Hi, I'm Alex Freedman. I don't think there's anything special about me, it may as well be your name in this book. The only thing anyone would say is special about me is my sports and that my mom died during my birth and my dad died in a car accident four years later. My story starts of the same as many of yours. It's starts of as me living in the country, going to the nearest small town high school. I'm not very active but football is my passion. I'm better than a lot of football players. I played wide receiver because of how fast I am and how reliable my catch is. I have a body perfect for basketball so I play that too after football season is over. Then to keep up sports throughout the year I'll play tennis, golf, or baseball. People say I'm okay at tennis so that's what I usually go with. Also, so few people play it that I automatically make the team if I try out. I read books and study in between seasons. I stopped all these things when my life started to get, original. Everyone's life is bond to do that sometime...

"Bye Uncle Duncan, I'm going to town, I got work," I said to my 80 year old guardian. He was watching the morning news which where raging about a fire in California. I have to remind him where I work I every time I leave the farm. His memories are failing him. He's not actually my uncle. Specifically, he's my great-uncle. I don't get frustrated regardless, I have a soft spot for the old man. I guess I should, he's been raising me since I was four. "Goodbye Michael," he responds. He's always called me by my fathers name. One time, when my friends were over, they heard him call me Michael and now people at school have made it my nickname. He still calls me Alex if he's really wants my attention. I leave the house and start the rickety, beet up truck and steer it towards Perkins which is a good fifteen miles down the road outside of Alexandria. Uncle Duncan says my father named me after it so I wouldn't forget the place and I would come back to it to take care of the people I love. Too deep for a name I think. The drive seemed to take forever because my instincts were telling something was wrong. I pulled into the Perkins parking lot exactly fifteen minutes before my shift started. I sat in the cab of my truck listening to the radio as loud as I could without getting in trouble. Someone knocked on the driver's side of the truck. It's just Preston, my buddy from school. He works here too. "Hey michael. It's our shift," he says after I open the window a crack. I close the window and get out the truck. We had been trying to get a shift together for almost two months and we weren't going to waste it. It took two months because last time we were scheduled together, the managers son made a ruckus and said it was us. Typical bully. You know the type. back to present. After a boring shift with Preston, I drove Preston and myself to football practice. He walks to work. My school doesn't have school on Mondays but we still have practice for varsity teams. Preston sat on the bleachers and watched me dominate as wide receiver. We were playing a scrimmage defense vs offense. I get into position on the right side of the linemen. "Blue-15, blue-15, set, HUT!!!" My cleats tore into the grass as I sprinted a hook in between the line backers and the safety. I look up to see the ball and let it float into my ready hands. I go as fast as I can towards the end zone. I Take one way then simply go around the safety. Coach blows the whistle, "Protect the ball, Freedman!" "Yes sir coach ," I respond hustling back to my position. He used to coach NFL. I aspire to make it that far. We run the same play, with the same results. Cradling the ball is a mental struggle for me. I forget again except this time Gehrig Dieter tackles me in a nasty spill before I hit the end zone. I go down hard into my head and feel my neck snap. I lay there limp. Everyone on my team starts cheering for Dieter. Coach approaches me and hovers over me. " Never taken a hit? Do you understand the importance now? The ball went into the woods. Hurry up and get it. Then you can meet Dieter. " Gehrig Dieter is a wide receiver for the Kansas City Cheifs. I can't believe Coach would do something so nice for me. I struggle to the woods surrounding the field and find the ball waiting for me. My neck won't stand up straight. The pain is unbearable and I realize I'm lucky to be alive. I hold my neck at the appropriate position for an hour. I can tell my team is looking for me. I let go of my head to find it feels better. I grab the ball and run away to my truck so I don't have to explain myself. As soon as I'm out of the shadows, I see the ball is signed. I drive away as fast as I can. I go home to Duncan's. People are calling my cell all night but I just go to bed.

"Beep, beep, beep," my alarm screeches the next morning. My phone rings even more frequently but I still ignore it. I'm surrounded by classmates as soon as I enter the school an hour later. To be left alone, I agree to an interview for the school newspaper tomorrow. People give my looks all day. I sit next to Preston at the table no one ever sits at. "Dude," he says, " I saw what happened. The way you carried your head, your neck had to be broken. " I look at him for a while. "Well obviously not, " "Then why 's you leave? I needed to ride home with Ryan, the guy who doesn't wear deorderant." I buy him a cookie from the school as an apology. I'm too tired to try to keep up with one of his conspiracies. We chat about it for a little while longer before I force us to drop the subject hastily as my girlfriend, Sarah sits down. "What are you guys talking about," she says sweetly with her most disarming smile. My heart flutters in my chest when she smiles like that. " Coach used Gehrig Dieter to teach me a lesson about cradling the ball, " I say casually. "I know. News like that is hard to keep to your self. By the way, Coach wants you after lunch. " "Okay, "I say. I quickly scoop my food into my mouth and walk away. I turn back toward them and memorize the image. I can remember that when I miss Sarah in, like, ten seconds. I dump my tray and go to Coach's office. He looks angry when I enter. "WHERE WERE YOU!?!" he shouts, " I promised Dieter I would show him a kid with potential. Then you disappeared! " "I was hurt in the tackle. I went to get help. I didn't want you or Dieter to look bad." " Do you need concussion screening? " he asked. "No Coach." He looked relieved, " Good, you're going to carry us to state again right? " " Yes Coach. "