One Tree Hill: Next Generation

Jake

I wake up on the day of try-outs feeling nervous enough to throw up. Some would say that being the coach's son my spot on the team is guarenteed, but I know it's not. My dad sat me down last week and told me that there would be no special treatment given to me and if I wanted a spot on the Ravens team I would have to earn it just like everybody else. He also told me that it's just a game and he wouldn't love me any differenly if I didn't make it. That's probably just his way of making sure he doesn't seem like a bad dad for cutting me if I suck. I drag myself out of bed and get dressed before my alarm even goes off, then I throw some athletic clothes in a bag and head down for breakfast. Sawyer and Annie are already fighting when I get down there. 

"Come on Sawyer" Annie was saying. "I"m your sister!"

"So?" Sawyer demanded, buttering her toast. "I'm captain of the squad now and I have to be professional. Which means no playing favorites." 

"But that's not fair! I'm your sister!" 

"If you want to be on the squad then you have to earn it." Sawyer says, "End of discussion." She wraps her toast up in a napkin, grabs her stuff and heads out the door without another word. Annie sighs dramatically and flops into the kitchen chair. 

"I hate her."

I laugh. "I feel your pain. Dad's not playing favorites either." I walk into the kitchen and grab a blueberry muffin off the little tray on the counter. "Come on." I say, "I'll walk you to school little sis"

Annie rolls her eyes at me. "I'm not your little sis. We're the same age"

"I was born first." I tell her.

"Whatever."

"You coming or what?"

 At school, we meet up with Davis, Jude, and Lydia. Lydia's our cousin, but she's also Annie's bestfriend. Davis gives Lydia a goodbye kiss, then she and Annie leave for class. 

"Dude." Jude says, "you gotta stop with the PDA."

"Dude." Davis says back, "you gotta stop with the jealousy."

"So you guys ready for tryouts?" I ask, as we head to our first class. 

"Hell yeah" Jude says "I'm gonna kill it today."

"I'm no so sure." Davis says "I might have to change my last name to Scott if I want to make the team."

"Shut up Baker." I say

The rest of the day passes by without much action. When we get to last perod I find myself counting down the minutes until tryouts. Was I nervous? Yeah, you could say that. When the bell finally rang, I met up with Davis and Jude and we headed to the gym. My dad was already there when we got there, standing next to some guy I'd never seen before. Both of them were wearing shirts that read "Tree Hill Ravens: Coach" and both of them had whistles around their necks. 

"Okay everyone welcome to tryouts" my dad says, eyeing the group. "For those of you who don't know me my name is Lucas Scott, head coach of the boys varsity team." He gestured to the guy on his left. "This is Tim Smith, coach of the junior varsity team, and this" he said, gesturing to the guy on his right "is Jake Jagielski my assistant coach." Jake nodded to the group and Tim gave us a little wave.

"If either of you want our credentials, they're up there" my dad says, pointing to the State Championship banner hanging from the ceiling. 

"That was a fun game." Tim says looking back at the banner. "All three of us were there and Coach Scott here scored the game winning basket at the buzzer."

"The point is" my dad said, raising his voice to drown out Tim. "The three of us know what it takes to be a good team and to do well in this sport. It takes hard work, and it takes dedication. The next couple days we will be running you all through drills and games to test your skill, your endurance, and your abilities. You all can speed up that process by letting us know if you are dedicated to this sport or not. Because if you are not committed to doing well and succeeding and if you are not willing to put in the extra effort it will take to win, then I encourage you to walk out those doors right now because you're just wasting your time as well as ours." He paused and looked around at us, waiting. Nobody moved. "Alright." my dad says, "Unless Coach Smith or Coach Jagielski has anything to say I think we can get these tryouts started."

"Let's do it." Jake Jagielski says, and with that, tryouts had begun.