Pursuit of Happiness | The Sean Joseph Woy Story

[Woy]

<hr>Chapter 14: Truth
November 17, 2024<hr>"Dad, where's Mom?" I asked, as I threw my bag on the floor from school and walked around the house. It's been three weeks since the playoff loss against Knoxville High and the last time I saw Mom was the morning before it. Dad said that she went to visit family and at first I accepted it, but now I was starting to worry about it. Where exactly was she?

"Dad!" I yelled again, but didn't hear an answer. I continued to walk around the house and as I made it past Dad and Mom's room, I had to stop to take another glance. The room seemed emptier than before and as I peeked my head around the corner, I saw that Mom's nightstand was cleared off completely.

Continuing my pursuit of Dad, I walked past their bathroom and the home gym, then went downstairs where his office was located. The door was shut, so I knocked on it twice and waited for a response. Seconds past and as I was about to turn and look some more, the door opened with a familiar face inside.

"What do you want?" Dad asked me, putting his cellphone down. I looked around his office and saw his trophies and rings from Syracuse and the Titans, then I looked back at him. "Well?"

"Where's Mom?"

He looked at me for a few seconds then told the man on the phone, "I'll call you later." I walked into the room as he pulled out a chair for me to sit in. A lot was running through my mind as I slowed down to a sitting position, but I wanted to stand right back up when Dad revealed...

"Mom's gone."

"What? Why?" I stammered, not expecting that at all. "Where'd she go?"

Dad sighed and looked up to the ceiling. He started muttering to himself, like he was talking to someone from above, then nodded his head and brought it back down to my level. "Rebecca was your step-mother, not your real mother."

I just leaned back in my chair and tried processing everything, but it wasn't working. Dad saw the frustration and confusion in my eyes and shook his head. "I knew you weren't ready," he said to himself, but loud enough for me to hear.

"Weren't ready for what?"

"The truth!" he shouted, his voice decresendoing down as the sentence ended. "Ugh, okay. Can you handle it?"

"Yeah sure," I gulped.

"Okay, well..."

...

"...so let me get this straight," Candace said as we laid on a blanket in the backyard, staring at the stars. "Ethan got your step-mother Rebecca pregnant when he was 16, but she got an abortion. Then he hooked up with another girl from South Carolina, Melinda..."

"Melyssa," I corrected her. "She was pregnant with me as they graduated from high school. They were engaged and after she had me, they broke up because of a rumor that Rebecca told her. Eventually they got back together and married, but she was murdered right before Dad was a senior at Syracuse."

"And your dad ended up getting back together with the girl who almost ruined him and your mom's relationship, then divorced her almost a month ago because?"

"He wouldn't give me a reason," I said. "He just ended it at that."

...

"So you're interested?" the voice on the other line asked in excitement. After revealing mostly the entire truth about his life to his son, Ethan shut the door and quickly called back the person he was originally speaking to. If everything worked out according to plan, then he would be able to remove all the stress from his life in just a few months.

"Absolutely," Ethan replied. "Are you sure the spot will be open though?"

"100 percent sure. I'll call you within the next few days to confirm everything, but you should be good to go."

"Thank you so much, you don't know how greatly I appreciate this."

"No Mr. Woy, thank you."

 

[trojan49er]

Coaching job or wetworks?

 

[beamerball811]

interesting storyline so far. Tough loss in the playoffs...great reads all of them...finally had to get caught back up.

 

[Woy]

<hr>Chapter 15: Not Our Last Goodbye
November 12, 2024-May 29, 2025<hr>"Alright, I'll hit you guys up tomorrow," I told my friends before jumping in my dad's car. It was just another typical day of high school, followed by some lifting afterward. There was no rest in the off-season here at Davidson Academy.

"...and tell him I accept the offer, thank you." My dad hung up the phone and saw me sitting in the passenger seat, sighed to himself, then started the car. "I guess this would be a good time to tell you..."

"Could you drop me off at Candace's later tonight?" I interrupted him. "I promise I'll be home at 10 since it's a school night."

"Sure," he said, giving me permission as he lifted the throttle. "You might want to say your goodbyes to her though."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, confused about things for the umpteenth time this month. "Are we..."

"Yes son, we're moving."

"But..."

"Let me explain," he insisted as he slowed down at a stop light. "Yes, it's only been like a year, but I've been out of football for too long. I want to coach and my quarterback at Syracuse who was also one of my best friends since high school is the athletic director at Everett High School; where I used to go. He offered me the job there and I accepted it. Now I know it's going..."

"Why didn't you consult with me first, Dad!?" I screamed as the light turned green. "I don't want to leave my friends or Candace! And this team needs me...don't you see that? I'm supposed to be the focus next year with Josh graduating!"

"You'll meet new friends, son...it's not like you're transferring during the summer of your junior year. My friend - the athletic director Brad - is also going to be my offensive coordinator. He was an outstanding player and you remind me of him in a way, but you have the potential to be much better. I think you can learn a lot from him and in the long run being at Everett will be more beneficial to your future in football than being at Davidson."

I just shut up for a few minutes and let the awkward silence fall over us. Then right before we got back home, I blurted out, "is this just an escape route from your problems here?" He looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about, but he knew I brought up a good point. "You know...Mom, I mean Rebecca?"

"If you think this is just an excuse to get away from her, you have it all wrong. This is me following a dream and helping your college prospects out. I know you're upset..."

"I'm not upset, I'm pissed," I interrupted him, but it seemed like he didn't care.

"But we're not moving till after the school year ends, so you can spend time with your friends and Candace until then," he assured me. "Everything will be fine."

...

I decided not to tell my friends until the very end, because of a dumb fear of losing them. When I finally did tell them, they were disappointed, but understood the situation and insisted that I was welcome to visit whenever. As bad as it sounds, I wasn't worried about getting their sympathy or approval - whatever you want to call it - but there was still one person I needed to tell; the one I grew so close to over the past few months.

...

"What do you want to do hun?" Candace asked me, batting those stunning brown eyes so innocently. "It's getting kinda late."

"How about we go for a walk?" I suggested, grasping her hand as I stood up. She stood up with me and soon enough, we were out the door and gone to wherever the path took us.

As we walked into the May night sky, I reminisced on all of the memories Candace and I had together; the first time I laid eyes on her during my first game, Greg's party, Homecoming, and so forth. After screwing up at the beginning with Brandi, I felt more attached to Candace and really tried to bring true happiness into her life with everything that I did. I really did feel like I made her happy, but she also brought me happiness and she was the main reason why I didn't fall apart with the whole drama between Dad and Mom.

After about a half hour of walking, we found a park bench and sat down. We locked our eyes to one another, then our hands, and finally our lips for a minute straight before finishing off with smiles on our faces. "God, I love that a lot," she admitted.

"I love it more."

"Nuh uh, I do!"

And our little game of back and forth ensued; something that happened with any of these little comments. After a while, I gave in and let her win, in which she celebrated her "victory" with a kiss. "I'm going to miss that," I whispered under my breath, but she perked up when she heard it.

"Miss what?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"This, all of this," I started to explain before I got straight to the point. "I'm moving."

"What? When?"

"Dad got a coaching job in Pennsylvania at his old high school," I revealed. "I can't do anything about it. I'm so sorry."

Tears started to fill the sophomore cheerleader's eyes as I brought her in and held her close. The right shoulder of my shirt started to gain a wet spot and as soon as she noticed, she picked her head up and looked into my eyes. "Are we done then?"

"Candace, I don't know," I sighed. "I really want to stay together, but we're going to be almost 1000 miles apart. And I won't have my license till next summer, so I can't drive down and stay some weekends or whatever. I don't know how it's going to work."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she sniffled. "I just don't want to see the boy I love leave me."

"And he doesn't want to leave, believe me. But there's nothing I can do."

She gave me another kiss, then we locked hands one last time and started the walk back to her house. When we got to her house, her make-up was runny from the crying and I had tears in my eyes as well. We stood there for 15 minutes, just looking at each other, then I gave her one last kiss and a promise that I swear I would keep.

"This won't be our last goodbye, Candace."

 

[Fox1994]

Hmmm... So what the fuck happened with Britt? She was mentioned...

Interesting storyline.

 

[Woy]

Hmmm... So what the fuck happened with Britt? She was mentioned...

Interesting storyline.

Oh, I know what happens. :smug: This is going to tie together very, very nicely.

 

[Woy]

<hr>Chapter 16: Home Sweet Home?
June 4-6, 2025<hr>My bags were packed, the car was filled and soon enough, we were on the road for 10 hours to the small town of Everett, Pennsylvania. Thoughts of Candace, my teammates and my future raced through my mind during the entire trip and I couldn't sleep a wink because I was anxious to see what the big deal about this place was.

After stopping a few times for food and such, we made it there around five in the morning. My first impression was different than my original assumption of the place, because it seemed really small and if you blinked just for one second, you'd be halfway through the town.

"It's gotten a lot bigger since I was here last," Dad said, still drowsy from the long drive. "Our place is outside the town though." I just nodded my head and continued to look at the scenery...well, the lack of it.

Five more minutes past as I slightly dozed off, then I felt the car stop and opened my eyes to a gigantic house with no others around it. "Home sweet home," Dad remarked as he turned off the car.

...

"Hey wake up," Dad said, shaking me as my alarm continued to go off. I opened my eyes and sighed, looked at the clock reading 9:30 and put my pillow over my head to block everything out. "Sean Joseph, you need to get up and get ready for the first team meeting...our first team meeting."

I sighed once again and got up from my laying position. From there, I put on a Davidson Academy football t-shirt and shorts, which had Dad raising his brow. "What? I don't have any Everett gear."

"Son, I don't know how this is going to go or how the kids are going to respond to us. Just try to be polite and make some friends or something...I can't have friction between the team before we even suit up for a practice."

"Alright Dad, I'll be fine," I promised.

...

"Welcome to our first day together gentlemen...I'm your coach, Ethan Woy. Now I..."

"Wait, wait, wait," a younger boy interrupted from the back. "You're 'the Ethan Woy?' Like the one who won two Heismans and two Super Bowls?"

"Yes sir," Dad admitted. "I'm not going to be signing anything besides your physical papers though, let's get that straight." Some groans could be heard from the back, but Dad shook them off and continued to speak. "Now I know you guys had a tough season last year and you lost a lot of players, but that doesn't mean we won't have success this season. By a show of hands, could you show me who was mainly starters on offense and defense?"

A total of five hands went up and I thought about raising my hand since I technically did start last year, but I didn't want to be an ass about it.

"Name, grade and position, please."

One by one, the players who raised their hands started to introduce themselves.

"Paul Rogers, junior, tailback."

"Julius Watson, senior, cornerback."

"Vincent Anderson, junior, outside 'backer."

"Dan Brown, senior, center."

The last one took his time to stand up, then looked around at everyone before focusing his eyes on me.

"Bryan Mitchell, senior, quarterback."

"Back-up quarterback," I chuckled under my breath. He was about to look away before he heard me, then turned his head and gave me the coldest death stare for a good 15 seconds. Dad shook his head with disgust and then walked over to me.

"I'm guessing you and Bryan will become good friends then," he told me, before looking back up at everyone. "This is my son, Sean Joseph Woy. Sophomore quarterback, transferred from Davidson Academy in Tennessee."

Bryan and I continued to stare at each other, before I smirked and put out my hand. "Good luck, bro." He looked at my hand, chuckled and turned around, ignoring my friendly gesture.

Looks like making friends with the opposing quarterback was going to be out of the question.

 

[beamerball811]

wow, already intense before getting into the hot sun and 2-a-days

 

[Fox1994]

Fuck him. Good for SJ being the bigger man. Hombre's gonna regret it. I mean, you could end up not winning the starting job and hombre not getting injured you... yknow, like in real life. Or you could go the usual CL/RtG route of just winning it after an injury or some bullshit.

Even when you inevitably go the unrealistic route, it'll be cool because you're a good writer. =P

 

[Woy]

<hr>Chapter 17: Thirstday
August 21, 2025<hr>After our first team meeting, the summer flew by quickly. I focused on making some friends and football, which I was succeeding in both. Unfortunately, the more I practiced with my new Everett squad, the more I realized that their talent level didn't come near Davidson Academy's. At least Dad was looking like a much better coach.

With everything settling down for now, I started to try and make my mark on Everett by showing up at various social events. However, despite the fun it brought and the girls that I met, none of them compared to Candace and I was starting to worry that none of them would ever. That is, until...

...

"Great practice boys," my Dad exclaimed. "I think we'll be more than ready for the opener next Friday on Claysburg. Now hit the showers and get a good night's rest. I don't want to hear about any incidents or see any of your names in the police report tomorrow morning."

Julius and Dan broke us out of the huddle as we walked back up to the locker-room. Along the way, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned my head to see my closest friend Mike Kennedy. He, a fellow sophomore, was on track to be a starting receiver and would probably be my number one target not only for this year, but for the rest of my high school career.

"Yo, Sean J!" he greeted me as we continued our hike back to the school. "You going to Thirstday tonight?"

"What's 'Thirstday'?" I asked eagerly.

"Well it's been tradition for about ten years here at Everett," he started to explain. "The Thursday before school starts and football season officially begins, the entire team and cheerleader squad have a party this abandoned campground that no one's set foot on in years. You need to come."

"I'll think about it," I sheepishly replied, before opening the door to get back into the school.

...

"So Coach's son decided to show up after all!" Dan announced, giving me a big bear hug as I walked up to everyone. I saw Bryan near the keg in the back, shaking his head as he saw me standing there with the rest of the team. "You good at flip-cup, Sean J?"

I nodded my head and we walked over to the table, meeting up with some of the cheerleaders I've already met over the last few weeks. However, there was one face that I was unfamiliar with...but it seemed like I wanted to change that by the end of the night. Nudging my shoulder against Dan's, I asked him, "who's the brunette?"

"Allison," he replied, pointing at the attractive cheerleader aiming her shot at the pong table. "There's one thing I got to tell you about her though..."

"We playing or what?" I interrupted him, pulling a beer from the cooler under the table. He chuckled and lined the cups up, where we then started our countless games of flip-cup.

...

"Can someone get that?" someone from the pong table asked, as their ball rolled near my feet. I bent over to pick it up, then noticed the same brunette who's name I just learned half an hour ago, standing right in front of me.

"Sorry about that," she apologized, before putting out her hand as a sign that she just came over here for the ball.

I chuckled, then offered her a deal. "Okay, I sink this and I get a walk alone with you."

"And if you miss?" she asked with the first smile I saw on her face tonight.

"Then I walk away and leave you alone."

She chuckled and said, "alright superstar, let's see what you got."

I lined up the shot from twenty feet out and let it go perfectly. Swish.

"Looks like I'll be getting to know you better," she hinted, taking me by the arm as we walked out into the woods.

...

"So you're the new kid I've been hearing all about?" Allison asked after a few non-conversation provoking minutes together.

"That depends...are the things you've been hearing good things?"

"Mostly," she answered, giggling. "You like it here?"

"Yeah...well it's alright so far. Definitely different than where I lived in Tennessee."

"Did you have to leave any old girlfriends back there?"

I thought of Candace and how I still missed her, then looked back up and saw Allison, who was reminding me of Candace more and more I looked at her. "Yeah I did," I admitted. "But I'm fine now."

More and more talking commenced as we started straying off on random subjects. For once, I started feeling comfortable with the opposite sex around here and saw myself actually spending more time with this girl. I could tell she felt the same; her pretty smile gave off that impression multiple times.

"This was fun," she remarked as we started walking back to the party. "We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah definitely," I replied as I pulled out my phone. However, she pushed it away.

"Don't worry about it. I'll text you." And with that, she walked away and back to her cheerleader clique. I went my separate way and caught back up with Dan, who was filling up his cup at the keg.

"Dude, you know who she is?" he asked me as I was still star-struck from my time with Allison.

"Man, she's so cool and chill about everything," I started off, before focusing on what he said. "No, who is she?"

"She's Bryan's girlfriend."

 

[beamerball811]

woah plot twist!!!

 

[Woy]

BTW, I'm caught up now. Not sure when the next update will be...haven't been in a writing mood lately.

 

[Fox1994]

Interesting. The plot thickens.

 

[beamerball811]

BTW, I'm caught up now. Not sure when the next update will be...haven't been in a writing mood lately.

you need a new update soon...i'm addicted to your chise!

 

[Woy]

<hr>Chapter 18: Antwaan Randle El
August 23, 2025<hr>"...and I'll have Sean Joseph start at quarterback on Friday over Claysburg."

I was patted on the back from some of my teammates, while Bryan was on the other side of the bench, dejected. I would be too, especially after starting last year as a junior, then losing your spot to a sophomore transfer in your final year of high school ball. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now and sort of felt bad for him.

"Sean Joseph and Bryan, meet me in my office before practice today."

I shrugged my shoulders at Mike, who gave me a look like, "wonder what that's all about?" Then after I got my pads and such on, I walked into my father's office, where Bryan was already sitting.

"Sit down son," Dad commanded as I pulled out a chair, pulling it away from my competition. "Now throughout these last few weeks, I've seen a lot of positives from both of you. Both of you showed that you can be the starting quarterback for Everett High. However, I went with Sean Joseph, and Bryan, there was no family bias in the decision."

"Yeah right," Bryan muttered under his breath, soft enough to where neither Dad or I could hear him.

"But I have noticed something over camp," Dad continued on. "I've noticed that we're extremely thin at receiver right now. Mike is a very good player who will do wonders for this team, but other than Steven - who's more fit to play the slot - we have zero depth." After talking to both of us, he turned his head directly to Bryan. "So Bryan, would you be interested in making a move to receiver? You could be like an Antwaan Randle El type player for us...not like you two would know who he is."

His eyes perked up a bit when he heard that. I looked at him and saw someone who fit the prototypical receiver's body, but then again, his hands were unproven.

"Not that I'm against this," I spoke up, voicing my concern with Dad's plan. "But I've never seen Bryan catch the ball at all. Can we at least run some routes before making this move?"

"Yeah, let's go ahead and do that," Dad agreed. "But I'll throw him in during some seven-on-seven's to get his feet wet, then we'll go further with this transition. Sound good?"

We both looked at each other and despite our differences, we nodded our head in agreement.

...

"Red 14," I barked out as I sent Bryan in motion across me. "Red 14...set, hut!" The exchange was good as I went into my drop, scanning the defense for an open receiver. Like I expected, Bryan got some open space because of the motion shift and I threw it towards him, where he brought it in cleanly and quickly turned up-field. "Nice play, B," I said as Bryan jogged back to the huddle.

"Thanks," he replied, patting me on the back. Throughout the practice, he was surprising me with his natural talent at wide out, and it seemed like he was enjoying the position swap. Hopefully the tension that was between us would completely fizzle out shortly, especially with us being on the field at the same time.

"One more play!" Dad shouted from the sidelines, then called me over to relay the call. I had him repeat the play at first, because I didn't think he wanted to try something like that, but he insisted. "It worked when I was in high school and I think it'd be a nice money play for us."

"Alright," I replied, not confident in the call at all. After calling it in the huddle, I slowly made my way to the line of scrimmage where everyone was already in their stances.

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

I dropped back and tossed it to Bryan, who was running a reverse. He scrambled to his right like he was going to cut up-field, but then stopped right at the line of scrimmage and fired a bomb to a wide-open me. I caught it in stride and was in the end zone; the perfect ending to our last practice before school started.

"Yo, SJ!" Bryan shouted as we started to walk to the locker-room. "That last play was pretty sick...not gonna lie."

"Yeah definitely was," I replied. "I was indifferent about it at first, but Dad's like 'it'll work, trust me.'"

"Yeah. Hey, I'd like to apologize to you for being...well pretty much a jackass towards you. I was just bummed about this new-shot transfer coming in, playing the same position as me and related to the new coach."

"It's alright man, I didn't help either with my attitude..."

I was interrupted as Allison came running from the parking lot, giving Bryan a hug from behind.

"Oh hey hun, back from cheerleading practice?" he asked her as we continued our walk towards the locker-room.

"Yeah, it was a killer," she replied, before shifting her eyes towards me. "Who's this dear? New kid?"

I raised my brow a bit as Bryan answered her question. "Our new quarterback Sean Joseph. He's a sophomore and the coach's son."

"Well it's nice to meet you Sean Joseph," she greeted me for the second time, putting her hand out to shake mine. I awkwardly returned the gesture and started processing everything in my mind. I thought Bryan might have known we met at Thirstday, but I guess not. "See you two later," she said, giving Bryan a kiss and after he turned away, she sent me a wink.

Something was telling me this girl was going to cause a lot of trouble throughout this season...hopefully it wouldn't affect my play or relationships on the field.

 

[beamerball811]

wow, I'm loving this twist...she kinda like Brandi...sounds like a Boise State type offense going on.

 

[Fox1994]

He's gonna fuck Allison. I can already see it. Finally, a Woy has some sort of cohesion in his life, so of course he must fuck it up. Getting along with the former quarterback after jacking his job, so you have to fuck his girlfriend...

Have fun. lol

 

[Woy]

wow, I'm loving this twist...she kinda like Brandi...sounds like a Boise State type offense going on.

If I were an actual coach, I'd run something similar to their offense...at least trick plays wise.

He's gonna fuck Allison. I can already see it. Finally, a Woy has some sort of cohesion in his life, so of course he must fuck it up. Getting along with the former quarterback after jacking his job, so you have to fuck his girlfriend...

Have fun. lol

We'll have to see if SJW is like his daddy in this regard.

Update hopefully tomorrow...technically today. I've been busy with other stuff and plus I've been working every day.

 

[beamerball811]

If I were an actual coach, I'd run something similar to their offense...at least trick plays wise.

Me too, I love Boise's trick plays.
I use the trick plays VT has about once a game, even though they don't have very many!

 

[Woy]

<hr>Chapter 19: Closer to the Cat, Beating Down the Dawg
August 26-29, 2025<hr>"Have a good day at school son," my Dad said as he shut the door on the Ferrari. As soon as I got my entire body out of the car, he pressed hard on the gas and sped off, leaving me alone at his former high school and my new home for the next three years.

I met up with Mike and talked to him until the bell rang, then scrambled to find my home room. Five minutes past and I was still looking for my destination, when the second bell rang; the "late" bell.

"Nice of you to join us," the teacher greeted me, irritated that I showed up ten minutes late. "Your seat is there in the back, Mr. Woy." Then he stopped walk around the classroom and his eyes went back down to his class list. "Woy? Are you related to Ethan, by any chance?"

"He's my father," I replied as I sat down.

"Oh, well that makes sense then. He was quite the student-athlete here back in the day...hopefully you'll resemble him a bit."

*RING*

"Alright, that's the bell. Go ahead to your lockers and don't be late for your first class!"

...

"Allison Wallace...and Sean Joseph Woy. Okay, everyone's here. Welcome to Miss Wilt's geometry class."

...

"And the final row will consist of Jack Thomas, Arnold Vincent, Allison Wallace and Sean Joseph Woy."

...

Those were just two of the five classes I had, where I sitting behind the beautiful sophomore cheerleader Allison Wallace. She didn't really say much to me - mainly just flashed a smile in my direction - but right before I was putting away my books at my locker, she walked up to me and greeted me with a wave.

"Oh, now you recognize me," I scoffed before throwing the last book at the bottom of the locker.

"Come on Sean Joseph, I didn't mean anything by it," she pleaded, grabbing my wrist while looking up at me with those innocent, hazel eyes. "Bryan's really uptight about our relationship and probably would have flipped shit if I told him I already met you before."

"Then leave me alone if it's gonna cause problems with him," I said, though I wasn't looking for her to agree to it.

"It's not that simple," she stated. "You're a really cool guy and I want to get to know you better. Plus, I've grown bored with the same shit for almost a year now...at times I feel like I might need a change."

"Well break up with him if that's the case."

"It's not that easy," she reminded me. "He's going into his final year of high school and is really looking to play football in college...if I broke it off with him, I might ruin his future. That's definitely something I don't want hanging over me."

*RING*

"Text you after practice?" she asked as she started to walk to her next class.

"Yeah, sure."

...

"Mitchell's to the 20, the 10...touchdown Warriors! The new quarterback Sean Joseph Woy finds the old quarterback Bryan Mitchell for the third Everett touchdown of the game. At 24-7 with just three minutes to go, the Warriors look like they're going to start off the 2025 season 1-0."

I gave Bryan a big bear hug in the end zone, before jogging back to the sidelines where I received pats on the back from all my teammates. Claysburg wasn't a good team by any means, but after struggling last season, the players were thankful to have this season start on a high note.

"You going to the soc-hop?" Mike asked me as we sat on the bench, clutching our water bottles. My facial expression showed that I was confused, and Mike finally realized that I have no clue what he was talking about. "Guess you didn't have those down south, huh?"

I nodded my head and asked, "what are they? Pennsylvania term for post-game party?"

"Nah, that usually happens after the soc-hop," he told me as the cheers in the background deafened our conversation for a moment. Turns out we got the ball back via interception, so we stood up to get back onto the field when a yell from the coordinators had us sitting back down.

"Second team offense on the field!"

"Anyways," I said, trying to continue our conversation. "What's a soc-hop?"

"The school hires a DJ after every home game and has a little dance party thing in the gym. Tons of people show up...sometimes not always from our school. They say it's to protect the students from going out and getting wasted afterward, but they're too dumb to realize that we don't start drinking till one or two anyways."

"Ahh I see. Yeah, I'll probably make an appearance or something."

As that last sentence ended, the horn rang to signal our first win of the season. We walked onto the field and shook the hand of every defeated Bulldog, then jogged off to the far end zone to await our post-game speech from my father.