Behind The Lies

1: No Regrets

The first day back to school at Roman High had let out for the day hours ago, but every single member of the Gladiator prized football team were still on the field. They had kept their winning reputation for nearly twenty years now, not because they were lucky, but because they worked hard.

Five years ago, the coach who had led the first team to the finals, finally retired, passing the baton to his son. Coach Pierce was still the hardest pushing coach whether father or son.

Ethan Hayes had heard the story billions of times growing up from his old man and his crew, how they had led the team to win against the Wolverines. His dad always capitalized on the fact that he was the one to make the winning goal.

Enough said, he was expected to fill in some big shoes, as he'd been told thousands of times.

Without his dad's encouragement, football was still his favorite sport. The feeling of being on the field came second to nothing. Whether he was happy, sad, mad, or neutral, when he was on the field, it all disappeared. Gone to the back of his mind as his mind focused on the brown foot-long ball and the 21 other players on the field.

At the moment, the team was split in half and was playing a practice game. He was on the blue team. Just as he was about to run for the goal with the ball, he was tackled from the side. "Weak." The tackler said as he got up.

When he looked up above the red jersey in front of him, Brandon Smith was smugly smirking down at him. His father was on the wolverines team back when the gladiators won their final game.

Ethan wasn't one to gossip, but there had been talk all around campus that Brandon's parents divorced and to get away from his dad, his mother came to town from the city. Hence the reason he was here instead of with the wolverines.

Ethan just sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He knew the guy didn't like him, but he tried not to grow angry. Every time he got mad, it just seemed to make Brandon more satisfied.

"Hayes! Get your head in the game!" Reizo Parker yelled from centerfield. Although it was yards away from Ethan, the RHS star quarterback's voice carried well over.

Above him, Brandon laughed out loud as he started singing high school musical, "gotta getcha getcha getcha head in the game!" He taunted, adding in a couple dance moves as he walked away.

Ethan stood and jogged over to get back in place.

Damn, now he had the song stuck in his head. The damn ancient kids movie was so not a favorite of his. His younger sister Violet had gone through a stage where that's all she wanted to watch. And his old man--ever one to spoil his little girl--sat there right along with her, blasting the movie for the whole house and all of Miller Lane to hear.

"Red 8-2-1!" Rei yelled loud and clear, and Ethan's mind sharpened and focused. "Hike!"

But in just 5 seconds, he was once again being tackled, this time from the back. The laugh above him told him it was once again Brandon.

Ethan scowled and elbowed the boy off of him and got up, walking away to line up again.

He crouched down and waited for only one word. He was going to fucking make it past that bastard this time.

"Hike!"

He bolted past the red player in front of him and—

BAM!

Damn Smith was right there, tackling from the side. They rolled, and once again, Brandon was on top of him, glee in those green eyes of his as he met Ethan's.

Ethan didn't hide the dislike as he glared up at Brandon. "Get the fuck off of me." He pushes the boy hard with his hands and stood.

"Aw, wittle Hayes getting fwustrated? Is wittle Hayes gonna cry?" Brandon taunted.