“Suzanne tells me that you two did something new. Care to share with your best friend?”
Mr. Happy had missed and found his way into a new hole. I couldn’t believe Suzanne would tell anyone about that.
“First of all, why the hell would she be telling you about that? Second, I’m not kissing and telling. Third, if you really want to know, I can show you.”
“Oh, no you won’t. I’d have to be several kinds of crazy to allow you to do that to me.”
“Did she say she had a good time?”
“Well, I suppose so.”
“Then don’t knock it until you try it.”
“That’s your best argument? Good luck with that.”
“Tami, I thought you trusted me.”
“Nope, not happening. Wait a minute, how did you turn this on me? You’re supposed to be giving me scoop, not talking me into stuff.”
“You told me to be a doer.”
“I think somebody’s a little too full of themselves and needs an old-fashioned butt-kicking. I’m going to call Cassidy. I hear she hasn’t filled her quota for the week yet.”
“Okay, I’ll be good.”
I don’t know how she does it, but she always says the right thing. I needed her to get me back on the right path. Yep, I knew I loved that girl for a reason.
Tuesday February 4
I COULD NOT WAIT FOR this day to end. Magic actually kicked me out of seven-on-seven practice because I wasn’t concentrating. Mom’s flight landed around two this afternoon. I made it home in record time. We had a houseful; word had gotten out. I walked into the kitchen to find Mom talking to everyone. The first thing I noticed was she looked tired. She saw me right away, got up, and gave me a hug.
I had a big smile on my face and tears in my eyes. She gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“I missed you,” she whispered fiercely.
“I love you,” I countered.
I felt a tear roll down my cheek and she got a tight smile. She took my hand, led me into the office, and shut the door. She then wrapped me in a tight hug and shuddered. I could tell she was crying, which was not helping me get under control.
“Baby, I have some bad news,” she started. “Terri lost her battle Sunday.”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry. I know you cared about her. I can’t believe it. She seemed to be doing well.”
“She was a very sick girl. She bounced back right before you came. She was so looking forward to meeting you. I guess I bragged on you a little and she’d been so lonely. That’s why your dad and I basically took her in.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It is. You spending time with her and being her friend meant a lot to her. She told me to tell you not to be sad, it was her time. She did make a final request of you.”
I just nodded. Whatever it was, I would do it.
“She asked that you help me.”
“Of course I’ll help you.”
Mom smiled.
“I knew you would. What I want to do, when I get better, is help cancer patients. I’m not talking about anything grandiose. I want to volunteer and spend time with teens with cancer. I want you to help me.”
“Absolutely! I’m on board. Let’s get you well, first, though.”
“I talked to the doctors. I’m going to take some more tests this week. It looks like the cancer has slowed down. They’re going to give me a couple of weeks off. If my condition doesn’t improve, I’ll need to start chemo again.”
I could see the determination in her eyes. I knew she was going to beat this. We went out and joined the others. It felt like a missing piece of me had returned. When we went back in, I found Dad and we hugged each other. I was complete again. My family was home.
Wednesday February 5
AT LUNCH, THE USUAL gang was gathered. I was talking to April about going on a date Friday night. Cassidy and Jim wanted to double-date. Well, in reality, it was Cassidy’s dad who insisted on her double-dating. Suddenly I had Tracy wrapped around me, sobbing. Something was terribly wrong. I looked at April and could tell she had no idea what was going on. No one else seemed to have a clue, either.
Tracy was crying so hard that she couldn’t tell me, so I just held her. The bell rang and April said she would stop by the gym to tell my PE teacher what was going on. Soon the second lunch period started and everyone was giving me and Tracy strange looks. No one seemed to want to get near us, but we were the center of attention.
I was surprised when Mary Dole, Tracy’s mom, came in and sat down. I gave her a confused look.
“What’s going on?”
“Bill Rogers was released earlier today.”
“I thought he was in until he became 18. How’d he get out?”
“Part of it’s my fault. I talked everyone into not charging Bill for when he attacked Jim and Tracy. I didn’t want her having to relive everything. His lawyer got him back on probation. I guess he knew this was a possibility because he was a model inmate.”
“Please tell me that he’s not coming back to school.”
Her lips got tight and I knew he was. I helped get Tracy to her car. Mary thanked me for being there for Tracy and left.
AFTER OUR sixty minutes of hell with Cassidy, the seven-on-seven team got together. We had our tournament on Saturday. There were going to be sixteen teams in a double-elimination tournament, so we were assured to play at least two games. The biggest problem was that we didn’t have anyone to practice against. Magic had tried to get the varsity team to join us, but Brad wouldn’t do it.
“I’ve been reviewing the playbook that David got us,” Magic said, holding up a binder. “We don’t have enough time to learn a complicated defense, and I know most of you have only played offense. I want to keep this simple. We’re going to play a four-two-one zone.”
He put me in center field, with Jake and Ed on either side of me. We were the three fastest players on the team. In the front row, he put Mike and Bert on the outside, with Tim and Wolf on the inside. Jim was the odd man out and wasn’t playing defense.
“The front four guys are responsible for their quarter of the field. The outside back two have a half each. David, you’re free to roam the field. You’re our last line of defense, so don’t let them get behind you.”
“I apologize right now because we all know at some point that’s exactly what’ll happen,” I told them.
They gave me some ribbing about being a slacker and the cause for the impending defeat.
“Knock it off,” Magic scolded us. “Mike and Bert, the sideline’s your friend. Take an inside position and force everything into the sideline. If you have a chance, I want you to break on the ball and get an interception. We can be aggressive because the big dork behind you can keep us in the game.”
Everyone gave me looks.
“Wolf and Mike, I want you to keep everything in front of you. This is touch football, so all you have to do is get a hand on them. Ed and Jake, they’ll try to overload a zone and slip someone deep. Your jobs are to pick them up. David, you’re responsible for anything that gets past the rest of them. You key off the quarterback.”
We all nodded.
“Now the good news is you only have to play defense for four seconds. That’s all the time the quarterback has to pass the ball. This means that everything will be quick. The quarterback isn’t going to have time to go through a complete read progression. It will be a three-step or less, set and throw,” Magic coached us.
We spent the rest of practice with Magic playing quarterback and Jim moving from one offensive position to the next so that Magic could show us how to handle different plays. At the end of practice, I pulled everyone together.
“On Saturday I want everyone to just have fun. I want to win, but we’ve only been working on this for a few days. The good news is that most of the other teams are in the same boat. Two things I want to tell you do not relate to Saturday. The first is that Bill Rogers is out and coming back to school,” I told them.