The Chance

04 || An Acquaintance

K-POP - Travis Scott

𓆩♡𓆪

Alexander

An hour into a two hour practice an aching pain slows me down.

After a full reconstruction of my knee and almost a year of physical therapy, I was cleared to play a month ago. I won't bore you with the details of building my life back up but it's been quite the struggle to get here.

Only for my knee to still make me uncomfortable halfway through practice.

I look like a weak piece of shit having to skate to the bench and an even lesser candidate for being the captain of this team. I still can't comprehend why I was given this title, but our last captain tossed the baton to me.

And so far it looks like I've done jack shit with it.

I stretch out my knee under my plastic pad and get the eye from my coach. He was there when it happened, same for half the guys on the ice, and he's still concerned about me.

He puts up this hardass act but Coach Gerard has this deep rooted care for all his players even though he never admits it. "I'm fine." I tell him and he turns his eyes back to the ice.

Frustrated enough from sitting down for barely two minutes, I push myself up and get back into the drill.

We've been on the same schedule all month and with preseason approaching, it's only a matter of time before I can really evaluate the strength of this team.

And if I have the ability to lead it.

Practice concludes an hour later and I don't miss the chatter my teammates throw around about partying their asses off once they get home.

Matt, of course, was on the same page as he always was. Practice, party, girls, repeat. Getting home around eight, we've shifted to the party task in his routine.

I, however, as much as prior me would love to go out tonight, force myself to stay home. If I can't control my urges now, I'll be a shitshow during the season.

There's a heavy knock at my door a half an hour later.

I wait a beat before my door is flung open and my three roommates stand in the archway. "What are you doing?" Matt asks, almost taken aback by my relaxed manner.

I slide my computer onto my lap as I lounge against my pillows. "Staying home." I tell him and I already know there's a disgusted look painted across his face.

"Staying home?" he questions.

His disbelief almost makes me laugh. "Yeah, I'm staying home. I have to catch up on a lot of work." I look at them crowding my doorway and Jordan seems the most understanding compared to the other two.

A snicker is thrown my way by the little surfer boy I get to call one of my good friends. "Dude, I have a shit load of work too and I'm going. Get your ass up." Aiden tries to order me.

I ignore the way he pushes his blonde hair back in a rush and Matt looks at me with pleading eyes. "I have work to do." I repeat myself. "You guys can party without me."

Matt stands appalled by my choices, differed by Jordan who doesn't say anything but give me a nod before disappearing into the hallway. "Don't miss me too much." I shout before all of them leave my room and the door slams.

A few hours go by and after countless textbooks, videos, and a roughly written paper on my screen, I almost want to die.

Lettering in the textbooks so small I had to strain my eyes, videos that put me half to sleep, and a paper where I just spewed a bunch of bullshit for three pages. Ergo, roughly written.