“Welcome to the 49ers!”

Logan jumped up and down in celebration, then backed up, sprinted, and jumped into the air, excitedly playing the chest-bumping game with Marcus. Afterward, Marcus spread his arms, pretending to be a glider, and flew around the empty parking lot. He even made a sound like a bomber, “Boom, boom, boom.” The loud noises echoed in the empty parking lot, making it very lively.

But after celebrating for a little while, Logan noticed something was wrong. Where was Lu Ke? Why wasn’t Lu Ke reacting at all?

Logan’s excited mood suddenly became nervous. He walked over quickly. Lu Ke was buried, and only a few strands of black hair were visible. His exposed hands and legs weren’t moving at all, which made Logan panic. “Bambi? Are you okay?” But Lu Ke didn’t respond. “Marcus, why isn’t Bambi reacting at all?”

Marcus also stopped, stunned for a moment, and then ran over quickly. “What’s wrong?” He then knelt on the ground and started digging for Lu Ke’s head, quickly pushing all the condoms aside. Before he could figure out what was going on, he became nervous with Logan. “Bambi? Bambi?”

“Whoosh!” With a sudden motion, a large pile of condoms scattered like a goddess scattering flowers. Lu Ke sat up like a resurrected zombie, mimicking a water fight, and began splashing the condoms outwards. “Whoosh, whoosh,” and the condoms flew at Logan and Marcus.

It was a false alarm. Logan and Marcus wanted to prank him, but they were caught off guard and Lu Ke successfully fought back. Their hearts almost stopped from the shock. Completely unprepared, they were in a sorry state, their legs went weak, and they almost fell to the ground. But then they quickly reacted and started fighting back.

The three young college graduates, like children, started a water fight—or rather, a “condom” fight?

After they were exhausted, the three of them just lay there in the parking lot, looking up at the vast and boundless sky. It was as if the whole world was laid out before them, and all they had to do was spread their arms to touch it—the sky was their only limit.

“The prank today wasn’t just from me and Marcus. The offensive line players also contributed. It’s a small gift from the 49ers to the new quarterback,” Logan said loudly. “Fifty boxes, a full fifty boxes, Bambi. You can use them for a long time.”

“That’s just a month’s supply for me,” Lu Ke said calmly. Then, Marcus started making strange noises, and Logan howled along with him. Lu Ke couldn’t help but smile.

Rookies are always at the bottom of the team’s hierarchy. Every year, to welcome the new players, almost every team has a tradition of pranking them. This is true for college teams and professional leagues. To be precise, it’s not just the first day; the entire rookie season is a time of hardship for the rookies.

Minor pranks might just be about washing socks or polishing helmets. Medium-level pranks could be cleaning the team’s trophy case. More serious ones could be getting a weird haircut or even mental and physical torture. The pranks were truly endless and creative. What’s more, they were hard to guard against, and rookies weren’t allowed to “guard” against them. A rookie who refused to go along with it would often become the enemy of the entire team.

Rookies who couldn’t take a joke, rookies who acted like big shots, rookies who were conceited… The veterans had countless ways to make them suffer. And every year, about 250 rookies join the league, but less than one in ten stay.

Today, Lu Ke just received a welcome gift.

After the laughter, the three of them gradually quieted down, quietly watching the clouds roll by in the sky. The intense colors spread out, and it was a beautiful sight. The sunsets in San Francisco were always breathtaking.

“A few months ago, could you have imagined this? Us getting together again, lying in the 49ers’ parking lot, with countless condoms scattered around us, and officially becoming professional players?” Logan couldn’t help but exclaim. His calm voice couldn’t hide the excitement and emotion in his heart.

Marcus’s sharp, piercing laugh rang out. “This is really amazing. After going in a big circle, we’re back together again.” Marcus turned his head and looked at Lu Ke and Logan on his right. “The way the story is unfolding as professional players is unpredictable.”

In the draft, the San Francisco 49ers first chose Logan in the third round and then Marcus in the sixth round. Now, after all that, they had signed Lu Ke, an undrafted rookie. The goodbyes after the Rose Bowl were still fresh in their minds, and before they had a chance to process the sadness of going their separate ways, they were reunited again.

Destiny is full of miracles.

The corners of Lu Ke’s mouth couldn’t help but turn up. “This means the UCLA Bruins’ trio is back online. It looks like we’ll be fighting side by side again someday.”

A quarterback, a running back, and a tight end—the offensive trio. They had defeated the USC Trojans and then the Wisconsin Badgers. Now, they were reunited with the San Francisco 49ers!

“The Three Musketeers!” Logan shouted. “The Three Musketeers are reunited! Let’s go make a name for ourselves in the Bay Area!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Marcus also waved his fists. “The triangle, it’s the most stable and strongest shape, right, Bambi? Let’s work together again. One day, the three of us will dominate the league, sweep everything away, and eventually make it to the Super Bowl!”

“Marcus, you better hurry up and catch up. Logan and I are about to start accelerating,” Lu Ke said with a smile, showing no mercy and mocking him.

“Screw you!” Marcus bumped Lu Ke with his elbow in dissatisfaction. “You should worry about yourself first.” Marcus started to ramble. “Let me tell you, we’ve been training for three months, and you just joined the team today. You’re way behind. You wouldn’t believe how thick our playbook is. It’s even more terrifying than the Oxford English Dictionary.”

“Are you sure you’ve ever looked at the Oxford English Dictionary?” Lu Ke’s casual teasing made Logan laugh loudly. Marcus sat up in dissatisfaction and hooked his elbow around Lu Ke’s neck. “Damn it, Bambi!” But after thinking about it, Marcus also started laughing. He said helplessly, “Okay, I haven’t.” He let go of his elbow and lay back down.

With that self-deprecating attitude, laughter echoed in the parking lot once again.

The three of them were rookies, in their first year in the league. As Marcus said, for the quarterback position, there was first Colin Kaepernick, then Alex Smith, and then Lu Ke. In this competition, Lu Ke had no advantage.

It wasn’t just Lu Ke. Logan and Marcus were the same. In the NCAA, they achieved impressive results, but after entering the league, everything started from scratch. Even Logan, who was the most talented, was only a third-round pick in the draft.

Joining the league was the first step in a professional career. Whether they believed it or not, it was actually the easiest step.

“Bambi, do you think one day, we could be on the Super Bowl stage? I mean, the three of us,” Marcus couldn’t help but get lost in his thoughts. Looking at the colorful sunset, he couldn’t help but look forward to the future.

“The Super Bowl?” Logan also repeated the same words, and then he started to laugh. “Why do I feel like I’m more excited about the Super Bowl halftime show than the Super Bowl itself? Do you think Beyoncé could be a part of the halftime show?”

The Super Bowl halftime show is the biggest event of the year in the United States. This is where the term “America’s Spring Festival Gala” comes from. Only top superstars can perform on that stage in front of 150 million viewers.

“Beyoncé? Logan, so that’s your type? I really didn’t expect that,” Marcus exclaimed. “I thought you would like Anne Hathaway.”

“If it were Anne, I wouldn’t say no,” Logan’s response came with a slight smile.

The two of them didn’t continue the conversation, and the topic slowly faded into the air. The three of them couldn’t help but chuckle. Right now, they were nobodies, but they were already painting a picture of the future—a future full of hope.

“Where did you two park your cars? I didn’t see them just now,” Lu Ke sat up and kicked the two guys next to him. “Hurry up and get up. What should we do with all this stuff? I can’t take it home with me. My parents would probably get indigestion at dinner.”

Chinese people, even after living in the United States for more than a decade, were still Chinese people.

Logan imagined the scene and giggled. “Just put them in the back of the truck, cover them with a tarp, and then take them to a party one day and just go crazy with them. I think they’ll treat you like Jesus.”

“Our car is in the parking lot on the other side of the stadium, the management’s parking lot,” Marcus explained. Then he looked at the condoms scattered all over the parking lot and chuckled. “If you’re not going to use them, we can put them in a candy box and put them in the lobby on the first floor. People who need them can just take one every day.”

The three musketeers, in their first official reunion after college, weren’t dreaming about the Super Bowl or training together, but cleaning up condoms in a parking lot.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep