Cassidy gave me a dirty look, which had me more than a little concerned.
“Why did you pull your kick?” she accused me.
“Because he’s your brother, and someday you’ll be glad I didn’t kill him,” I said with a lopsided grin.
“David, I thought I taught you better than that. Brad is no novice. He could have seriously hurt you. If he wasn’t so lax in his training, he could have easily countered your move. If you’d gone full-out, he wouldn’t have had a chance. I appreciate you didn’t hurt him any worse than you did, but don’t ever hold back again. If you’re forced to fight, protect yourself,” Cassidy lectured me.
I did the one move I knew Cassidy couldn’t defend against: I kissed her. I had meant to let her know I cared for her and loved her as a friend. She grabbed the back of my head and took our kiss to the next level. I will forever be grateful Mom was there and cleared her throat, or I would have ruined my friendship with Jeff. Cassidy also seemed to snap out of it, and we both had sheepish looks like we’d been caught doing something we weren’t supposed to.
Cassidy hopped off my lap and Mom kicked me out so they could talk. Cassidy needed to work through being hit by her big brother. I was glad Mom stepped in because this was beyond my experience. I couldn’t imagine hitting a family member, or a woman for that matter. It just wasn’t something that would be tolerated in my family.
Monday May 11
FINALS WEEK! JUST THE whisper of that phrase caused the brightest of students to tremble. I sat at our lunch table and watched everyone lose their minds. I had never seen such stage fright since I was twelve and had to pee off the back of my uncle’s fishing boat while everyone watched. This was ridiculous. We’d all survived finals before. I didn’t understand why everyone was suddenly freaked out. Being a man of action, I needed to solve this.
“You’re all a bunch of wimps,” I politely suggested.
Throwing hard garlic bread was not a polite response to my offer of help. I had to give it to the lunch ladies: they somehow had turned garlic bread into inedible chunks of stinky rock.
“Shut up, freak,” Mike said.
“David can’t help it he’ll get straight A’s,” Gina said. “He’s the star quarterback.”
My former friends all seemed to agree with her messed-up logic. I tried to be helpful again.
“As Bill Shakespeare said, ‘I must be cruel, only to be kind.’ I think he meant you bunch of dumbasses are much ado about nothing. If I have to kick your asses to get your heads on straight, then that’s what I’ll do. They are only tests of your knowledge. I watched most of you show up and at least pay partial attention to the droning of our teachers.”
Where did they find these garlic missiles? Damn, that hurt. I decided a little tough love was needed. I had about thirty garlic rocks scattered around me. It was time this bunch found out what a varsity pitcher could do. I clocked Wolf in the back of the head and in rapid succession Jim, Jeff, Alan, Tim and Cassidy all got a little payback. Rewind! Did I say Cassidy? Shiiiiiiiiiit!
Everyone froze as Cassidy realized she now had garlic butter in her hair. She slowly turned to see me jump out of my chair. Everything went like the Matrix in super-slow motion. Cassidy screamed to get me, and everyone seemed to have a roll in their hand. Not just my table, either. I mentally made a list of freshmen who would die later today. I did my best to dodge them. I was doing pretty well until I decided to chuck one at Mike. That was when Coach Hope entered the lunchroom.
“Dawson!”
You have never seen such a room full of little angels innocently smiling at my predicament. I glared at them all and turned to Coach Hope.
“Sir, why is it always the guy who retaliates who’s the one who gets punished?” I complained.
Everyone started laughing, and Coach led me out into the hall. You could feel the mood change. Everyone seemed to have shifted their focus to having a little fun, which caused them to relax. There were actual smiles around the lunchroom as I was marched out. Coach looked me up and down. He could see garlic butter all over me. He just gave me a dirty look.
“Go shower and change your clothes. You stink,” he said as he walked away.
TODAY THE ONLY FINAL I had was in PE, which was Ballroom Dancing. Our PE teacher wanted to see each of us show her thirty seconds of each dance we’d learned this year. She allowed us to pick our partner to do the dances with. I was a little irritated when all the girls wanted me to be their partner. The guys thought it was funny.
Then the guys went, with me dancing last, of course. I didn’t think it was fair the other guys all did theirs at the same time. I don’t think we were being graded very hard. Our PE teacher seemed to be happy that there were guys in the class.
When it was my turn, I smiled when Dana joined me. She’d been my partner for the talent show last year and she was one of the best dancers at Lincoln High. Our PE teacher decided to have some fun. She had a tape that flowed from one type of music to another. She started the music and called out what dance she wanted to see. We went through all the ballroom dances and then there was a pause. The music changed to stuff from this century, and Dana and I just went for it.
I was twerking Dana when everyone joined us, even our PE teacher. We spent the last fifteen minutes just having fun. She announced that everyone received an ‘A.’ I hoped all my finals went that easily.
AS I WALKED TO MY NEXT class, I received a text from Angie.
‘Need your help now!’
‘In school’ I sent back.
‘Baby!’
I tried to call Mom, Dad and Greg. Every attempt went to voicemail. Alan was in my next class.
“I think Angie’s having her baby. Let my teachers know where I went,” I said as I ran for the parking lot.
I made it to Greg and Angie’s apartment in record time. When I got there, I didn’t care where I parked and just pulled in behind a couple of cars. I sprinted to their apartment and found the door locked. I pounded on the door and there was no answer. I had a key, so I used it. I found Angie slumped over in the bathroom, holding her stomach as she had a contraction. There was a puddle of something on the floor. It looked like her water broke.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“Help me up. I’m having this baby.”
She had trouble standing as another contraction hit her. Something was wrong. The contractions were coming too close together. I picked her up and rushed her to the Jeep.
“No, I’ll mess up your seat,” she whined.
“You want to have your baby at home?” I asked her.
She still could throw a punch to my arm. I took that punch as a ‘no’ to my question. The hospital was only six blocks away. I pulled up at the emergency room entrance and ran in.
“I need help!”
A nurse looked at me over the reception desk.
“What’s wrong?”
“Angie, she’s having her baby and I think something’s wrong. I need help,” I repeated.
She rushed out with me and checked Angie as she had another contraction. I got really scared when the nurse waved over some paramedics who were coming out the automatic doors. She said something that had them scurrying to get her out of the Jeep and onto a gurney. I was even more scared when they sprinted into the ER with her. I tried to run in with her, but they blocked me from going into the back.
When I went to move my Jeep, I found blood on Angie’s seat. I tried everyone again and Mom answered.
“Mom, something’s wrong with Angie and the baby,” I blurted out.
“What happened?” she asked me.
I told her about the text messages and trying to get ahold of everyone. I then told her about finding the blood in the Jeep. A doctor came out while I was talking to Mom.