“I’m not sure I can just walk away, for a lot of reasons. The one that comes to mind is that my team and I have worked hard to win state again. But if I don’t get better soon, I can see your point,” I admitted.
“Just think about it. I’m not advising you not to play again this year. I just want you to understand that it’s an option and that I would support you if you decided to take care of your health first. Believe me when I tell you that they will want you to play through it at the higher levels. I’ve seen too many young men’s dreams destroyed because the second injury was the career-ender,” Coach Mason said.
“Do you think Trent can handle the job if I were to take a step back and didn’t play for the full six weeks?” I asked.
“Anything’s possible,” he said as a joke. “Trent looked better today. We’ve had to make some changes because he doesn’t have your arm strength. I’m confident we can beat Riverside this week and have a good shot at beating St. Joe next week. Even with you back the week after that, though, I’m not sure we can beat Broadview Academy,” Coach Mason said. Those were the remaining games we would play before the state playoffs began.
Broadview Academy was similar to IMG Academy out of Florida. It was a boarding school based in Texas whose sole purpose was to get high-level athletes to college. Our matchup with Broadview was this year’s annual road game. Last year, we played King High School at the Indianapolis Colts’ stadium on ESPN. This year, we were traveling to St. Louis to play in The Dome, the former home of the St. Louis Rams, who’d left to play in LA. The game was being televised on ESPN again.
Coach Mason was probably right. We’d shocked everyone when we beat King. Broadview Academy would be ready for us. It was another David vs. Goliath situation and people wanted to see if David would come out on top again. My competitive side wanted to play in that game.
If we took care of Riverside this Friday, we could lose the last two games and still win our conference. We would be tied with Washington if they won out, but we held the head-to-head tiebreaker.
◊◊◊
Chapter 28 – I Think They Are Wednesday October 19
Before school, I was approached by a band member and reminded that this weekend was the annual Band Bachelor Auction. I explained I wouldn’t be able to attend, but they should contact Caryn about a donation. That seemed to get me off the hook.
After school, everyone met before practice to hand in their signatures and find out who the winners were. It was funny to watch Brook get more and more agitated with each passing day. Cassidy told me that Destiny had been in Brook’s ear, telling her that she was going to win. Destiny had hinted at what she planned to do on our date. For once, it wasn’t me with the problem child. I hadn’t mentioned that Cassidy had kept me up to date on the ongoing feud.
When I came into the field house, I saw my dad and grandma were already there to check the signatures. Brook found me and grabbed my hand. I tried to reassure her with a smile, but I think she simply needed to make it known that we were a couple. Zoe and Jill were well aware of my dating status. I wasn’t worried about them.
Brook stiffened when Destiny came in. She had a stack of signature forms to hand in. Brook had gotten serious about ‘winning’ the date and collected a lot in the past two days. Last night, I, her loyal boyfriend, had gone with her to the mall to get signatures. We were smart and brought Duke. At first, some of the mall people had hassled us, but I had Duke’s paperwork that showed he was trained as a therapy dog. It didn’t hurt that the mall security gal was a Lincoln High football fan.
Brook was irritated that all I had to do was smile at people and they would stop to talk to me. I tried to explain that in a small town, you tended to know just about everyone. It didn’t seem right that she should be able to count all the ones I got signed, but it was explained to me that I was wrong. I tried to point out that I needed signatures to help the varsity catch the freshmen. Brook told me she would help pay for the party, and we would invite everyone who helped gather signatures. That ended my argument.
Once my grandma and dad had finished checking the last of the signatures, Grandma left to file them with the election officials. Dad got everyone’s attention.
“On behalf of our candidate, Duke, I want to thank you for your help. I know that David offered some incentives for those who collected the most signatures. If I remember correctly, the freshmen had the lead as of Monday. I know that the varsity and JV squads put up a valiant effort, but unfortunately weren’t able to catch them.”
The freshmen made fools of themselves. I would need to sit them down and explain the proper decorum. Dad held up his hands to calm them down.
“Brook Davis talked to David and suggested that since you all did such an outstanding job, she would kick in to take you all to dinner. And that includes your parents. The dinner will be held election night at Our House,” Dad announced.
I noticed the cheerleaders weren’t looking happy. Dad saw it, too.
“Sorry, that includes the cheerleaders.”
Cute pouts turned into cuter happy smiles.
Duke’s election bid was starting to get expensive. It was good that I got a discount since I was one of the owners.
“When David was little, I dropped him on his head,” Dad publicized. “I guess that explains why even with a girlfriend, he offered to take the cheerleader who got the most signatures on a date. The winner is … Destiny Crown!”
I suddenly worried Brook might break some of my fingers, she gripped my hand so hard.
“Did we get enough signatures?” Tim asked.
Dad looked embarrassed that he hadn’t led with that.
“Yes. We have 687. More than enough.”
Destiny must have had a death wish because she came bounding up to set our date. It was my turn to squeeze Brook’s hand. I wanted to make sure I had a good hold in case Brook decided she was willing to take a suspension for fighting. I had a bad feeling I would somehow end up in the middle of the whole mess and get suspended with her.
Even though we were done with our little event, I noticed that no one had left to get ready for practice. Practically the whole school knew these two girls were frenemies, and I guess they were waiting for fireworks. I looked pointedly at everyone, and Tim and Wolf ushered them out. I glared at Dare, who had pulled out his phone to video all the action.
“Congratulations, and thank you for all the work you put into gathering the signatures. Why don’t you think about what you want to do, and we can talk about it later?” I said. Then I cut off Destiny before she could say anything. “Let’s not ruin our date with any comments now.”
She caught herself before she pissed me off by saying something to wind up my girlfriend. Destiny wasn’t stupid. She stood a little straighter to indicate she intended to take the high road and then nodded.
“We’ll talk … when you’re alone,” Destiny offered.
I decided not to tempt fate and pulled Brook with me as I hobbled to go get ready for my daily walk.
“That went well,” I commented.
Brook said something I’m not allowed to repeat.
◊◊◊
Doc Grog was waiting for me when I came into the locker room.
“How’re you feeling?”
“It still hurts, but I can tell I’m getting better,” I qualified.
“Okay, let’s check you out.”
He poked and prodded me until I was almost in tears. I might have fibbed a little about how much better it felt. He gave me a wan smile.
“I’m sorry, but it’ll take more time to heal. As much as I wish there was something I could do to speed it up, there simply isn’t. I’m afraid all I can do is help you with the pain, but right now, that would be a mistake. That pain is warning you that you need to take it easy. I think we need to stop your walking and stretching until next week. It looks like it may be slowing your recovery.”