Small Town Hero - #ONC 2024

Chapter 2

The bell rang for lunch, and after getting my slice of cardboard pizza and iced tea, I made my way over to where Layla and Blake sat in the back corner of the cafeteria. As soon as my rear-end touched the seat, both of them stared at me as if their eyes could drill right through me. I peered back, wondering what they were thinking, a few guesses tumbling around in my head. After enduring an hour of mind-numbing calculus, and not to mention still being in shock by the loss of a teammate, I wasn't up for playing games. Although I had known Austin Campbell, and played football with him, I would not consider him a close friend. But I saw him every day at school, and now with him gone, I found myself experiencing the profound impact his death could have on my psyche, like a lead weight pressing down on my thoughts. From Blake and Layla's tense gazes, I suspected they were on the same page as me.

My chin dropped. "What is it?"

"Well," Blake replied. "Other than what happened Saturday night, we saw you in the hall with the coach after the assembly."

"Yeah," Layla said. "He didn't look happy."

I arched a brow. "Would you be if you were in his shoes?"

"I guess not, but after that inspiring speech, you'd think he wouldn't take out his frustrations on you. The backup."

"It wasn't anything like that. He just wants to see me before practice."

"It makes sense," Blake said. "You're the next man up in the QB rotation. Finn's a sophomore, he's nowhere close to ready. Besides, he throws a weak slant pass."

"He's right." Layla half-smiled, tucking those same strands of loose hair behind her left ear. "You're a senior. You've put in your time."

"Probably wants to make sure you're sharp on all the audibles. If you remember last practice, you missed a few."

"It's something like that," I said. "Basically, he wants to help me take my game up a notch or two." I sink my teeth into my pizza, savoring the lack of flavor and swallowing the bite, my thoughts circling back to the reason for the assembly in the auditorium this morning. "What about Austin? The rumors?"

Blake stared at his tray for a long moment and then looked up. "I heard he was out there on the bluff drinking. Had one too many and was fooling around on the edge, slipped... and went smack."

"That's not what I heard." Layla shrugged, an obvious nervous lump sliding down her throat. "Koby said they were hanging out in front of the Walmart parking lot, chatting up Friday night's win, and out of the blue, Austin said he wasn't feeling well and had to go. Koby said he wasn't drinking. None of them were."

"So," I huffed, "he just left? Said he was going to go jump off a cliff?"

"No." She shook her head. "Koby said he told them he was going home."

"I said what?" a gruff voice replied from behind me. Koby Sanders towered over me, holding his tray above me. He played center on the offensive line; someone I would be taking snaps from pretty soon, like at today's practice.

"We were talking about Austin," I said.

"If you know what's best for you, you'll keep his name out of your mouth." His tone sharpened and his brows pinched like he meant business.

"We're just asking the same questions everyone is asking," Layla said. "Like why Coach Steele isn't canceling practice, at least until after the funeral. And how long was Lexa with him after he left Saturday night? She left with him, right?"

"Yup, they left after hanging out with us. She said he dropped her off at her house and left. She thought he was going home but guess he didn't." His eyes grew more serious. "As for practice, we have a game this Friday. No one person is greater than the team."