Love Feels Like War

Chapter One
We’re All Part of the Same Sick Little Games
Alex woke up that Monday morning, slightly dreading going to practice. Dulaney High School had won the state championship that past season. Alex loved playing football, but the pressure that the town put on him drove insane. That was not getting into how his father, Peter Gaskarth treated football like it was the most important thing ever.
He took off his headphones, where a New Found Glory song was filling his ears, when he stepped into the locker room of Dulaney High School, where he was greeted with a, “Hey Gaskarth, we missed you at the party last night,” by his best friend, Josh Franceschi. Josh was Dulaney’s running back, who moved to Towson from England freshman year. He and Alex clicked right away, becoming fast friends and co-captains of the team the previous year.
Alex began dialing his combination, “I would have come, but you know how my dad is.”
Josh turned to face his friend, “He have another stick up his ass?”
When Alex nodded, Josh sighed, “I’m sorry mate. Although, you missed a great party, I must have fucked four cheerleaders, two of them was at the same time.”
“Shit, Franceschi, how drunk were they. They must have been because you, come on.”
Josh punched Alex on the shoulder, “Fuck you, Gaskarth.”
Alex rubbed his shoulder. “I’m just fucking you with you, man. Anyway, ready to cream Towson like we always do this season.”
“When do we not because they fucking suck. Although their running back looks like he could take you down, he refuses to. That’s not even getting started on the quarterback.”
Coach DuMotte walked into the locker room, “As soon as you guys get out of here, we’re going to take a little field trip to Towson High School.”
-LFLW-
Jack Barakat sighed and walked into the Towson High School locker room. Dialing his combination, he did not see his best friend, Zack Merrick, the team’s running back, come up behind him. Zack was a shy boy of few words, but he was the strongest guy on the team. Jack oftentimes wondered was he was the quarterback while Zack wasn’t, even though he was qualified to do so.
“Ready for another losing season?” Zack asked his friend.
“Oh yeah definitely,” Jack’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “I’m also ready to have the assholes at Dulaney take home all the glory like they always do.”
Jack nodded, Zack did have a point. Dulaney had won state at least once every three years, while Towson hadn’t had a winning season in over several years.
“You know that’s why they’re assholes, the power and the glory has all gone to their head. Especially that quarterback, he’s the worst out of all of them. Either him or their running back, that British kid.”
The team’s wide receiver, Kellin Quinn walked over to where Zack and Jack were standing, “At least pretty much everything’s cleaned up from the vandalism last year.” Towson’s main building, locker rooms and football field was vandalized towards the end of the previous year. No one knew who did it, but everyone suspected that it was someone at Dulaney.
Jack nodded, “I’m surprised that they fixed it as fast as they did. Well, the school and locker rooms,” The school had windows broken, cuss words written on student’s lockers and there were eggs littering the hallway. The locker rooms were flooded and the football field was covered in garbage and debris and the grass was torn up, as if a car had driven on it. The field, however, was still a complete and utter mess.
“Rumor has it that because of all the damage to the field, we’re co-oping with Dulaney for the season. Ever that or the low turnout. We’ve only got, what, ten people,” Vic Fuentes, the team’s Center and Kellin’s best friend, spoke up.
Everyone turned to face Vic. “You’re shitting me,” said Jack, trying to process the news the best he could. Co-oping? With Dulaney? Out of all the high schools in Towson, they just had to co-op with Dulaney. He sighed, “Well, that’s great, just fucking great.”
“I shit you guys not.”
Jack sighed, “If its true, then I’ll say it for everyone that this is going to be a long season.”
-LFLW-
Alex and Josh exchanged glances, as they stepped foot on the field of Towson High School. What was all of this about? Rumors had been floating around about them co-oping with Towson, but Alex just shrugged them off. Maybe they were true after all since Towson’s incredibly small team was currently standing on their field.
He felt Josh nudge him. Alex turned to face his friend, who mouthed, “What’s going on?”
Alex shrugged, mouthing back, “I don’t know.”
Coach DuMotte and Coach Ellis finished their conversation when Coach DuMotte cleared his throat. He turned to face the group, “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m John DuMotte and I’m Dulaney High School’s head coach. Many of you have been speculating about us co-oping with Towson, I’m going to tell you guys that the rumors are true. Towson happened to have a low turnout this season along with a damaged field from the vandalism that they suffered a few months ago. While our schools are known to not get along, Coach Ellis and I have decided to put everything aside to help his team out. He then went on to explain some other stuff that Alex tuned out before he finished his monologue with, “I think that’s everything, Coach Ellis, do you have anything to add?”
Ellis shook his head, “Just that we’ll officially start practice at the same time tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
Alex and Josh exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing, “This is going to suck.”
Jack looked at Zack, Kellin and Vic, thinking, “This is going to be a long season.”
-LFLW-