I smiled when Roc picked his skinny butt up off the turf and took off down the field. At least I did do a few things right. I watched myself square my shoulders and get my feet pointed towards where I needed to throw the ball. Little things like that set me apart from other quarterbacks. I uncorked a humdinger of a pass. It wasn’t one of those that hung in the air forever and gave the defense a chance to bat it down; it covered over fifty yards in a hurry. I was impressed with Roc as he fought off the safety, stuck his big hand up, and caught the ball one-handed, even as the defensive pass-interference flag flew. The impressive part was it was his left hand.
‘The receiver, Rockefeller Pearson, is only a freshman. Lincoln High’s Dawson and Pearson hooked up for four scores and won a tight game going away, once they got rolling.’
Roc hated it when someone called him Rockefeller. I turned off the TV, checked out, and put my bags under the bus. I had some time before we left, so I planned to go to the little diner I’d visited the day before for breakfast.
“Hang on,” a female voice called behind me.
I turned around and saw Jan.
“Come on. I’ll buy you breakfast,” I said.
She caught up with me, and we walked the four blocks without saying a word. We found an empty booth that looked out over the street. The server brought us menus and took our drink orders.
“You must think I’m crazy for how I acted last night,” Jan said.
“I can tell you’re not happy. Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, I just wanted to tell you I was sorry for last night. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said. We fell into an uneasy silence as we looked over the menu.
After the server took our order, I decided to break the silence. I decided that our relationship couldn’t get any worse than it already was.
“What happened to you in middle school?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I get the feeling something changed. You were the girl that all the other girls wanted to be. You were popular, funny, and smart. Then you suddenly started doing drugs, drinking, and having sex with almost everyone. I get the feeling that something significant changed.”
Jan looked out the window.
“I guess I just wanted to have fun,” she said. “If I remember correctly, you used to have fun too.”
“I guess I did,” I admitted. “My concern is you’re starting to get out of hand. I have no problem with most of what you do. What I do have a problem with is the drugs. I really have an issue with you taking them around my teammates. The last thing we need is to have to deal with that as a team.”
“I realize you don’t like it, but I don’t really want to stop,” Jan admitted.
“I’ve put up with you up to this point, but after last night, it has to stop. You’d been getting high before you came to my room last night. You threw yourself at me and then fell apart when I protected you. Maybe I need to get involved in your life before you do something you can’t undo.”
“And you’re so perfect that you think you can help me? What makes you believe that I have anything wrong with me?” Jan asked.
Then she continued with her rant.
“You sanctimonious jerk! I suppose you think you need to add to your little harem and I can be the charity case. Screw you. I’m just fine, and don’t need Mr. Perfect to tell me how to run my life,” she said and then burst into tears.
I slid out from my side of the booth, sat down next to her, and reached for her. But she pushed me away. I grabbed her and pulled her to my chest. Of course, the server decided to bring us our food at that moment. She gave me a dirty look and left. I simply held Jan as she cried it out. As I watched my breakfast get cold, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. The last thing I needed was to deal with something like this right now. For whatever reason, Jan had come to me, so I felt some obligation to help her.
My first thought was she needed to be turned over my knee, and then I needed to take a firm hand with her. It was like when Duke learned something bad, and I had to break him of it. I felt I needed to do the same with Jan. Someone had to set limits for her, someone she’d listen to. I wondered if I needed to talk to her parents. After all, I’d already tattled on one brat in the last twenty-four hours. The problem was I didn’t know her parents. Come to think of it, that in itself was kind of weird. I think I’d met almost everyone’s parents on the football team and cheerleading squad. I hadn’t remembered ever seeing her parents at any of the trips to Monical’s, football games, or other places.
Before I committed to anything, I needed advice. I’d call Uncle John. I was sure he’d dealt with crazy girls in his past. My phone rang, and it was Coach Hope asking where I was because they were almost ready to leave. I paid our check, and we hurried to the bus.
◊◊◊
I was the last one on the bus. Wolf had saved me a seat, but I needed to deal with my half brother. He was seated with another freshman, so I pointed at Phil’s seatmate.
“Go sit with Wolf.”
“You don’t have to listen to him. Leave me alone, David,” Phil said.
Phil’s friend didn’t move, so I reached over and pulled him out of the seat.
“Dawson!” Moose boomed.
“I got this, Coach,” I said.
Phil’s friend decided he would rather sit with Wolf than deal with me. I sat down next to Phil and saw the pure hatred on his face. It brought a grin to my face because I had a feeling that when my son grew up, I would see that very same expression at some point. I was sure he was mad because I’d told on him. What he didn’t realize was he was lucky I had.
“How’s your mom?” I goaded him.
His face turned bright red and he began to shake. I was about ready to defend myself when the tears started to stream down his face. Instinctively I reached for him and pulled him to my chest like I had done with Jan earlier. Someone peeked over the seat, and I gave them a look that promised death if they made a comment. Phil suddenly became aware of where he was and pushed me away. I just let him gather himself.
Everyone around us was nervous as to what would happen next. The team captain didn’t sit with the freshmen. They were all aware that Phil and I were related and we had roomed together. I started to think it had been a bad idea to confront him on the bus with all his friends within hearing distance.
“We’ll talk when we get home,” I said, then got up and went to sit with Wolf.
The freshman who had been sitting with my half brother saw me and almost fell out of his seat to go back and join Phil.
“What was that all about?” Wolf asked.
“Family drama,” I said.
Wolf just grunted. Thank God he wasn’t a girl, or I would have had to explain all the details.
A few minutes later, Coach Mason called me to the front of the bus so he could break down the game with me while Coaches Diamond and Hope listened in. Alan must have been busy last night to get all the plays loaded into our software. If I’d had an inflated opinion of myself after the game, Coach Mason pointed out all my flaws and brought me back down to being a mere mortal. He did it with practiced ease that had me focused on what mattered, not my ego. For as long as I played the game, there would always be more things for me to work on. Actually, the better I got, the more I realized I didn’t know.