It was Toby’s third week of school, and things had not gone as well as he had hoped. In his middle school, he was beloved by most of his grade, but after being separated from most of his friends in a painful moving process that removed him from school for a year and then reinserted him in school a grade lower (as he didn’t complete the grade he had been in before leaving), he had been having trouble reestablishing a footing in the school’s cruel social structure.
In middle school he had been a ‘someone’, and it was confusing and weird to him that people didn’t want to talk to him in this new school. Couldn’t they sense that he was a quarterback over here? He didn’t quite look the part, as puberty had not been kind enough to him to bless him with the height and natural physique of a high school football player, and he had gained some weight over the long moving process, mainly because after they had gotten to his new house, he didn’t really know what to do with himself so he would spend his time on the computer or just sitting around instead of doing anything productive. When school started back up, he wasn’t quite sure what his social status would be in this new and unfamiliar place but his new colleagues, the school jocks, quickly assured him that it would be the bottom.
Perhaps it was because on the first day of school, Toby walked in like he owned the place. This was his first incorrect play. He should have had a better read on the situation, but he was attempting a Long Pass play. There he was in the cafeteria. He was pulling out a long pass even though he could have probably run it to the touchdown zone. His attitude, presence, and trying out for the football team had impressed the older students. He hadn’t quite been initiated into the team yet. He was alone in the school with no teammates, and here he was; on the offensive, even though the ball wasn’t even in his possession.
He was snapped the ball by a seemingly friendly face.
“Hey there rookie!” He heard someone shout from the cafeteria table where the jocks all seemed to congregate. Toby raised a hand to wave. He realized it was the center guard; one of the most vital players in a football game, this was the guy who was going to pass him the ball if he ever made it to the position of quarterback. Someone else at the table snickered.
Position Instructions
QB (1) a) Receive snap from center guard then move back.
b) Wait for wide reciever to get into position then throw ball.
CG (X) a) Snap ball to QB
b) Defend Quarterback while wide reciever gets in positon.
Defense a) Completely destroy any offensive players.
“Did you say rookie? I think you mean failure!” someone else at the table remarked. Toby’s mouth opened in opposition at this, and everyone started to laugh.
The center guard opened his mouth in protest to what the others were saying.
“Hey, he wasn’t actually that bad!” He said. The sideways insult/defense was weak at best, and Toby felt himself being crushed by the opposition. There were no receivers around. He was all alone on this one.
“Wasn’t actually that bad… Heh.” The current quarterback said, snickering audibly. The defense had been crushed, and Toby was alone. This was not the right play for how few players he had on his side. They descended on him quickly, and crushed him in his tracks.
“Well, come on, I’m not really that bad at football, I was the varsity quarterback at my old school.” Toby said, matter of factly.
“Yeah, maybe in your crappy league from wherever the hell you come from you weren’t that bad.” The QB responded.
Toby laughed at that. “Please, like you could throw better than I could.”
Social suicide.
That’s what just happened.
2nd Down
Ever since that incident, he had been avoiding the football team, the football clubroom, the football players in the hallway, and basically everyone that had anything to do with any sports teams at all as much as he could. Three weeks had passed since that day, and Toby still had not gained one ally. He was finding himself able to keep up in classwork, but socially he had tarnished his reputation beyond any reasonable repair.
He was mocked during football practice. Despite the fact that the head QB had an obvious hate for him, he couldn’t deny that Toby could throw well. Better than him? Debatable, but Toby saying so didn’t help him to gain any popularity points. He was really scrapping at the bottom of the barrel here for any friends that he could get. Luckily he finally made a ‘friend’ named Warren. Kind of an outcast, but outspoken. Incredibly nerdy, incredibly smart, socially a failure completely though, but the kind of social failure who is completely unaware of it and would ask the head cheerleader out on a date if he thought that she was looking at him that way some day.
Even though she would never look at him in that way. Because she knows not to. Warren looked up to Toby for some strange reason. Even though it seemed like he was completely okay with being a social pariah, watching Toby get noticed by some of the more popular kids in school was something that Warren started clinging to. He wasn’t going to let Toby go as a friend, and Toby knew it. In order to move up in the world though, Toby was going to have to let Warren go. It had been a long 3 weeks, and Warren had seen Toby through some tough times. Eating lunch with Warren was much better than eating lunch alone, even though Warren filled the silence with rants about how his characters were doing in popular MMO’s, or what the latest video games that were coming out were.
Toby knew he had to get out of this friendship and move on to people who he actually had something in common with. This called for a play. Warren was on defense, and Toby was quarterback once more, on offense.
Position Instructions
QB (1) a) Receive snap from center guard then move back.
b) Wait for wide reciever to get into position then throw ball.
CG (2) a) Snap ball to QB
b) Defend Quarterback while wide reciever gets in positon.
LG (3) a) Defend Quarterback while wide reciever gets in position.
WR (4) a) Get into position for QB to pass to you.
School hadn’t started yet. It was almost when he saw him. Warren was walking down the hall. There were so many routes he could run, so many ways to get a touchdown. It was going to be a one vs. one… or was it? Toby noticed that a few good acquaintances were walking by. They were by no means jock, but they were the preppy kids, the ones who had a lot of money and wealthy parents. One of them even had a car, and they were only freshmen in high school. Warren was making a beeline to Toby, but then Toby started talking to the preppy kids and then the defense was made. Warren quickly stopped as the other kids moved in front of him. Toby grinned, his status clearly promoting him a little bit, even though he had been outcast for a while. The two preps in front of him blocked off Warren completely, and then another one further down the hall who was about to enter Toby’s homeroom called him over to join him. Toby walked down the hall without casting another glance at Warren.
3rd Down
Toby had been enjoying relative success in his social life in the month to come. While most of the football team still despised him, his value in games could not be hated too much, and even people on the football team were starting to come around to liking him, and even thinking that perhaps he could out-throw the lead quarterback. Toby had successfully ditched Warren, too, though despite all of Toby’s efforts, Warren still tried to talk to him.
Toby would skillfully maneuver through crowds of popular students to get away from Warren, not only because Warren was a friend made in desperation, but also because Warren was a social anchor. If Toby was to become as popular as he was comfortable being, as he was in his old school, then he would have to ditch the dead weight, and unfortunately for Warren, he was that dead weight.
From the jock table, which Toby had managed to acquire a seat at (even if it was at the end of the table) he could see Warren moving closer. Warren had eaten lunch by himself for the past few days, finding a seat at any table he could manage to be at least a person’s width away from anyone else to avoid talking to strangers. Toby had felt bad at first, but his new life in high school was just starting to look up. He didn’t want it to be hell, like what he assumed Warren was living through right now. He approached the jock table slowly, trying to get Toby’s attention; unfortunately, it wasn’t Toby’s attention he had grabbed, but one of the other players on the team. The jeers started immediately. If it wasn’t some slant on Warren’s hobbies, then it was something about his physical appearance, which compared to many of the football players, left something to be desired.
Warren had been perfectly blocked, his frail defense completely annihilated. Then the worst of it came, and Warren broke down in tears. Riotous laughter filled up the lunchroom at Warren’s expense. He left crying. Toby frowned at the situation. He didn’t quite know what to do. On the one hand, Warren had given him companionship in his time of need, being his friend when no one else would be, but could Toby do that back, now that he was gaining the popularity he had wanted when he started high school?
Toby watched as Warren ran out of the lunchroom, tears streaming down his cheeks. What a child. Who cries in school? What boy cries after the age of 12? Toby could see the irony in the situation though. A few weeks ago, he had been in the same position as Warren. He had basically used Warren for his own selfish purposes, and now that he had other friends, he was throwing him to the wolves. “Better him than me.” Toby thought.
The next day, Warren didn’t show up to school.
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