All For Money

All For Money - Chapter Ten

I'm a LEAN MEAN WRITING MACHINE!

I had to get that out of my system.

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Chapter Ten

Zack

I really couldn't wait for football season to be over.

This time, we had practice during school hours, so I still had English to look foward to after this. Today, though, it was a scrimmage.

I was on the home team, so I didn't have to wear those stupid green pinchies that were annoying and small. Austin was on my team, so i didn't have to worry about hitting him.

"Come on, home team! You're in the lead! Keep it going!" Coach called, his hair even more spikier than usual. I think today, though, he did it on purpose.

Thanks to my two touchdowns, we were in the lead, two to one. Being a runningback means everything's on you once the quarterback throws it to you.

"Let's go, let's go! Hustle! Hale, keep it up!" Coach called to me. I gave him a thumbs up and ran to get into position.

I heard the quarterback call out the numbers, and when I started running backwards, he threw it at me. I ran and ran until it landed easily in my ready arms. I took off, everybody being too slow for me. That's the only reason Coach put me on this team. My speed.

Eventually, though, I was tackled. It didn't hurt at all. I stood back up and Coach sighed. "Good try, Hale."

The rest of the practice passed pretty quickly. In the third quarter, we were tied, four to four. I was running on adrenaline rush now.

The QB called out the numbers, and I found myself running. The ball landed in my hands and I quickly sprinted away with it. I ran as fast as my oversized legs could take me.

I stole a quick glance behind me and my voice got caught in my throat. Aaron Lewis was on my tail. And no matter how fat he was, the guy was fast.

I tried to quicken my pace, but it was no use. Feet from the line, he squished me. On impact, I felt my back crack as I hit the ground. My helmet flew off my head before I fell, since I had been careless and unstrapped it. My head hit the ground with a thud and my vision went fuzzy.

Everybody crowded around and Aaron got off me, a smirk on his face. I tried to blink, to get my focus back, but nothing worked.

"You okay, Hale?" Coach asked, standing above me. "You took a nasty fall."

I wanted to say I was fine, to get back up and shake it off, but when I tried, I yelled in pain. Coach shook his head. "That's it. Guys, can you go check him out?" he asked the paramedics.

They both nodded and helped me up, each grabbing one of my arms and pulling me off the ground. They helped me walk off the field. My back felt wierd. I knew I had to have sprained it.

Can you sprain a back? I think you can.

There was a little shed behind the bleachers where they took all the hurt people. It was small; only one hurt person could fit. The one that was least injured had to wait.

They helped me on the bed and started doing all these tests with my eyesight. it had gone normal now. They asked me how much I remembered and things like that. At the end they came up with the conclusion that I had a very minor concussion.

It turned out that my back was fine, the nerves just screwed up when I hit my back though. After twenty minutes, the pain had gone down noticably.

I hopped off the bed and walked to the locker room. Guys were just now walking in, and they cheered when I walked back in. I shoved my stuff in my locker, got dressed back in my clothes, and freshened up before heading back to class.