Jake was at school, but none of his friends were there, only Mason and his gang who were storming up towards him.

"Hey, dancer girl," Mason mocked as and his friends circled him menacingly.

"Look, I just want to get to class. Can you please leave me alone?" he begged.

"Why would we do that? You're such a sweetheart," Mason said, his voice coated with fake sweetness. They started closing in on Jake so he couldn't move. He opened his eyes wide as Mason planted his feet in a fighting stance and pulled back his fist, ready to punch him

He woke up in a cold sweat, shaking from his nightmare. With a sigh, he rolled over and checked his clock, 6:18. 

Well, I guess there's no sense in going back to sleep. He stumbled out of bed and struggled as he peeled off his clothes, hopping up in down, before he headed into his connected bathroom and turned on the shower. It was pretty soon, a little less than ten minutes, that he finished up and hopped out of the shower. Searching through his closet, he picked out his Atlanta Falcons jersey and some black basketball shorts to go with them and pulled them on. After their awful year in 2020, they had gotten a lot better and had even made it to the playoffs last year in 2035, and almost the Superbowl. Plus, it was football tryouts today so he felt the jersey was fitting. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, he pulled on his black Nikes and got back on his feet, heading out to the kitchen. He grabbed a banana and a strawberry Poptart and quickly downed them, not bothering to heat up the Poptart, it tasted just as good uncooked anyways. Since he still had a little time before school, he plopped down on the couch and turned on the tv, flipping through the channels until he found F.R.I.E.N.D.S., one of his favorite shows, and he let it play. Soon he heard a door open and turned around to see Emma walking out of the room. Her dirty blonde hair is tied up in a messy bun and she has a fuzzy grey bathrobe tied around her.

"Oh I'm so glad you're up, Jake. I must have slept in past my alarm. Ok, um, let me go get you and your sister's lunch ready." Smiling, he watches as she stumbles into the kitchen and starts grabbing the food to make his sandwich.

"Hey, let me help," he says with a laugh, getting up and heading over to the kitchen. While she puts the sandwich together, he grabs his chips and other snacks and puts them in his lunchbox. Another door creaks open and he hears the pattering of tiny footsteps, seeing Hannah racing towards them. Jake crouches down with his arms open wide and she runs into them and gives him a hug while he picks her up and spins her around. When he places her down she walks drunkenly until she regains her balance and gives him a huge grin.

"Jake!" she shrieks.

"That's my name," he laughs back. 

"Ok, Jake. Your bus is almost here. Grab your lunch and backpack. Have a great day, good luck with the tryouts! I love you sweetie!" He smiles at her and races to his room, grabbing his backpack, then racing out into the kitchen and grabbing his lunchbox.

"Bye Mom! Love you!" he hollers as he races out the door and to his bus, hopping up the steps. He goes to the back he plops down next to Evan and Mark and they chat for the rest of the drive. When they reach school, they get out of the bus and started heading into the school, but Mason walked up to them once again, blocking their way.

"What's up, sissy?" he hissed.

"Just let us get to class, please," Jake replies briskly. 

I guess this is what I get when I'm just trying to be me, he thinks to himself. But, no matter, this will NOT end up like my dream. He takes a deep breath, about to keep talking, when he hears a voice behind him

"Hey, just leave him alone." He turns around to see the quarterback of the football team, Ryan Adams, standing there, his hands on his hips as he glared at Mason. Ryan, who's also a senior, has messy blonde hair that's cut just above his ear and dazzling green eyes. 

"And why should I do that?" Mason asked mockingly, his head tilted at Ryan.

"Because," Ryan replies calmly, "you know how much Coach likes me. If I report you guys for bullying you'll never be let on the team again." With a roll of his eyes, Mason leads his cronies away from them and into the school. Jake stares at Ryan for what must have been only a heartbeat, but it felt like hours, butterflies erupting inside of him. 

"Thanks, Ryan," Jake says as he runs his fingers through his light brown hair, trying to get the butterflies out.

"Of course," Ryan replies with a crooked smile. "Good luck at the tryouts today, I'm sure you'll do great." Even though he was on the team last year, he never had hung out with Ryan since he was actually popular and a senior, but maybe that would change this year.

He smiles back and walks to his friends and into the school, separating to head to their homerooms. Holding his head high, he walked into Algebra and slid into his seat, waiting for the teacher to call attendance. After seven hours of boring school, it was finally time for football tryouts and Jake was hyped. Evan and Mark had insisted on coming with him to cheer him on so they followed him and slid into the bleachers.

"Jake! Good to see you," Coach calls out.

"You too, Coach," Jake hollers back with a grin. 

"Hey, Jake," Drew, a curly black-haired boy with brown eyes and dark skin shouted.

"Drewww!" Jake exclaimed. "You ready, bro?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," he replied with a laugh. Drew was one of the guys he had hung out with a lot last year, same with Colton and Carson. Colton was the tight end, Carson the right back, and Drew was the running back last year.

"Ok, boys. Line up," Coach calls out and they all quickly fall in line. Jake inwardly groans when he sees Mason and his friends on the far side of the line, but he quickly turns towards the front and listens intently as Coach starts talking again. "We're going to start off with some warm-ups, we don't want anyone to pull a muscel before the season even starts, do we?" he chuckles. "Anyways, bend down and touch your toes." They obey and bend over, holding the stretch for like thirty seconds before he tells them to get back up. They do a series of other stretches before they start drills. They find a partner and have to throw a football back and forth, Jake picks Drew, and they chuck the football across the field, not lengthwise but horizontally. Then they took turns sprinting down the fields then the person at the front of the line would chuck the ball to them. The person in the field would run back and pass the ball to the person behind the one who threw it and the one who threw it would run down the field. After about two hours of all of this, Coach blows the whistle and they all take a knee. "Good work today, boys. The roster will be out tomorrow, if not then by the end of the week. Ok, well you can go home now, rest up in case you made it on the team."

Everyone nods and Jake walks over to his friends at the bleachers.

"You did amazing Jake!" Mark exclaims.

"Yeah, you did," Evan agrees. They chat as they walk home and part ways, leaving Jake to walk the rest of the way home alone. When he gets home, he hops straight into the shower and then changes into some boxers and a tshirt and he walks out of his room to see his parents cuddling on the couch while watching a classic, Sleepless in Seattle. Smiling to himself, he grabs a slice of pizza from on top of the stove and a paper towel and brings it with him into his room. When he finishes eating it, he throws the trash into the garbage and quickly brushes his teeth before sliding into bed and turning off the lamp as he slipped into peaceful sleep.