~~Marvin POV~~

I wanted study hall to be like Human Geo, quiet, nothing unnecessary just a simple period to relax. That's all I wanted and needed but Ms. Dorogthy had other plans, she could not stop talking with my other table partners and trying to get me involved with the conversation.

"So your family moved for work and a new start, that's great. What was life like in Houston, you live in the deep parts of the city?" I thought my silent attitude would let her know I wasn't interested in any conversation, but she continued asking questions. 'Why can't I be left to my own person'

I wished I could ignore her questions, but I knew that would just result in more unnecessary actions and maybe I would even gain a disrespectful reputation. 'I just need to deal with it for another thirty-five minutes. Fuck I'm not making it'

"Oh I have some cousins that live near Houston, they're in the Katy area but they sometimes visit the city. They say it's very humid there" Nicole said, she had come to my rescue and was able to take the conversation off me and onto her.

Thanks to Nicole, Ms. Doroghty left me alone for the rest of class, and Nicole didn't bother to talk or look at me, it was nice. My other table partner Brooklyn also kept to herself, but her near-constant side-eyes were becoming a bit annoying, 'What did I do to her?' I asked myself.

My relationship with Brooklyn had been non-existent so far, the only other time we've talked with one another since our first meeting, was today. I made no effort to talk with her, and unlike her brother Austin or her parents, she made no effort to talk with me. We had no problems, we couldn't have any problems, we don't talk.

So it was quite surprising to be constantly side-eyed, but I didn't say anything, at the end of the day it wasn't that big of an issue. It was just a teenage girl that didn't like me at the moment.

"Hey, just because we sit together here and have Bio together does not mean that we will be hanging out together" Brooklyn whispered in my ear. 'The fuck are you talking about, I literally have not talked with you voluntarily' I thought in my head. I simply just shrugged my shoulders at her and closed my eyes to pass the rest of my time.

*RINGGGG* The bell rang and the students began heading out the door, I followed suit and started heading to my last class of the day, 'football'. Honestly, I didn't know how I felt about playing football yet, I was good at throwing, and I sometimes liked watching the sport, but apart from those reasons I didn't have much of an attachment to it.

'If it wasn't for Joel and Austin, mainly Austin, I don't think I'd even try to play football' As I headed to the football locker room, I continued thinking about my plans for being in football. "Marvin" A voice broke me out of my thoughts, it was one of the annoyances in my school day Caleb.

"You heading to the locker room?" Caleb walked over to me with his friend Adam, at this point, I was regretting not waiting longer to leave Ms. Doroghty's class. I could only pray that we simply walked in silence as we made our way to the locker room.

"This is my buddy Adam" Caleb introduced his friend to me, Caleb nodded at me and I did the same. Thankfully, the rest of our walk was done in silence, as we got to the outside of the locker room, Coach Alvarez saw us and yelled "ARE YOU WALKING, GET YOUR ASS INSIDE NOW"

I wasn't about to go against the buff angry coach, so I hastened my steps and entered the locker room. Caleb and Adam seemed to have the same idea as me as they also rushed in with me.

Getting inside the locker room, I immediately paused between two doors, 'Which way?' I had never been in the locker room before, I probably should've asked Joel for a tour of the locker room.

"Freshman lockers are that way" Adam pointed to the right door, and he and Caleb went into the left door. 'Why do I need to know where the freshmen lockers are' It took a minute but I remembered the conversation Adam and Caleb had earlier this morning on the bus, Adam thought there was no way I could be playing on JV right now.

I didn't head into the freshman locker room, that would be stupid, Joel had already told me that I would be playing on JV and my schedule even showed that. Entering the JV locker room, I was greeted by blue lockers, and boys standing around and talking.

Most people were huddled in a group waiting around for some instructions from a coach, I didn't wait near the entrance of the door, I chose to head deeper into the locker room, passing by many players. 'There's way more people than I saw at practice.

Getting further back in the locker room, I was able to find some space with few players sitting around, I picked a locker and set my bag inside the storage area below where I sat. As I set my stuff inside, an adult came into the Locker room asking for players, "Alright we gotta do this fast, so I need everyone who has a last name that starts with the letters in this range, A-F"

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The man headed out of the locker after delivering his message, and quickly a large number of players followed along with him, I guess today is when we would be getting our stuff for football, pads, jersey, the works. Since my last name wasn't part of the list of people called, I decided to just relax and watch as more people came into the locker room.

"Okay, I need last names from G-L, when you come out here, stay in a single line, and remain quiet. We want this done as fast as possible" The man came in again, and as he turned to leave I followed him as well as several players. We were led into a hallway where I could see the other guys who were called earleir lined up.

"Yo, what do you think the coaches have us doing?" The boy behind me asked, I thought it was obvious that they were fitting us with our equipment, but maybe I was wrong. "Hey, you hear me" the boy poked me, asking the same question.

"I don't know," I said with annoyance in my voice, I don't like being bothered when not necessary, and poking someone in their abdomen is something that should be criminalized. Thankfully the guy was able to understand the hint and didn't bother me again.

The line moved slowly, it took probably over forty minutes before I could even see where the line was heading too. Boys were heading into a room, and then coming out with a sticky note, from there they were directed by a man- a coach I hadn't seen before. They were directed into another room and would come out with a helmet, pads, a shirt, shorts, and jersey; some even had cleats.

"Remember, after getting your stuff, you are going to head up the hall, take a right, and wait in the weight room." The man repeated his instructions, the line erupted in more chatter as people were looking at the stuff the other players got.

After several more minutes, it was finally my turn to head into the first room, in there were several students and a man who had a shirt reading trainer. "Okay, I need you to step here," the trainer I saw told me. I stood on the scale, they wrote a number on a sticky note, and then they took my height.

"Okay 5'8, 120lbs, here you go" The trainer handed me the sticky note, and I headed to the next room. Inside the second room were shelves full of pads, helmets, jerseys and so much more. "Let me have your stick note and full name" An older man who had the same trainer shirt as the earlier guy reached out his hand for the note.

"Marvin Lewis" I handed the man my sticky note, he wrote my measurements on his notepad before pointing backward, I headed further into the room, meeting another person with a trainer shirt on. They were currently helping another student with getting their helmet fitted, it didn't take long though and I was starting to get my stuff fitted.

"Okay, I'm gonna say, a medium for you" The trainer handed me my black shit and shorts, then we moved further and he started placing shoulder pads on me. "How does that feel?" I tried to move in the pads, but it was quite difficult, they were too tight, the trainer seemed to know that as he took the pads off me quickly.

"How about this one" He placed another set of shoulder pads on me, 'This shit must be Goldilocks' I thought as this set of pads felt very free, but I shouldn't have been too quick to think that way, all that was needed was just to tighten the pads, which the trainer did.

Moving on, we went to the helmets section, he began placing various helmets and asking me how they felt. It took a couple of tries but eventually, we found one that wasn't super loose and not too tight. "You need a cleats?" The trainer asked, but I shook my head no.

I had gotten three pairs of cleats, which I think was far too much but the Kepplers didn't seem to care much, I had a pair of navy blue Adizero football cleats, the main part of the shoe was blue while the Adidas logo was white. My other pair of cleats were an all-white Adizero and a black and white Nike vapor edge. The top half of the vapor edges were black with the bottom half and Nike logo being white.

The trainer gave me a blue jersey and sent me out. Heading out I made my way to the weight room where I met all the other boys who had been called before me, one of them it turns out was Adam, he was the only one who had a shocked expression on their face as I entered the room.

'Avoid that' I moved to the opposite side of where Adam was, I wanted to look at the stuff I had just gotten and I had already used all my social battery earlier in the day. Unfortunately, Adam didn't seem to understand that as he came over to where I was "Why are you here?" He asked with confusion.

'Fuck me', I don't understand why people in this town are so willing to have conversations with everyone, I was kinda starting to miss Juvie, there I didn't have to deal with any conversations apart from Tyler. "Actually it makes sense, there's so many people here, I think the coaches combined the Freshman and JV teams today, to give out equipment faster," Adam answered his own question.

We then sat in silence, until Caleb came over with his equipment, asking the same question. Thankfully Adam stepped up and answered Caleb in my stead, we then sat around waiting for the coaches to come over and tell us what to do next.

That took around thirty minutes before Coach Hartman entered the weight room. "It took way too long for everything to be passed out, you boys need to learn to start moving fast. Now all freshmen, you're going to head back to the locker room and go through the other doors, that is your locker room, the doors should be unlocked now. You'll meet the freshman coaches there, the rest of you, head back to the JV locker room and set up your stuff." The players quickly moved after the old Hartman had delivered his instructions.

I was one of the first to head back into the locker room, I didn't want anyone to take the back locker I had set my bag in. Getting there, I was able to start setting my equipment inside, putting the clothes I had, on one of the hooks while putting my helmet and pads on the other hook. While I was placing my stuff, another annoyance came up.

"Hey, that's my locker. Move"