Walking Among the Shadows: Awakening: Revised Edition Read Free Page B

want to try out for
the girls’ soccer team and practice is always after school.”
    “Really? Well, I guess Aiden
will be your escort.”
    “Mom!”
    “Wait, no!”
    “No what, Aiden?”
    “Why do I have to sit out two
or more hours of my life for…”
    “Aiden!” My mom gave me that
“watch it” look; she always could sense when I was about to say something to
make things worse.
    “Okay, wait for Sarah.”
    “Aiden, you have two options.
Wait for her or try out for a team so that both of you are in practice after
school together.”
    “Oh Mom, come on!”
    “What Aiden? You need to try
something new. You’re constantly working out, you’re in great shape, you’re an
extremely fast runner, and I think you will do great in sports.”
    “Mom, that may be true but the
jocks at my school are not the nicest bunch to be around.”
    “Most jocks aren’t Aiden, but
you need to start learning how to work with others and to thrive in a hostile
environment. You never know when you’ll need those skills. So just think about
it; otherwise you’ll be watching your pretty little sister kick a ball around
for two hours.”
    “Oh God no! I’ll look into
football then.”
    “Great! Sarah?”
    “Yes, Mom?”
    “I don’t want any games from
you, do you understand me?”
    “Yes, Mom.”
    After breakfast I sat there in
awe when I finally figured out what just happened. My mom for the longest has
been trying to get me into sports at school. I’ve always managed to get out of
it…until today. I love sports and I play football at the park all the time, but
I just didn’t like being around the buffoons on our school’s sports teams. Some
of them were bullies and some of the people they bullied were pretty cool. They
tried me once and only once during my first year here with the starting senior
quarterback.
    I was only fifteen and while in
the lunchroom, Adam the starting quarterback and “head bully of the buffoon
squad” cut in the line right in front of me. Okay so what, no problem. Then he
kept reaching back over my tray. Now he was pushing it. I didn’t like people
too close to things I was going to put in my mouth. After about three attempts
of him reaching over my food, I could tell he was trying me, so I politely
stepped out of line to avoid a confrontation. With my back towards him he
pushed me…hard. He was much bigger and stronger than me but I knew even with
his size and strength advantage I could seriously hurt him. So I tried to avoid
it; but he wasn’t in the lunchroom to eat. His mission was to punk the new
freshman; the attractive and quiet boy that all the girls was talking about. He
wanted to make a mockery of me and put me in my place among the bullied. I can
take a lot of things but physical aggression is a big problem for me. So after
the push I quickly turned and demanded he apologize.
    I was less than a foot from
him, staring directly in his eyes waiting for his response. He smiled and told
his crew I had heart and he was going to tear it out of my chest and leave it
on the lunchroom floor. I was in my comfort zone being this close to him.
Close-quarter combat was always my strong point. He pretended to walk away but
suddenly turned intending to push me in my chest and cause me to fall backwards
onto the floor. A very old and lame trick—I saw through this from the
beginning. I knew he had a reputation to keep up and he wasn’t going to walk
away from a “freshie” demanding an apology. Too many people were watching this
exchange.
    While spinning around and
reaching out with all his strength to push me in my chest; I quickly and calmly
stepped back to my left and placed my left foot directly in front of his shoes.
The force behind his missed push paired with my perfectly placed foot propelled
him down and across the lunchroom floor. The lunchroom immediately erupted in
roaring laughter as they watched the starting quarterback glide across the
lunchroom floor on his stomach.
    Cherry red