Pursuit of Happiness | The Sean Joseph Woy Story

[Woy]

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Chapter 38: Happy Valley
September 26, 2026

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"Dude, wake up." Mike was standing in front of the bed with a pillow in his hand, ready to swing if his friend would continue his stubbornness.

"Give me another half hour," his friend scoffed, pulling the covers over his head. Mike obliged and after a simple non-verbal agreement with a head nod by John, he took the pillow and forcefully swung it at his friend's back.

"What the fuck, Mike?" I yelled as I pulled the covers from over me and gave him a death stare. "What part of 'give me another half hour' don't you understand?"

"Sean J, it's almost noon," John responded, pointing at his phone. "We've gotta leave soon for the game if we don't want to hit traffic on the way up."

"Shit man, there's going to be traffic either way," I scoffed, finally getting out of bed. "Give me another half hour and I'll be ready."

"I remember what happened the last time you said that," Mike chuckled, still holding the pillow in his hand.

"Hit me with that one more time and you don't get any catches next Friday," I sarcastically threatened, before walking into the bathroom to get ready for tonight.

...

"It's a white-out and you're wearing orange," Mike stated, shaking his head as John sat at the wheel in State College traffic. "I don't even know if you'll be able to tailgate today with us without dying."

"Just because I don't root for Joe Paterno University doesn't mean you guys should shun me tonight," I laughed, proudly boasting Penn State's opponent Syracuse on my shirt. Even though I had no clue where I was going to go to college in a few years, I was a Syracuse fan through everything, thanks to my father.

"It's Al Golden University now, actually," John said from up front. He was right too; once Joe Paterno retired in 2010 and passed away shortly after, Al Golden took the job and ran with it, delivering State College two national championships.

On the other side of the spectrum, Syracuse was still led by Doug Marrone, who had another championship ring on his finger after my father won his senior year. Both programs were easily the east coast's elite and were ranked within the top 5; Penn State at #3 and Syracuse right behind them. It was supposed to be the game of the week and my father got my friends and I field-level seats. Unfortunately for Mike and John, they were on the Syracuse side of the field.

"I think we're here," John announced, pointing at his parking ticket on the front of the truck. He found the spot my dad paid for, then parked the truck, where we set up shop with the grill and satellite TV.

I took the football out from the back seat and pointed for Mike to go out for a pass. After loosing my arm up a bit, we started running some routes. Some people started watching from their tailgate spots, seeing two kids that actually looked smooth with this game of "catch," compared to the usual two middle-aged men who can barely get the ball to one another.

"Heads up!" Mike shouted as his throw sailed over my head and in the direction of someone's table. I turned around and ran over to try and catch it, pulling it down with one hand, but barreling into whoever was behind me.

I got up and dusted myself off, then looked back to the girl behind me. Not even noticing who she was at the time, I offered a hand to help her up and she took it, fixing her blonde hair once she finally stood up.

"What? You look like you saw a ghost," she chuckled with a smile slowly creeping across her face.

"Well I really haven't seen you in a while," I answered, still wondering how and why Brandi Sullivan was standing right in front of me now. The last time I saw her was two years ago and she was just a freshman with a lot of potential who was lusting over me. I had flashbacks go through my head of when I cheated on Candace, but then I shook them off while examining how the last two years have treated her.

"I know, I know," she said, giving me a hug. "How've you been though? We've all missed you at Davidson."

"Pretty good," I replied, still examining how good she looked without being too obvious about it. "Starting quarterback for a good football team, made a shit load of friends and have an awesome girlfriend."

The last comment soured her expression just a tad, but she tried her hardest to keep it unnoticeable. "That's great Sean Joseph. I'm actually at Bedford now...my mom got transferred for her job up here, so we're pretty close I guess."

"Damn, and you didn't tell me this?"

"I didn't know where you moved to, silly."

"Good point," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "I just didn't expect you to move to PA and see you at a Penn State game of all places."

"Yeah, my friends have tickets," she said, pointing at the two girls sitting down beside us. I looked over and gave them a quick wave, them waving back and sharing a school girl-esque giggle with one another. I then heard Mike yell something from the distance and saw him motioning his hands for a pass back. "Go ahead and continue throwing...maybe we can do lunch or something soon to catch up?"

"That'd be fine by me," I agreed, before unloading a rocket in Mike's direction. "I guess I'll talk to you later."

We exchanged smiles before I jogged back to catch a pass back from Mike. Him and John stood there with their arms crossed, like I was hiding something from them, but I pushed it aside. "Old friend, guys. There's nothing there."

"Is she available?" John asked as Mike shut his mouth. I laughed to myself because if I had to put money on it, I would have bet Mike was going to ask the same exact thing.

"You guys aren't getting that," I chuckled, before we dropped the subject altogether and enjoyed the rest of our pre-game festivities.

...

"Tyler Gordon rolls out to his right, fires to David Jones in the back corner of the end zone...it's caught! Touchdown Orange and they've stunned this crowd, taking a four point lead with just a minute remaining!"

"It's the 'Cuse, bitch!" I shouted at Mike and John, with Mike shoving me in retaliation. "Guess it's not going to be Happy Valley tonight!"

"Eat shit dude, we still have a minute and two timeouts," John reminded me, but I wasn't hearing it. I was about to pocket $50 from each of them if the Orange could hold the lead, plus bragging rights for the rest of the season.

"Wayne Mitchell drops back to pass facing a third and 15...he looks left, pumpfakes, here comes the rush...fires deep...and it's picked off! Junior safety Jay Browning skied up to snatch that and Syracuse will come out of Beaver Stadium with a huge victory!"

I looked at Mike and John and snickered, putting my hand out in which they proceeded to lay two $50 bills there. We watched as Gordon took a knee to let the clock run down to zero as the Penn State faithful walked out of the stadium quietly to the tune of Syracuse's fight song.

"...we'll fight and with all our might, for the glory of Syracuse!" I sang proud with the band as Mike and John just shook their heads in disgust.

"Remind me not to bring you to another game," John said sarcastically. "You ready to go yet?"

"Yeah, let's go."

I started to walk away and was five steps into my path before I was stopped with a tap on the shoulder. I turned around to see a familiar face, but a face I haven't talked to personally in a long time.

"Well look who it is...how's it going Sean Joseph?"

"Pretty good Coach Marrone," I replied, shaking his hand. "Congrats on the big win, looks like you have another title contending team this year."

"Yeah, I'm hoping. Still got a long season ahead of us," he sheepishly said, trying not to boast too much. "How's your season going? I've had scouts at the games and they've said you're playing well."

"Well we're undefeated," I answered, trying not to boast either. "And I feel like I'm playing well, hopefully we can keep the ball rolling."

"I hear ya Sean Joseph. Well I've got to get back to the locker room to talk to my boys. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Sounds good Coach," I replied, before turning to walk away.

"Can't wait to see you wearing the blue and orange," he said softly, just loud enough for me to hear him as he walked back to the visitors' tunnel.

"Maybe he actually thinks I'm good enough and doesn't just want to add to the Woy legacy," I thought to myself, before I continued my walk out to John's truck.

[Woy]

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Chapter 39: Unraveling
September 28-October 2, 2026

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"You gotta hit the hole harder, John!" Dad screamed from the platform on the sidelines, as he watched his team practice in the brisk fall weather. He blew the whistle and put three fingers in the air to signal the next play for his son, then looked down at Coach Swindell. "We've gotta practice much better than this if we want to beat NBC this weekend."

"I just want to know how they got to be a state powerhouse," Coach Swindell said, getting both men to laugh for a second. "Seriously though, we stomped them our senior year and I remember we beat them the three years after that. What the hell happened?"

"Who knows, who knows." He sighed and looked back at the field, where the play he called was unfolding perfectly. His son took a five-step drop, looked to his right and waited for his receiver on the left to cut across the field. The man was there, but the throw was off and picked off by a safety. Shaking his head in frustration, he blew his whistle after the safety returned it five yards.

"On the line...all of you!"

Friday was going to be a long night if his players didn't get their act together.

...

"Dude, we weren't crisp at all this week," Mike said as we walked up to the locker-room following Thursday's walk-through practice. "We're going to get smacked if we play like that tomorrow."

"I know man, I know," I scoffed, speeding up my walk so I could pop a pill or two. I felt a few times where I wanted to throw up, but held it in. However, that was one of the biggest reasons why I've had such an off week, because I've continued to try to stop taking during practice.

Eventually we got up to the locker-room, where I would quickly throw my shoulder pads off and search through my gym bag. A few seconds passed, then I finally found my bottle and quickly popped off the lid to dump two pills into my hand. I threw them into my mouth and washed them down with some water, as John looked at me with a strange expression on his face.

"You 'ight, bro?" he asked, noticing how quickly I got into my bag and took the pills.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

...

"Francis has a hole and will find the end zone! Touchdown Black Panthers and they'll take an early lead on the road against undefeated Everett!"

I shook my head on the bench as our defense continued their mediocre play from practice this week. After the kick-off went out of bounds, I jogged onto the field, expecting a lot of blitzing from the stingy Black Panthers defense.

"Red 12, red 12!" I barked out the cadence, scanning the defense to see if there was a possible blitz. "Set...hut!" The blitz didn't come and instead they dropped into a zone defense. I sat in the pocket, getting good protection from my offensive line, then saw a little hole open up to run through. However, as soon as I took two strides through that opening, I was immediately smashed by a linebacker and safety coming in from opposite angles.

"Four yard gain for Woy on the carry. Second down and six for the Warriors."

I got up and shook off the hit, then walked back to the huddle and called the next play. This time the defense showed blitz and I adjusted the protection call at the line, walking back into the shotgun formation to receive the snap. The snap was clean, but they brought one more guy than we had in to block and I was hit hard once again, taking a sack before a receiver could get open.

"It's going to be one of those nights again," I muttered to myself as I searched for my mouthpiece.

And it was definitely one of those nights. NBC dominated us with a suffocating defense that got hits on me every chance they got. I didn't throw a pick, but I was held without a touchdown and our only score came off of John's legs in the third quarter when we were already down three scores.

"Our final here is NBC 27, Everett 7. The Black Panthers continue their run towards a state title, advancing to 5-0, while the Warriors fall to 4-1."

...

"Sorry about the game, babe," Haley said, running her fingers through my dirty blonde hair as we laid in my bed. "If it makes you feel better, Tussey lost tonight also." I chuckled, which in turn produced pain from my side.

In the fourth quarter with the game out of hand, I threw a bomb towards Mike and he caught it, but in the process I took a shot to the right side of my rib cage. The pain was there off and on for the rest of the night; usually off when I took a pill, but when it was on, it was almost unbearable.

I gave Haley a kiss on the forehead, then turned over and reached into my night-stand, pulling out an Excedrin bottle from the drawer. I opened it up and tossed four pills in my mouth, then swallowed and turned back over to Haley, who was looking right at me.

"How many did you take?" she asked, with a hint of worry in her voice. I held up four fingers because I didn't want to lie to her, but she kept on asking questions. "How many are you supposed to take?"

I didn't answer and instead turned to the opposite side of the bed like I was hiding something from her. I then recognized that was a bad idea, but by the time I turned back over, she was getting out of bed and walking towards the night-stand. Running the possible scenarios through my mind, I hoped for the best when all of a sudden...

...my pre-game meal came back up and thankfully landed in the trash can beside the night-stand. Haley stopped her path towards that area and looked at me, saddened. Was she upset about her man getting sick again or was it the assumption that kept floating around in her head?

I threw up one more time and sat up, then instinctively motioned my hand towards the night-stand drawer. By the time I pulled back and realized what I just did, the fateful question was asked.

"Sean Joseph, do you have a drug problem?"

[Woy]

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Chapter 40: Roller Coaster
October 2-9, 2026

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I looked at Haley with eyes that were just about to water, still in disbelief she asked the question that was bound to come out sooner or later, whether I wanted it to or not. She wiped probably a tear out of her own eyes and stared at me, probably hoping this was just a bad dream or something.

"Do you have a drug problem?" she repeated, fully knowing the answer but not ready to accept the fact. There was a reason she was falling for him more and more every day; he didn't have a major flaw like Ryan did. He was pretty much perfect in her eyes, but this opened her up to the harsh reality of life that no one was actually perfect. As she pondered everything, a small whisper came from across her.

"Yes," I answered softly, trying my hardest not to shed a tear and keep that cliche "tough-guy" image that all football players had. As I sat back down on my bed, she put her hand on my thigh to let me know that she was here for me. A small smile crept upon my face for just a second, but I had to remove it because I had to tell her what was going on exactly.

There were no words spoken for a minute, as both Haley and I were searching for what to say. Finally the tense air in the room was cut into, as Haley muttered something like a "how" it seemed, but I couldn't exactly tell. She confirmed my thought though, repeating what she said. "How?"

"It started during the Bellwood game," I explained, taking her through each chapter of the story that had my painkiller abuse spiral out of control. "Took a few during halftime because I was getting hit every other play and I was really hurting. I started to take because I was sore, but after the pain was pretty much away, I couldn't stop. Dad thought I had a concussion from all the throwing up I was doing..."

"Wait," she interrupted me. "You weren't throwing up because you were sick?"

"You can say I was sick," I said, trying to kind of smooth-talk my way through this so Haley wouldn't be so upset with me. "But it's because I wasn't taking at the time, I was trying to ween myself off of them. Whenever I'd take too much, I'd black out for a bit and when I wouldn't take at all, I'd throw up."

"So you have tried quitting?"

"Of course," I insisted, putting a small smile on Haley's face. "It's just hard because I feel so dependent on them. I'm scared babe, I really am."

She gave me a big hug and looked right into my eyes, tears really starting to flow now. "I know you are hun, but I'm here for you. We're going to get through this, I promise."

I gave her a kiss and laid back down on the bed, her joining me just a few seconds later. "Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Please don't tell anyone about this. This is just between me and you, then we can forget about it once I'm clean."

"Deal," she agreed, before curling up next to me and quickly falling asleep. A few minutes passed as I lie awake staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out how this would work out and what will happen next. However, my thinking was interrupted by drowsiness as I succumbed to my exhaustion and fell asleep as well.

...

"Thrown up today at all?" Haley asked from the other phone-line, as she sat in the parking lot waiting for our bus to arrive at Tussey Mountain.

"Just once," I admitted, looking out the window to see we finally were at the school. I waited for everyone in front of me to get off the bus, then grabbed my bag and found Haley standing away from the typical rowdy Tussey fans. "Any death stares today?"

"Maybe one or two," she joked, giving me a hug and my jersey back. "I got the usual 'Everett sucks' and 'why are you wearing that shit' comments, but I've gotta support my boy."

I gave her a kiss, then watched as the team walked to the locker-room. "Love hearing that. Your boy's gotta get going though...meet up with you after the game?"

"Of course," she answered, before playfully pushing me away to let me get ready for tonight.

...

"Here's the kickoff from Titan Stadium and another chapter in this famous rivalry is about to be written!"

The kick went out of the end zone and I jogged out to start our first drive of the game. Coach Swindell called a pass play from the sidelines and I relayed the information to my teammates, breaking the huddle to face their talented defense.

I took the first snap and scanned the field, hoping a receiver would break free, but their defensive backs blanketed my targets well. Scrambling to make something happen, I was drilled blindside seconds later from a linebacker and fumbled the ball. One of my offensive linemen fell on it, but I was slow to get up and the trainers came to check on me.

Again that pain in my side flared up, but I insisted I was fine and wanted to go back out there. The required play I had to sit out went by, as John found a small hole and gained two yards, making it third and 13. The Everett portion of the stands cheered as I jogged back onto the field, slightly hoping my side as I got to the huddle.

The snap was a clean one and once again, I looked for an open receiver. Mike had half a step on his defender and after making eye contact, I pumpfaked in his direction, getting the corner to bite on it, leaving him wide open down the sidelines. I lofted a perfect pass in his direction and he caught it in stride, sprinting towards the end zone for a big touchdown that took a lot out of the Titans' sideline.

Our defense then came out and pressured their young sophomore quarterback, bringing him down for two sacks in a three-and-out. We got the ball back with great field position and just four plays into the drive, I found sophomore receiver Jermaine Davis on a slant-and-go to put us up by two touchdowns.

The once hopeful Tussey crowd was now silent from the dominance we were showing. Their offense would restore a little faith in them, driving to our 11-yard line, before their quarterback was hit from behind and coughed it up. A scrum for the ball ensued and our big defensive tackle Joe Marshall came out with it, killing all momentum Tussey might have been getting.

"Third and eight from the Everett 13, Tussey needs this stop to get back into it. Here's the snap, barely got it off before the quarter ended. Woy drops back...feels pressure...tosses it over to Harris who has blockers ahead of him for the screen. He slips by one, gets a huge block by one of his teammates and he's got some green in front of him! Harris makes the safety miss in open field and will go into the end zone untouched!"

And that was just the beginning of it. After getting rocked on that first play, I didn't find the turf for the rest of the game, besides when I knelt it late in the fourth quarter. I added another touchdown through the air and one on the ground, in a 35-3 beatdown win over our hated rivals.

However, my side was still bothering me from both the hit tonight and last week's beating. When I got to the locker-room and after Dad made his congratulatory speech, I slowly took off my shoulder pads, which only made the pain worse. Digging around in my bag, I started silently cursing at myself for giving up Excedrin because I had a valid excuse for a few now.

But then I found in the trainer's first-aid kit in Dad's "office" and peeked to see if anyone was in there. Thankfully the room was empty and I walked in to search through the kit for any sort of painkiller. Luckily for me, there was a bottle of Excedrin and I quickly grabbed it, throwing three in my mouth.

I sneaked out of there with no one seeing me and then sighed to myself as I threw my bag over my shoulder. How could I attempt to quit if I'm hurting like this after almost every game? It was a lose-lose situation either way.

"Maybe I could hide my usage from Haley still," I said to myself as I opened the door to go outside. "At least until football ends."

After thinking that decision over through my head a few times, I decided to go forth with it, hoping there wouldn't be any consequences that could seriously affect my relationship.

[trojan49er]

ya...maybe...or maybe not...most likely the latter...if you could hide it from her she never woulda found out in the first place, thats hardcore addict behavior

[Cody]

Should have hid it.

[Woy]

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Chapter 41: Darkness
October 16-31, 2026

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"Woy looks to run and has a hole in front of him...gets a linebacker to miss and he's got a chance! He's to the 40, the 30, 20, 10...touchdown Warriors! Woy rushes for a second touchdown and adds upon the Everett lead!"

...

"Where to hide these this time?" I thought to myself, holding the Excedrin bottle as Haley was in the shower getting ready for our date later tonight. I frantically looked for a non-visible area that I would remember, then remembered about my shoe box under my bed and quickly stashed in in there.

I then sat back on my bed and started to watch TV, holding back a little bit of vomit from not taking any pills until now. Minutes later, Haley stepped out of my bathroom looking as beautiful as usual and we walked out to my car, ready for the night ahead of us.

...

"...Mike Kennedy is going to reel in this bomb from Sean Joseph Woy and take it to the house! Everett goes up 28-6 with five minutes to go in the third quarter!"

...

"I'll be back babe," I said to Haley, taking my keys from the coffee table and heading out to my car. I then drove to Mike's house to pick up the homework I missed today, while Haley just sat around and made herself at home.

Haley sat on the bed and started flipping through channels, finding nothing on the tube. Becoming slightly bored, she started going through drawers to look at old yearbooks and other shit that Sean Joseph had. As she walked around the room to look for things to entertain her, her foot hit a shoebox near the edge of the bed and she looked down at it before picking it up.

"What's this, his porn collection?" she asked herself jokingly, before sitting the box down on the bed.

Opening it up, she saw a stack of Sports Illustrateds and it seemed normal, except for the slight bulge in the corner. She lifted all the magazines up and was shocked and disappointed to find an Excedrin bottle hidden beneath them.

There was the sound of a door unlocking near, which said that Sean Joseph was back from Mike's house. She quickly put the bottle back into the shoebox and shoved it back underneath his bed, hoping he wouldn't notice when he unfortunately went back to the pills later.

She wanted to call him out on it, she really did. But her past mistakes were floating around in her mind and he was the first guy that actually understood her. Despite his addiction, this whole relationship just felt right. She couldn't punish him for one fault, when in reality, she's faced much worse faults that directly affected her.

...

My plan was working well so far, as I continued to hide my abuse and whatever signs I had of it away from Haley. Still, with a big game against Bedford on Saturday, I needed to be ready for anything thrown at me; which included big hits that would force me to go back to the Excedrin mid-game.

...

"Woy looks to pass...finds Davis on a deep dig route and gets drilled in the process...Davis is off to the Bedford 15-yard line after a big gain! Woy is slow to get up once again, as this Bison defense is really getting their licks on the junior quarterback."

I got up hesitantly, feeling the pain rush through my body. The trainers looked ready to take the field to look at me, but I motioned them to stay as I gingerly walked to the huddle to call the next play.

"Woy is back to pass again...no one's open but there's a hole in front of him! He gets by the line and is in the end...oh my, he was drilled by the safety Sean Harper! Touchdown Warriors, but Woy took another hard lick and again he's slow to get up."

The touchdown put us up by 10 with just six minutes to go in the game. Dad knew I was really hurting, but with the game's result still hanging in the balance, he couldn't risk taking me out, especially with a number one seed in the district playoffs on the line. Luckily, I wasn't put in another position to get hurt and just handed the ball off to John a few times to preserve the win.

When I got back to the locker-room, I again frenetically searched my bag, looking for my medicine. I quickly found it and threw down four or five pills; I didn't really count. At first, the pain went away and it seemed like all was fine, but then my body went numb and suddenly everything turned black...

[Woy]

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Chapter 42: Revelations
October 31, 2026

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The young girl sat outside the stadium, waiting for her man to come out. "He must be taking longer than usual," she thought to herself as other players started to file out of the locker room every other minute.

The sound of an ambulance siren made Haley jump in fright, then she calmed herself before it pulled in front of the locker-room doors. She started to worry a little bit, but didn't think much of it as she continued to wait. Then her pocket vibrated and she pulled out her phone, revealing a text from an unknown number.

"Meet me in the lower parking lot."

She started walking that way, wondering who sent that to her and what they wanted. When she finally made it to the parking lot, she looked around for a few minutes, not noticing anyone who was looking for her. As she turned to walk away, a shadow appeared in the light reflected from above.

"Haley," the figure said, as Haley turned her back to face her.

"Miss Wilt, right?" Haley asked, confused as of why she was speaking to her. She nodded her head in response and Haley breathed a slight sigh of relief, because it was someone she kind of knew. "Did you text me to come down here?"

"Yeah," she answered, with a hint of worry in her voice. "Do you want to ride with me to the hospital?"

"What do you mean?" Haley asked right back, still confused about this whole situation.

"They're taking Sean Joseph to the hospital...I guess he passed out after the game and the ambulance hurried up there to get him."

Haley's jaw dropped and she started to get antsy. "Yeah, I'll go with you," she replied, with her stress level off the charts. The two hurried to Miss Wilt's car, where they sped off to the hospital, praying nothing was seriously wrong with Sean Joseph.

A few minutes filled with silence passed as both of them struggled to comprehend what exactly happened. Finally, after thinking more and more about it, the obvious answer popped right in Haley's head.

"Did you notice anything different about Sean Joseph?" she asked Miss Wilt, not wanting to blurt out the likely reason why he's going to the hospital.

"Not really," Miss Wilt replied, shrugging her shoulders as she focused on the road. "The only thing I've been seeing, and this is just nitpicking, but he's left class to go to the bathroom a lot more."

"Makes perfect sense," Haley thought, before focusing back on what she was going to say next. "I've noticed that too actually. He seems to be throwing up a lot lately."

"Maybe he's sick? Or maybe the doctor was wrong when he said that Sean Joseph didn't have a concussion?"

"I don't think it's that," Haley blurted out, finally killing the slow, easy-going approach she was going to take to reveal this skeleton. "I think he has a drug problem."

Miss Wilt slowed the car down as we pulled into the parking lot, then turned it off and looked at Haley. "Are you serious?" she asked her, completely shocked by the fact.

"Yes," Haley replied. "I caught him a few weeks ago and he swore he wouldn't do it again, but then I found Excedrin in his room and knew he was still using."

Without saying another word the two walked into the hospital, praying to themselves for the best.

...

"What...what happened?" I asked whoever was around, as I woke up from an unfamiliar surface. Looking around the white walls, I noticed my father, Miss Wilt and Haley sitting around the bed I was laying in, looking at me with relieved expressions.

"Thank God you're alright," Dad said, breathing a huge sigh of relief afterward. I started to sit up, but then his angry parent voice came out and forced me back down. "What were you thinking!?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering what he meant.

"You know what I mean," Dad scoffed, as I raised my brow still not knowing what he meant. He sighed disgustingly and shook his head. "The pain-killers."

"How'd you find out?" I shot back, surprised.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Until this is cleared up though, you're not playing football."

"What!?"

"You heard me. I'm not going to put you at risk and lose another one of my sons way too early."

The last part of his sentence almost made me raise another question, but I decided that talking with him wasn't going to make things better, so I shut up. He then got up from his chair and walked out of the room, with Miss Wilt following him, leaving Haley and I in the room alone.

"Did you tell him?" I asked her, in which I got a head nod in response. "Why?"

"I actually told Miss Wilt first," she replied, moving closer towards me. "She told Ethan in the waiting room and he was really worried, Sean Joseph. You have no clue how scared we all are for you."

"I tried stopping...it's so tough though. Wait, how did you find out about me still using?"

"I found them in your shoebox under your bed."

"One more question," I said, before saying what's been on my mind for quite some time. "Why are you still with me?"

"What do you mean?" she asked in reply, as she put her hand on my thigh.

"Like I don't understand you sometimes. I have a drug problem and after lying to you about it, you still stick it out with me. I just don't understand."

"Because even with your biggest flaw, you're still more than the man I deserve."

"Still not following..."

She sighed and moved her hand into mine, grasping it before looking into my eyes. "I've gone through a lot with boyfriends. Usually it's the simple high school bullshit, but with Ryan, it was different. Different in a bad way."

I still looked at her confused, following the story she was telling but unsure of the ending of it.

"Ryan wasn't always so nice to me," she continued. "Believe me, he was great for the first six to eight months we dated. But then all of a sudden, he started getting angrier and angrier. I don't know what was exactly up with him, but the one time I tried asking and well...he hit me."

I stared at her with no words to say, just saddened she had to go through all of that and I've been putting her through this.

"It wasn't just once though...he kept on doing it whenever he got really pissed and needed someone to take it out on. If I wasn't so damned scared of the consequences of breaking up with him, I would have on the spot. Luckily, he got that scholarship offer from Arizona and took it, then broke up with me after cheating on me multiple times."

"I had no clue," I said slowly. "The way your dad talks about him..."

"My dad doesn't know any of this," she shot right back, tears starting to build up in her eyes. "No one knows...until you, now."

"Haley," I started, sitting up and turning my body to face her. "I now know you've been through a lot. I don't want you to feel any pressure or stress when you're with me. I want you to be able to trust me and feel like I won't do anything to hurt you. I promise I will get through this Excedrin addiction, no matter what. It's all for you, because you deserve the best and I want to be the best."

"You already are," she replied, leaning in to give me a kiss. "I love you Sean Joseph."

"I love you too Haley."

[trojan49er]

yep...shes a keeper, go get that ring

[Woy]

---

Chapter 43: Upset In More Than One Way
November 1-6, 2026

---

After my scare in the hospital, I was released the next night. When I got home, Dad made me give him every Excedrin bottle I had and dumped all the pills in the trash right in front of me. From there, everything seemed fine between us...well, except for the fact that he was sticking to his guns and wouldn't let me play on Friday.

"So you're really going to bench me this week?" I asked my dad in his office on Tuesday, still pissed because I knew the answer already.

"I've told you at least ten times already," he scoffed, shaking his head. "You're not playing. Besides, we're already locked into the playoffs and we're playing Southern Fulton. I think we'll be able to win, no problem."

"Whatever," I shot back, before walking out of his office and slamming the door shut, letting him know how mad I was about it.

Later that day, I was in Miss Wilt's class messing with my cell phone as she taught today's lesson with mostly everyone taking notes. After a while, she noticed that I wasn't paying attention and walked over to my desk while I had my head down.

"Umm, Mr. Woy," she irritatingly said, which got me to pick my head up. She put out her hand to signal that she wanted me to give her my cell phone and once I did, she took it back to her desk and said something to me before going back to teaching. "Stay after class."

I nodded my head and then put it down into my crossed arms that lay on the desk. I eventually dozed off, then woke up to the ringing of the bell about 15 minutes later. All my classmates made their way out of the room, leaving Miss Wilt and I alone.

"Could I get my phone back?" I asked her as I walked up to her desk.

She slowly handed it to me and as grasped it and began my walk out, she grabbed me by the shoulder and stopped me.

"You know your dad doesn't want to punish you like this," she said, which made me feel like she was just trying to make me feel better and fill a mother role in my life. I shook my head and continued my walk, but she stopped me once again. "You don't know what's he's been through."

"I don't know why he has to be so strict about this," I replied, folding my arms because I was still upset about everything. "I'm clean, I'm fine and he still is taking away football from me."

"Did you ever think you took football away from him?" she asked.

"Why would I think that? He retired because he was ready to."

"Or maybe because he wanted to spend more time with you," she shot back. "Yeah, he might have been 'ready' to, but he really wanted to play till he was in his 40's and break all of Jerry Rice's records."

"I never would have thought of that," I said, a little saddened because I didn't know Dad wanted to continue his career. "But what does that have to do with this?"

"What I'm trying to say is that, although you may think this is bad, your father has been so much worse in his lifetime. He's gotten caught up in some bad stuff and he's missed games for non-injury related causes that are a lot worse than this. Don't be mad because he's trying to be a good father and is trying to prevent you from getting into things that could ruin not only the rest of your football career, but your life."

And with that, she motioned her hand for me to leave. I took her non-verbal advice and walked out of her room, as I tried to process my thoughts and what exactly my dad went through.

...

"I guess your dad isn't going to lift the suspension," Mike said to me as he was tying his cleats. I shook my head horizontally and chuckled. "Well Nick better be able to get me the ball tonight or I'll be calling for your dad's head."

Despite my mood, I had to laugh at Mike's last comment. "Just win this game so we can lock up that third seed."

Dad then came out of his office and after a quick pre-game speech, we all walked out of the locker-room, with me trudging behind my teammates in street clothes.

...

"Southern Fulton takes a late lead with that touchdown! And to make things worse for the Warriors, Windber is ahead of Northern Bedford, which would knock Everett to the fourth seed. That would take away their first-round bye and give them the Ramblers next week, with the winner taking on the Black Panthers the week after."

I shook my head at both our score and the Windber/NBC score, because I wanted to avoid NBC till at least the District title game, if possible. Instead it looked like we'd have to face them in the second round on their home field, only if we got by Windber in the first round. Running through all the scenarios in my head, I was interrupted by another announcement by the PA guy upstairs.

"And Stevens fumbles the kick-off! There's a scramble for the ball and an Indian defender came up with it! Southern Fulton will upset the Everett Warriors on their home field!"

Our entire sideline was full of players with their heads dropped as the Indians quarterback knelt it twice and knocked us into the bracket of death with Windber and Northern Bedford.

[Woy]

---

Chapter 44: Back in the Game
November 9-13, 2026

---

With the devastating upset loss to Southern Fulton, we fell from the second seed to the fourth seed in the District 5 playoffs. So instead of getting a bye to heal our bruises, we were forced into the first round to host the Windber Ramblers, who defeated the favorite Northern Bedford Black Panthers last week.

I was upset with the loss, as well was the rest of the team, but I was also happy. I was happy it was over and was ready to have my suspension lifted to get back on the field. However, my dad had other plans when we were talking on Monday before practice.

...

"So I'm good for Windber on Friday, right?" I asked my dad as we sat in his office, waiting for the final bell to ring.

"We'll see," he said, head deep into play schemes he was looking at on his computer. "I don't know if you deserve to play or not."

"How the hell do I not deserve not to play?" I shot back, the anger noticeable in my voice. "I'm clean, have been for the entire week and we got rid of all of my shit. Plus it's the playoffs...no offense to Nick, but do you really want to start him in this big of stage?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he stated, before throwing his arm in my direction to usher me out of the room.

...

"Tonight's a big night in all of you young men's lives," Dad started his pre-game speech as all of the eyes in the room were staring right back at him. "I know none of you have played in a game as big as this yet, but believe me when I say it's just one game. Go out and play like you would in any other game, leave it all out on the field and we'll be successful."

After he finished, we walked out to the field before he pulled me back away from the team. At this point he had me in uniform, but didn't say whether I'd play or not, so I wasn't really knowing what to expect. Nick and I shared snaps with the first-team offense throughout the week, so that didn't make me feel so good.

"It's your time," he said, patting me on the back with a smile creeping upon his face.

I returned a smile, then jogged out to where the rest of my teammates were standing, awaiting to run through the cheerleader-made banner.

"And here come your 2026 Everett Warriors!"

"It is my time," I confidently whispered to myself once I got to the sideline, before snapping my helmet up and saying a prayer.

...

"Woy looks to be back on track after missing last week's game with a concussion. He's 13 of 16 and has two touchdown passes midway through the third quarter. However, his Warriors are are down by four and are facing a third and 14 from mid-field."

We broke out of the huddle and lined up in a shotgun formation, with two receivers split out to my left and the other on the opposite side. I rubbed my hands together to warm them up in this cold weather.

"Here's the snap...Woy looks to his left, has good protection...looks to his right and sees no one open...but he takes off and has running room! He's to the 40, 30, side-steps a tackler and only has one man to beat! Trucks the safety and he's gone...touchdown Warriors! A huge play by the junior quarterback puts the Warriors on top for the first time all night!"

And that was the turning point in the game. Windber couldn't find success on offense after that while our offense started to score at will as we put up 21 unanswered en route to a 35-17 win over the Ramblers.

Next up, the hated Black Panthers of NBC, who have had our number for a while now.

[Woy]

---

Chapter 45: Dreams Dislocated
November 16-20, 2026

---

"Sean Joseph!" a voice yelled from behind me as I was walking to my next class. I stopped and turned around to see Alyssa Davis behind me; a junior who was not only easy on the eyes, but she knew her sports as well. She was also in my Pre-Calculus class that I had next, so I decided to wait up and walk to class with her.

"What's going on Alyssa? You catch the game last Friday?" I asked, trying to throw around some small talk as we walked together.

"Yeah I was there, congrats by the way," she said with a small grin on her face.

"Thanks," I replied, returning that friendly grin.

"Are you excited about Friday? I've heard a bunch of NBC kids talking shit, saying they were going to stomp you guys."

I then remembered that Alyssa went to NBC two years ago, so she still had a few friends from back there. "Yeah I'm excited," I told her, before opening the door for her to go into the classroom. "I think they'll be in for a big surprise."

Once she was in and we were sitting at our desks, I felt a vibration from my phone in my pocket. I pulled it out when the teacher wasn't looking and noticed a text from an unknown number with a familiar area code.

"get ready for an asskicking... you guys fucking suck"

I laughed silently to myself and thought about responding, but decided to let my play on Friday make the most noise.

...

"We had an excellent week of practice," my dad was telling the entire team as we sat in the locker-room, waiting to go down to the field for the highly-anticipated playoff game against NBC. "I can guarantee you this; we're going to play a lot better than the last time we played these guys. Know your assignments, play your hearts out and we'll have a chance."

And with that, there was just a confident silence as Dad walked out of the room and we followed, knowing that a trip to the District championship game was on the line tonight.

...

"Red 19, red 19...set...go!"

I dropped back and felt a heavy pass rush closing on me quickly, but Mike crossed to the middle of the field on a quick slant route. I released the ball as I was drilled and Mike brought it in, before turning upfield for a first down. Just like last match-up between us, I was getting hit on every other passing play, but we were keeping up with their high-powered offense as it was 14-10 late in the first half.

"Green 12, green 12...set...go, go!"

The defensive end jumped early and I saw the yellow laundry go up in the air, giving me a free shot to throw it deep. Avoiding the rush to buy more time, I saw Mike streak downfield, having a step on the cornerback covering him. I threw it as far as I could and as I watched it travel through the crisp November night, a defender drove my shoulder into the ground and I immediately felt a pop.

"Touchdown Warriors on the bomb from Woy to Kennedy! They take a...oh wait, Woy's still down folks. The trainers are starting to run out there and it looks like the junior quarterback is clutching his shoulder."

I felt cold as the trainers and some of my teammates huddled around me, asking what was the problem. I sat up and after a few minutes, I got back on my feet by using my left hand to push myself up and slowly walked off the field to a rousing applause and tremendous pain in my throwing shoulder.

Nick gave me a slight head nod as the trainers had me sit on the cart, then started to figure out a diagnosis. Once they figured out it was a dislocated shoulder, they popped in back in place and after a scream of pain, I put some ice on it and watched the rest of the first half.

NBC scored a late touchdown to go back on top before the half. Dad ran through the positives and negatives in the locker-room as I sat in the back, still feeling obvious pain in my shoulder. Once he finished up his speech and ran through some stuff with Nick for the second half, he approached me.

"How's the shoulder?"

"Hurts like a bitch. There's no way I can go back in even if I tried."

"Can you catch?" he quickly asked, which hinted that he might need me in some shape or form for the rest of this game.

"As long as I don't have to raise my right arm high, I think I could."

He picked up a football and threw some short-toss in the locker-room with me and I caught all of them without a problem. As we joined the rest of the team standing outside to go back down to the field, he patted me on my left shoulder and smiled.

"You'll play opposite Mike as the second receiver. If at any time you're feeling terrible pain in that shoulder, you come out right away and we'll ice it up."

"Sounds good Dad."

After a three-and-out by our defense, the trainers wrapped up my shoulder the best they could and sent me out to the field. The Black Panther defense saw me jog out and figured to see me line up center, but then were noticeably shocked when I took my spot as the right-side receiver.

Nick dropped back and scanned the defense, before dumping it off to John for a quickly five-yard gain. The pressure was getting to him as much as it was getting to me, but he was quickly getting the ball out to receivers running short routes; however, he couldn't make time in the pocket and heave it to the open guys deep.

After a throw to Mike for a first down, our offense stalled and punted it back to NBC. The back-and-forth struggle continued into the fourth quarter as the Black Panthers still held a 21-17 lead with five minutes left in the game.

"Blue 14, set, go!"

A quick snap threw the defense off-guard and gave Nick more time in the pocket than usual. I got to the inside of my corner, then gave a head-fake to the closest sideline before darting to the middle of the field where there was a huge opening. Nick threw it as hard as he could and I caught it, then got down quickly before the free safety took my head off.

The next play had Nick take a quick three-step drop and hit me on a quick out pattern and I picked up another first down since the cornerback was playing off in zone coverage. With the ball sitting on the NBC 33-yard line, Dad and I were thinking the same thing it seemed like as he called a potential homerun play for us to run.

Nick moved into a shotgun formation with Mike on his left, myself on his right, a tight end on the line and two backs on opposite sides of him. When the ball was snapped, the backs helped out on the speed rushers off the edge and the tight end tried to find a hole in the middle of the field.

I took off downfield, giving my cornerback a look back to the ball before stutter-stepping and throwing him off my route. Getting the separation I needed, I threw my left arm up to call for the ball and Nick threw it in my direction; a little too far out in front though. As the safety closed in, I dove to reach out for the ball and got my fingertips on it, bringing it to my body as the safety whiffed on jarring it out.

"Woy has it! Touchdown Warriors off an incredible catch by the junior superstar Sean Joseph Woy! You can definitely tell who his daddy is!"

After getting mobbed by my teammates, we kicked the extra point and took a 24-21 lead. However, NBC's offense then took off and starting to drive with just a little bit of time left in the game. On fourth and three and 13 seconds left on the clock, NBC had one last play to save their season.

"Marshall is in the gun...he gets the snap, rolls to his left, pump-fakes but there's no one open. He starts moving to his right and now darts upfield! He has the first down and more! To the 20, the 10, side-steps the safety...touchdown Northern Bedford! What a clutch play by the senior quarterback and NBC takes back the lead with two seconds left!"

They kicked the extra point to make it 28-24 and after our horrible reenactment of the Music City Miracle, the horn sounded and they celebrated a hard-fought win that advanced them to the District championship.

[trojan49er]

Ouch...tough way to end the season, got Vince Young'd

[Woy]

---

Chapter 46: Summer Plans
November 21, 2026-April 27, 2027

---

Despite the devastating last-second loss to end our season for the second straight year, I found myself picking up a lot of honors for my play. On top of another All-ICC selection, I was also named third-team All-State and started receiving scholarship offers from almost a lot of the top dogs in college football.

...

"Who was that dad?" I asked, walking into the room as he hung up the phone.

"LSU," he replied, before making his way to the white-board on the refridgerator door. "Add them to the list?"

"Yeah, I mean they won the SEC last year but don't have a solid starter at quarterback. I can start there from day one possibly."

Dad picked up the marker and wrote down the next scholarship offer I'd be interested in. The list was now up to 20 schools, with Syracuse, Miami and Robert Morris on top of the board.

...

My personal life was going well also. Haley and I were nearing a year together with no roadblocks in the way and I was finally away from the Excedrin for good. My grades were all high marks, which allowed me to look into potential academic scholarships if something drastic happened to my football career. Add my large group of friends that I could hang out with whenever and you could say life was good right now.

...

"Damn, so much for that shoulder injury a few months ago, huh?" Mike shouted back at me after hauling a 60-yard bomb in stride from my right arm. I smirked and just shrugged my shoulders, before looking out to the Pennsylvania spring sky and felt a small gust of wind pass through my dirty blond hair.

It's been five months since the injury against NBC and my shoulder was indeed fully healed. Once I had the clearance from the doctors, I started adding weight to my frame, topping out at 185 pounds. Giving my father one inch, we were pretty much carbon-copies of each other and scouts were noticing that, reminding me every time they saw me.

And that still pissed me off, as well as confused me. When Coach Marrone sent that letter last year offering a scholarship to play for Syracuse just because I was the son of all-everything Ethan Woy, I felt extremely disrespected. Now Marrone and I have had conversations and he assured me that the family legacy variable wasn't the case in regards of recruiting me, but ever since then, the comparisons between us have pissed me off to no end. I never let that emotion show, whether it was in interviews or stories about me, but deep down I felt like I needed to distance myself from him.

"Hey who's that?" Mike pointed out to the distance as he finally made the trek back from catching my last pass.

"Not sure," I replied, shrugging my shoulders once again. The man was in a bright orange track-and-field jacket and had the same colored hat but I couldn't make out the lettering until he was within 15 yards of us.

"Gentlemen!" the older man yelled out, finally reaching us to put his hand out for some friendly handshakes. "I'm Nick Ray, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. You two are Sean Joseph Woy and Mike Kennedy, correct?"

We both nodded our heads yes as I thought why the head coach of Tennessee was in the little town of Everett, Pennsylvania right now. I knew that we were both high-profile recruits, but Tennessee usually recruited all their players from the southern states.

"Coach James told me about you, Sean Joseph," he continued, as a smile crept upon my face since my coach at Davidson Academy must have been putting in a good word about me to all his connections throughout the SEC. "So I came up and was going pull you out of class, but then I ran into your dad and he told me you have this period free and was out on the field. Already earning points with the work ethic."

All three of us chuckled for a few seconds, before I spoke up. "Well I'm glad we're on your radar Coach Ray. I'll definitely keep the offer in consideration."

"I'm not offering you guys just a scholarship," he stated, before handing us both brochures. "It might not be much, but I want you guys to be at the Volunteer High School Camp coming up here in June. Your performance there will go a long way in determining whether you guys can both be freshman starters for us and if we slow down on our pursuit on players at your positions."

"Sean Joseph," Mike said, tapping me on the shoulder. "We're driving down to Knoxville this summer!"

I exchanged a fist-bump with him, then we continued talking with Coach Ray, as I started to move Tennessee up my list of potential colleges.

[trojan49er]

this thing still goin?

[Woy]

this thing still goin?

Of course. I'm not going to quit mid-story.

I've just been extremely busy with college work, actual work, social life, etc. I've actually started an update now, but I have to go to work in less than an hour so I'll try finishing it when I get home.

This might drag out longer than Catching Controversy, but this will finish just like the first one.