The first thing Keenan noticed about his new home was that it was very different than Greenfield. Whereas Greenfield was very green and natural looking, southern California was a concrete jungle, save for the hills on the east side but those were dotted with mansions. In the distance though he could see the ocean, something he wasn't used to in his inland town in Georgia.

One thing was the same though as his hometown. Here, they took football very seriously.

Now, he stood in the center of the football stadium, a hundred other freshman trying out for the team. But Keenan had something they didn't, a spot already guaranteed as a third string quarter back. It wasn't much, a backup to the backup, but it was something. Besides, it was pure skill if any freshman made it on the team anyways.

They were called "walk on's", the ones that do make it. They're the freshman that go straight to the real football team, rather than everyone else who spends at least two or three years just on the practice team.

Keenan knew he would get a spot since coach Butterfield already pulled him aside the day before and told him. Coach wasn't going to pretend that Keenan wasn't a prodigy, he wanted everyone to know so they could try to be as successful as him. He wanted a team for of Keenan Lockharts.

So as the people around him shifted nervously from foot to foot, Keenan stared blankly at the green grass in front of him. He had dreamed about being here for as long as he could remember. If it was anyone else in his position they wouldn't be able to stop smiling but Keenan was different. He hadn't been able to smile in months, and this place didn't seem like his dream any longer.

Coach Butterfield stood in front of the mass of one hundred eighteen year old guys. The sun was blazing hot, making Coach dab his forehead with a rag. Behind his large sun glasses were sunken in eyes from years of dedicating his life to a game on a field that would only last two hours.

"Listen up," he shouted like a drill sergeant. The crowd went silent. "How many of you think you're going to make the football team, at least sophomore year?" Keenan didn't bother answering but he looked around to see that everyone had their hands up. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, knowing what Coach was doing. "Well, all of you are wrong." Murmurs spread across the crowd as they all reluctantly lowered their hands. "Now, how many of you think you're going to make it junior year?"

Once again everyone rose their hands but Coach said the same thing in response. Now, everyone's nervous moods switched to somber ones.

"How many of you do you think will make the practice team?"

Keenan wanted to laugh as he saw every hand raise towards the sky.

Coach once again barked out, "wrong!" The crowd stayed silent as he walked in front of them. Standing in front of the crowd behind the coach were the other coaches as well as the football team, all seniors save for a few. The players were much larger than every freshman surrounding Keenan. He could easily define the guards and tackles by the size of them. They were the biggest ones there.

"Only forty five of you will make the practice team," Coach bellowed. "That means fifty five of you will go back home to your mommy's and cry your eyes out while you suck on her tits."

The players behind him broke into laughter. One glare from Coach sent them all quiet though.

"But there will be one," he shouted, "one of you that will join this team this year." His eyes fell on Keenan. In turn everyone's head turned towards him. "And I already know who it is. Keenan Lockhart come here."

Keenan did as he was told, very aware of the glares being drilled into his back. He even noticed a couple glares coming from the seniors.

Once he got to Coach's side he turned around, facing the crowd of one hundred people who now hated him.

"The last time there was walk on at this school was in 1999, and he only lasted for one season. But there has never in the history of USC football, been a walk on that got the position of quarterback."

Keenan could hear one player behind him choke.

"As you try out today I want you all to keep an eye on Keenan. I want you all to see the determination, the passion, the heart he has for this sport. And once you see it, I want you to take it for your own!"

"But it looks like he doesn't even have a heart," someone yelled from the crowd.

Coach glared in the general direction of where the shout came from. Then he leaned down into Keenan's ear and whispered, "You're going to lead this team one day. Show them a lesson."

With a clap on his back Keenan walked forward in the direction of the poor guy who didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. Keenan knew that the guy was right, he didn't have a heart. It was taken from Aurora months before. But Coach was right as well. In four years he would be leading this team and he needed to show them he meant business.

The crowd parted before him until finally only one guy stood in front of him. He was as tall, he was wearing a cocky smirk, and his arms were crossed in front of him.

"What's your name," Keenan asked. His voice didn't raise in anger nor did it lower in fear.

The man rolled his eyes, shifting from one foot to the other. "Why do you want to know," he said with a distinct Boston accent. "Are you gonna write it down in your diary?" He shared a laugh with a few of his buddies around him.

"No, I just want to know what to tell the paramedics when they come to pry your body off this field."

The man lost his smirk, settling his lips into a thin unamused line. "You think you're so high and mighty huh? You got a spot on the team as freshman, we all know what that means. You're blowing the Coach." The guy laughed again but this time his buddies didn't join in. Instead they stared at Keenan in fear, even backing up a bit.

The guy looked behind his confused at his friends that were leaving him. When he turned back around he didn't have a second to react before Keenan stepped forward and head butted him. The man fell backwards on the ground, holding his bleeding nose and groaning in pain.

Keenan was thankful in that moment for the few moves that his cousin Justin had taught him while growing up. He had only used them a handful of times before at parties when he got too drunk or had to deal with sore losers coming after him after a game.

Everyone was dead silent as Keenan walked back to his spot next to Coach who was smiling at him. "Good job son."

Keenan thought he was be mad at him for injuring one of his players instead of talking it out like a real leader would do. But then Keenan realized that this wasn't high school football anymore, nor was it professional football. This was college which meant it was a war for everyone. Anything and everything goes to try to make it to the top.

"Alright pussies," the Coach yelled. "Let's get moving before Keenan takes all of your names!"

The assistant coaches began to separate people based on the position they were trying out for. Coach began to walk away before Keenan stopped him, asking, "What is his name?"

Coach smirked and said, "Frank from Boston."

...

Two hours later Keenan wasn't the only star of the field. Everyone watched amazed as a tall freshman trying out as a full back blocked three line backers letting the quarter back of the original team, Jason Williams, run straight into the end zone.

The job of the fullback is to be the number one protector of the quarterback during rushing and the last wall of defense. The quarter back would have to rely on the fullback each play to keep the ball in their hands and his head on his body. Sometimes, the quarter back would hand the fullback the ball for a trick play who would have to run it down the field to score a touchdown, all the while blocking people around him.

The fullback has to be big, muscular, and fast. It was hard to find a good one.

But this guy was amazing.

"Wow," Coach whistled amazed. "Didn't think he would have it in him."

"Who is he," Keenan asked curiously. Whoever he was would have to be his fullback come senior year, maybe even before that.

Coach looked down at his clipboard searching for his name before spotting it. "Conrad from . . . here."

"Here? You mean L.A.?"

"Yep."

Keenan looked at the guy barely breaking a sweat on the field in front of him. He was invested in what he was doing but Keenan wondered how he got to be so good. Keenan was as good as he was now because he was doing it for as long as he could remember, he wondered in Conrad was the same.

"Well I guess he'll be joining you next year Keenan," Coach said.

"Why not this year? Don't you see how amazing he is?"

"Of course I do but he doesn't know the plays like Rogers does. He's been memorizing them for three years."

"And he can't be a backup because fullbacks don't have those," Keenan said knowingly.

"Next year son," Coach said, walking away. Keenan could keep his eyes off the prodigy like himself on the field. Maybe he wouldn't be on the team this year but he would next year definitely, and together they could take the world.

For now though Keenan had to focus on not making any more enemies. Frank was automatically disqualified, having to miss tryouts to go to the hospital for his broken nose. And Jason Williams the starting quarter hasn't been able to look in Keenan's direction without a glare on his face.

...

"The last thing I remember is getting in my Mom's car to go to school. It was January 16th, a Wednesday. Evan was changing the radio station and I was trying to click my seat belt in." Suddenly Aurora sat up on the couch in the doctor's office. "I'm sorry, but how is this supposed to make me remember the past three years? So far all we've been talking about is what I remember, not what I forgot."

Mrs. Robinson didn't flinch at Aurora's outburst. She simply stayed in her cushioned chair, her legs crossed in front of her and a notebook on her lap. "I'm sorry Aurora but I think you've been mistaken entirely on why you're here. I'm here to help you talk about what happened, not to get your memories back."

"What's the point in that," she shouted, growing angry. "I don't want to talk about something that I can't remember!"

"Your family is worried about you Aurora. You're moods are erratic as is normal for your situation but you need to vent your feelings out in better ways other than breaking things."

Aurora took a deep breath and laid back down on the couch. She knew the therapist was right. Aurora couldn't contain her emotions ever since the accident which was normal but she saw the way her family cowered away when she threw one of the temper tantrums. She just couldn't control the frustration inside her when she heard a reference from something that happened within the time span she had forgotten. Her outbursts usually ended up in more than one thing breaking and at least one member of her family crying; usually her Mom or her younger brother.

"It's hard," she whispered, staring up at the barren white ceiling. "One moment I'm fifteen, ready to go to school where my only friend is Max and then in the next moment I'm eighteen, about to graduate high school in another country, and Max is my boyfriend." She sighed, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "I want to remember everything. Especially why I was in America in the first place. My family won't tell me, they won't tell me anything."

"They can't," Mrs. Robinson stated. "You need to remember on your own. If they do tell you than it runs any chance of you regaining your memories."

"But what if I don't get my memories back? Will I ever know what happened?"

Mrs. Robinson sighed before saying, "The hour is up. You did a great job. We'll talk more next week."

Aurora jumped up from the couch and practically ran from the room. She hated being in that room, in that building. The only place she felt comfortable in was her bathroom oddly enough but it was the only room in her entire house that stayed the same over the past three years.

The world around her was like a boa constrictor, suffocating her until she was gasping for air.

Aurora walked outside into the chilly Vancouver air. Where her Dad's car usually sat in the front parking spot was now a red sedan. Aurora knew instantly who it was given the amount of times she's seen it parked in the driveway beside her house.

She instantly grew angry with her parents for letting him pick her up. They knew how uncomfortable she felt being around him. She turned on her heel, ready to march back inside and call her parents to come pick her up.

But Max seemed to pop out of nowhere, scaring her half to death.

"Aurora," he panted, holding out both his hands. "Please, just let me give you a ride home."

She took a step back, then another. "Leave me alone Max."

"Come on, you've been avoiding me for weeks."

"Months actually," she corrected.

He sighed deeply, lowering his head. Aurora recognized the black curls on his head, she recognized the sad look in his eyes, the rare smile he would show her. She remembered him, but she couldn't remember being in love with him.

But it was clear that he was in love with her.

Every time she was with him she felt out of her skin, especially when he would try to hug her or hold her hand. She didn't like being touched by someone who loved her but she didn't love him back.

He knew so much about her, her new favorite food, favorite movies, new favorite songs and he was always around her house. It was like having a stalker that knew more about her than she did.

"I'm trying," he whispered. "I don't think you realize that out of everyone I'm the one that wants you to remember the past three years just as much as you do."

He looked up into Aurora's eyes and at that moment Aurora saw her best friend.

"Can we just  . . . start where we left off? Being friends?"

Max bit his lip and looked away, obviously upset. But none the less he nodded his head. "Not what I was hoping for but friends it is."

...
Okay a few things...
First: I have created a new account Bear-o-dactyl where I will be posting fantasy and sci-fy stories such as werewolf, vampire, demon, superhero basically anything that can't happen in real life. Also on that account will be romance story ideas that if I continue to work on or are voted on enough by you guys will be moved to this account as a full time book.

Secondly!! I have started weekly writing contests and this weeks winners were
DecayingOrganism and 1alicia1
Go check out their works!

Third: I am sooooo excited for Conrad lol you guys are going to love him!!