End of Christmas break

"Alright... before you guys go I have something to tell you some of you" Jason sighs "I've been holding off in telling you because I wanted you guys to focus on the season but it's going to be difficult to do that pretty soon, you guys see those guys over by the bleachers" he pointed behind us to 4 men that we don't recognize well 3 and the guy that's been around since the beginning.

"They're scouts that have been here looking at what Alexander, Austin, Raymond, Greg, and Jared can do there's even one team that's interested in Chris" the team started yelling congratulations on the last one and they were patting Chris on the back and he looked very embarrassed but also had a slight smile on his face.

"Just make sure you stay focused because that can all go away very quickly, things will be getting busy soon it's only those four here but I heard at least 15 different teams will be present at every game moving forward and we all know the main reason why but why don't you all show them something and take advantage of the situation we still have a lot of games left in the regular season, then we have the state championship tournament for the Division 1 California Cup."

We yell "yes Coach!"

"Alright, Alexander it's all you"

I stand in the middle of the guys I yelled "State on 3!"

"1"

"2"

"3"

"State!"

The guys all go home pumped up for the rest of the season I looked over at Chris next to me He looked happy but sad at the same time.

I say "what's wrong dude?"

He says "I'm really happy that someone thinks I have the ability to play professionally but..." he sighed "but I'm not even sure I'd be able to play professionally until I graduate since I don't have an actual guardian to sign the contract for me or to be there with me wherever I have to go."

I look sadly at him and I reach out and pat his shoulder and say with a reassuring smile "hey, we'll figure it out when the time comes alright?" He nods and smiles "okay."

(1 week After the New Year Cora's Birthday)

Alexander, Birdie, Chris and his parents walk up to Cora's house for the small family BBQ, it's only them her grandma and the rest of their group of friends there for her birthday.

As soon as the door opens Cora jumped at me and wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a quick peck on the lips and laid her head against my chest listening to my heart beat completely forgetting about everyone else.

She quietly said "I missed you"

Everyone else went inside after my mom basically pushed them through the door and she gave me a thumbs up and closed the door.

I had one arm around her waist and the other running through her hair almost like the first day of school but this time were way more comfortable doing this and enjoying the 'Warmth' from our embrace.

I eventually break the silence and say "it's only been a week since we've seen each other Cora, but I missed you to" she giggles and it warms my heart and I hold her closer and give her a kiss "happy birthday" she just has a big smile on her face.

She grabs my hand and pulls me inside and we walk past two gossiping mothers and grandma and into the backyard were there's a bonfire going and all our friends are sitting around it on there own chair and there was a bench that basically said reserved for the couple on it and I sat down and she sat as close to me as possible and grabbed my right arm and wrapped it around her self.

Sara says "I can't believe you guys got teams interested in you before us, we're the undefeated team here Hmph!" She crosses her arms I feel Cora stiffen a little I rub her arm and I say "you ok?"

She says "ugh yeah, I-its just... " she looked up and realized everyone was paying attention to her "Stanfordofferedmeascholarship!" She got it out quickly just to get it over with.

I hugged her and said "really that's great!" She smiled and looked in Sara's direction waiting for her reaction and she didn't have to wait long Sara let out a squeal of excitement and she pulled Cora up and started jumping up and down and said "why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I-I thought you would be mad..."

"You Dummy! Your my best friend I'm happy for you, hopefully I'm next then we can play together..." she continued to talk about plans and Cora was just nodding along with a smile.

The rest of the night was great we ate good food and cake after we sang happy birthday and then Cora opened her gifts. Then we went back to just hanging out by the fire and Birdie joined me and Cora on the bench sitting in between us to keep extra warm.

(Day before school)

I woke up in the morning then a thought struck me "oh no!" I didn't apply for the copyright on my name. I quickly got online and saw that what I wanted wasn't claimed and I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly payed the fee and now I just have to wait for it to go through. While It was at I did it for some songs and I even wrote some of my own songs recently so I started the process for those as well.

I've been feeling confident in my Own ability musically and I started to write my own music and I performed them for Birdie and she says that she loves them and it makes me smile. But for some reason it's just so much harder to perform my own music for anyone else even after that it's like I'm afraid...

(The next day, Lunch)

I get out from my 5th class of the day and walk towards the cafeteria and meet Cora on the way there, something just felt off today I'm waiting in the spot we're we always meet up so I completely forgot about lunch and went to go look for her. I walked towards her class and when I turned the corner I saw the starting quarterback of the high school football team talking to Cora well trying because he has her cornered and won't let her by I started jogging.

I see his hand reaching out and behind her intending to get a handful and something snapped inside me and I break out into a sprint I jumped forward and punched him across the face and he fell on his back. He got up spit out blood and said "who the f*** do you think you are interrupting us?"

I yelled "I'm her boyfriend, you Damn creep!" And I hit him with a uppercut and he was out like a light.

His friends from his team were nearby quickly ran over two of them went straight for me and the other two picked him up I was slowly losing the 2 on 1 fight.

Then we heard someone yell "stop!" They quickly ran off with the quarterback after seeing a teacher and I was on one knee breathing heavily and a black eye forming and a busted lip.

The teacher and a security guard got there and they took me to the principals office Cora said "wait! He didn't do anything wrong!"

He said "yeah, We'll see" and they drive off with me in the back seat of the golf cart, Cora went to the group while pulling out her phone calling his parents.