Obstacles

A week has passed since break was over and it seems that the hallways were crowded as ever. People were heading to class while some were getting ready for class as they were switching some stuff from their locker rooms. Such as Dwayne, trying to open his locker.

"Damn it, why won't you open!" Dwayne trying to put in his lock combination 

But no matter how many times he tries, the door can't seem to open.

"Aw to hell with it!" Dwayne tries to break the door open.

However, Jim had approached him while walking towards his class.

"Dwayne. What are you doing?" Jim being behind Dwayne.

"I tried to open my lock, but no matter how many times I put the combo in, I can't seem to get this thing opened." 

Jim sighs as what he did was just nonsense. "Let me help you." 

"What's your combination?" Jim looked at the lock dial.

"Twelve-Thirty Two-Six"

Jim turns the lock at twelve, then counterclockwise to thirty two and the landed clockwise to six. The door opened and Dwayne was in shock.

"That's awesome Jim. How did you do that?! I tried to get that damn thing to open and it never does."

Jim seemed frustrated as well as annoyed. "Dude, it's not that hard. How have you been using the dial?"

"Just turning only clockwise to the number?"

Jim slapped his forehead. "Really. You can't just use that brain of yours to try to turn counter clockwise."

"Look Jim. It's my first time using the lockers and I have no idea how to use them."

"Then how have you been carrying your books?"

"Well in my bag. Duh!"

"How can you manage to carry all those books?"

"I'm a strong guy. You know I'm an athlete so I have to use my brawns over brain you know."

"Well I disagree. I prefer brains over brawn as I like to open my locker better than smashing the door."

"Oh yeah. Using brains is nothing good but to just think! I mean look at you Jim. You are so skinny and pale. You should at least eat a bucket of chicken or something."

"Dwayne! Please don't say that to him!" Scott approaches both Jim and Dwayne.

Dwayne looked at Jim as he was shivering in fear from remembering the time where he almost starved to death as well as being frozen to death.

"Oh my God. Jim, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You don't need to defend me Scott. I want to prove to him that brains are better than brawn."

Scott got in between Jim and Dwayne. "Both of you. Whether it's about using your intelligents or muscles, both are great. Maybe you guys can just try to get along. Sometimes, you don't need me around to get this friendship going you know."

Jim and Dwayne looked at each other.

"Yeah. We'll see about that."

Suddenly, someone from the intercom started to speak. "Attention all students and staff members, it's your one and only King of High School, John Decker! And I want to announce that we are having a surprise pep rally so yall should be heading to the gymnasium or else you are going to miss the fun!"

As John finished being on the intercom, all the students suddenly rushed to the gym as fast as they nearly knocking over Scott, Jim and Dwayne. 

"A surprise pep rally?" Scott questions John.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, John likes to put on these pep rallies when he wants to introduce something new to the school." Jim looked at the crowd running towards the gym.

"What does John want to show at this very moment?"

"Don't know. But we should at least see what John is up to?" Jim walked towards the gym.

"Sure." Scott followed as well as Dwayne.

Heading to the gym, the place was already full as there were students sitting on bleachers and the stage was already set up for Principal Dover as well as John.

"Of course. There are no seats for us on the bleachers." Scott rolled his eyes.

"Want to stand?" Dwayne suggested.

"Na. I'm going to sit." Jim answered.

"I'm going to stand. I just want to leave this pep rally as quickly as possible.

"If Scott is standing, then so am I!" Dwayne standing next to Scott. 

Suddenly, the lights started to dim as Principal Dover walked up the stage.

"Good Afternoon students. As you are all aware, John wanted to show something that might be beneficial for us as a school so I'm just going to lend him the gym for today."

The lights pointed towards the exit of the gym

"What are they pointing at?" Scott looked at the sunroof.

Suddenly, there was a motorcycle noise that was getting louder and louder until.

"SURPRISE!" John forced the door open using his motorcycle stopping in the middle of the gym.

The crowd went wild as this was an entrance that they never saw before.

"Alright so it's only been a week since we came back to school and I got some BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS!" John then walked up on stage.

"As you can see, football season has come to an end and they had a great season. However, after hearing about Troy's position being terminated as well as his unfortunate death, it has been a hard time. For me especially. Can we have a moment of silence for him"

The crowd then became silent as they would never forget the death of a famous football player. Scott. On the other hand wasn't silent for that reason, but instead of what he remembered of what he said to him.

"Goodbye Scott. Thank you for being the hope to John's dystopia" Troy's voice echoing in Scott's head.

Scott looked down as those words would keep Scott going and to discover the deep mysteries of the school.

The silence came to an end as John resumed speaking. "Alright now that our moment of silence is over, I want to announce a few things in our winter season. Although football season is over, we have another sport that is popular as well as one of our signature sports besides football and baseball. And that sport wouldn't be none other than!"

The music band plays the drums heavily. 

"THE BASKETBALL TEAM!"

The basketball team ran from the school hallway into the gym with the captain of the basketball team being the last one behind everyone else. He would then run towards the near basketball hoop successfully attempting a slam dunk!

The crowd went wild as they were focused on the captain's slam dunk.

"Alrighty Liam. I didn't know you still got that slam dunkin in you!" John looked at Liam, captain of the basketball team.

"Hey. Basketball has been my thing ever since freshman year ya know!" Liam letting go of the basketball rim.

"Yep! Like you and your kind!" 

The crowd, being all excited, has now become silent as John said something that seemed racist towards him.

Liam was also silent as he felt a bit disturbed.

Not liking the silence, John then tried to add on something to his sentence. "I meant you and your teammates you know!"

"Yep! You sure know what motivates us!" Liam tried to get the crowd all excited again, which he did manage.

"And another thing! As I almost forgot to announce another thing because of the basketball team's entrance, I want to announce another thing."

Laura and her cheerleading squad, behind the doors of the gym, were getting ready to get out there. "Oh boy. My prince charming is going to announce all of us to the gym!"

"I can't wait to bring in the team that brought us joy to our sports teams and that would be!"

"Alright girls, time to make some noise!" Laura heading to the gym.

"THE DANCE TEAM!" John let the dance team from the other door come in.

"WHAT?!" Laura and her cheerleading squad were in shock as another girl team ran in the gym.

Running towards the gym, the dance team started dancing like crazy flowing with the pop music playing from the gym's intercom.

The team was similar to the cheerleading squad, but was way faster and able to follow the beat faster than the cheerleading squad.

As the music was over, the leader of the dance team gasped very heavily.

"HOOOOO WEEEEEE! That was some great dancing right there. And you must be-"

"Diana! Diana Nguyen!"

"Well Diana! That was some great dancing. Are you capable of helping our basketball team win and make it to the state championship?!"

"HELL YEAH JOHN!"

The crowd went wild as they never expected the dance team to come to the gymnasium.

"What the?" Jim questions the pep rally.

"What is it Jim?" Scott looks at him.

"When did we ever have a dance team?"

"I mean, shouldn't every school have one? My old school did, but didn't have many people as it wasn't a popular extracurricular."

"Yeah I get that, but I've been in this school since last spring and I've never saw this school having a dance nor mentioning them."

"It must be a new add-on." Dwayne coming into the conversation.

"Well no-dub genius!" Jim is still having tensions with Dwayne.

"Anyways, since this is a surprise pep rally, I wouldn't take much of your time. I only want to announce our winter season of basketball as well as our new dance team! Does anyone have any questions?"

"What happened to the cheerleading squad?" Bryan on the bleachers adjacent to Scott and his friends asking.

"Well, you see, I think I want some change in our winter season, so I decided to try something new by letting our dance team be the new motivator than our cheerleading squad you know! Anyone else?"

The crowd was silent.

"Alrighty then, then that is it for today's pep rally. And of course, enjoy your day with the sun always shining forever and forever!"

The students in the gym then started to leave as well as the basketball and dance team leaving as they were ready to head to their next class. Meanwhile, as people were leaving the gymnasium, Laura and her squad were in shock as they were supposed to be in the gym.

"What. Just. Happened?" Laura in shock.

Back in the gym, Scott, Jim, and Dwayne were leaving the gym being annoyed by John's announcement.

"Did John just waste ten minutes of our time just to make a small announcement?"

"Yep and it's pretty normal." Jim walked out not being surprised.

"He made us have a surprise pep rally last year to announce his newly renovated mansion."

"But that isn't even school related." Scott being disgusted.

"Hey. He's the King of High School and can do whatever he wants."

"Well, he has a big ego so why am I not surprised."

The bell then rang.

"Well, I guess I'm heading to my other class. I'll see you guys later. Also You two should get along alright."

"Alright." Jim and Dwayne said at the same time.

As Scott walked to the second floor, he was stopped by a group of people. 

"Oh you ain't goin nowhere." The group blocked Scott's way.

"Look, I don't know who you guys are but I need to head to class so if you don't mind." Scott trying to pass the group.

However, the plan wouldn't work as more of them approached him blocking the whole hallway.

"Hey what's the deal?"

"Oh Scott. Don't you know who we are?"

"I don't care. Just let me pass."

"Oh you should've listened in the pep rally. We are the Varsity Basketball Team and you should be bowing down to us."

"And what if I don't?"

Suddenly, two teammates grabbed onto Scott's arms as tightly as possible.

"Hey, let go of me!" Scott struggled to get out.

"Oh I don't think my teammates will let go anytime soon." Someone approaching Scott.

As the person approached Scott, he seemed like a person with a scar on his face, red hair, and tattoos on his arm holding a basketball.

"Do you recognize me?" The scar faced person aggressively holding the basketball.

"No, because you weren't in the pep rally."

The scar faced person then threw his basketball in Scott's face ricocheting back to the scar face's hands.

"Well you better. Because I'm the vice captain of the Varsity basketball team, Drake. But many of our fans would call me Dribble."

Unable to control himself, Scott started to laugh at Drake's nickname. "What the hell?! Pffffft. Dribble! What kind of nickname is that?"

Feeling insulted, Drake threw his ball again at Scott's face giving him a bloody nose.

"Never insult me again. You douchebag?"

Drake then put his ball aside. "Anyways as I wanted to say. You should be afraid of us."

"And why is that?" Scott giving an angry expression at Drake.

"Because you broke the hierarchy."

Scott being confused. "What hierarchy?"

"Oh I forgot. You're a new transfer student. What was I thinking."

Drake then pulled a pen and paper from his hoodie pocket drawing a picture. When he was done, he showed it to Scott which seemed like a chart:

Basketball >>>Football >>> Baseball >>> Basketball

"What is that supposed to be?" Scott questions the drawn paper.

"The hierarchy of this school. You see. As seasons change, so do our sports change. Not being able to control that, we as a school decided to form a hierarchy to support our three main sports. As you can see, we as a team supported Troy and the Football Team, praising them before our season started. And Troy tried to support you even if your season wasn't until the end of the school year. But what did you repay him for? Death. You could've left that nerd alone and he would've still been alive. But no. You just want to stick your nose on other people's business."

Scott sighs. "For the last fucking time. I didn't kill Troy and who told you that I 'killed Troy'? And this stupid hierarchy doesn't make any sense. What about the other sports besides those three?"

"Oh Scott. The princess of High School, Laura, has told us everything about you. About how you've killed him because of your wrath and anger issues. And besides cheerleading and probably cross country, every sport in this school is part of the bottom hierarchy. Only Basketball, Football, and Baseball are the only important sports in this school."

Drake then put his hands on Scott. "So. If you want to be kept alive. You better admit that you killed Troy or else me and the team will help Laura kill you off you got that?"

Scott didn't answer.

"Okay then." Drake snapped his fingers letting his teammates let go of Scott.

The Basketball Team then left for their next class.

Before leaving. Drake had one more to say. "Personally, I only agreed with Laura because we want Troy to be avenged for your stupid anger issues."

As Drake left, Scott was severely stressed out having to deal with a timer that intensifies for no reason.

"Shit. What should I do?"