of the longest conversations that Jason and I had ever shared so was listening intently. When he continued, I stopped my musings and paid close attention.

"I know that you are knew to most of this stuff so I know you don't really realize how much what I say is true." Jason told me. "You will discover that you will be very tempted to get caught up in all the glamour and hype of it all. I know you don't think you will but it happens to everyone. Heck, it even happened to me when I was in high school. I started believing the people when they started saying that I was better than everyone else."

"I don't think I will change." I told him. "I'm not in it for the glory. I just want to have an outlet for some of my competitive spirit."

"I do understand that Jakstar." Jason told me. "But I have also seen that it is usually the ones with the least ambition that end up making the biggest asses of themselves."

"I do understand your concerns but I think I will be fine." I told Jason. "But I can see that this is important so I'll make you a deal. If I start to get to far out of hand, I want you sit me down and knock some sense back into my head. The last thing I ever want to do is to hurt my sisters."

Jason agreed with my deal. I was thinking about what he had told me when he got up to leave. Just before he reached my door I called out to him. He stopped and turned back to me.

"You said that you fell under the trap of popularity." I said to him. He nodded his head. "Well I was just curious what happened to you to break you out of it?"

Jason smiled at me before he answered. "Well first my father sat me down and had a long talk with me about my actions." He told me. "Of course, that didn't do as much as what really got through to me."

"Ok, I'm curious, what was it that really changed your mind?" I asked him.

"I found the love of the most important woman in the world." Jason told me with a big grin on his face. "She showed me the error of my ways. I had a major crush on her but she wouldn't have anything to do with me. After months of trying to get her and having no luck, she had finally had enough. She told me that she would go out with me on one condition."

I was glued to his every word by this point. "So what was her one condition?" I asked.

"She told me that I had to stop acting like an asshole." Jason told me with a chuckle in his voice. I laughed also. I waited for a couple minutes for him to finish laughing. When he finally had control of himself again, he continued.

"She told me that I had to actually come by her house to pick her up." Jason told me. "I didn't think much of it at the time but I agreed to her conditions quickly. Boy was I in for a surprise."

"You see, I didn't know at the time that she was actually from out of town and had come into town to live with her aunt and uncle. You see her parents had died when they were on the road to a work picnic. She was supposed to have gone with them but she was sick that day." Jason said. He had a sad look on his face now.

I didn't know what to say. I certainly hadn't wanted to cause Jason any undo pain. I kept my mouth shut and waited for him to continue. He simply stood there in silence for almost ten minutes before shaking the cobwebs out from behind his eyes. When he looked back at me he again had a look of contentment on his face again.

"She had been in town for a couple years now so it wasn't any kind of heartache that had her against me." Jason said with a smile on his face. "What she had against me was the fact that her cousin was one of the girls that I had dated for a very short time when I was at my worst. Boy was I surprised when I walked into the house to pick her up and there was her cousin. Let me tell you that she was not at all pleased to see me."

"Her uncle had been the one to pull her cousin through her rejection at my hands; so needless to say, he was even less thrilled to see me." Jason said. "I hadn't realized how bad I had been until that moment. I saw the hurt that was still in her cousin's eyes. I also saw the anger that was in her uncle's eyes. Let me tell you that it is very sobering to have the reality of your bad qualities pushed on you. The funny part was that, just as I came to that realization, she was coming down the stairs. She saw the look of horror on my face."

"I honestly don't think she planned to do more than make me uncomfortable enough to want to back out and leave her alone." Jason told me. "But when she saw the look on my face, she actually had second thoughts about me. We did end up going on our date. When we finished our date and I returned her home, I asked her if I could come back in to have a little talk with her uncle."

"Let me tell you that I was more than a little surprised when she agreed." Jason told me. "I could tell that her uncle was not very happy to have me in his house again. I asked her uncle to speak to him alone for a moment. He agreed and we went outside. I mustered up my courage and told him how sorry I was to have caused his daughter so much pain. I hadn't realized how much my actions were hurting those around me. I then left there and I was all set to never be able to take my date out again."

"I will tell you now that I was very surprised to see her the next day at school." Jason told me. "She told me that she had actually had a good time last night and she couldn't wait to see me again if I was still interested. Boy was I? We ended being inseparable after that."

I smiled at that. I had to ask him though, whatever happened to the girl? He smiled real big and told me that he eventually married the girl. I smiled when I realized who he was talking about.

It was then that he left my room. I sat up for a couple minutes after that, thinking about what he had said. I didn't see myself ever falling into any kind of trap like that. I went to bed after only a couple minutes.

I awoke the next morning feeling good about my chances at football. I went for an early morning run. When I returned to the house, Ellen was just starting breakfast. I said good morning and went upstairs to take a shower. When I was finished and ready for school, I went back downstairs to eat. I ate a large helping and tried to talk to everyone. It seemed that all the girls were still a little upset with me because they would hardly talk to me.

I finished my meal and went out to the bus stop. I was shortly joined by my sisters. They still were barely talking to me but I figured that they just needed time to get used to the idea.

When the bus finally showed up, I was glad to get on. I went to the back of the bus where all the other high school kids usually went. When we eventually stopped in front of the Lughillion house, I was very happy to see the twins. They greeted me very warmly.

We went to school as usual. I enjoyed the twins company very much. We were very quickly becoming an item. When word finally got out about their age, I was picked on by a lot of the other kids. I realized that most of the kids still didn't realize how young I actually was.

When I went to practice at the end of the day, I was mildly surprised to see that the twins were in the stands to watch me practice again. I was even more surprised to see who was sitting with them.

It appeared that my sisters wanted to watch me at work because they were in the stands as well. I was glad to see that they were going to try and watch me. I hoped they realized that I wasn't going to be in any danger.

When the coaches all came out to start practice, I was waiting like everyone else. He blew his whistle and we all huddled around him to hear what we were going to be doing that day.

The coaches had some serious talks about our placements the night before so when they started talking today they were starting to announce positions that they wanted us to practice in.

The coach had placed everyone into some sort of position before he finally blew his whistle for everyone to depart to their respective places. Because I hadn't heard my name I stood rooted to my spot. After everyone had left, the coach turned to me.

"Now Mr. Elfman, I didn't call your name today because I am planning some special training for you." Coach Slepton said to me. "You are a very talented young man. We have a need for you in a couple positions but we decided that we wanted to make you a floater. What that means is that you are going to have to train extra hard because we want you to practice as both a running back and also as a quarter back. Do you think you can handle that?" He asked me.

I nodded my head and thanked him for his confidence in me. He sent me to practice with the offense then. I smiled as I ran to join my team mates. We practiced hard that day. I practiced harder than anyone else but I was proud of the fact.

The returning players were a little peeved that I was practicing for two spots but the coach set them straight real fast. When everyone actually saw how much the coach was actually pushing me, they soon stopped being envious of me.

When we finished for the day, I went into the locker rooms and showered like the rest of them. I got the stares again but I tried to ignore them this time. When I was starting to get dressed again, the coach called me into his office. I was trying to make a good impression so I finished putting my pants on and ran to his door before putting my shirt on.

When I stepped into his office and started to put my shirt on, I noticed the coach checking out my scars. When I finished putting my shirt on and sat where he had motioned me to, I was a little scared that my past had caught up to me. His first words didn't help my fears either.

"Mr. Elfman, I understand that you had some trouble last year in school." He told me. I nodded my head but before I had a chance to defend myself he continued. "Don't worry boy. I am just curious to hear the story is all. I see the way that the others stared at you."

I thought about my response for a few minutes before I finally told him everything that had happened, minus the fact of how I had known where to be at that time. I think the coach sensed that I was holding something back but he didn't push for answers.

"Ok, that is everything I heard." He said to me. "But I hadn't realized that you were so young. I don't know if I am allowed to keep you on the team." My face fell at his words. When he continued I was all set to grab my stuff and leave. His next words surprised me.

"I want you to continue to come to practice though." He told me. "I am going to check into all the laws and regulations to see if there is anything wrong with you playing."

I smiled and thanked him for his vote of confidence. He smiled and told me to finished getting dressed and get out of there. I smiled and left. I was in a good mood so when I left the locker room I was smiling like the cat that had eaten the canary.

I got a ride from the twins parents again. My sisters had left already. Ellen had come to pick them up. I asked the twins why they were giving me a ride again. They smiled and said that since their father was one of the teachers, they had to wait for him anyways so they simply told my mother that they would give me a ride.

We went straight to my house. They dropped me off and surprised me when both twins caught me with a surprise kiss on both cheeks. I was smiling when I walked into the house. I stopped smiling when I saw the looks on all the girls' faces. I wasn't expecting the reaction so my defenses went up real fast.

Jason had been listening to the girls rant about what they had seen. Having listened to the talking had convinced him that maybe there might actually be something to their ranting so he was going to just sit back and let them talk to me. When he saw my reaction to all the negative attention though, Jason decided that maybe he had better speak up.

"Jakstar, do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Jason asked me. I looked at him and started to calm down when I saw his calmer demeanor. "I understand from the girls here that the coach was harder on you today than any of the other kids. Is that true?"

"Yes and no." I told him. At his confused look I decided to try to be more specific. My choice of words might have been the wrong choice though. "Ok, he was harder on me than any of the other kids."

"Do you know why?" Jason asked me. Jason had seen all the girls grinning like they had figured out a way to get Jason to make me quit. "If it is because of some sort of prejudice or because of something from your past then I don't think you should have to put up with that kind of behavior."

I smiled then. Jason looked confused when he saw my smile which only made me smile larger. "I don't think you understand." I told him. "You see, the reason he was harder on me than any of the others is because I need more training than any of the other guys. You see, the coaches all agreed that I was so good that they wanted me to be able to fill in two positions. So they decided that I was going to fill in for whatever position was needed during each game. They decided that I needed to train in all the positions that they could fill into one day."

Jason started smiling as I finished telling my tale. He was laughing by the time I was done. The girls didn't look so happy anymore. They also looked like they were feeling a little ashamed of their actions. I wasn't going to let them try to guilt trip me into feeling bad for them though so I asked Jason directly if he would mind if I went for a run over to the Lughillion house. He smiled at me and asked how far it was.

I smiled back and told him it was only a couple miles away so it wouldn't take me long to get there. I told him I wanted to start my training with Mr. Lughillion. Jason asked me what I was training at. I told him about the fencing and he just smiled and told me to have fun but not to get into too many sports because I would have to quit them all if my grades started to slip. I smiled and said no problem. Jason then told me to remember my conversation from last night. I agreed and went upstairs to change.

I was changed and out the door in less than ten minutes. I had done what homework I had at school so I wasn't worried about that. I ran the two miles to the Lughillion house in about eight and a half minutes because I didn't want to push myself to hard and start sweating to bad.

When I arrived at their house I was glad to see the twins out by the pool. They looked really hot in their tight little one pieces. They were black with green trim. I thought they were sexy as hell. Unfortunately, Mr. Lughillion caught me looking. I blushed profusely when I realized that I had been caught.

"They are quite lovely, aren't they?" He asked me. I nodded my head dumbfounded. "They are very much like their mother at that age. I know that they are starting to become beautiful young ladies so I can't fault you for looking. Just make sure that you limit your advances to looking until they are older. They may be smarter than most kids their age but they are still new to the world at large so I don't want them to get hurt. Remember that and we will get along great."

I agreed to his reasoning and then we got down to my lessons. Mr. Lughillion happened to have a couple sets of fencing leathers so we went outside in the back yard to start my training. I stayed at it with him for the next two hours. He was very impressed with how quickly I was picking up all the moves that he tried to teach me.

When we finished our training for the day I went back in with him to get something to drink. We both drank a lot of water. I was actually pretty impressed with how fluid Mr. Lughillion had been able to move while we worked. I knew I would be able to do well at the fencing. I also realized that I actually enjoyed the sport very much.

I left shortly afterwards. I ran the entire way home. I was feeling a little tired from my long day of practices but I was also feeling better about my conditioning. I hadn't been tried in a long time so I was happy to do all this to try to keep from getting soft.

I returned home and ate dinner. I was enjoying my dinner that night when Kelly stopped by. I hadn't seen her in a couple days so I was happy for the chance. I hugged her and asked her how she was doing.

"I don't know if Cassandra told you yet but guess what?" Kelly told me with a huge smile on her face. I shrugged my shoulders and motioned for her to continue. "Bobby Courington asked me out."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I tried not to let my emotions show but I had a feeling that someone might have seen my quick lapse. I smiled for her and told her I was very happy for her. I knew we weren't going to go anywhere so I was actually genuinely happy for her.

She smiled and hugged me. I kept a happy look on my face for the next few minutes until I was able to safely leave the room. I made it out the back door without anyone seeing me leave. I went down to my clearing and boarded the Elfbow. I called up some files it had on classic fencing. I wanted to be able to become one of the best. It really seemed like a beautiful sport. Besides, I figured that I would be able to fashion a laser type sword that I could fit in my pocket so that I would always have a weapon to carry on me.

When I noticed that it was starting to get late, I returned to the house. Kelly was gone when I got there. I noticed that Ellen was watching me but I just ignored her and went up to my room.