Scramble
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 28
QB practice had not been enough to calm me down. I stomped half the way home, annoyed that everyone was taking out not getting invited to one party on me, like it was my fault. Yes, I got invited, but I’d tried like hell to get them invited too.
They were all buddy-buddy when they needed me to play in seven-on-seven so they could look good for the coaches, even when I said no, but the first time I couldn’t do something for them, they were ready to throw me to the curb.
It was bullshit.
It wasn’t until I was halfway home that I calmed down enough to remember there was something else I needed to do today. Even though I’d been walking in the wrong direction for several minutes, I turned and headed toward Eduardo’s place.
It wasn’t quite dark yet, but the porch light was already on, and I could smell some of Eduardo’s mom’s amazing cooking through the open kitchen window.
I didn’t know how she did it, but the door opened before I even got my hand near the doorbell.
“Blake! Qué sorpresa!” Mrs. Guzman beamed at me, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. “We haven’t seen much of you since before Christmas. Come in, come in.”
I did feel a little guilty. All last semester, I had been around, helping with projects, but now that I’d gotten Eduardo away from Raf, I’d more or less ghosted them. In my defense, things had gotten very busy with QB training, seven-on-seven, track, and everything else.
Still, they’d been amazingly kind to me, and I’d dropped them.
“I’m real sorry about that, Mrs. Guzman. I know I’ve been...”
“Busy, yes, I know.” She waved her hand dismissively. “We hear from Eduardo all of the amazing things you’ve been doing, including helping him train for track. You’re a good boy, but you should come by more, even if it isn’t to do anything. We miss having you around. I know Alex would like to see you more.”
“I’ll do that. I promise I’ll try to stop by more.”
“Good boy,” she said, patting me on the cheek. “We were about to sit down to dinner. Do you want to stay?”
My stomach practically growled at the question. Dad was working late again, and Mom had officially given up on cooking anything that didn’t come from a box in the freezer, which I had to fix half the time because of her headaches. I was basically doomed to something that would taste like cardboard if I went home.
“Actually, I’d love to, but I need to talk to Eduardo first. Is he around?”
“Excellent, and yes. He’s back in his room.” She gestured toward the hallway. “You know where it is.”
I headed down the familiar hallway, past the family photos and Eduardo’s school awards that Mrs. Guzman had framed and hung with obvious pride. When I reached his door, I knocked twice before pushing it open.
Eduardo was sprawled across his bed with a pair of bulky headphones covering his ears, head bobbing slightly to whatever he was listening to. He didn’t even notice me walk in.
I grinned and kicked the bottom of his foot.
Eduardo practically launched himself into the air, headphones flying off his head and clattering to the floor. “Jesus Christ! You scared me half to death!”
“Then you should pay more attention.”
“Very funny.” Eduardo picked up his headphones and set them on his nightstand. “What’s up?”
I closed the door behind me and sat down in his desk chair. “I have kind of an idea about Raf and how to stop what he’s doing with your cousin Mateo.”
Eduardo immediately sat up straighter. “Yeah?”
“I’ve been trying to think of a solution to deal with Raf once and for all ever since you told me about him going after Mateo.”
“Deal with?” Eduardo made finger guns at his head and raised his eyebrows.
“What? No, not like that. Jesus, who do you think I am? I just mean ... to make it so Raf isn’t a problem anymore.”
“Okay, so what did you come up with?”
“What we need to do is get Raf arrested.”
Eduardo let out a short laugh. “That’s easier said than done. Raf is really careful and usually sends other people to do anything that might be risky.”
I’d actually already figured that part out. It’s why he was recruiting young kids, and why Eduardo had been breaking into the car the night Dad died in my dream life. Raf never got his own hands dirty.
It’s what made this all so much more complicated.
“That’s why I was trying to come up with a plan based on what you’ve said before, about Raf being so careful. What we need to do is find a way that Raf would be convinced that something is both safe and worth the effort.”
Part of that was a lie, since I don’t think Eduardo had ever said anything about that before, but I didn’t want to have to explain how I’d figured it out.
“That’s easier said than done. Raf is smart. He’ll check into whatever we tell him or have someone else check it out.”
“Yeah, I figured that too. So it has to be something real. And that’s what I’ve been working on, and I think I have part of it.”
“Which is?”
“Near the end of the month, there’s going to be this big sensitivity training at the Midland PD. A lot of police are going to be off the streets. Like, a lot, a lot. There isn’t going to be a better time for him to try and pull something big.”
“What do you mean, big?”
“That’s the part I don’t know and what we have to work on,” I said, standing and pacing the small room. “Guys like Raf are always wanting more. He definitely has his eye on something he’d love to do but hasn’t felt it was safe. Something big enough he wouldn’t want to send someone else for it.”
I paused and turned to look at him.
“If we found that thing, we could try to use it to lure Raf out. And that’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“You know some of the people in Raf’s orbit, right? There has to be someone we can get to and get him to talk. Preferably, someone Raf has wronged who would want to see Raf go down. They’d be less likely to double-cross us.”
Eduardo was quiet for a long moment, staring at his hands. “I don’t know. I’d have to think about it. Maybe ask around.”
“Do that. We’re on a time limit now. If we can tempt Raf and he checks it out, he will, in fact, find that most of the police will be off the street in training. But since we’ll know the target, we’ll be able to set a trap for him.”
A knock on the door interrupted us.
“Boys!” Mrs. Guzman’s voice came through the wood. “Dinner’s ready!”
When she left, Eduardo asked, “You really think this could work?”
“If we can figure out how to convince him that whatever score he wants is actually worth it, yeah. But we only have a week or two to do it.”
“That’s not much time to set everything up.”
“No, it’s not. Which is why we need to move fast.”
“Okay, I’ll ask around.”
“Good, just ... be careful about it. Don’t mention anything about Raf specifically at first. Just test the waters, you know?”
“I’m not stupid, Blake.”
“I know you’re not. I’m just...”
“Worried. Yeah, me too.”
“Mijos!” Mrs. Guzman called again. “The food is getting cold!”
I was dreading Kenneth’s party and Saturday night arrived faster than I wanted it to. Seven-on-seven practices had been awkward and uncomfortable the whole week, with half the guys still pissed at me that I didn’t get them invited to this party. It wasn’t quite to the point where I needed to move to another table for lunch.
But it was close.
After a week of that, the last thing I wanted was to go to a party, especially since I wasn’t really close with any of the guys on varsity. I might have been hot stuff on JV, but I was still a freshman and the seniors generally didn’t want much to do with me.
“Do I look okay?” Melanie asked, smoothing down her shirt as we headed in.
“You look fine.”
The house was already packed. Cars lined both sides of the street, and I could hear music and voices from the backyard.
“Come on,” Melanie said, grabbing my hand. “Tammy said they’d be in the living room.”
We walked up the front steps, and Melanie didn’t even pause before opening the door and stepping inside. The place was crowded with upperclassmen, a few of whom I recognized from the hallways but had never really talked to. Varsity football players, cheerleaders, and a few other juniors and seniors filled the main rooms.
Melanie spotted her target immediately. “There’s Tammy!”
She pulled me across the living room toward a small circle of cheerleaders near the couch. Tammy was talking animatedly with Jessica Hargrove and Katie Johnson, a junior on varsity cheer I’d seen around but had never really spoken to.
“Tammy!” Melanie called out as we approached.
“Melanie! You made it!” Tammy turned toward us with a smile.
Melanie’s plan of making friends with Tammy seemed to be working, and even after her act on our bowling date, the two were getting along well and had been socializing more.
Honestly, the fact that Tammy had taken Kenneth’s explanation and just gone with it made me think less of Tammy. How could someone get this far and still be that naive?
True, I was still with Melanie, but I knew who she was and was just kind of waiting till it all blew up ‘cause I didn’t want to deal with it before I had to.
I couldn’t help but notice Jessica and Katie exchange a look when we walked up.
“Thanks so much for inviting us,” Melanie said, inserting herself into their circle. “I’ve never been here before. The house is amazing.”
“Yeah. Kenneth’s parents have great taste,” Tammy agreed. “We were just talking about tryouts next year, who we thought will make the squad.”
“I won’t lie, I’m kind of nervous,” Melanie said. “I’ve been preparing for it for months.”
“You’ll do fine, girl,” Tammy said, putting a hand on Melanie’s arm.
While they were talking, Jessica’s eyes shifted to me, and her expression wasn’t exactly welcoming. Katie followed suit, both of them giving me looks that made it clear I wasn’t particularly wanted in this conversation.
I figured it had something to do with Jessica being friends with Brandy. The whole student council election situation probably hadn’t helped my standing with that crowd.
“I’m going to grab a drink,” I said to Melanie.
“Okay,” she said without really looking at me, already deep in conversation about cheerleading politics.
I walked away from the group, weaving through clusters of people. The music was loud enough that conversations required raising your voice, and the whole place had that particular energy of a high school party where everyone was trying a little too hard to look like they belonged.
I saw Kenneth ahead of me and turned to head toward him, to thank him for inviting us again.
“Hey, man, this is a great party,” I said. “Thanks for the invitation.”
“Sure. Drinks are in the kitchen,” Kenneth said quickly, barely slowing down as he passed me. “Cooler’s full.”
And then he was gone, moving toward a group of varsity players near the back door. I stood there for a second, confused by the abrupt dismissal. He’d seemed genuinely interested in having me here when I’d asked about the party on Monday.
I shrugged it off and headed toward the kitchen. He was hosting, so maybe he just had a lot on his mind.
The kitchen was less crowded, with a few people gathered around a large cooler filled with ice and beer. I grabbed one and popped it open, taking a sip.
“Hey, Blake.”
I turned to see Ben Harlan, the backup varsity quarterback, walking over with a smile on his face. Behind him were several other players I recognized but had never really talked to.
“Hey.”
“I’ve been hearing good things about seven-on-seven. You guys ready to win that? Ohh, do you know these guys?” He asked, gesturing toward the guys with him. “This is Sam, Robert, Austin, and Tyler.”
I nodded at each of them. I knew of them, but didn’t actually know them. Samuel and Robert were seniors, both linemen who looked like they could bench press my entire body weight. Austin and Tyler were juniors I’d seen around the weight room.