Jim saw me and waved to say hi. I slipped Pam off me and onto Jim. That was when Cassidy and Wolf joined us.
“What’s he doing?” Cassidy asked.
“Taking one for the team,” I said.
“Oh. Come here and give me a kiss,” she ordered.
I looked at Wolf, and he gave me the thumbs up, so I kissed Cassidy. She was almost as bad as Pam. Jim finally figured out what I’d done, and I found Pam back in my arms. We worked our way to the kitchen where I found the cooler of Mountain Dew. I got one for each of them.
Mona found me.
“I need your help,” she told me.
She was the first sober person I’d seen. I left Pam with Cassidy to watch over her and went with Mona to the basement. I found what looked like a war zone. There were people drunk off their asses.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Tequila poppers,” she told me. She saw I was confused, so she explained. “In a shot glass, you mix tequila and lemon-lime soda. You cover it with your hand and pop it against the table to make it fizz. The fizz covers up the alcohol taste so you can slam it.”
I quickly went around the room to make sure no one was in danger. I found Tracy and she looked green. I helped her to the restroom and held her hair as she puked. Mike soon joined her. I decided he didn’t need me to hold his hair, so I left him to it.
Mona looked worried.
“My parents will be home around two. I need to get these people out of here.”
I stopped and thought for a moment. Was I willing to bail everyone out again? Not really. I also wasn’t willing to let them drive home drunk.
“You call Tom Dole. He has a big SUV that can haul a bunch of these people home. I’ll call Mike’s dad. I think they have a minivan.”
She didn’t look too certain.
“They’ll all get into trouble,” she said.
“It’s your call, but they’re not driving home in this condition.”
“Fine, be all responsible,” she complained.
I leaned down and gave her a kiss.
“If you act all responsible, I might give you a reward.”
She just shook her head and called Tom. I called Coach Herndon. He was my pitching coach for baseball.
Thirty minutes later I about had a heart attack: all the coaches showed up. Coach Hope took me aside.
“Did you help organize this?” he asked.
“No, sir. I didn’t get here until a little after ten. They were already like this when I got here. Mona asked me to help get everyone home.”
He seemed to relax some, knowing I hadn’t been the ringleader in this little adventure. I was curious how he’d found out, and he told me Tom Dole had called him. I was even more worried when my dad walked in with Tom. They came over to us, and Dad hugged me. I was a little less nervous.
“The police are at each end of the street, just waiting for people to leave the party driving drunk,” Tom told us.
“You want me to go talk to them?” I asked.
All three of them looked at me and waited for me to explain.
“When Brad had his party, I bailed everyone out. They worked with me to keep most of them from paying fines. At the Band Party, I helped the cops make sure no one drove while drunk. They know me, and it would keep you all out of it.”
Tom just shook his head.
“David, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not going to put a teenager in that position. I’ll go talk to them. If I need your help, I’ll call you,” Tom said with a small grin, and he left to talk to the police.
Our town was too small for the police not to know what was going on here. The coaches, Tom, and my dad were soon carting kids home. Coach Hope had Cassidy, Jim and Wolf helping Mona clean up. By about eleven-thirty, it was just Mona and me. We sat down in the family room on the couch, and she snuggled up to me.
“Thank you for tonight. What do you think’ll happen?” she asked.
“The worst case would be everyone gets suspended for a game, and we lose state. I’m pretty sure that’s not in the card,” I ventured.
“Why not?” Mona asked.
“Last year the police got involved, and there was a girl who looked like she’d been raped. A lot of the team was actually arrested, even though charges were later dropped. That was a much bigger deal than tonight. I think we’ll at least get some brownie points for getting help. My dad always tells me he’ll come to get me if I’m ever too drunk to drive. I’m sure most of the parents feel the same way.
“I’m not so naïve as to believe nothing will happen, though. What? I don’t know.”
“You deserve a reward for helping me,” Mona said in a sultry voice.
I just smiled as she put her hand on Mr. Happy. She soon had him out and her hand around him. I just leaned back and let her drive. She gave me a very satisfying blowjob and then sent me home before her parents arrived.
WHEN I GOT HOME, THE lights were still on in our kitchen, so I went to the main house. I found Mom and Dad talking.
“Just the young man we were talking about,” Mom said.
“I’m glad you were listening when I told you about drinking and driving. Too many young people are killed by one bad decision. I’m sure some of the kids you helped tonight aren’t going to see it that way. I just want you to know we see you starting to grow up.”
“So, since I did good, would now be the time to ask for something?” I asked.
“There could be worse times,” Mom pondered.
“Well, this is actually Greg’s idea. He wants, and I agree, we should get a jet water board,” I said hopefully.
“Is that the thing you almost killed yourself on?” Dad asked.
“Well, that was more because there was a defect in the design. Devin tells me he thinks they have it fixed now. He’s even thinking about waiving the paperwork about you possibly dying on it.”
“I would sooner see you on a motorcycle,” Dad said.
Crud. Getting a motorcycle was NEVER happening, according to my Dad. Mom patted my hand.
“Nice try,” she said, and then they sent me to bed.
Chapter 22 – I Think I’ll Risk It
Sunday November 23
Coach Hope called me before I went to church. He wanted to talk to me, and my parents, before he made his final decision about what to do with the drinking issue from last night. We had agreed to go to Granny’s for a late breakfast after Mom and I came back from church. When we walked in, Granny spotted me. She made a big fuss about my chin and thought I needed a cinnamon roll to make it better.
“I see why you come here,” Mom chided me.
Before I could respond, the Hope family joined us. Brad had a satisfied smile on his face.
“Why’s he so happy?” I asked Cassidy.
“For once he isn’t the one in trouble.”
That just got an even bigger smile out of him. Granny came over when she saw we had guests.
“Granny, I’d like you to meet my football coach, Tony Hope. These two are Cassidy and Brad. I think this is their first time here,” I said, and Cassidy and Brad nodded.
“First-time guests, who are friends of David, earns you a cinnamon roll as a welcome,” she said.
She sent over a large plate with enough for everyone, and they were hot out of the oven. I admit I snagged a second one. Granny was a marketing genius. Giving out cinnamon rolls made you a customer for life.
Once we’d all ordered, Coach got to what he wanted to talk about.
“I’m torn about what to do about last night. Moose wants me to suspend everyone who was there. He has a zero-tolerance for alcohol rule for baseball.”
“Tony, we would never have called you if we thought you were going to go that far,” my dad said. “I thought it was more important to make sure the kids were safe.”
“I agree, but I need to do something. I thought about starting the JV team, but I’m afraid one of them might get hurt. It’s bad enough we’re so young. I don’t need freshmen lining up across from seniors. I’m looking for suggestions,” Coach told my Dad.