All For Money

All For Money - Chapter Three

I recognized the next guy as Aaron Lewis. He was a big bully, to put it simply. He was huge. He had to be over 250 pounds at the least.

At that moment, I felt awful for Austin. I'd been tackled by Aaron. It did not feel good at all. It's like getting hit with a brick wall.

Aaron charged, as did Austin. Aaron cheated, butting heads with Austin, causing his head to fly back before Aaron squished him.

My stomach dropped when he didn't get up right away.

Coach sounded worried as he spoke. "Good job, Lewis. You alright, Shadows?"

Austin didn't move for a couple seconds before sitting up. Coach ran over to him and ripped his helmet off. Austin blinked, but nodded to Coach. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Good. Alright, guys! Shadows is okay! Let's start it up again!" Coach called, helping Austin on his feet.

Until my turn came up, I stared at the crowd. Few people were there. I saw only a few people I knew. I saw Austin's parents, whose faces were still lined with concern. I also saw my own family sitting next to Mel.

My dad was a bulky man, always wanting me to meet his expectations of the perfect child. Perfect grades, the QB of the football team, dating the prettiest girl in school.

Boy, was he going to be disppointed when he found out I didn't want any of that.

My mother was sweet, on the other hand. She wanted me to enjoy what I was doing, no matter what it was. That's why I was a bit of a mama's boy. I didn't let her on any dates like a real mama's boy, but if she wanted me to do something, I did it. If my dad asked, on the other hand, I ignored him.

I also saw my little sister, Lily, who was 5 years younger than me at 12 years old. She was Daddy's Little Dev-- Oh, excuse me, Angel. We obviously picked favorite parents, and my mom and dad understood that. So that's why when they divorced, I moved in with my mom and my sister moved in with my dad. Surprisingly, though, my dad showed up today.

And he didn't look impressed.

"Hale, you're up!" I looked up and saw Coach, his eyes narrowed at me. I nodded and turned to Austin. He nodded, smirking. I didn't want to do this, and my mind was distracted by the girl. I didn't even know her name, for god sakes!

I ran straight at Austin, who I was bigger than, but before I knew it, I was flying through the air and straight on the floor. I looked to my side and saw my mom, hands clasped together, frowning. My father just looked disappointed, and my sister was too busy texting.

I stood up slowly and Coach crouched next to me. He snorted. "My grandmother can move faster than that. And she's dead. Do you think you can move faster than my grandma's corpse?"

"Yes," I replied, brushing off my jersey, which was covered in blades of grass.

"I can't hear you," he growled, his face inches from mine,

"GET OUT OF MY FACE!" I yelled. He looked surprised at first, but smirked.

"Adda boy." I ran back to the line and he taunted, "Come on, Hale! Move faster than my grandma this time!"

I charged straight at Austin, tensing my muscles. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with Austin. He looked over at me and smirked. "Nice work."

Coach stood over me. "Not bad. But don't get so into it you go down too." He pulled both of us up and Austin and I butted helmets.

When practice finally ended, I walked over to my parents and ripped off my helmet. Immediately I was being hugged to death by my mother. I pulled out of it, laughing. "Mom, what's with the hug?"

"I was worried when Austin tackled you! I thought you were hurt!" she cried.

I snorted. "Mom, I play football. You are gonna have to get used to that," I laughed. She smiled and I matched it. It slipped when I saw my dad.

"What do you want, Noah?" I growled.

"Zack, be nice," my mother whispered from behind me.

"Why should I be nice to him?" I snarled, eyes narrowed.

My dad stepped forward. "Because I ditched work to come see you play...and I must say, I was not impressed. To be straight forward, you suck. I guess that happens when you get raised by a girl. Let's hope you're decent at cooking then."

I tensed and lunged forward at him. Melissa helped my mom pull me back. I felt another hand join on my shoulder, and I guessed Austin saw what happened. My dad stepped back and smirked. "You can't even get out of a geek and two girl's grips. Such a pity."

"Leave," I seethed in a menacing tone.

He raised an eyebrow. "You got a bit of venom in your voice. Come on, Lil. Let's go before he blows a gasket." He put his hand on the small of Lily's back and guided her away. When he was out of sight, everybody let go.

I walked to the locker room without another word.

~*~

"I'm not happy with what you did today."

I looked up from my guitar to see my mother standing in the doorway, arms crossed. I sat the guitar down on my bed and stood up. "I'm sorry, Mom. He just gets on my very last nerve. And what makes me even more sick is the fact that Lily is on his side! Does this not aggravate you?"

 She sighed and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Sweetie, you know that Noah and I divorced when you were 13 for a reason."

"Yeah, he was being a jerkoff."

"Exactly. And now I'm happy, now that you're the true man of this house and he isn't. You should be happy too. He's basically out of our lives. The only time we see him is Thanksgiving, since he has to take Lily."

I shook my head. "I still hate his guts though."

"You and me both, sweetie."

I smiled and looked down when I felt something fuzzy slithering around my bare legs. That was a wierd habit Helena had. She liked to rub against ankles. I picked up the cat, mostly because the rubbing was getting on my nerves.

My mom decided to change the subject. "Is Melissa doing the Talent Show in a couple days?" she asked, slipping the hand on my shoulder off.

"Yeah. She's singing. She claims she's really good," I explained, remembering her in the car on the way from the diner, telling me with lettuce stuffed in her mouth.

"I'll make sure I can take it off so I can make it."

"You don't have to. You work in the ER, Mom."

She kissed the top of my head. "I want to, Zack. You know how much I love Melissa." She took Helena out of my hands and shut the door.

I put my guitar on its stand and didn't bother to slip out of my black basketball shorts and grey Stanford shirt before flopping on my never-made bed and groaning. "I wish I loved Melissa as much as you do," I mumbled to myself.

__________

SO I LIED.

There will be one more chapter before Zack and Lexi finally meet and the plot gets going. So, sorry. But like I said, BARE WITH ME.

Kthnxbai.

-Kris