Chapter 13

I met Kelly at the dining hall at 11:30 as we agreed. We sat in the dining hall and talked for an hour and half, getting to know each other better. Kelly told me about her family. I told her about mine. We connected in an amazing way.

Kelly's dad was William, Sr., 44, an accountant and 1983 Penn State grad. He was a CPA. He married Kathleen Murphy 23 years ago. Her mom, who goes by Kitty, was a receptionist at a civil engineering company.

Kelly had an older brother William, Jr., 21, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. Bill was studying to become a mechanical engineer. Her older sister Anne, 19, was a sophomore at Youngstown State where she was studying to be a nurse.

Michael, 17, was a junior in high school. He loved playing soccer. Patrick, 14 was in eighth grade. Laura, 13, was in seventh grade. Sean, the youngest, was 10 and a fifth grader.

The similarities between the Martin family and the O'Keefe family were amazing. They were as involved in scouting as my family. Her dad was an Eagle Scout when he was growing up and was committee chairman for his sons' troop. Bill, Jr. earned his Eagle three years ago. Michael was finishing his Eagle project and expected to receive Eagle before the school year was out. Patrick was a Star scout. He was recently elected patrol leader for his patrol. Sean was a Webelos and was finishing his Arrow of Light. He was looking forward to joining his older brothers' troop next month.

Kelly and Laura both were Girl Scouts. Kelly had gone through the entire program and earned her Gold Award, the highest award. Laura was finishing her Silver Award, the highest for the 11-14 year old girls.

I was delighted to find out that Kelly and I also had Venturers in common. She had gotten bored with the Studio2B program for the senior Girl Scouts and joined the local Venturer crew. Her crew was just as active as my crew.

She went out to scouting's Northern Tier High Adventure Base in Ely, Minnesota for an eight day wilderness canoe trip in the Boundary Waters and Canada's Quetico Provincial Park two summers ago. The trip sounded very similar to my experiences in Algonquin.

I was shocked when I checked the time and found it was 1:05 pm and that I had to get ready for class. Talking with Kelly was the most natural thing in the world. I wondered why I had waited so many months to ask Kelly for a date. I had clearly been an idiot. Kelly and I agreed to meet at dinner time. I hustled off to my room for my books and then headed for Thomas Hall and Econ 2.

After class I headed over to the Lasch Building after class to study my playbook and the videos some more. I ran into Jared Cantrell in the player's lounge browsing through his playbook. I knew the look on his face – the look of total befuddlement.

I inquired, "How's it going Jared?"

"OK, I guess..." Jared answered. "Do you believe this playbook? I've never seen anything like it. How do you learn all this? Am I supposed to know all this six weeks from now when spring practice starts?"

"I doubt Coach Adams expects that," I replied. "I've been studying it for six months. I know about three quarter of the plays."

"I'm lost," Jared said despairingly. "It doesn't make sense to me."

"Where do you normally line up?"

"On the weak side usually." Jared said.

"Do you want to study with me this afternoon?" I asked. "I'm working on those plays now."

"Really?" Jared said appreciatively. "That would be fantastic!"

"No problem," I said. "It's easier to study together."

I took Jared with me to the video room. We set ourselves up at one of the computers and I walked him through the process I was using to learn plays. I reviewed the terminology for half an hour. When Jared understood the way we named plays at Penn State, we started reviewing plays one at a time. First we studied the diagram in the playbook and then we watched the video of our team executing the play last season. We repeated the video until we understood the play.

Jared and I worked together for a couple hours. Jared seemed to pick up what we worked on pretty quickly. I was impressed. I know it helped me having to explain things to him as we worked. I had learned in Ed Psych last semester that you always understand things best after you try to teach it to someone else.

"Thanks so much, Kyle," Jared said when we ready to leave. "How can I thank you?"

"You don't need to," I replied. "It actually helps me learn when I explain things to you."

"You know," Jared said, "I wasn't sure how I'd be accepted by the other wide receivers."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"My friend, Tyron Garrison, plays for University of Maryland. None of the other running backs would help him when he joined the team last year. They looked at him as a rival for playing time. I haven't met very many of my teammates yet, but you and Anders seem really helpful to me."

"I know what you mean, Jared," I explained. "Anders has been a huge help to me in the past six months. Bo Cherry and Derek Whitaker have been extremely helpful too."

"You're not worried about me taking a starting spot from you?" Jared said with a grin and a wink.

"Not really," I replied, returning his wink. "I have a head start on you. I think I can hold you off, at least for the next year." Jared nodded agreement. "Would you like to continue working together like this? It really does help me to understand the plays better by explaining them to you."

"Sure," Jared answered gratefully. "I'll take any help you are willing to give."

We shook on it. We headed back to Hartranft together. I studied my Psych for Wednesday's class before dinner time. I met Kelly downstairs in Pollock Commons before dinnertime. Bev Umble, Christian, Bev's roommate Cindy, Kelly, Kelly's roommate Jen, Jen's boyfriend Alan and I headed upstairs for dinner.

Kelly and I continued our 'getting to know you' discussions through dinner. I enjoyed the more genteel company of this meal compared the coarser dinner conversation that occurred when I ate just with jocks.

Kelly and I traded stories from our wilderness canoe trips to Canada. Quetico sounded very similar to Algonquin. We both enjoyed the outdoors and camping. We enjoyed our dinner together and stayed and talked when the rest of our dinner partners scattered. Fifteen extra minutes together was all either of us could afford as we both had to do homework.

I ended up getting up at 6:45 am on Tuesday with Damian. I was scheduled to lifeguard at the Natatorium from 8 am to noon. It wouldn't look good to be late on my first day on the job.

The morning was uneventful. I was used to watching 20-30 people in my small section of the pool at scout camp. We would usually have six lifeguards at the edge of the pool, another in the chair and my brother or his assistant wandering around when we ran swims. Here we only had two lifeguards on duty, one by the side of the pool and a second in the chair. Then again, we never had more than 10-15 people in the pool at any one time that morning. If every shift was similar to this one, I had found the perfect part-time job. It was an easy way to earn $40.

Kelly and I met for lunch. We talked about ourselves again. It was Kelly's turn to lose track of time as she almost missed her 1:25 pm journalism class. We found out we shared a love for skiing and we made plans to go to Tussey Mountain to ski on Saturday before our date that evening. We were either going to hit it off with each other Saturday or we were going to be so sick of each other by the end of the date that we'd never want to see each other again. I hoped that the date would go well. Seeing Kelly was nearly the only thing I thought about since we made the date Monday morning.

I went over to the Lasch Building, did my daily workout and then retired to the video room with my playbook. I studied video and the playbook for an hour on my own. Jared Cantrell joined me after his classes were over. We worked together for another hour and a half.

Around 4:00 pm Jay Nicholson popped in the video room and asked, "Did you see that the off-season conditioning plans are out, Kyle?"

"Are they out? Cool," I replied. "Where do we pick them up?"

Jay answered, "Coach Collins left them at our lockers."

Jared and I decided to knock off studying for the afternoon and check out our workout plans. I grabbed mine from the seat at my locker, sat down and started reading. I caught a typo immediately when I started reading. It said Name: Kyle David Martin Position: Linebacker.

I snickered as I read on. Somebody really screwed this one up. Target Weight: 245 pounds. I continued reading. The work out section had nothing to help me with speed or quickness. The focus was on building leg strength and upper body strength. By the time I reached the nutrition section, I knew something was horribly wrong with this plan.

I'm a healthy teenager. That means I eat prodigious quantities of food. The nutrition plan had me eating twice as much food as I eat already. Following this plan really would get me to 245 pounds within a few months. This could not be my plan.

I headed for the weight room hoping to find Coach Collins and get the correct training plan. He wasn't in his office. I did find his grad assistant, Matt Sheppard. I knocked at his office door and asked, "Got a second, Matt?"

"What's up, Kyle?"

"I found this training plan in my locker this afternoon," I said, waving the papers. "Something is wrong with it. It has me listed as a linebacker."

"Let's see, Kyle." Matt answered. I handed the plan to Matt. He spent about thirty seconds reviewing it. "Kyle David Martin. That's you," Matt said as he finished looking at the paper. He looked up at me. "This is one of the official training plans made up by Coach Collins. I know, I delivered this to your locker personally earlier this afternoon."

"It can't be right," I protested. Matt looked at me quizzically. "I'M NOT A LINEBACKER!"

"Hey, I just do what I'm told," Matt countered, maintaining his temper. "Coach Collins makes out the plans. I deliver them. That's the one I gave you."

There were twenty or so teammates working out in the weight room when I left Matt's cubicle. Everyone was watching me. I guess I'd been too loud when I talked with Matt. I stormed off to find Coach Adams. He'd be able to clear up this mess.

Coach Adams' office was dark. I tried Coach Schroeder next. His door was closed and it was dark. In desperation, I went to Coach Burton's office. The door was shut and there were no lights. I looked up and down the hall. No coaches were in the building. I headed for the reception area. Somebody must know what is going on.

I stopped out front at our receptionist's desk. "Do you know where Coach Adams, or Coach Schroeder are? Actually, where any of the coaches are?"

"Oh my, this is a bad time to look for them Kyle," Ann Marie replied pleasantly. "They're all out visiting recruits. Next Wednesday is National Signing Day. They want to make sure all the recruits are ready to sign with us."

"Shit!" I spat out. I knew Ann Marie was particular about our language. "I'm sorry. I was upset. Someone gave me the wrong training plan and I need to get the correct one."

Ann Marie answered, "You should talk to Matt Sheppard. I'm sure he can help you out."

"Thanks," I snapped as I headed back to the locker room.

I was fuming. What the hell was going on? I know occasionally guys get moved from offense to defense or vice versa. Justin King started out as a wide receiver half a dozen years ago and was switched to cornerback his second year. I understand about that. Justin had been extremely successful since the switch. He made it into the NFL as a cornerback.

I played some cornerback and safety in high school and could almost accept them making that change for me. We were going to be hard pressed to make up for losing Aaron Morano's speed next season. Linebacker? I never played linebacker in my life. I wasn't built like a linebacker. Why would they want to take the fastest guy on the team, bulk him up and stick him in a crowd of bodies? It just didn't make any sense.

I made a bee-line for Zack's locker when I got to the locker room. He was still there. "Can we talk for a minute," I asked as I stopped in front of his locker.

"What's up, Kyle?" Zack responded.

"This," I said, shoving the training plan in his face.

Zack took it, spent about fifteen seconds reading it. "OH FUCK!" he spat out. "Not again!"

"What again?" I asked.

"My first year I was here I had this great wide receiver start school with me. He was fast and he had the sweetest hands. I knew he and I were going to set all kinds of records here." Zack faced turned to a scowl. "Then they pulled this shit on him! Switched him to linebacker."

"What did he do?" I asked. "Transfer?"

"No, he switched," Zack explained.

I couldn't picture any of our seniors that played linebacker had ever been a wide receiver. "Who?"

"Pete," Zack responded. He pointed down the row of lockers at Pete Klein.

"Pete?" I queried in disbelief. "Pete Klein?" Zack nodded yes. Pete, who looked up after hearing his name, shrugged his shoulders and nodded yes too.

"You wouldn't have recognized Pete four years ago. He was a tall skinny kid who could run like you wouldn't believe." Zack explained. Pete came down the row of lockers and joined us.

Pete added, "I wasn't real happy about it at first but I adjusted. They call this place Linebacker U for a reason. Ham, Buttle, Conlan, Collins, Arrington, Short, Poluszny, Conner – they are very good at turning out first class linebackers here."

"But I've never played that position," I protested.

"I hadn't either," Pete answered. "It's worked out pretty good for me. All-American this year, gonna make millions in the NFL. I have no complaints now about the switch."

A dozen team members had gathered around us while we debated my fate. They commiserated with me but didn't have any solutions to this development. Damian and I headed back to our dorms to get ready for dinner. I was numb with shock.

Damian joined Bev, Christian, Cindy, Alan, Kelly, Jen and me for dinner. The girls did their best to brighten my spirits. Kelly even managed to get me to smile a couple times. She could brighten anyone's mood.

I sent off e-mails to my brother Andy, to Ed Fritz, to Jeremy North and to Hal Long letting them know what was up with me. I heard back from Jeremy later that evening. His response was, 'It's about time you did some honest work on the football field.' Ed's reply was a little more sympathetic but he reminded me that years ago Penn State tried to recruit future Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly to play linebacker.

By bedtime I was pretty much resigned to my fate. I had said all year that, 'I'll do whatever it takes to help the team.' If I had to become a linebacker, I'd become the best one they ever had! Still, that didn't mean I wasn't going to talk to Coach Adams as soon as he returned from his trip.

My teammates teased me while I ate lunch with Kelly Wednesday. They wanted me to eat up so I'd grow up to be a nice big linebacker. I let it all slide by. Wednesday after class I went over to the Lasch Building and continued studying my wide receiver plays with Jared Cantrell. What else could I do? I didn't know what Coach Keller, our linebacker coach, wanted me to study. I checked with Ann Marie at the reception desk in the Lasch Building at the end of the day. She said Coach Adams was due back from his trip on Friday afternoon.

Thursday went smoother. In the morning my C I 295 group went to Penns Valley Area High School. I observed a drafting class, an algebra class and another history class. It was a good day. Jared and I studied together until dinnertime.

I met up with Damian, Jay, Shawn Byrd, Trevor, Tony, and G. J. at the elevator when I got to my floor in Hartranft. Damian waved to me and said, "Join us, Kyle. We're heading for dinner."

I glanced at my watch. It was only 5:15. I was supposed to meet Kelly, Bev, and company at 5:30. "It's too early. I'll see you guys later."

"Kelly?" Damian asked. I nodded yes. "You got it bad for that girl." My only answer was a nod and a big grin.

Damian was right. I did have it bad for Kelly. Being with her felt just as natural as breathing. Fortunately for me, Kelly appeared to feel the same way. Things just seemed to fall into place when we were together. Hopefully I could make everything work on Saturday for our ski trip and our date.

Kelly was off-the-wall excited about our ski trip on Saturday when I saw her before history class on Friday morning. We talked about all the details for the trip before Mr. McDaniels started the lecture. I secretly hoped she was just as excited about our date on Saturday night as our day of skiing. We walked back to Pollock Halls together after history. On Fridays I had my EDTHP lab with Mr. Wheeler at 12:20 instead of the usual lecture by Dr. Scott-Hall at 10:10.

I went over to the Lasch Building after I dropped Kelly off at the front of her dorms. Coach Adams wasn't back from his trip yet. Ann Marie said I should check back later in the afternoon.

Kelly and I had to grab a quick lunch Friday. I headed over to 120 Thomas Hall for my EDTHP lab. After the lab I headed to the Lasch Building to study with Jared Cantrell. Afternoons usually start out fairly quiet, only a few team members around working out, studying video or using the player's study rooms. Today there were a lot more people around than usual.

I left Jared studying the video room at 3:30 and went to look for Coach Adams. He was in. Finally! I knocked at the door and called out, "Coach, do you have a few minutes?"

"Come on in, Kyle," Coach Adams answered with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Umm..." I said as I sat down. "I was wondering if you could explain to me why I'm being switched to linebacker next season."

Coach Adams cocked his head and stared at me for a few seconds. "Linebacker?" The sounds of about a dozen of my teammates outside the office laughing hysterically told all I needed to know. I'd been punked.

Coach Adams chuckled politely. Zack Hayes, Pete Klein, Evan Foster, Jay, Trevor and Aaron Morano poked their heads in the door. Coach Adams asked, "How many days did you keep him going?"

Zack grinned and replied, "Four days."

"Not a record," Coach Adams said. He turned to me again. "Is there anything else you need, Kyle?"

"No, Coach," I answered as I retreated from his office. "Thanks for clearing that up."

I joined Zack, Pete, Evan, Jay, Aaron and Trevor outside the office along with their co-conspirators Shawn O'Conner, Jake Washington, Karol Zizka, Hassan Jackson, Anders Voight and J. T. Hill. All of us headed down to the player's lounge to talk about the prank.

Zack and Aaron explained that this was a traditional one that was pulled on a freshman every year. Last season Tyler Madden, a free safety, was going to become the team's new punter. Two years ago Karol Zizka was set up to become a quarterback. Aaron claimed the best was three years ago when they had Antwaan Booker convinced for almost two weeks that he had to lose 70 pounds so he could play wide receiver. Everyone had a good laugh about the pranks.

Jay commented, "It was great! I almost died laughing when you stormed Matt Sheppard's office and yelled, 'I'M NOT A LINEBACKER!' I thought for sure you'd see me laughing. I'd never fall for something this silly."

"Don't get too cocky, Nicholson," Zack countered. "It was a tossup this year between Kyle become a linebacker and you becoming the new center for our offensive line."

Jay sputtered, "I'd never fall for something like that!" I didn't believe him for one minute. These guys were good at practical jokes.

Before our group broke up I announced, "You guys all realize that paybacks are hell. I will get each and every one of you. No one has more experience than Boy Scout camp staff at pulling pranks. You'll see."

My friends promised me that I'd never be able to get them.

--oooOooo--

For the first time in a month my erotic dreams didn't feature Babe, the girl from Disneyland. Friday night my dreams featured a gorgeous, red headed Irish lass from Pittsburgh. It felt like I came by the gallon at the climax of the dream when I made love to her. I cleaned up the mess I made in the middle of the night and went back to sleep hoping for more dreams about Kelly. I was so worked up in the morning that I had to jerk off again before I could go to the shower.

Kelly and I met for breakfast at 9 am at The Mix, the convenience store in Pollock Commons. We grabbed some breakfast sandwiches, drinks, and snacks and then headed up Bigler Road to my car. We had an inch or two of snow overnight. I hoped that should make for some nice skiing that day. I started the car up, loaded up my skis and the rest of our gear while Kelly cleaned the windows on my Golf. We climbed into my now warm car and took off for our adventure.

Tussey Mountain Ski Area was about twenty minutes east of State College just off Route 322. The ski area was starting to fill up when we arrived. A mix of college kids, high schoolers and other locals made up the large crowd. The temperature was in the low twenties now, but was expected to go up to 32 by midday. Last night's storm had blown through. It was clear, crisp and sunny – a perfect winter day to be outside.

We purchased our lift tickets and Kelly's rentals. It took about twenty minutes to get Kelly outfitted with boots, skis and poles. We hit the slopes to squeeze in as much skiing as possible in our day.

Tussey Mountain isn't a large ski area. During the day we explored every single trail multiple times. Kelly and I were well matched in ability. I probably was better than her before I blew out my knee, but I was more cautious since my accident two years ago.

We stopped for lunch and hot chocolate at midday. After lunch we went back to skiing. I was impressed with Kelly's knowledge of how to dress in cold weather. She dressed in many layers, just the way I was taught in scouts. She unzipped a couple layers at midday when it warmed up. She zipped them back up to counter the chilling afternoon air when the sun sank down below the mountain.

Both of us were disappointed when 3:30 came and we had to head back to campus. We were having a blast on the slopes. I helped Kelly turn her gear in so I could retrieve my license. We hurried back to campus so we could shower and change for our date that night. Our hands naturally came together as we walked down Bigler Avenue to Pollock Dorms. It felt perfect holding hands with Kelly. I agreed to pick Kelly up at her room at 5:00 pm.

I showered, shaved and dressed in my best casual clothes for the date. I used just a smidge of after shave the way my Dad taught me. No sense in announcing my presence to my date five minutes before I arrived. My little head did influence my preparations a little – I pocketed two condoms before I left.

Damian spotted me doing that. "I suppose I shouldn't wait up for you?"

"Oh, these?" I asked as I patted the condoms in my right pocket. "I don't expect that I'll get any chance to use these tonight. I really like Kelly and I'm not going to rush her."

Damian asked, "What're your plans tonight?"

"Dinner, a movie and maybe if Kelly wants to, we'll go to Zack and Aaron's party. How about you?"

"I'm going out with some friends tonight. Maybe I'll get lucky, who knows?" Damian replied.

"It would be nice if one of us got laid tonight," I said with a grin as I left. "It'll probably be you. Kelly's a pretty serious Catholic. I'm not expecting more than a good night kiss."

I walked across the quad to Beaver Hall. I bumped into Christian in the lobby. We took the elevator to the third floor together. I said to Christian, "I hope we start running into each other this way in the future."

"Uh huh..." Christian answered, his face looking stern. "You treat Kelly properly. She's a good girl."

"I will be a perfect gentleman, Christian," I replied. I looked Christian in the eye and added, "I want to make things work between Kelly and me."

We stepped off the elevator and headed down the hall. Christian stopped at room 317 and knocked. I went down to room 316 and knocked at Kelly and Jen's door. Jen opened the door and said, "Come on in, Kyle. Kelly's almost ready."

Kelly was facing her closet when I came in. She pulled a scarf from her closet and turned towards me. She was breath taking. Kelly had on a silk blouse and pleated tartan skirt. Her red hair was down now. She had it in a ponytail while we were skiing. The outfit accentuated her best assets, her voluptuous breasts. She looked like she belonged on the cover of Vogue.

"Wow!" I breathed. "You look gorgeous."

Kelly tied the scarf around her neck and said to me, "You clean up pretty well yourself, Kyle." I grinned at the compliment. Kelly grabbed her coat and we headed off. We barely missed riding the elevator down with Christian and Bev. That was OK. This was a night for Kelly and me to be together. We didn't need a crowd with us.

We walked downtown holding hands the way we did earlier in the afternoon. When we crossed College Avenue I asked, "Do you like Cajun?"

"I don't know," Kelly answered. "I've never had it."

"We're going to Spats. I had dinner there during the fall semester and the food is excellent."

"I heard it's expensive, Kyle," Kelly said politely. "We don't need to go to somewhere fancy."

"Nonsense," I insisted. "I'm going out with the most beautiful girl in town tonight. We're not having burgers, we're eating someplace special."

Kelly agreed. We walked two blocks down College Avenue to the restaurant. Fortunately they weren't extremely busy. The hostess was able to seat us within a few minutes. The waitress took our order for two iced teas and left us menus.

I explained what I knew about Cajun cooking while we perused the menu. Both of us decided to have the jambalaya. We filled the time while our food was prepared with easy conversation and some of Spats' wonderful fresh baked rolls.

Kelly loved the jambalaya and I loved that she was willing to try new things. The meal passed too quickly. I felt as comfortable on this date as I did a year ago when Penny and I went out to dinner together. The only way to explain it that the two of us clicked – we matched.

We walked back down College Avenue for the movie theater holding hands again. We found Pixar's latest animated comedy was showing. We both agreed on it. It was the perfect movie for the evening – fun, light and easy. We found seats near the back. I tentatively put my arm around Kelly's shoulders as the movie started. She sighed and laid her head against my shoulder. I laid my head alongside hers and settled in for the evening. We shared our big tub of popcorn and drank our sodas (or pop – Kelly's hometown of Pittsburgh is firmly in the third of the country using that name for the carbonated beverage) as we enjoyed the show. The movie lived up to its billing. It was the equal of Shrek, Ratatouille and some of the other classic animated films.

We walked hand in hand back to our dorms after the movie was done. I didn't know how Kelly felt, but I didn't want this day to end. It had been too good to be true. When we were almost to Beaver Hall I said, "I guess you might be tired after this long day or maybe you're tired of me after putting up with me for the past thirteen hours. I can walk you to your room if you want..." I let the sentence hang there.

"Or?" Kelly asked.

"If you're interested, we could stop in at Zack Hayes and Aaron Morano's party," I replied. "They always have plenty of food and drink."

"Should we crash their party?" Kelly asked politely.

"Trust me, we wouldn't be crashing the party. Do you want to go?"

"Do you think I could get a drink? I'm parched." Kelly asked.

"Drink? Do you mean beer?" I asked. Kelly nodded yes. "Sure, Zack always has a well-stocked bar."

We headed for Zack's apartment. Kelly was still a little doubtful. "Are you sure Zack Hayes won't mind us dropping in?"

"I guess I need to explain my relationship with Zack."

Kelly's eyebrows went up as she looked at me questioningly, "Relationship?"

"He's my mentor. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for him. He recruited me to play football when I was in eighth grade. I wouldn't have done it otherwise. He spent every Saturday afternoon tutoring me that summer, helping me get ready to play varsity football." Kelly nodded that she followed me.

"Zack claims I got him his scholarship to Penn State. I don't know if that's true but I do know my speed helped our team win a lot of games his senior season. I also know that Zack is directly responsible for me being here today. I wouldn't have played football if it hadn't been for Zack.

"We're like this," I said, holding up two fingers crossed together. "Zack's family and my family have known each other for years. We'll be welcome at his party."