Ok here we go the long expected sequal to Coach's Assistant were we pick up the story of Nick and Francis again and of cause all of their friends.
Hi there guys, well we are three years since the last chapter of coach's assistant where put on my site. Quite a long time looking back at it now. As I finished the story at that point I new somewhere there was more lurking around. I left it for a year and then slowly starting to think about it and what in the next book of the story should happen. It took me almost 1,5 year to write the basics of it. I got stuck a few times but then found a way out of it as well.
So now we are on the edge of discovering the new adventures of Nick and Francis. I am planning on publishing a new chapter every 2 weeks or so. It is not going to be a long story as coach's assistant. You can read it separately but I must warn you it is interacted with the first book as well so you might want to take the opportunity to start with coach's assistant before moving on to Nick's Talent. If you want to get me some feedback do that at noway16@hotmail.com. For all my stories check out my site www.timsfunplace.com
Occasionally we all wonder how things are going to change. Sometimes it's for a reason ... sometimes things happen for no apparent reason at all. In any event, you just have to try and make the best of it. I was looking over on the other side of the bed, I had woken up early but Francis was still peaceful asleep. I loved just to look at him; he has something much undisturbed on his face while he was a sleep. Something that I could look for ages, on the other hand it made me feel myself overflowing with love just looking at him, reaching out and kiss him. But I resisted, I think I had worn him out last night. I also know that practice was not that easy so I better let him sleep for a while.
I looked back up to the ceiling, the ceiling of our new apartment. Wonderful place, I felt at ease with it as well. Now time had gone bye and although looking back I am still not happy with the decisions we made at first but we learned, developed, and got here where we are now. But all in all I just hoped for a period of rest and relaxation as we needed it. So I dreamed back to all the things that happened, secrets and talent uncovered and we both grown together even closer then before. But it was not easy. So let me take you through it. Oh a lot of the stuff I am going to tell you I was there but some I heard and I might even ask others to fill in the gaps, but we will see.
As I look back now I wonder if, despite all the agony and all the trouble we had to go though, that first year we were together wasn't that bad. It was November before the trial had finished and things at school came to a halt. The rest of our graduation year passed without too much problem. We had a great time that summer. Our crowd was able to get together on a regular basis but we all knew that it would come to an end. Oh you want to know who our crowd is, what the trail was about and how I got to know Francis, you will have to read "Coach's Assistant," first as that is the first book of this story. I know it is going to be a lot but a lot of your "Colleague" readers told me they loved it so I must have done something right in telling that bit of our lives. Ok, sorry where was I back to the summer and decisions made about what we all decided upon.
Earlier in the summer, most of us had decided what we were going to do in the fall. I knew that Francis thought we'd go to college together to train further for the Olympics but I knew that this wasn't what I wanted for a future. I really enjoyed the fact that I could win and that I was good at something athletic but, when I'd started drawing again, I knew I'd found my passion. But, although we both accepted that it was for the best that we take different paths, I recognized that it would be hard to get past the next four years without being together.
So here I was now, more than two and a half years after our graduation. Francis and I had seen each other as often as we could. During the summer I joined the team and traveled around with them to their competitions but, still, it was very difficult. I didn't want to complain too much as I didn't want him to give up his dream. He was still destined to be a great athlete and I had to give him the freedom to follow his dream. So, as usual, I felt alone over Christmas as we'd spent less than a week together but then he'd go off again with David to some training camp for the rest of the holiday season. He'd wanted me to come along but with my exhibition coming, I had to concentrate on finishing the last pieces for it.
But enough about us. You might want to know what had happened with everybody as I'm sure they'll all be present at my opening night.
Let me see ... to start with my dad ... well, he married Susan, which was no surprise to any of us. The wedding had been great. We ... James, David and me ... had been the witnesses for the ceremony and we all made sure it was a memorable day for them. We all moved out of our respective parents' houses, so dad and Susan were both able to sell their old houses and had bought a nice townhouse just outside the city center. My dad was still a coach at the local high school and a big supporter of the gay/lesbian/straight alliance that had been formed at the school.
David and Kathy have the most adorable little boy you can imagine. They named him Nicky and I was so proud when they told me. They knew I'd be there for my namesake whenever he needed someone other than his parents. They felt that giving him my name would, they hoped, give him my passion for life. Just after Nicky was born, they got married. Kathy had gone to the same university as David and, even though he'd been away a lot for training and competitions, they were committed to each other since the trial. Kathy had talked with me about their commitment and how we (Francis and I) were having some trouble in dealing with separation and different goals as she knew it was bothering me. Kathy and Nicky came over to visit me a lot when David and Francis were on the road.
Of the old gang, I saw my new brother James the most. He'd joined me at the same university, although he was taking a different major. He was the business guy while I tended to hang out with the more creative types. I'll never be sure why he chose the same university as I did, or whether either Francis or Alexei had had something to do with it. But I really enjoyed spending time with him and we went out together for a lot of university events. It was no surprise that, with James there, I saw a lot of Alexei as well. They were still a strongly committed couple. Alexei had stopped competition now and had gone into coaching and into our school's professional teaching program. But he spent at least two long weekends a month with James and that seemed to work quite well for them.
Oh, yes ... the professional teaching program. After the TV show in which Jordan and Steve had explained how it had come together and the support they'd gotten from an amazing group of people, the professional teaching program we'd devised at school had come to life. It had not been easy but now, more and more schools had joined in the program. In addition to the guest lectures by the real professionals, a more socially aware theme had developed in the program as well. Jordan and Steve, as well as Alexei, had made certain that social issues were included in the new curriculum, including equal rights, environmental issues, social justice, helping others, and cross-cultural understanding.
Jordan was now at university but, together with Peter and Andrew, he'd made a big contribution to those early days in the development of the program. Now they were still involved, making sure the integrity of the program was maintained wherever the program was implemented. Although the program was working quite well, it is still in its infant stages ... but, then again, it was a start.
I'd seen Jordan a few times when he came to see James and Alexei. I knew that often Peter and Andrew were there, too. But it was never the same between us. I told them to forget what had happened and they knew I accepted their apologies ... but there was always a reserve that made it impossible for our friendship to be as tight as it had gotten with, for example, Brian and Andy.
Yes, they were still in our lives. For some reason we (Francis and I) felt very at ease with them. I'd talked with Brian and Andy several times about what had happened and I think that, aside from Francis, they know more about me than anyone else. We'd gone on holidays together a few times ... especially skiing, as that was their favorite activity. Andy was doing quite well but, somehow, he was never able to get to the top. He kept lurking around with the best but he hadn't yet found a way to take that final step beyond everyone else. But still he failed again.
as I know it was bothering him more then he could tell as although he came quite close this year at both Wimbledon as on the U.S. Open as well.
Francis stirred beside me I looked over at him again. A smile had appeared on his face. Good, I thought as I haven't seen a lot of those in the last few months. But it seems he was getting over it as he didn't wake up so I turned back again. Now where shall I pick up the story? I think I will leave those 2,5 years although they where important for the rest as we went through but not decisive. So I guess I will take you down to the evening where life got on the fast track for me again and the experience of university where it pushed back fast. It was the start of a new life for us as I said secrets and talent uncovered and most of all, Francis partly understanding what I had gone through in the period we just met. He didn't talk a lot about his own experiences but I am sure he would have liked not to have them.
Ok, I keep distracting you, but I was going to take you to that evening that a lot changed. So ...
If you want to get me some feedback do that at noway16@hotmail.com. For all my stories check out my site www.timsfunplace.com