Once we were finished with our meeting, we’d caught a flight to Chicago and gotten home late. Mom had made me leave my bags in the laundry room. I’d looked in on the boys, and Duke had followed me to the apartment, where I’d instantly crashed. Living in a hotel is fine, but there’s nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.
The thunder seemed to have subsided.
“Come on, Duke. Let’s go run.”
I heard it start to rain.
“Maybe not,” I said as I got out of bed to start my day.
◊◊◊
While I fed the boys, I received a text from my new girlfriend. She told me to pick her up and then get Tracy and Pam. Cassidy, who was my security today, was waiting for me by the car. She wanted to drive, but I’d decided the Demon could handle a little rain, and I was going to drive today. I found myself pulling into Brook Davis’s drive. I honked the horn, looked over at Cassidy, and smiled. Usually, I wouldn’t pull such a douchebag move, but I didn’t feel like getting wet. Brook darted out, trying to dodge the raindrops, and gave me the evil eye when she found the door locked. Oops. Cassidy climbed over the seat so my girlfriend could join me in the front seat.
“Jerk,” was my morning welcome.
I decided to ignore the comment and act like nothing happened. I hadn’t done it on purpose, really! As punishment, I had to drop all the girls off at the front door before parking. I had visions of this being my life in a few years when Coby and Little David were off to school.
This getting rained on while Brook remained dry wasn’t exactly how I’d envisioned the new-girlfriend thing working when I decided that Brook was the one. Then I watched her walk into school in those silk sweatpants that barely hung on her hips. Yeah, I made the right choice.
◊◊◊
I had been very particular about which classes I was taking this year. No AP classes or anything too taxing for this boy. I’d even signed up for a shop class with the idea of an easy ‘A.’ I got in line to grab my schedule and chatted with people I hadn’t seen all summer. Today was supposed to be a half-day where you got your books and syllabus for each class.
I finally made it to the front and opened my packet. I found a student handbook with a map of the campus along with my course schedule.
PE – Strength and Conditioning – Coach Rector
Precalculus – Ms. Lowden
AP Chemistry – Mr. Dutton
Lunch
AP English Literature – Mrs. Hedge
Spanish 1 – Ms. Cruz
AP Economics – Mr. Quiroz
Photography – Ms. Saunders
I checked to make sure this really was my schedule. Where were Rocks for Jocks, Computers for Dummies, Rock Music Appreciation, and the other classes I signed up for? I spotted Ms. Jaroslav, our guidance counselor.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“My class list … I, uh … didn’t sign up for any of these,” I said.
She gave me a weak smile.
“You didn’t think your parents would allow you to slack off, did you?” she asked.
“How does my mom know what classes I sign up for?”
“She calls in and asks. She and I talked, and we agreed these would be better for getting you ready for college. If you want, you can come in, and we can discuss it,” she offered.
This day was going downhill in a hurry.
“What about this last one? Photography?” I asked as I pointed to my list.
“Your mom said you have a camera and planned to take pictures during the summer. We thought that it would appeal to your artistic side. We’ve both seen your drawings and figured you might want to try something else.”
If I didn’t think the woman had my best interests in mind, that comment might have stung. While I wasn’t at Halle’s level, I did okay drawing. I thought I was getting better.
“I take it there’s no changing this,” I tried one last time.
“We would need to see if there were any openings, but I believe all the classes you originally signed up for are full.”
◊◊◊
Each class today would only last fifteen minutes, so when the bell rang, I walked to PE. Coach Rector met us all in the locker room.
“We need to assign lockers. When you hear your name called, come up front and get your lock and locker number.”
My name was called, and I got my lock and started hunting for my locker because I didn’t recognize the number. I usually had my locker in the center aisle. I finally found it in the back row, and it was a small one that non-athletes used. There was no way I would be able to get my football gear in that locker.
“Hey, Coach, there must be a mistake. I can’t even get my helmet in that thing,” I said.
“All the bigger lockers are assigned. That’s all we have right now. If someone quits football, golf, swimming, or cross-country, we can get you a bigger locker.”
I knew that was bullshit because they’d built the Field House specifically for athletics, and there were plenty of large lockers.
“So, what am I supposed to do with my equipment?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Talk to one of the team managers when you come to practice tonight,” he suggested.
Coach Rector had little patience for stuff like this, so I would have to wait. I saw Alan’s hand in all this. I decided not to get mad about it. If I had to, I would just take my stuff home and store it in my car during the day. I was sure the fun and games weren’t over, so, between classes, I made a phone call.
◊◊◊
After I’d collected all my books and the information I would need for each class, I walked to the locker room. I smiled when I saw Jeff Delahey and his camera crew. He’d arranged to get full access this fall to do a documentary on the Lincoln High football program. The real reason was they wanted to follow around the number-one football recruit, and they knew I wouldn’t agree to do it otherwise.
“You ready for some drama?” I asked.
“Sure, what’s going on?”
“Someone’s upset I wasn’t at two-a-days. They assigned me one of those small square lockers this morning. I’m sure that there’ll be more antics today, so I thought you might want to document it for your show.”
“That sounds awfully childish, especially when you’re their starting quarterback and leader of the team. Why would they want to upset you over something like that?” Jeff asked.
“That’s an excellent question. I wish I’d thought of that,” I said with a smile.
“So, I take it your plan is to play nice and let me film them.”
I just nodded. Alan’s bullying tactics would only work if I pushed back publicly. Coach Hope would eventually get it fixed, but I would look like a jerk for calling Alan out.
Outside the locker room, I gave a quick interview about how excited I was to be back. I confirmed I was ready to put my full effort into helping my team win state this year. And I spent a minute talking about what a privilege it had been to represent the USA in the baseball tournament. We then walked into the locker room. I wandered to the equipment room to pick up my duffle bag with all my gear in it.
Jeff had pulled back to allow me to talk to the equipment manager. But instead, I found Alan waiting for me. I gave Jeff a hand sign to let him know that the fun was about to begin. We’d agreed that he could film it across the room as they’d wired me for sound.
“I’m here to pick up my equipment,” I said.
“Just a minute. Let me get it for you,” Alan said as he walked into the back and started pulling out things.
“I have a duffle in the back with my name on it,” I said.