Other than the coaches, Jay was the last person to leave the room. When he got outside, the daylight was dwindling. The streets were still alive with noise from the backlogs of rush hour and those who had clocked out late like him.
He sighed. Taking headphones from his bag, he slipped them on, then put his hands in his pockets. Strolling down the sidewalk, he struggled to empty his mind.
Sierra Canyon were true champions. Even just from watching their film, he knew they were out of the Dons' league. Their aura oozed through the projector screen, indomitable, overpowering.
For the first time, he was scared. His hands trembled in his pockets. "The hell's wrong with me? 'S just a game."
But it wasn't just a game. His time with the Dons was so much more than that.
Some things hadn't changed. Jay was just as lazy before the Dons as he was his senior year. Most thought it was because of his background. In a way, they were right. Simultaneously, they couldn't have been more wrong.
Growing up in the hills, everyone only saw a brat so spoiled and lazy he must've paid someone to wipe his ass for him. Jay snickered. What a dumb idea. He didn't doubt people would stoop to such a job for the right price, but not even all the money in the world would make him let someone else touch HIS ass like that.
No, the source of his "laziness" was something he'd been running from a long time, and this game against Sierra Canyon, the State championship game, the last game of high school football he might ever play, brought that source to the forefront of his mind.
Even when he should've been focusing on Sierra Canyon, or should've been thinking about how he was gonna procrastinate on the weekend. Instead, he was thinking of THAT.
Being the son of a tech mogul came with certain responsibilities, eventually. But from the time Jay was old enough to understand words, truly understand them, he knew his "destiny"—he was to take over the company one day, and every year brought that day closer.
His dad wanted that day to be Jay's graduation from college, no doubt Harvard. Jay would've preferred the world to explode. Your twenties were supposed to be the peak of your life! Full of parties, adventures, travels, full of whatever you wanted them to be. No one deserved to be chained to a multi-million dollar responsibility.
He sighed again, face twisting in disgust. He turned up the volume of his music, but the chill, lofi beats weren't doing their job and drowning his thoughts.
How could he complain? He had no right. People would, and had, killed to live in such privilege. But he'd never asked for that. Never asked for such a heavy burden and so much expectation.
Even football had started out as nothing more than an expectation. Good old Dad had played football in high school. Apparently, he was pretty good. Good enough to play D1 in college afterwards—though Jay always suspected his spot in D1 was bought rather than earned—so of course, the golden heir had to play football too. Quarterback, no less. The most mentally demanding position.
It took all of Jay's stubborn sulking to avoid graduating from Dad's alma mater. A private school was too preppy, too stuck up, much less one that was in his Dad's pocket. It should've been Jay's greatest dream, a school that didn't give a shit what he did.
He could sleep in class and leave worksheets blank. They never bothered him or even said a thing. Evidently, they didn't tell Dad about it either, not until his report card. Hah, then Dad had been pissed.
Jay felt his throat subconsciously, realised what he was doing, and quickly thrust his hand back into his pocket. It was after that he realised he needed a change, needed to force his way out.
Silent protests, running away, ignoring teachers, parents, and tutors alike. It'd earned him a few bruises, taken all his possessions—even his bed—and gone on for a lot longer than he would've liked, but it'd been worth it.
Halfway through his freshman year was when he transferred to a public school, and via luck of the draw, Dominguez High was his choice. It was the most suitable choice—the furthest on offer away from home.
Whilst Dad gave up on forcing Jay to attend his alma mater, football was the one thing he wouldn't back down on.
Jay hoped, because he'd missed the window for tryouts, he'd at least get to sit out his freshman year. Unfortunately, Coach Long had been more than understanding, and allowed him a tryout session all on his own.
But it was another chance, another way out. Dad's alma mater hadn't worried about giving him a tryout. One word from Dad and he was not only on the team, but had the starting job before the coach had even seen him throw a football.
Jay had tried in those Dons' tryouts. He'd tried and succeeded in making himself look bad. He didn't care if he became a laughingstock in front of the other kids; he threw like he'd never seen a ball before and ran like a newborn deer.
He'd thought his plan worked to perfection when Coach Long pulled him aside, but there wasn't anger, or even disappointment in those eyes, just sadness and a longing to understand.
The talk Coach Long gave him then was the first conversation they'd had, and Jay didn't think he'd ever forget it.
Coach Long bent down to be on Jay's level and placed a hand on Jay's shoulder. 'Son, is there ANYTHING you need to tell me?'
Jay put on his best confused expression and shook his head.
'Your name was Jay, wasn't it?'
Jay nodded.
'I spoke with your father before, Jay, and I know he expects a lot out of you, but that's because he cares so much. He thinks you could be a great player, and I reckon you could be too if you put your heart into it. But I can see he's the one that pushed you to come here. So I'll ask YOU. Do you want to be here?'
The question stunned Jay. It was the first time he could remember an adult asking him what HE wanted. Ashamedly, Jay didn't have an answer. All he could do was shrug his shoulders.
He sat out that day of practice, but he wasn't allowed to leave. Dad was picking him up, anyway. When Dad arrived, Coach Long met the man first. The two talked, obviously it was about Jay's failure with how angrily Dad reacted. He met Coach Long with a cocky grin, sure he was about to hear how his golden boy had earned the starting job on the varsity team, only to learn that he hadn't made any team at all.
Coach Long kept his cool no matter how animated and explosive Dad became. Then they beckoned Jay over. He wished he'd have run off whilst they were still talking. But he walked over, head lowered, ready for another verbal thrashing, then a proper one when they were back behind closed doors.
Surprisingly, it was Coach Long who spoke. He said: 'Now, I can't make any promises based on today. But Jay, if you still want a place on the team, it'll be yours to earn. You can show up to tomorrow's practice, and if you do well enough, you'll be on the team. But if it's not something you want, you're free to go.'
Jay gawked at the man. It must've been some practical joke. Here it was. He could just walk away and he'd be free. A vein bulged along Dad's temple. He'd finally got one over on the old man.
The fateful day came. After the school bell rang, Jay started towards the front exit, thoughts full of freedom. All he had to do was blow off the training session, the same way he did his school tests. Then he stopped.
He wouldn't be free. Dad would pull him out of Dominguez and force him into another school, despite how Jay protested. He'd try school after school until he found one where he could successfully bully or bribe the football coach to put Jay on the team. And no matter how many games they lost, Jay would never lose that starting job.
That wasn't what made Jay turn around and head for the practice field. No, the motivation behind that, was the fact that he could EARN something for once.
Coach Long wouldn't GIVE him a spot on the bench, let alone the starting job, no matter how much Dad bitched and moaned. Jay would have to earn everything on the Dons. He could stick it to his dad by earning the starting job through his own merits. It was the perfect motivation, the spark for his football career.
THAT was the moment he became a Don.
Jay didn't become the number one QB right away. He didn't even make it onto varsity his freshman year. But he'd earned his spot on the JV roster, and Coach Long had seen promise in him. That was all Jay needed. The real reward was pissed Dad was that his son was JV on some middling public school team, yet there was nothing he could do to change that. Jay had won, and he'd done it his own way. Even if—when—he'd become the starting varsity QB, he'd have done it on his own merit.
Football became his haven. On the field was the only place he felt free, the only place where he could be just another kid instead of the spoiled rich boy. That's where he met JJ, Deshaun, Stephen, all his friends. That's where he escaped all life's worries and all its responsibilities.
Time flew by, and before Jay knew it, he'd been on the team a year. He'd moved up from JV to varsity, and suddenly, he was the starting QB. It seemed like overnight, his favourite relaxing pass time, his safe place away from everything burdensome, had become loaded with responsibility.
He tried his best to coast through everything, to ignore how his teammates relied on him. He slacked on practice, managed games as closely as possible—winning by three points was the same as thirty—slept through film sessions, and only skimmed the playbook.
Looking back on that behaviour, he was an asshole. He couldn't imagine the grief he'd given Coach Long and all his teammates. "How have they put up with me all this time?"
He had to change that. He SHOULD'VE changed that long ago. It felt like only yesterday he was a freshy, just like all the others, kicking back on JV, and still kicking ass. The others were so amazing.
JJ locked down the defensive side of things, a one-man wrecking crew. Stephen was the perfect target; Jay could throw up garbage and Stephen could make it look like a perfect pass. Chris picked up so much slack when the passing game was lagging behind. And every variation of O-Line Jay had stood behind had always protected him like a king.
He should've treated them better, should've put in that same effort. It was the least he could've done. It was probably too late to change his ways now, too late to start trying. But he couldn't let his family down any longer.
"I can repay them with one game." He laughed at himself. "Four years, and all I can give them is one game."
He didn't know his eyes were welling up until one tear dripped down his face. He wiped it away and stared at his hand in shock.
Without realising, Jay had grown to love football. It was the most important thing in his world, for reasons all his own. He didn't care about his dad's legacy, whether he failed it or lived up to it. He didn't care about playing D1, or at any college, for that matter. He didn't even care about the NFL, as slim as his hopes even were at that, if they existed at all. All he cared about was getting to play one more game with the brothers he'd never had.
But it didn't have to be just one last game. There was a whole other tournament waiting for them. All they had to do to reach it was find a way past Sierra Canyon. All he had to do was find a weakness in their indomitable defence.
"I'll find it. That'll be my gift to them all. For putting up with my lazy ass riding on their coattails, I'll give them one last dance."