The Student Body by John Reeves (parable of the sower read online .txt) 📖

1

Amanda Carter wasn't just exceptionally beautiful, she could probably recite Emily Dickinson's poetry on demand. She taught creative writing and English at Addison High School, and was eye candy for the students. She was an athletic brunette who could have been fresh out of high school herself. She was probably masturbation material in the boy's minds late at night, maybe even a female or two. She gave out lots of homework, but the students had a hard time looking at her in a bad light.
Amanda hadn't went to the big college like she always hoped to attend. She ended up going to community college for her degree. By the time she'd graduated with her bachelors degree she decided to go into teaching. She was writing a Romeo and Juliet type novel with a twist of vampires and werewolves. When she was given the ninth and tenth grade literature job at the high school. She could see the market for her writing in that age group. Her mind was on the project as she used methods of teaching them for a probe into their interests.
Her husband Joel was behind her project all the way. He'd heard her ideas in length and liked her storyline. There was a science fiction romance to it that would probably appeal to teenagers and women under thirty. The plot was so deep there was a potential for serial novel to be made from it. She'd type four or five hundred words every night. Through the characters in her work she could live out scenarios she wished she'd been in. Not just romantically but, they could have the interesting life she hadn't got to live.
Amanda's parents were somewhat strict. she wasn't allowed to do some of the things the other girls were doing. Her best friend had lost her virginity in the ninth grade, Amanda didn't loose hers until her junior year. There were things she hadn't been able to get past. Regardless of how well she done, there were just somethings that went deeper than the surface would indicate.
The character in her book named Angel seems to be a lot like Amanda. There are barriers they've both encountered in life. There was a beautiful face that never seemed to have a look of happiness. The similarities went on from there, as anyone who knew her would say, she was Angel from her stories. She was living vicariously through the written word.
Amanda met her husband Joel in the last year of college. Soon after graduation the two of them were married. The engagement hadn't been long, one month after asking her Joel made her his wife. She was smart and beautiful, what was there not to love about that? Every last on of his friends at the wedding told him how beautiful she was. That included eighty-four year old Mr. Braxton from the apartment complex Joel once lived in. "I'll tell you something young man, you out kicked the coverage with this one." Everyone seemed to say things like that to him. Joel absolutely didn't need the other to tell him how beautiful Amanda was.

What none of the others knew was how amazing she was. They didn't know how she volunteered her time at the library. Amanda was the most driven person that Joel knew. That included Joel himself who was the son of a politician. There were lots of things that they didn't know about each other, in due time it would all come out. Joel really found it more interesting that way. It really wasn't where they came from, it was more about where they intended to go.
Amanda hadn't won any Ms. America contests but, she could have give anyone who did a run for their money. Joel wasn't a bad looking guy. There was a level of confidence he had in himself that made his seem strong. His athletic build gave credence to his personality. It wasn't an arrogant type of confidence, he was what people like to refer to as a man's-man.

Amanda had been writing stories since she was fourteen. That was also about the time she was molested by her uncle. Although he never penetrated her, she was forced to give him oral sex. Amanda believed him when he told her, "Say a word of this to anyone... and I'll kill you and your whole family." She knew he'd done some time on an attempted murder charge. She didn't want to try him.
None of her boyfriends could ever say she'd given them a blow job, her husband of four years has only had it twice. Amanda didn't ever tell them why. It reminded her of going down on him. She just told the guys she thought it was nasty. It was a dark moment in her life, one she agreed long ago to forget. The fact that he was arrested shortly after helped. He'd raped and killed four other little girls. It was easier to forget when he was locked away for the rest of his life.
Sometimes Amanda wished he'd have killed her too. She didn't know why there was a level of guilt associated to them. There always had been and, she was pretty sure there always would be. There was nothing keeping her from sharing her feelings about the other four girls. Amanda had always said, "He got what he deserved. I hate that man and hope he dies in prison." Her dad might have wanted to get on to her for speaking that way of her uncle. There was never anything said to her about her feelings. Her words were true, her uncle was a sick and perverted individual.

2

At Addison High School they got behind their teams. The football team routinely went deep into the state playoffs as did the basketball team. The baseball team made a deep run in but, were eliminated before making the final eight teams. There had been rumors that athletes were getting grades they didn't earn. I'm not so sure that was ever going on. I'm also not saying it's impossible either.
When Jamar Sheldon was in the eighth grade he only played basketball. Teddy Golden was the football coach and, saw him for the first time in 2001 during a middle school basketball game. Jamar could drive the lane with power, he'd go right over the other players slamming the basketball. He played above the level of the competition. The boy could probably have won a spot on the high school team.
Jamar knew he was better than half of the high school team. He'd beaten some of those guys so many times on the playground they knew he was better. When there was a pickup game, Jamar's name was always the first one called. Most of those kids couldn't ever touch the rim, never mind being able to slam dunk like Jamar. The bigger kids had to respect the younger boy's talent. When he said things about going to the University of North Carolina, the other kids didn't doubt him being able to.
When Jamar was a freshman in high school he was introduced to football. Coach Golden got the young player on the field every way he could, Freshman football, JV football, and he dressed with the varsity on Friday nights. He played corner back when he first started. The coaches were simply trying to use Jamar's athletic ability. His mother Sherry didn't want him playing football. His dad Walter talked her into letting him do it. He debated quitting the team because he knew his mother didn't like the idea of him playing.
She attended the junior varsity game, "Momma, you come see me play and if it looks dangerous I'll only play basketball." She found that to be fair. She didn't really think he'd quit. Sherry still went to the game thinking it would be her last. Jamar hadn't said anything about his deal with Sherry to coach Golden. If he had the coach he might not have decided to use him as a running back. Besides the quarterback the running back takes more hits than anyone.
West Morgan was a real good team. It's only speculation but, I think the coach was trying Jamar out at running back out of desperation. When his number was called he went out there to run the ball. He told himself inside, "Make them miss tackles, she's sitting up there watching." When the ball was pitched to him on the first play he went sixty-eight yards untouched to the end zone.
The ball wasn't passed all night. Jamar looked like a man among boys, cutting, slashing and, basically out running the competition. It was his elusiveness that stood out like a sore thumb. He would break away from his block, almost get tackled, then create something on the fly making them miss. Coach Golden knew he had something there. His running ability rivaled that of Lionel Jones, the senior running back on the varsity team.
There were some shocked faces when Addison beat West Morgan 55-10. Jamar Sheldon was the player of the night. Golden knew he needed to teach Jamar the offense. The kid had game changing talent that needed to be utilized. Sherry didn't think the game was so violent after all. She didn't intend on asking her son the quit.
Jamar was breaking boundaries set on the football field but, he'd been breaking boundaries off it for awhile. With a white mother and a black father he wasn't like anyone else in the entire school. He never looked at it as being different, the same way he thought another kid could play football like him. Living in a town that was racially divided by a highway others didn't know what to make of him. Addison wasn't a racist town but, like many small southern towns different races lived in a certain area. In Addison everyone seemed to know where they came from and, they knew where they were going end up.

Coach Golden sat Jamar down and explained a few things to him. "Jamar you are a charismatic young man who happens to be an incredible athlete to boot. There will come a time in future son, when you're gonna feel like a big fish in a small pond. It might not be this year, heck it might not be next year but, you can bet by your junior or senior year... Those feelings will creep into your thoughts. Remember what I'm telling you right now, stay grounded."
Jamar had an open mind. It had never crossed his mind that things were going to get bigger for him in the future. He never thought of himself as a two sport superstar high school athlete. In his mind he was only playing games he enjoyed taking part in. There was some trash talking on the playground basketball court but, he only did that because everyone else did that on the