Pride and Let Down

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Nothing was different. There were about 100,000 screaming fans, most dressed in red and black. There was the red jerseys of his team running out to the field. Holding their red helmets in the air, going through warm ups. It was the same as the three times before this game. Yet, somehow, this felt different.

The chocolate skinned man was on one knee away from the others who played his same position. His helmet was under his right black gloved hand, and chin leaning against his left, eyes closed. A black cap sat on his head, no doubt to protect to his hair and a long black skin tight sleeve on his left arm with a wrist band with plays on it. The red jersey on his back read the number 12, and the name Brutus.

It wasn't long before he was up on his feet and black cleats running against the green turf. It was his fourth game as a starter, a true freshman out of Atlanta, Georgia playing for the University of Georgia. He had become an impact player in such a short time, playing both ways of the ball. It was his first home game as a starter, their first game was in the Georgia Dome against Clemson, the next away at Georgia Southern, then away again at South Carolina, but now they had Vanderbilt at home.

The pre-game festivities went on normal, then the coin toss, then it was time for kickoff. They were getting the ball, and he paced down the sideline as it was kicked in the air before going out the end-zone. Yet, he continued pacing. A coach tried to calm him down and then a teammate, but both failed. He was anxious. His friends had been able to come see him play this time, his mom, and his uncle. He was anxious to get his first action.

First play..went by..second...third..First Down. Another couple of plays, before finally "Brutus, slot. 34 Hot back side." When he heard his name he looked up and nodded putting on his helmet trotting on to the field going to slot position a couple of yards right of the tight end. He knew they wouldn't use him a lot on offense today, they wouldn't need to. He'd get to save all his energy from defense.

It was shown on that play, he didn't get the ball. And the next, before he was called back to the sideline. A pat on the back greeted him as he took off the helmet. At least..they went on to score...and would kick it off to the other team. His helmet was back on, he'd have his chance to shine. Yet, three plays..not any action except guarding his man perfectly..and he was back on the sideline.

The next offensive drive he didn't get back on the field, and yet they scored easily. Defense again. First play..no action, but they stopped them for a five yard run..but..this was where it got good for him.

Brutus stepped back ten yards from the line watching the offense move. "Hot link, hot link. BIG RED." was what he yelled making hand signals as he did before the ball was snapped. He stayed on his toes barely sliding back, watching before he saw a receiver turn. He sprinted forward, jumping in front of said receiver and catching the ball. He took the ball and ran down the sideline his team was on, his coaches running with him jumping with joy, telling him to go and he did. All the way to the end-zone.

Tossing the ball to the referee before getting to his knee, and then to his feet running to the End-zone where his mother was and holding his hand out to embrace her's. His teammates then bomb rushed him, smacking him on the helmet before all heading back to the sideline. It was his first career interception return for a touchdown, and he got to do it in front of the people he loved.

The rest of the game went pretty smooth. He got some action on offense, catching three passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, and getting ten tackles and a sack to go with that interception he got.

The game was over, they won. 45-0. He celebrated with his team, went and did team activities after, before going and celebrating with his friends and family. What a night.....

but Sunday came. He turned the television on, SportsCenter. A smile was plastered on his face as he watched his higlights, looking over to his roommate (Their quarterback) the both laughing. Then..there was a knock on their door and he opened it. One of the discipline directors,"Get dressed you have an important meeting."

He didn't know what the meeting could be about, but he put on a polo and khakis and went off to the team conference room...the news he got..he wasn't fond of.

Though he had the GPA 3.18 for the semester, thanks to his several A's and B's, he was failing his calculus II class. And the rules were, you had to be PASSING all the classes to play. "Jozye we regret to inform you, you will be suspended for this upcoming game. And if you don't get at least a B on this next test, you'll be suspended the next. Normally you could just withdraw and save face, but the rules require each student to have a full time schedule, and dropping that class would put you under that. We've assigned a tutor to you, you're to meet her in ten minutes."

He could only nod. I mean what else could he do? His friends and family would be disappointed but..this was his own doing....So with a gentle sigh, he headed to the study room located in the football facilities, and waited for his new tutor.

​

@Shura

 

[Shura]

The sound of distant cheering could be heard from nearly anywhere on campus, if someone wasn't at the game they were watching it or listening to it on the university station. An excitable energy was nearly palpable as students of the university dressed in red to show school spirit. It was practically unavoidable, unless you were in one of the library study rooms.


Instrumental music could be heard faintly from the head phones wrapped around Skylars head curled dark brown locks tangling themselves around the head band the more she toyed with her hair. She had been sitting in the room for several hours and it showed with the collection of books, papers, highlighters and pens which collected among empty cups from the coffee shop downstairs and crumpled wrappers. She had a huge test coming up and very little time to understand seven chapters worth of information. Most of it she grasped the concepts off but practice was still necessary to make sure mistakes wouldn't happen come the day of the test.


Sky had been working for several hours working over a hundred different problems from the text book and internet getting quicker and more accurate in her calculations. The young woman muttered under her breath as her gray eyes scanned over the black and white text in the book, a collection of symbols and numbers collecting together to form the strange language of physics she had become fluent in.


With a heavy sigh Sky set her book down and rubbed her eyes. Perhaps she had been studying too long. A chime broke through the soft strings of the music and she blindly reached out to grab her phone. She slid her finger along the glass disabling the reminder as text from the calender app. New Tutoring Student - 10am It was a reminder for the meeting she had to go to the next morning. She glanced at the time seeing it was past ten and shut her text books, paper sticking out of the sides making the page she was on. She got up and shoved her materials in to her black messenger bag before tossing away all of her trash leaving the study room as clean as when she arrived.


Skylar left the study room passing a pair of students who were listening to the events as they transpired on the field. She caught bits and pieces of the broad cast as she made her way down to the first floor and made her way towards the dorms. Sporting events had never been her thing, not because she had any dislike for them. She appreciated the amount of skill, strategy and work the team had to put in to complete in each game. Sky just could never really keep enough attention to it, not when there were papers to write and test to study for.


As she drew closer to the dorms she could hear the noise from the stadium echoing through the night air. There was an eruption of cheering and excitement which caught her attention. No doubt the winning point. Celebration and parties would soon break out all over campus over the win. Sky made a mental note to sleep with ear plugs.


---


Skylar yawned as she made her way from the breakfast hall to the meeting room where she would be assigned her newest student. The only reason she was even at the school was because of academic scholarships which covered her tuition, fees and books. Still that left very little extra for miscellaneous expenses. She had taken small jobs around campus but tutoring seemed to be the most profitable by far. And the more flexible. Perfect for someone who had nearly every hour of the day planned and dedicated to something.


Her curry hair bounced slightly as she walked swaying with her natural body movement. She had worn a simple outfit fitted genes and a sweater nothing fancy but nothing sloppy either. With the path already memorized Sky made her way to the meeting room knocking on it lightly before making her way in. She had arrived a few minutes early but hoped it wouldn't be too much of an issue. It was definitely less awkward than standing out side for the extra five minutes.


She scanned the room quickly eyes meeting the directors then another young man who was standing where most other students stood. She gave a polite smile.


"Good morning, I'm Skylar Evans."

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

His eyes looked up when the tutor had finally made her way into the room. His read t-shirt with the Georgia G on the left of his chest, grey sweat pants with georgia written down the side, and black nike running shoes. His face managed to glance between the other members who motioned for him to say his name.


This was met with a shrug, as he looked at the new comer,"Jozye Brutus." he answered honestly but not much emotion in his response. He really didn't want to be here, there was so much other stuff he had to do, but he had to be here. He needed to be able to play so that he wouldn't let his team down. So, there he was in this room with this new tutor.

 

[Shura]

Skylar nodded slightly motioning to one of the tables before taking a seat and setting her bag down. It almost seemed over stuffed with textbooks and papers of various subjects. Then again Sky had classes right after this sessions so she had to grab everything on top of tutoring materials.


She sighed softly "So I was informed that the class your having trouble with is Calculus correct?" She asked pulling out two thick textbooks on the subject one from the class and the other a work book.


"Its still fairly early in the semester so it shouldn't be too hard to catch up. Where have you been having trouble?" She questioned.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He watched as she motioned to sit down, and sat next to her. His phone vibrated and he reached into his pocket and pulled out the vibrating culprit. A quick glance at the new text message left him with a laugh. It was one of his teammates who had been watching sportscenter,"so tell me why does the headline says star freshman can pass on field tests, but not class tests." He shook his head. The school must have had made the announcement already, he just learned about it and now the world knew.


He looked up to Skylar after a while and blinked,"Yeah, um. The thing where you do like triple integrations or something I don't know. It's all too much for me. " he said and looked over to her. He hated calculus with a passion, math in general and wished he could just go,"You're pretty, ya know?" he questioned. He'd do anything to not have to sit through this session, and he was sure maybe he could butter her up. Well, he wasn't exactly lying.

 

[Shura]

Sky noticed the student checking his phone and wondered how difficult he would be to tutor. She had her fair share of difficult students from ones trying to pay her off to do their work to a few that had threatened her. She hadn't caved to any of them in the end. The brunet quirked a brow as he complimented her already seeing things wouldn't go as smoothly as she would like.


"Thank you, perhaps we should focus more on the text book." she said flipping through the chapters to the beginning.


"A few ground rules before we start though. I will not be doing your work for you but I will be happy to help. If you have any questions about the subject don't hesitate to ask. And if you take your phone out again unless it an emergency I will ask you to turn it off." She stated her tone holding a more serious edge as she set the book down before him along with some paper and pencils.


"lets begin shall we?"

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He smacked the air between his teeth a bit, letting the sucking sound echo through the room. He managed to send a text back to his friend,"She pretty but trippin', I'll hit you back." He managed to slide the phone back into his pocket and glanced up and her watched her every movement. She went through the book, and placed some paper and pencils out,"If the department is paying you, why does it matter if I listen to you or not? You get paid either way." he told her truthfully.


He left the part out that if he didn't play, and the team loss then a lot of people would blame her and football was important enough at the school that it would affect her living, but that wasn't important right now. He had other things he could be doing, but when he figured she wouldn't budge and he needed to play next week, he picked up a pencil,"Fine let's begin."

 

[Shura]

"I might get paid but you won't get to play which will come back at me in the end. "She said with a sigh. "This isn't my first time tutoring for the team, I've helped nearly half the team out in past semesters, some this semester as well." She added.


Refocusing on the subject at hand Sky started explaining the bare basics breaking down the information to its base components to make it more understandable. It was something she was good at. Breaking down complex information to make it relevant to others. It didn't work every time but it at least helped. She worked out a few problems writing a step by step guide as she explained before letting him try a few problems.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He took the pencil and marked down the notes for her explanation of things. When she said something he didn't understand, he asked a question about it in a very intellectual way showcasing that he wasn't a stump like some of the other players, he just genuinely didn't understand the advanced calculus class.


He even worked out the few problems she gave him, again asking for help when needed. Time had passed and he notcied the time and smiled. They should be finished for the day,"Say, what year are you?" he questioned at the end of the session gathering up the papers. He'd learned a bit, but he wasn't sure if he could pass that test.

 

[Shura]

Alex was glad the rest of the session went well easing up a bit as they went through the session. She was glad he wouldn't be as difficult to teach as some of the others. 12:00 arrived and the session was done. She started to put her materials away when Jozye spoke up. "Hm? I'm a junior." She replied slipping the text books among the other four that were already tucked inside. The fact that the bag was a rollie helped tremendously when getting around campus. "Studying Buissness" She added figuring that would be his next question.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He nodded to her when she said she was a junior, and studying Business,"Oh that's cool, I'm freshman double major. Computer Engineering and Computer Science." Yes, that was his majors. He had expected to be in school five years because he came into school expecting to be red shirted, but he made an immediate impression on the coaches and as an 18 year old he was starting, and calling audibles for the defensive backs.


He looked at her bag and picked it up with his free hand. Though he was slim, he was only 18 and a freshman, he was beyond strong enough to easily carry the bag and he glanced at her,"Let me carry this to your next destination at least. As a thanks. I'm not the one paying for it so..I can show some gratitude. "

 

[Shura]

Sky smiled, slightly impressed with the goal for double majoring. "Ah well I wish you luck with that, computer engineering on its own is quite the coarse load." She replied gabbing her sweater. She noticed him pick up her bag with ease and worried for a moment he would run off with it but shook the thought away. As positive as she tried to stay a few paranoid notions crossed her mind every so often from past experiences. "Sure, Thank you. It's not very far." she nodded before heading out of the room.


The lunch rush was in full swing with a good number of students out rushing to class or simply enjoying their lunch.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He nodded to her carrying the bag in his free hand papers in his other,"Thanks, but um." he said as they walked next to each other. Some of the students acknowledged him, he was a rising star on campus. Probably the third most popular player on the team. Football was king in the south, and being good at it sort of made you a prince. He returned her attention to Skylar and sighed,"Well I'm sure you'll be a great business woman...you mind if I get your contact in case i ever...need help outside of a session and you're free?"

 

[Shura]

Sky noticed the attention he was getting but didn't pay much mind to it. The football team was the closest thing to royalty on campus along side the soccer and baseball team, each were popular during their respective seasons but Football seemed to always be in season. She glanced over as he asked for her contact and nodded slightly digging into the smaller purse she had on her shoulder and fishing out a small case. "No problem. There are time I'm not available because of class but its written on the back." She said handing him a printed card with her number and email. On the back was a list of times in hour blocks where she was in class. She seemed to be taking mostly evening classes and a full class load of five classes.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He took the card in an awkward way, readjusting the papers in his hand and just adding it to the papers after while. He wasn't the tallest man in the world, he was just a shade off six feet, and if it wasn't for the fact that people had seen his face often on the sidelines, he was sure he wouldn't be picked out of crowd of people as a football player.


He twiddled with his thumbs for a minute,"Also, my birthday is in a couple of weeks and I'm having a little get together, you can come if you want. You don't even have to bring me a present. I'm not selfish like that." he chuckled in a joking way, trying to make sure he wasn't weirding her out or rambling. In truth, he didn't really have many friends outside of the football team. He wasn't good at making friends, and he didn't quite like people. There were many people who would gie him attention, but he didn't have a lot of people he would call up and ask to hang out.

 

[Shura]

Skylar raised an eye brow slightly not really expecting to be invited to any kind of event, at least not this fast. She smiled slightly and nodded. "Alright, I will try to make it." She replied. She was starting to like Joze more as she spent time with him he despite their first interactions. Still she always had so many thing to do she made no promises about actually going. As much fun as it would be to socialist and hang out she couldn't afford to to it all the time, most times she saved it for a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday, when there weren't any tests. Overall she couldn't wait for the semester to be over, or for the next break.


The two arrived to the designated building and Sky paused. "I'm good from here. Thank you for the assistance."

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

He nodded to her, letting the bag down with a gentle smile and nodded,"Alright well sounds good. I hope the rest of your day works out well for you, guess I'll skip off to practice or something..." he told her nodding before walking to a group of football players each greeting him. Practice, study, class, seemed like that would be all he would be doing for the next few days. It wasn't exactly his idea of how he would be spending this upcoming week, but it wasn't like he was going to be playing football anytime soon.