HAVING JUST FINISHED TAKING A SHOWER, Josh had just walked into the portion of the Varsity Football Locker Room where his own locker was located.

  Stepping up to the purple painted, slightly rusting iron door locker that had the number ‘Three Twenty-Seven’ posted above the top four ventilation grates, Josh started putting in the combination to unlock its built-in padlock.

  “BRENT! You son of a bitch!” Josh cried out after his supposed ‘best friend’ ripped his white bath towel away from him, rendering him fully nude in front of everyone in the Locker Room. “Give me my towel back!”

  “Heh, heh… Feelin’ kinda cold in here… AIN’T IT, JOSH???” Brent snickered. “Must be a ‘draft’ in here somewhere. Ha-ha!”

  “GIVE IT BACK NOW!!!”

  “Ugh… Oh, alright. Here ya go, ya damn baby.”

  Brent handed the towel back to Josh who, in turn, quickly tied it back around his waist.

  With his towel back on, Josh scolded, “You’re a real piece of shit, Brent! Y’know that?”

  “Oh, calm your titts, Josh. I was only messin’ with you,” Brent waved. “I thought it’d be funny.”

  “Well, news flash Brent! It wasn’t ‘funny’. It was stupid and immature!”

  “WAIT. HOLD UP A SEC. Immature? The hell are you talkin’ bout, Russell?”

  “You know exactly ‘what the hell’ I’m talking about, Brent,” Josh replied as he now glared sourly at the Star QB. “What you did a few seconds ago, pulling away my towel and then proceeding to ‘laugh’ about it, was a very immature, ‘middle school’ thing for you to do.”

  “Jeez… Lighten up a little bit, dude,” Brent said whilst rolling his eyes. “You’re startin’ to sound like Amber.”

  “I only say it because it’s true, Brent. You need to stop acting like you’re five and start acting your own age.”

  “Now you’re starting to sound like my Old Man. What’s with you, Josh? Last year, you used to dish out way worse things than what I just did to you a few seconds ago.”

  “I know, Brent… And I had the whole summer to think about some of those ignorant things that I did last year and do you wanna know something? I grew up. I strongly suggest that you do the same before it’s too late.”

  “Don’t tell me to ‘grow up’, Russell. You know what, better watch your mouth, Golden Boy, before...”

  “Before what? Before what, Brent?” Josh challenged as he now stood toe-to-toe with the Star QB after pulling on his Purple and White Letterman’s Jacket over a white, baseball long-sleeved shirt. “What are you gonna do? Give me a ‘swirly’, call me a ‘bitch’, or something else along those lines?”

  “No,” Brent said as he took a step closer towards Josh. “I’m gonna pound your head into the fuckin’ floor.”

  “Ugh… Typical Brent. Always using ‘aggression’ and ‘fear’ to solve your problems. Word of advice? You really need to stop modeling your whole demeanor after ‘Ogre’ from Revenge of the Nerds. It’s kinda weird, dude.”

  “URGH… FUCK YOU!” Brent raged in Josh’s face before turning around and storming away from him furiously.

  “And there you go again! SEE YA BACK AT THE ‘ALPHA BETA HOUSE’, OGRE! HA-HA!!!” Josh cackled as the Star QB fled from the Locker Room. “Heh, heh… Ten points to Mom and Dad’s badass eighties movie collection.”

  _

  Walking out of the locker room after putting on his street clothes and ‘Multi-Sport Varsity Letter and Award Medal’ littered Letterman’s Jacket, Josh made it to the hallway which led to either the freshman wing or the gymnasium.

  “HEY JOSH!”

  “Huh? Oh, uh, hey, Amber,” Josh greeted after turning around to face the stunning Varsity Cheerleader.

  “Great game tonight, Josh!” Amber commended whilst giving the Star Running Back a big, toothy grin. “You played really well out there!”

  “Heh, heh… Thanks,” Josh modestly replied whilst briefly chuckling. “Hey, where’s Brent?”

  “He’s in the bathroom,” Amber replied with a sort of ‘drained’ expression on her face. “So, are you going to Layla’s Party later? Everyone’s gonna be there.”

  “Uh… I’m not so sure about that,” Josh awkwardly ‘half-lied’ due to not wanting to offend Amber since she was best friends with Layla. “I’m gonna go to Burger Hut down at the Square first and get a bite to eat with the rest of the team right now.”

  “Me and Brent are gonna do the exact same thing!” Amber erupted with lit-up eyes. “HEY, you know what I just thought of?”

  “What?”

  “I think you should ask Layla to ride with you there.”

  Rolling his eyes, Josh sighed, “Ugh… Amber, not this again.”

  “Oh, come on! Why not, Josh? You know that she’s had a crush on you since, like, freshman year.”

  “Yeah… Her and about every other ‘airhead’ in this place.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Hey! Watch it, Superstar!” Amber warned with a slight grin as she playfully balled up her right fist at Josh, causing him to chuckle.

  “Heh, heh… I’m sorry, Amber… But I only speak the ‘truth’. Heh, heh… She’s not around here, is she?”

  “Well…”

  Before Amber could finish her sentence, Layla Check came walking out of the Women’s Locker Room with two other Senior classwoman cheerleaders; Alicia Hardy and Brittany Lawrence.

  “Oh, fuck me,” Josh then groaned as the trio of cheerleaders headed straight towards him and Amber.

  “Ironically, that’s what Layla, Alicia, and Britt are all probably thinking right now. Heh, heh,” Amber giggled at Josh’s expense.

  The Star Running Back then rolled his eyes as Layla walked up in his ‘personal space’ and greeted, “Hey, Josh.”

  “Hey, Josh,” both Alicia and Brittany greeted in unison, making them sound like ‘Stepford Wives’.

  Keeping himself ‘calm’(the best that he could), Josh politely greeted, “Hello, Ladies.”

  Alicia and Brittany both then giggled like the ‘fangirls’ that they were as Layla said to Josh whilst not breaking away from eye contact with him, “You played a totally awesome game tonight, Josh! I thought that you were, like, the ‘super-best’ player out there!”

  “Thanks, Layla… But I didn’t do it alone, y’know,” Josh informed. “It was a 'team’ effort.”

  “Yeah, yeah… Whatever. SO, I assume that you’re coming to my party later… RIGHT?”

  “Yeah… About that, Layla. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to make it, unfortunately. I’m kinda tired and ‘beat up’ from the game and…”

  “BUT I ‘INVITED’ YOU,” Layla stated sternly whilst ‘forcing’ her bright blue eyes to start ‘welling up’ with false tears of pity. “Haven’t you heard? THERE’S GOING TO BE A KEG.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I heard and I know you invited me, Layla,” an exhausted Josh nodded. “And thank you for doing so, but I’m just really tired. In all honesty, I just wanna chow down on a Triple Cheese Slammer from Burger Hut and go home for the night to hit the hay. I’ll probably be out and about tomorrow night though, if you’re doin’ something.”

  “But my party’s tonight… NOT TOMORROW,” Layla seared directly. “You HAVE to come, Josh. Anyone who's anyone will be there.”

  Amber looked back at Josh again with fear lingering heavily in her eyes whilst the Running Back groaned.

  “Oh, come on, Josh,” Layla pleaded. “It’ll be fun! I promise that you’ll have a real good time. Heh, heh…”

  “Yeah. I probably would… BUT I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT I’M TIRED, LAYLA,” Josh stated in stern harshness to the beautiful, yet ‘dim-witted’ Varsity Cheerleader. “I just wanna eat, go home, and go to bed. I don’t mean to ‘offend’ you, I’m just… just… Ugh… That’s just how it is, alright?”

  Puckering her lips, Layla sourly spurted, “Fine. DON’T COME. You’d be like a disease to everybody else that’s coming anyways.”

  Josh’s eyes then widened as Layla brushed whilst looking over at Amber now, “Ugh… Whatever. You’re still coming, aren’t you, Amb?”

  Glancing over at Josh again, Layla sourly continued, “Or are you going to be lame like this loser?”

  “Uh… I’m right here,” Josh remarked with his eyes bitterly narrowed down at Layla.

  “Huh? What was that? Did you girls hear something?” Layla asked whilst keeping herself turned away from Josh.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Alicia said whilst also keeping herself turned from Josh.

  “I think I heard a fart,” Brittany remarked, causing both Layla and Alicia to look back at her in confusion and disgust. “I… Uh… I mean, I didn’t hear anything. DEFINITELY not Josh.”

  Realizing that Layla and her ‘airheaded followers’ were giving him the ‘silent treatment’, Josh just rolled his eyes and said, “So childish.”

  Angry with Josh calling her ‘childish’, but still acting as if he wasn’t even there at all, Layla, whilst still facing Amber head on, asked, “So… Are you coming or not? TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK…”

  Layla, Alicia, and Brittany then all ‘laughed like hyenas’ whilst Josh tried to drown out their overly annoying sounding voice.

  “Uh… Like ‘duh’?! Of course I’m coming!” Amber erupted in blatant sarcasm, to which Layla, Alicia, and Brittany didn’t pick up on due to being total oblivious airheads. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

  Picking up on Amber’s sarcasm right away (because he was smart), Josh chuckled, gaining seething glares from Layla and her girls.

  “Good,” Layla replied whilst looking back at Amber. “See you lata, Sista.”

  Layla gave Josh one final, icy glare before departing with Alicia and Brittany ‘skulking’ from behind in tow.

  “Well, that went ‘good’,” Amber said falsely in the wake of her best friend’s fiery departure.

  “And that right there is exactly why I wanna return whatever ‘feelings’ that Layla has for me back to her… IN FULL,” Josh stated whilst digging his hands in the side pockets of his Letterman’s Jacket.

  “You mean ‘had’ for you,” Amber corrected. “I think that by you saying that you’re going to ‘skip out’ on her party has deemed you numero uno on Layla’s ‘Shit List’.”

  “Oh, gee. How will I ever go on?” Josh playfully asked.

  Smirking at the Star Running Back, Amber continued, “She’s not so bad. Layla can be really nice sometimes.”

  “Yeah… When she gets what she wants.”

  Amber remained silent because she knew that what Josh had just said was right.

  A few seconds later, walking out of the Men’s Restroom was Brent.

  “Yo, Amb! C’MON,” Brent gruffly called out to Amber whilst giving Josh a ‘fierce’ glare. “Let’s get goin’ before Burger Hut closes.”

  “Alright, Brent. Alright,” Amber nodded as she looked back at Josh.

  “Well, I guess that we’ll see you in a bit then,” Amber said whilst the Star Running Back nodded. “It was good talking to you, Josh… And great job again.”

  “Yeah,” Josh agreed. “Good talking to you too, Amber… And thanks.”

  “AMBER, COME ON!!!” Brent barked out, causing his girlfriend to quickly ‘run’ to his call.

  Josh just narrowed his eyes as Amber walked up the stairway that led up to the school’s second floor with Brent still glaring back at him as they went.

  “Whadda bitch,” Josh remarked in Brent’s wake as he soon walked up the hallway, turned right, and trekked up the stairway to the school’s second floor as well.