Chapter 25

I came out of the house on Monday morning and found my brother Andy arguing with his friend Eric Connell. Eric vehemently insisted, "That's bullshit! I don't believe you for a second, Andy."

"I did! I really did." Andy insisted.

"You expect me to believe that a high school cheerleader would let you go all way the her? I don't even believe she would talk to you much less do it," Eric said.

Andy exclaimed, "No, really. She let me do it. Twice."

"No way!" Eric said. "I don't believe you could get that lucky even in your dreams."

Andy countered with, "It's true! Ask Kyle. He was there."

"Hey, I don't want in the middle of your argument," I said. "Keep me out of it."

Fortunately for me, the bus arrived then. We climbed aboard. I grabbed Andy and shoved him into the seat beside me. I spoke in a low voice. "Andy, when you have sex with a girl, don't go around bragging about it. You need to be discrete. Girls hate it when a guy blabs. She doesn't want to get a reputation."

Andy answered, "I didn't know that. I'll keep quiet."

"I'm not sure you're that dumb, Andy. Just keep what you did a secret that's between you and Stacie. Be discrete."

"OK, Kyle. Do you think I can go out with you next Saturday?"

"No. I'm going camping with the Venturers next weekend. Don't expect to tag along every Saturday I go out. You need to find a girl your own age, Andy."

"OK, Kyle. Thanks," Andy replied.

When we arrived at the school Andy and I got off the bus, followed by Ed and Eric. By chance, Stacie Thompson's bus had stopped just in front of ours. She spotted us and hurried to catch us. She greeted me with a hearty, "Hi Tiger. Glad to see you." She gave me a kiss on the cheek.

She spotted Andy. She gave him a hug and squealed, "MMmm ... Bunny. I'm happy to see you." Stacie gave Andy a passionate kiss. Their lips remained locked together rather too long. I glanced over at Eric. He stared at Stacie and Andy, eyes wide and his mouth dangling.

When Stacie and Andy finally separated Stacie said, "Saturday night was fun. I hope we can do it again some time, Bunny."

Eric asked, "Bunny?" looking at my brother.

Stacie answered for him, "My Energizer Bunny. He kept going, and going, and..." Andy grinned at Stacie outrageous praise. Andy and Eric headed for the middle school. Ed, Stacie and I headed for the senior high.

Stacie said, "I think I just made Andy's day."

I answered, "Day, month, year, and maybe lifetime. Thanks for helping my little brother."

"I did have fun with him, Kyle," Stacie replied. "Andy has potential."

--oooOooo--

Our opponent this week was Norlanco. Their record was 3-4. Their defense was poor. They allowed more points than any other team in our league. The coaches warned us to not underestimate them. Stan and Andy Groff preached that our playoff chances weren't dead. We needed to play hard for our next three games. If the other teams ahead of us messed up, we needed to be ready. We still had a slim chance to make the playoffs.

Even with Cornwall's loss the previous Friday, our team stood fourth behind undefeated Central, 6-1 Braves and 5-2 Cornwall. We needed someone to beat the Braves and someone to beat Cornwall if we were to have a chance at one of the two playoff spots. We practiced hard, hoping that we would get lucky before our season ended.

Thursday evening our Venturer Crew met to check everyone's packs before our backpacking trip that weekend. Ed, Jeremy, Hal, and I reviewed contents of the other twelve kids' packs. We wanted to make sure everyone brought the things they needed and no extras. The packs weighed between 40 and 45 pounds. Penny, Stef, Kathy and Tammy went out to buy food for our trip. By the end of the meeting everyone was ready for our 1fifteen mile hike on Appalachian Trail.

Our football team was well prepared when Friday night came. Ed threw four touchdowns in first half. I caught two of them. Greg and Don got one each. We were ahead 28-0 when we went in for halftime. The coaches sent in the second string in the second half. Ed finally spent time on the bench. Steve Brill played well. Norlanco was unable to stop Drew. He ran wild through their so-called "defense." He scored two touchdowns running and caught a third touchdown as a receiver. The final score was 42-10, Wolverines.

I watched the 11 o'clock news to catch up on the results of the night's high school football games. Central and the Braves both won, so we didn't gain any ground on them in the playoff standings. Cornwall lost again. Their record was 5-3 against our record of 6-2. As long as we didn't screw up and lose again, we didn't have to worry about Cornwall catching up to us. We needed the Braves to lose.

--oooOooo--

On Saturday morning my alarm woke me at six am, much too early. I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed a quick shower. Dad had to get me to the church by 7 am for our crew's backpacking trip. When Dad dropped me off, half the kids had arrived. Within five minutes our twenty Venturers had arrived.

Penny, Stef, Ed and I were in the first crew with newcomers Travis Evans, Brandon McCafferty, Jake Kring, Paul Abbott, Mark Good and Shane Kurtz. Jake, Paul, Mark and Shane were ninth graders. We knew Paul, Mark and Shane from Boy Scouts. They shouldn't have a problem fitting into how our crew worked. Jake, Brandon and Travis would need more help to learn how a crew functions. That was our main goal for the weekend. Justin and Sherry Baer were our crew's advisors for the weekend.

Our hike on the Appalachian Trail began in northern Berks County along Route 183. Jeremy and Hal's crew of 10 Venturers, Joe and Barb Baer hiked east from the trail head first. Penny gave them a fifteen minute head start. We had planned to hike nine miles on Saturday and finish the remaining six and half on Sunday morning.

At lunch time Justin took me aside. He asked, "What's up between you and Penny?"

"Um ... what do you mean?" I asked.

"The two of you barely speak to each other. The last time I saw you, the two of you were inseparable."

"Penny and I broke up five weeks ago," I explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Kyle. Are you doing OK?" Justin asked.

"I'm OK, Justin. I still miss Penny sometimes, but I manage."

I went back to finish my lunch with Ed and Jake. When lunch was over, we hoisted our packs and continued hiking east. The trail was easy, very few hills. We pulled into our campsite around 3 pm. Penny appointed Ed, Jake and me to cook dinner. The three of us decided to share one of the tents. Paul, Mark and Shane took a second tent. I wasn't real surprised when Penny decided to share her tent with Travis. Stef shared hers with Brandon.

While we were setting up our tent, Jake asked, "Are Mr. & Mrs. Baer really going to allow Penny and Travis to sleep together tonight?"

I laughed and answered, "First off, it's Justin and Sherry. They don't go by Mr. & Mrs. Baer. For your question, yes. It's OK as long as we keep what is going on a secret from people outside our crew. We also to make sure the guy and the girl use protection. We don't need anymore kids getting pregnant."

Jake looked alarmed. "More kids getting pregnant?"

"There have been a few accidents over the years. Justin and Sherry had a condom break about five years ago. They have a four year old son. Two friends of theirs had sex and didn't use protection. They also have a four year old son. Most recently, someone thought it wasn't possible for a girl to get pregnant the first time she has sex. He found out differently a few weeks later when his girlfriend was pregnant."

Jake laughed, "Jeez, how dumb could the guy be?"

Ed remonstrated, "Hey, I didn't know. Some guys I knew told me it was safe the first time. I didn't know any better then."

"You? You did that?" Jake asked.

"Stefany ended up pregnant last spring. We lost our son this summer. She had a miscarriage."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ed," Jake said sympathetically. "I didn't know."

The three of us started our supper. We made macaroni and cheese with some canned ham thrown in for a little more protein. Dried corn and pudding finished off our meal. After dinner cleanup, the crew hung out, talked, told stories and discussed school.