As things quieted down, Nate and Alex ultimately settled down into the living room of the Ramsey home to work on their homework for the weekend. Moon Lake may have had some issues that related to the wedding between Harry and Jenny and the following Halloween dance, but that didn't mean that things like homework went away. And while Nate and Alex did well with regard to breakfast and recovering from the sound of gunfire that the two werewolves had heard over breakfast, they both still had homework to do.
And so, the were seated on the couch with their book bags between them. And as typical teenagers, they had the television on and tuned in to Fox in expectation of the Cowboys/Seahawks game in Seattle. The coverage was already getting into the immediate pre-kick off events, including the announcers running down the problems and issues that both teams were trying to overcome at that time. It made for interesting background noise, but the two remained somewhat focused on the homework they needed to get done at the moment.
"Man..." Nate gave a low groan, "they really shouldn't give so much extra homework on weekends."
He looked down at the worksheet for history in his lap and resting on his science textbook with the history book in between them. The assignment itself wasn't too hard, but given that they'd had a sub in their American History class the previous Friday, they mostly were left with hastily prepared busy work. It did relate to the things they'd been working on in class, but was clearly intended to keep them busy with something rather than bothering the substitute. In general, that made sense, but that that didn't mean that either Nate or Alex were fully fond on it.
"Well... at least this part isn't too hard," Alex answered with a sigh, "The one thing that'll concern me is whether or not Ms. McCoy actually gives us credit for this."
Nate slowly nodded at that. He remembered that there had been some supposed fight that had gotten their history teacher arrested, though he figured that that had been sorted out based on what they'd learned at the dance. Nate couldn't pretend to know all the details of what went on in that fight, but when he and Alex had arrived at the dance Ms. McCoy was pointed out dancing with another weretiger at the dance. Nate was still new to Moon Lake and thus had never seen her were form, but girl he was talking to was sure of it. With that, Nate figured that whatever legal troubles that Ms. McCoy might have had had been solved.
"Hope so," Nate nodded in agreement.
They quietly made their way through their homework, and some of it wasn't too hard. Even some of the tougher subjects, including math and science weren't too hard, though there were some points where Nate privately wished Eric was there. He'd never forced his brother to do his homework for him, but there were times when Eric had actually helped him with his homework. Thankfully he had Alex there and between the two of them they were able muddle through the various math problems and scientific formulas as well. And with that, the two were able to occasionally glance up to see how the football game was going.
The NFL game was actually going rather slowly. Seattle seemed to be doing better, but there was nothing that was truly exciting about what was going on on the field. To Nate it was justification that the Vikings were the better team to root for, though he did have to admit that seeing the Cowboys lose was ALWAY a good thing. The game, however, did remind Nate of one thing that Alex had mentioned earlier.
"And you really want me to try out for this scrimmage?" Nate asked as he looked over to Alex.
"Yeah, it'll be fun," Alex nodded, "didn't you play football in Minnesota?"
"Actually, it was ERIC that was more the athlete than me," Nate said with a weak smile.
"Eric?!" Alex said with wide eyes, "He... he doesn't look it..."
"Eric was more into baseball than football," Nate answered, "but yeah... Eric is really the athlete in our family. He actually wasn't too bad, as when he played he applied himself to performing well..."
Alex watched quietly as Nate looked over to the television and then down to his lap before he continued.
"But Eric was never that "social" when he played," Nate spoke, "He got along well enough with teammates that they weren't undermining each other on the field, and a few of his teammates did want him to hang out with them... but..."
"He was distant?" Alex wondered.
"That's putting it mildly," Nate answered, "as while he was fairly good at baseball, it was just ONE of the things he applied himself to, along with science and schooling... and even science fiction. In many ways, Eric was pretty balanced with his interests, but his focus was pretty isolated to the parts that he was interested in. Then a couple of kids... I think they were also on the team that Eric played on in Middle School pretty much attacked him at school because he wasn't SOLELY focused on the team's success. They didn't like that his interests weren't limited ONLY to baseball. And from there, Eric withdrew inside himself further... something that Julie has brought him out of..."
"So she rescued him," Alex smiled happily.
Nate nodded, "but the fact remains that Eric was the real athlete in the family. I was more content to enjoy werewolf movies and so on. The result of that had me a bit pudgy in a way... not overweight, but not really skinny either."
Alex slowly smiled and reached over to tap at Nate's stomach which had become flat and trim with noticeable abdominal muscles when Nate had his shirt off or was in his wolven form. Nate watched as he felt his boyfriend tap his stomach softly. Alex continued to smile as he did so.
"As I recall, you seemed to like that when you transformed," Alex said with a smile.
"I did..." Nate answered, "but when compared to being able to turn into a giant wolf... that's small potatoes. Being a werewolf... that's very much a dream come true, given all the movies I've enjoyed."
"Maybe for next year's Halloween we'll have a horror movie marathon and watch all the werewolf movies we can find," Alex commented, "but... right now... we have the scrimmage to get ready for. You may not have been the family athlete before, but you certainly are built be that way now."
"Uh-huh, and just what would we need to do for this?" Nate asked.
"Sign ups for the scrimmage should be tomorrow," Alex answered, "we go and sign up and sit after school for the meeting that will then go through what the match up will be... upper classmen versus under classmen or predator versus prey... and the coaches will then arrange then setting the practices and so on."
"And they don't run tryouts or anything like that?" Nate wondered.
"Maybe to earn a starting position," Alex shrugged, "but signing up would mean that you'd get a shot at being on the field at point. They want to make sure that everyone is involved. And the school will provide all the equipment. You don't need to worry there."
Nate didn't answer for a few moments, as he actually never had been involved in organized sports before.
"I wouldn't know all the rules..." Nate said slowly, "or the plays..."
"All that is handled in the first week of practices," Alex answered, "which go after school... and are "non-contact" for that week so that the coaches can help those coming up from middle school to understand how to play. And you'll get a copy of the playbook for whatever team you're placed with. And since we're both werewolves and both juniors, we'd be on the same team regardless of how they split up the squads. Come on... it'll be fun. We may not be able to transform for the game... but it'd still be something to test our strength out on."
Nate didn't answer and eventually turned to see Alex looking at him with his best "puppy dog eyes."
"Please," Alex said slowly, "It'll be fun."
"Okay," Nate answered, "Okay... tomorrow after school we'll go sign up. Just don't expect me to be some sort of superstar."