Change Your Ticket

I didn’t think college was going to be much different than high school. I walked out of my first class this weekend thinking the complete opposite. Mass High was a fairly big school but it didn’t even compare to USC. My first class of the day had over a hundred kids in it, with the other classes following suit. I had no idea how I was going to learn material when I could barely see the professor.

After the whole football incident I was really hoping that I would like the classes here. I figured it would motivate me to stay. After all I was here to learn not just play football. Unfortunately, that did not happen. After the first week of classes I ended up hating college even more.

Practice was no better. Now that the official roster had been set, most of the practice was spent working with those guys. I spent a majority of the time tossing the football to our assistant coach. I didn’t even know why I bothered to show up. There was no chance of me playing in a game this seasons, it was just a waste of my time.

I was supposed to be at practice right now but I decided earlier today that I would not be attending. It was a conditioning day and there really wasn’t any point of me going to condition to sit on a bench. I knew I was going to get in trouble for missing practice and I knew it wasn’t helping my case about playing in the games but I didn’t care. I wasn’t just missing practice because I was upset I wasn’t starting, I was missing practice because for the first time in my life football wasn’t fun anymore.

I knew this was going to happen. I knew the minute I was placed on a team without my best friends everything was going to go to shit. I was only the player I was because of them. Now I had nothing.

Mass High’s practice should be over by now so I decided to call Max. As much as I wanted to talk to Josylne I still didn’t know how to tell her the truth. I hated pretending everything was okay but at the same time I couldn’t let her think I was miserable. She needed to be focused on herself not me.

“Well if it isn’t Parker,” Max greeted.

“Hey Max. How’s captain life treating you?”

“It’s getting there. Almost ready for homecoming next week.”

I had completely forgot the homecoming game was next Friday. Before the guys and I left for college we had secretly decided that we were going to try and get to the homecoming game. At Mass High it was always a big alumni game, especially for past players. I had no idea if anyone still remembered our drunken idea. I made a mental note to look at flight tickets when I got off the phone with Max.

“So how’s college?”

“It’s high school times a hundred. I have three papers due by the end of the week and I’ve started zero.”

“And here I thought you were going to become responsible in college,” Max teased. “What’s with that roster I saw online?”

I froze. I didn’t even know that rosters got put on the internet. I mean I did but I didn’t know they did it before the season had officially started. If Max had seen it then Josylne sure as hell had. If she found out before I told her she’s going to be so upset. I usually wasn’t one to panic but I could feel the terror building inside.

“Has Josylne seen it?” I asked carefully.

“So I take it you haven’t told her. Why not?”

“I don’t want to disappoint her or make her feel guilty for talking me into going here. She has enough on her plate, I don’t need her worrying about me too,” I sighed.

“Jos loves you Parker. You not starting isn’t going to change that. If I were you I’d tell her soon because knowing the shit that’s going on at Mass High she’s going to find out soon.”

I knew from Josylne that there was a lot of drama on the field but I hadn’t realized how extreme it might be. If Max was alluding to it then it must be bad. As far as I knew it was all coming from one person. One freshman who was bitter about something. As the thoughts came into my head I realized that I was being that same asshole player here. I was the freshman acting selfish because of a roster decision. I glanced at the clock realizing that I could still make it to practice without being super late. I hung up with Max and headed straight for the field.



With my new attitude practice wasn’t as bad as it usually was. I still didn’t get too much playing time but I was throwing the ball better. Kyle, the assistant coach, even let me watch a couple of plays to see what the sides were doing wrong. Maybe being an alternate wasn’t going to be too bad.

When I got back to my dorm I began texting the guys to see if we were still planning on going home next weekend. The college season didn’t start for another couple of weeks and seeing as I wasn’t starting I didn’t think it would be an issue to miss one practice.

The plan was to fly in late Thursday night and fly out Saturday afternoon. After much deliberation we decided that we didn’t want anyone finding out we were coming, not even Coach. This gave rise to a few problems like where were we all going to stay. Of course we all wanted to stay in our own beds but we also all wanted to catch up with each other. I knew I wanted to surprise Josylne so there was no way I was going home. At first we were going to crash at Jason’s and let Asher in on the secret but it was soon decided we could stay at Aaron’s who didn’t have any siblings or friends on the team.

As soon as I got off the phone with all of them I booked my flight home. It’s crazy how much a stupid ticket meant to me. For the first time in weeks I was getting to go home. I was going to see my best friends. I was going to get to see my girlfriend play in her first game. For the first time in my life I was going to be the cheerleader instead of the player. Now all I had to do was figure out a way to get out of practice.