“David,” she said in a singsong voice. “I need you to find a girlfriend.”
“Nope, not happening.”
“I need you to go out with Jim and me this Saturday night. There’s a party I want to go to.”
“I have plans for Saturday night, and they do not include double-dating. I have a friend coming down from Wesleyan.”
“Let me make this easy for you: I’ll bug you 24/7 until you say you’ll go, or you can just go. What’s it going to be?”
I gave her a dismissive wave and headed to math class. Next thing I knew she had latched onto my leg.
“Please, David, say you’ll help me? Please?” she moaned nonstop while I dragged her to math.
Ms. Lowden came in right before the bell and raised her eyebrows.
“Cassidy, you have to stop!”
“Please?” she wailed, with big tears streaming down her face.
“Okay, you win.”
She got up with a big smile and kissed my cheek.
Ms. Lowden came up to me and grabbed my arm.
“David, please?”
“I give up! I’m going to go sit in the corner.”
Everyone but me thought it was funny.
Wednesday February 19
AT LUNCH THE DAY BEFORE, I’d talked to my seven-on-seven team about what Brad had said. Everyone was pissed until I pointed out that Brad had just anointed Mike, Jake and Ed as starters next year. I sold it as giving them their shot. Then they started joking about how their new team was going to beat us. Jim and Wolf explained how they were going to kick their butts if they kept mouthing off. I just mentioned that Jim dated Cassidy. That seemed to do the trick.
We met Brad and his team on the football field right after school. Everyone in our workout class came out to watch. Coach Hope was picked to be our referee. I had insisted on that. I was nervous that the ass-hat brigade would get rough. I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.
“Okay, Dawson, how do you want to work this?” Brad asked.
“I think we should make this fair. You take any three players off my team and you can protect three players on your team. That way you have the three best off each team, giving you the best six players.”
I was gambling that he would protect Tommy Cox and the other two jerks he called friends and leave me Bill Callaway. Bill had been my number one target all last season. Sure enough, that’s what he did. Those six plus Brad made seven.
We had to play defense first. I gathered everyone around.
“Just keep everything in front of you until they’re twenty yards out. Then let them go past you. Brad doesn’t have the arm to throw long. He consistently throws the ball short.
“I don’t know David, sometimes he gets the ball there,” Bill warned me.
“Then, Bill, we’ll just have to score. D’ya think you and I might be able to get past them?”
Everyone smiled.
I put Tim in the middle of the front line because of his linebacking skills. On either side of him I put Wolf and Jim. With their height and reach, I knew they could tag someone, plus Brad would have to throw over them. On the far outsides, I inserted Bert and one of the juniors. Bill and I split the deep areas. I warned them that Brad would go deep on the first play.
On the hike of the ball, it was obvious they were trying to do a jailbreak, sending everyone deep. I kept a count in my head and when it reached five, I stopped. Brad had rolled out to his right and he threw a Hail Mary. The ball hung in the air forever. The flag had been thrown, so I was headed back when one of them caught it and started dancing in the end zone.
Brad was whooping and mouthing off. I now knew why Kevin Goode hated hotdogging. Bill jogged over to me.
“Still don’t think he can throw it that far?”
I just shrugged and replied, “Not in four seconds.”
Next, Brad surprisingly set up a nice play. He had Jake running free in the zone behind Jim. However, Brad threw the ball a little low and Jim was able to swat it out of the air. We might have overdone the high fives, but they’d started it. Okay, we were being immature.
On third down, Brad threw the ball in the dirt, so it was now our turn.
“Okay, big guys, I want you to be wide and tall and we’re going to buttonhook them to death.”
Jim and Wolf would go out ten yards and then turn. I would throw it high and they would catch it and be tagged. Five plays later, Jim caught a pass in the back of the end zone for the first score.
The next series Jake caught a pass and got past Bert. I slipped and he was gone. We were now tied.
“Sorry guys, that was on me,” I said as we huddled up.
“Shut up, Dawson, no one said they weren’t going to score,” Tim told me.
“So do we do the twin-tower bit again, or do we show them why Bill and I won some awards last season?”
“I want to see Bill tear them up,” said the only other junior in the huddle.
He just went from ass-hat status to just a guy. If he kept it up, I might even learn his name.
“Alright, everyone but Bill line up on the left side. Have a seat, if you want.”
They actually did, the little shits.
Brad proved what a mental midget he was. He figured it was a trick play and started screaming, “Screen, Screen!”
Now that he said it, it wasn’t a bad idea. He left one guy on Bill. Bill’s shoulders were shaking from him laughing. I watched in amazement as Bill put a subtle move on Ed. Ed’s fast, but Bill has another gear. I just threw the ball in the center of the field and let Bill run under it.
After the score, Coach Hope took me aside.
“You can make your point, but don’t embarrass them. These are your teammates come fall.”
“Yes, sir.”
By halftime, we were up by three scores. Coach Hope made me play Bill only on defense. That forced me to play another junior. I found out that the two juniors could actually catch the ball. I made a point to give them opportunities. I even got Tim into the mix. He gave me a dirty look each time I threw to him, but he was getting into the groove. I’d have to tease Kevin that his protégé had gone to the dark side and was playing offense.
At the end of the third quarter, it all went south in a hurry. I heard the distinctive sound of a vintage Corvette coming into the parking lot. The hair on my neck went up. Bill Rogers was here. I looked in the stands and there was Tracy. I was off at a sprint when he stormed up the bleachers and grabbed her. There was a football in the middle of the field, so I scooped it up and threw a rifle shot at the back of his head. He was thirty yards away and I nailed him.
Bill stumbled and Tracy was able to get loose. He turned with murder in his eyes and I was headed for him at a dead sprint. Out of nowhere I was clotheslined and on my back. Coach Hope had put me down. I was trying to figure out if I was ever going to breathe again, so I missed what happened. I was told later that every football player ran to the stands.
Bill was smarter than the average thug and made a run for it. Everyone came back to see if I was still alive.
I finally sat up.
“What the hell, coach? Were you trying to kill me?”
“I was keeping you from getting expelled.”
“I guess you want me to thank you for that?”
Coach Hope laughed at me and helped me up.
“Are you ready to go?” Brad asked.
“I’m done. Give them Mike back and he can play the fourth quarter.”
That’s what they did. I went for a shower. I was putting on my socks when they came in. Mike had done well and scored a couple of touchdowns. Brad had also. So everyone was in a good mood when they hit the locker room. I waited for Jim to get done. He gave Wolf, Tim and me a ride home.
I WALKED IN TO FIND I was going to serve my first round of community service. Greg and Angie had gone out to dinner. Dad was watching Kyle when I got home. Kyle’s eyes lit up when he saw me.
“Where’s Mom?”
“The chemo is kicking her butt. She went to lie down.”
“Did you feed Kyle?”