“Not good.”
“So why are you pushing?” I asked, and found that he was unreadable.
“I guess because I feel guilty about what I did to you.”
“Want to make it up to me?” He nodded. “Then fix things with Angie. I care more about her and Kyle than I ever will care about Cindy and me. Does it suck that I lost a friend? You bet. Do I want your help with Cindy? Hell no! We’ll deal with our own shit, and you and Angie need to butt out.”
“Okay,” Greg said, then he pulled back onto the street and drove to school.
I WENT TO MATH CLASS and took my seat. I couldn’t figure out why everyone gave me dirty looks until I remembered that I was only supposed to attend on quiz and test days. I gave a little chuckle and let them squirm. The girl who took my quiz sat in front of me. She gave me a shy smile before she sat down. The boy on the swim team that accused me of getting special treatment came up to her.
“Did you make me a copy of the extra credit?” he asked her.
She pulled a sheet of paper out and handed it to him. He gave me a dirty look when he saw me watch him. I don’t know why he thought he was so tough. I was four inches taller and 20 pounds heavier. I hated bullies. I couldn’t tell if the girl in front of me gave him the answers because she wanted to or not.
Mrs. Sinclair came in and got ready for class. I just ignored the situation and concentrated on class.
AT LUNCH, THE FOOTBALL team seemed to be huddled around a couple of tables. When someone noticed me, they all got quiet. Crap. This couldn’t be good. I walked over, and Kevin handed me a fax. It was the All-Conference selections. I scanned the list and saw that Kevin and Luke were first-team selections. Magic was a second-teamer. I wasn’t even honorable mention. First team at quarterback and player of the year was my newest buddy, Mark from Eastside. I smiled to hide the twinge of hurt.
“Congrats, guys. You all deserve it. I’m disappointed to see that Bill didn’t make the team. His stats were much better than the guys on the first and second team were, but I’m only seeing seniors. I guess he didn’t get on because he wasn’t a senior.”
Everyone seemed to agree and didn’t look so sullen. Of course, Mark was a junior, but I wanted to focus on something else. I vowed if I ever got a chance to play against Eastside again that there would be no doubt about who the better quarterback was.
I went over to our usual table. Suzanne and Cindy had their heads together. I listened to Alan and Jeff talk about playing a new Grand Theft Auto video game. I hoped it would end up under my Christmas tree this year. Gina sat down, listened for about two seconds, and turned to me.
“I see you’re a celebrity.”
“I take it my interview from last night is on TV.”
Now everyone was curious, so I pulled out my phone and played it for them.
“You’re going to be swimming in women when they see you in that suit,” Alan said laughing.
Thwack.
“OW!”
Jeff did us all the favor of smacking his forehead.
Luke had come over and decided to chime in.
“First we have Superman. He even dresses up for Halloween in tights. Then he works it so he rides with all the cheerleaders to the game. He gets off the bus and within two minutes he has this really hot—and when I say really hot, I mean smoking hot—girl wrapped around him.
“Then on Sunday night, he becomes the ‘Mystery Man’ at some socialite’s party, and he looks like a male model. What’s next? He shows up for Prom with Hannah Minacci?” Luke asked, unable to contain himself.
Hannah Minacci was not your typical model. She was built more like a real woman, with hips and large natural breasts. She’d made a name for herself by starting out as a Victoria’s Secret model and then worked her way up to the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. While she would never be confused with the cigarette-and-coffee-diet models, Maxim magazine consistently voted her one of the sexiest women alive. Men’s Health magazine rated her as having one of the ten best bodies. Of course, I only got those magazines for the articles.
“I’ll get my people working on that,” I said with a straight face.
The serious look on Luke’s face caused everyone to crack up.
“If there’s anyone who can get a supermodel as a prom date, it’s David. So you all can laugh, but I have confidence in my boy,” Luke said, as he looked around the table.
“Luke, I can’t go to Prom. It’s for juniors and seniors.”
“You get Hannah Minacci to say yes, and every junior and senior guy will make sure you get in.”
“And some of the girls,” Suzanne said with a smirk.
That got a few eyebrows raised.
“Okay, let me get it set up.” I pulled out my cell phone and made a call.
“Kendal, hey. It’s David.”
“Good morning, ‘Mystery Man.’ I like the sound of that. I’m going to work on some marketing around your new handle. I need to get a copy of the video.”
“I have it. I’ll email it to you,” I said. Everyone at the table had a deer-in-the-headlights look. “I need you to work on something for me. I want to go to Prom with Hannah Minacci.”
I heard the phone hit the floor and Kendal laughing. I turned to see everyone waiting to hear what she said, so I put her on speaker. She picked the phone up.
“I love that idea. I can see it now: high school boy, ‘Mystery Man,’ a.k.a. Superman gets the hottest woman on the planet to be his prom date. If you’re serious, I’ll get Lily to start a Twitter campaign,” Kendal said.
“No way,” Luke said, as he hit his head on the table.
“This sounds like fun. Get Lily started,” I chuckled. “I want to see Luke’s head explode when she walks through the door. Thanks, Kendal, you’re the best.”
I hung up. Gina turned to Alan. She had a weird look on her face.
“Sorry, but your best friend makes me hot. Either you give me a free pass, or we’re breaking up.”
Our eyes got very big and I held up my hands.
“Whoa there, not happening. Alan’s my best friend.”
“Alan’s right. You’re going to be swimming in women,” Gina pouted.
Alan for once kept his mouth shut. I think he realized that Gina was semiserious. The rest of lunch was taken up with people teasing Luke about who I would get as my second date. The reasoning went that if I had two dates for Homecoming, I would have at least two for Prom.
DURING FIFTH PERIOD, it was announced that Eastside won the coin flip and would be going to State and represent our conference. Representatives from all three teams had met at a local restaurant with an official from the High School Athletic Association. It was decided that each one would flip a coin at the same time. If there were two matching coins, they would go to a head-to-head coin flip.
The first round, all three had heads. On the second round, both Eastside and Lincoln had tails. Since they beat us, they were allowed to call the final coin flip. The association representative flipped the coin and Eastside called heads. It came up heads to send them to the State Football Playoffs.
There was still the outside chance that we could get into the playoffs as an at-large selection. The committee would choose the final teams later in the day.
I had mixed feelings if we didn’t make it in because I felt our team was much better than Eastside. We might have a chance to win it all. Then I thought about having my body feel normal again. There was always a silver lining.
In my last period, I received a text letting me know that we were all to report to football practice tonight. Coach Lambert had us meet in street clothes in the gym.
“I just wanted to let you all know that I’m proud of how you all played this year.” He started it off. “Would Bill and David come down please?”