Chapter 34: Slight Chance of Rain

Monday morning was a little different for Tim. He was not going to go to the freshman lockers, and he hoped no one in the JV locker area would give him any hassle for being in the wrong area.

“Well. Well. Well. What do we have here? Are you lost or something, big man?” a huge Mexican American asked with a deep tan easily that was visible once his shirt moved up his large arms. “What are you doing here?”

“My name is Tim Murphy. Coach Fontana, on Saturday, promoted me to the JV.”

Both guys were standing eye-to-eye with each other, and then Tim saw the glimmer of a smile shine across his face.

“Shit,” he said and started grinning. “Sorry, guys, I can’t keep it up anymore.” The other guys in the JV locker area started laughing, offering handshakes and slapping Tim on his shoulders. “I was just fuckin’ with you. Welcome to the team. They call me Double G, but my momma calls me Gabe. Gabe Gomez.”

A loud voice answered from the other side of the wall of lockers, “Ain’t nobody called you Double G, Gabe. You the only muthafucka tryin’ to call yourself Double G!” The wall of lockers momentarily rocked by the wall of laughter from the other JV players.

“Yeah, yeah, y’all got jokes!” Gabe said while offering a strong handshake, and the sincerity was easy to see on his face. He looked like an older version of Hamburger from the freshman team. “Okay, so I’m trying to get a cool nickname. My little brother has one, and I think I deserve one as well.”

Tim smiled at the confirmation and realized he sounded almost exactly like his little brother.

“We already gave you one, but you didn’t want it,” another disembodied voice from the other side of the lockers called out.

Tim was finishing tying his shoes when he asked, “Okay, I’ll bite. What was the nickname they gave you?”

“They wanted to call me ‘Gran Culo’ or ‘big butt.’ I don’t have as big of a butt anymore. I worked hard to lose that weight!” Gabe grumbled.

A young man’s afro peaked around the corner. “Shit, ain’t no thang, Big G, just fuckin’ with ya. You do look sexy, though. When you gonna give a brother a piece of that BIG ASS?”

The laughing started all over again, accentuated with some light pushing and shoving between Gabe and a smaller, almost as muscular, version of Frank Robinson. He came up to Tim and started another complicated handshake, and Tim was taught well how to reciprocate, so he returned the introduction.

“I’m Kevin Robinson. I’m the middle linebacker and defensive captain. We are gonna do some beautiful work together.” A moment later, Kevin started alternately clapping his hands and stamping his feet. When the rest of the JV team recognized the beat, they joined in, and soon an anthem began.

Kevin leaned forward toward Tim and declared, “With you and me on the same ‘D,’ we are gonna cause some trouble.” He backed up and stepped toward the locker exit and, with a raised voice to the rest of the JV locker area, “What do you ladies say we make use of this beautiful day and practice some football?”

Apparently, the coaches agreed and, from just outside of the locker areas, Coach Van Cleeve blew his whistle three times -- the all-around signal for everyone to make their way out to the practice fields for the morning workouts.

The physical intensity of the morning practice was easy for Tim, but he was still worried if the hitting in the afternoon drills was going to be more intense. He took the time contemplating the eventual ramping up of strength needed for the afternoon practice while making his way to his Introduction to Journalism class. He absentmindedly waved and said hello with quick handshakes, fist bumps, and high fives all around to everyone offering them up.

When he reached his seat, the difference from last year struck him. Then, he would walk as quickly and as invisibly as possible through the halls since that was where he was easy pickings for any bored bully. It only took a week or so in middle school to figure out where he could and could not go regarding bullies. This year, he’d had not even a thought about them.

“What are you smiling about?” Donna, the brunette junior headed for the University of Texas, demanded when she took the seat directly across from him. It had become her unofficial seat, even when her friends wanted her to sit with them.

“Oh, nothing. I was walking through the halls and was just comparing the experience against my past.”

“Well, how is it different?” she happily challenged the large boy across the table.

Tim smiled, knowing she enjoyed asking questions because Tim reacted like having his teeth pulled. “Well, before I got my growth spurt, my main object between periods was to actually get from one class to the other. Hopefully, I didn’t cause anyone to actually notice me as I skirted around everyone and avoided every clique holding court in the hallway.”

“I ask again, how is this different?” The Cheshire grin she was sporting was equally playful and threatening. The classroom was quickly filling up and the triple tintinnabulum, signifying thirty seconds until the final tardy bell, rang out from the school’s intercom system.

“Well, now I find myself actually walking with my head held high and moving through the halls, not even noticing the different cliques dotting the halls. Now, I just walk to my locker, or to class, not worrying about anyone seeing me because, now, I don’t mind if they see me.”

The tardy bell rang, and Donna smiled warmly at Tim as Mr. Baird called the class to order, getting the attendance before the school’s announcements were broadcast by the senior-laden TV class. “Okay, settle down people. If you’re not here, then let me know now so I can fill out this paperwork as quickly as possible. Okay. Good. No absences. Now people, the seniors in TV class need your attention. Someone please turn on the TV so we can watch the news,” Mr. Baird bellowed from behind his pedestal.

His quip about absent students was a daily joke since he could already see who was and who was not in attendance. Mr. Baird was the teacher for the TV class as well as the journalism classes. Those classes also took care of the weekly newspaper and yearly yearbook. The man worked hard and trusted the students under his watchful eye to do their assignments. Tim had decided long ago to make sure he signed up for one of his classes for every year he was at Roosevelt High.

“Our Rough Rider football teams were once again making headlines this weekend. This time, the Riders were deserving of high praise for their decisive wins over the Clark Cougars in all three games last week,” the carbon copy of a TV newscaster announced with his dark brown hair, square jawline, and deep, jealousy-inducing, baritone voice. The boy knew what he wanted to be when he grew up, and it looked more like he was created in a lab than grew normally.

“The varsity earned a shocking win over the normally difficult-to-beat Clark Cougars. The Riders unveiled their new spread option offense and won with a sparkling second-half of play. They won the game 45-14, and that is surely just a promise of what is to come from the Rider football team.”

The TV was turned off, and class got going with more practice writing news stories. Donna thought it was a perfect time to practice interviewing and continued sharpening her skills on Tim. While both were working on the class assignment, Donna got the ball rolling.

“So, I heard you had a really good weekend. What happened?”

Tim looked up from his tablet and saw the mischievous smile on her face. The look made him want to return the smile as well as answer her questions.

“Well, I had a good game, and the coaches said it was time to move me up, so I got promoted to the JV. I had my first practice with them this morning, and I go again this afternoon.”

“Wow! Congrats! I didn’t think any freshmen were ever allowed to play on the JV!”

“Yeah. Coach Fontana made some changes over the last weekend, and we have been going full speed ahead, apparently.”

“Did anyone else get promoted, or was it just you?”

“No, just me, but Coach Van Cleeve said, when the grades come out, they are worried about some guys, and a few spots may open up on the Varsity and JV.”

“Wow! Do you think you might get promoted up to varsity?”

Tim took a second and wondered how to answer her question. He could respond honestly, or he could go the safe route and just give her a generic answer. He quickly studied her face while contemplating the answer and then he noticed the red dot on the top of her laptop, which was on, indicating it was recording. “Are you recording this?”

“Well, yeah. I thought maybe I could write an in-depth story about your first year in football. I got the okay from Mr. Baird as the last project of the year.”

“Don’t you think that maybe you should have asked me first?” Tim said pointedly.

“I’m sorry. I thought I asked you last week about it? I mean, I scheduled it.” Donna looked back at her computer, and the blinking red light stopped while she looked for something on her computer. When she found what she was seeking, she visibly deflated. Her shoulders rolled over while her posture dropped to a reasonable facsimile of Quasimodo. “I’m sorry. I was going to ask you about this last week, and I completely forgot to do it. I’m so stupid. I’m really sorry.”

She jumped up out of her seat and quickly ran out of the room. Her sobs were easy to hear throughout the class.

Tim stood up to go after Donna when one of her friends grabbed him by the arm. “No. Don’t. I’ll go after her. Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. She just gets a little tunnel vision when she gets working on something. Don’t worry about it.”

The girl grabbed her purse and followed after Donna. Mr. Baird decided then to enter the classroom from the door connecting his office.

“What happened? Why was one of my students running down the hall crying?” One member of the other group of girls got up and whispered what happened. Mr. Baird nodded along with the report and looked up.

“Mr. Murphy, a moment in the hall, please.”

Tim was a little worried but quickly joined his teacher in the hall. “Did you yell or speak sternly to Miss Jefferies?”

“No, Sir,” Tim declared as he straightened himself up as if ready to defend himself. “I noticed she was recording our conversation, so I asked her if she was recording. She explained she was, and then she realized she never had asked for my permission to be interviewed like that.” Mr. Baird was nodding to himself as Tim explained what happened. “Then she looked at her tablet again and punched a few buttons and started apologizing when she realized she had not asked for my permission. She got up and ran out of the room before I could say anything else.”

Mr. Baird placed a hand on Tim’s shoulder and empathized. “Okay, that’s pretty much what I was able to get out of Miss Jefferies’ friend before she went to calm down her friend.” The rotund man stuck his thumbs into the space between his shirt and his slacks right at the front and, with a couple of pulls and stretches, he removed wrinkles from his shirt while pulling his slacks up to his belly button.

“Mr. Murphy, you did nothing wrong.” he offered, causing Tim to visibly relax and stand normally rather than at his full stature. “Miss Jefferies is a nice girl, but she does tend to be a bit over-excitable. That can be a good but also a bad thing.” Mr. Baird paused his explanation when he noticed something in his periphery.

Tim turned to see what got his attention. Both girls were returning from wherever they had run. Tim stepped forward, getting ready to plead his case, but Donna stopped him. “No, Tim. I’m the one who should be sorry. I forgot to ask for your permission to do the story. I just went into asking you questions and trying to understand you versus what the rumor mill spits out on a daily basis.”

Tim nodded and quickly added, “I’m sorry if I made it sound like I disapproved of you writing a story about me.”

“Okay, good, no damage done. Everybody happy. Yes. Good. On with the day. You people all have a class assignment, now don’t you?” Everyone nodded yes. “Then go ahead and get to it whenever you feel okay about going back in. Miss Jefferies, why don’t you go on inside and tell everyone all is well. These two will follow you in just a couple of minutes.” Mr. Baird turned around and walked back into the office across the hall where several students were crunched into the doorway watching the drama, to give a report to the rumor grapevine.

Tim and Donna were now alone in the hallway. Tim turned to sit on one of the chairs stationed outside of the newspaper’s office. Donna sat on the other.

“Donna, I really am sorry if I sounded mad or something. I don’t mind you writing the story because it seems like it could be good practice for both you and me. I need to figure out how to answer reporters questions before I say something stupid.”

“Tim, you don’t have anything to apologize for. I was the one who forgot. I thought about it while I was in the restroom and while replaying the conversations we’ve had. I could totally see how you could have torn my head off for asking questions like I was and not having a reason.”

“Yeah, it was yesterday that I actually started thinking about it.”

“What set you off, yesterday,” she asked but quickly added, “if you don’t mind my asking?”

Tim smiled. “I’ll tell you what. Everything we talk about can be on the record unless I tell you to take us off the record. How does that sound?”

“Actually, that sounds pretty professional.”

“Good. That way we both get practice.”

“So what happened yesterday to set you off?” her grin returned, and he remembered why this girl felt a little different to him. No romantic feelings but a definite good friend of the opposite sex vibe.

“Well, I actually had my first professional interview yesterday, with a high school football podcast.”

“Oh, was it the Dave Campbell one, where that guy said he was going to check out your game?” she asked excitedly. Tim nodded and smiled.

“Why don’t we go back into class before people think I’m out here being mean again,” Tim said while standing. He offered her his hand and took hers while she stood up. He even opened and held the door for her when they went back inside.

Tim was smiling as he walked into his English class, and then everything that happened between him and Julianne Holmes metaphorically slapped him in the face. He saw her standing on the top step behind her lecture pedestal, wearing another version of her usual dress. This one properly flowed for the day’s weather and, like the others, was in a flower motif. Rather than sunflowers or roses, today she chose a black and blue Salvia-covered creation. As usual, she covered up the dress with a simple white knit sweater whose buttons were unfastened from the top down to the edge of her cleavage. Tim could see the growing outlines of her nipples coming to life underneath her ensemble.

His quick smile and the quick meeting of their eyes were enough for the two lovers to acknowledge each other, non-verbally. He quickly and subtly nodded while she smiled and quickly looked away. Walking to his seat, he saw no one had noticed the brief but amatory unspoken conversation.

Amazingly, both were able to go through with class, and neither felt it necessary to jump over desks, rip each other’s clothing off, and speed off into a rousing bout of hot, rutting sex.

It was now just a few moments before the bell signaling the end of class would ring. “Mr. Murphy, a moment of your time please?” Julianne asked without raising her head from the class’ lecture notes. When Tim made his way up to the front of the class, she continued, “I wanted to give you the state requirements for Advanced Placement testing for the freshman English course.” Several classmates voiced their opinions in the form of “oohs and ahhs.”

Tim took the pamphlet and was about to ask a question when the bell rang. He waited for the others to leave class before saying anything else. While everyone made for the door, Tim went to his desk to pack up his belongings and then waited at Julianne’s desk for the last student to leave. The door closed behind the last student, and a blur came down from the podium and wrapped its arms around Tim, followed by a searing kiss on the lips.

Almost as quickly as she got down from the podium, she backed off again and made her way to her desk to sit down. “Wow! I’ve been wanting to do that since I saw you walk into class,” she panted.

“Certainly felt like it, and it was great by the way.” The two lovers smiled at each other. Tim held up the pamphlet she had just given him. “What is this about?”

“Well, I realized Saturday that you can’t really test out of the freshman English class since it is a standard class the school uses to make sure any important papers and whatnot can be given to each student. Every student in school goes to an English class of some kind.” Tim nodded his understanding.

“I also checked, and the only honors freshman English class is taught during first period. I don’t think the coaches would want to let you skip football practice in the morning just so you can go to a more advanced English. They’d probably want you to go to a remedial class so they can be sure you would pass and not flunk out in the middle of the season.”

Tim nodded again. “I didn’t know about the only freshman English class being first period, but I realized this weekend the student rules said the same thing about everyone needing to be in an English class. This way there was no need for a homeroom class of some kind.”

“Exactly. So we will have to just suffer through this class and see each other every single day.” Julianne stood up from her seat, placed her hands on Tim’s chest and, with a gentle squeeze, she gave a sigh of contentment.

Tim hugged her tightly to his body and gave the same sigh. Julianne grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving. He turned back to her while she reached up with a tissue and quickly wiped to erase lipstick evidence from Tim’s mouth. Then he was on his way to lunch.

The cafeteria was all murmurs and whispers once Tim entered. It was a little off-putting when everyone was looking at you and trying not to look at you. He spotted most of his friends at their usual table and Johnnie in line for food. Johnnie waved him over, and Tim still saw the eyes following his every move as he joined his friend.

“What’s going on? Are my general and his two colonels hanging out from my zipper or something?”

Johnnie smiled, and the lunch lady chortled at Tim’s off-color joke. That set off a couple of other kids in line as well. “No, man. Nothing wrong but, apparently, the internet is alive with the subject of y-o-u.” Johnnie poked him in the chest while spelling it out for him.

“Whatta ya mean?” Tim play-blocked the momentary digit attack, then he remembered. “Oh, yeah. I got interviewed by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football podcast yesterday before the Cowboys game. They said it would be up for today. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it. Is it up yet?”

“Oh yeah, it’s up. It’s pretty cool and all, but that’s not what’s got tensions rising in the room. They all wanna know what your next step will be.” Johnnie noted Tim’s confused look. “It’s in the comments section and, apparently, our friend from Judson had something to say.” They both got their respective lunches and paid. Johnnie hurried his friend toward their table. “Come on, we’ll show you.”

Tony, Jeff, and Mark were already eating and watching Dave Campbell’s Texas Football podcast on Jeff’s iPad. The screen was lit with action from the Saturday afternoon game against Clark that ended 63-0 for the good guys. All three gave appropriate head nods acknowledging the two final members of their clan to the table.

“Say, Jeff, show him the comments from the douche bag from Judson.”

Jeff smiled, put down his cheeseburger, and paused the podcast to scroll down to the comment section. The podcast had only been posted for about an hour so Rodney Valentine must have been paying attention quite closely to get the comment posted so fast.

Tony cleared his throat and stuck his hand out to Jeff like he was asking for the iPad. “I’ll read them out loud. My voice sounds better than yours – especially since you started your bodily changes into becoming a man. Wouldn’t want your voice to hit weird octaves right in the middle of reading a comment or two.”

Tony smiled, and Jeff threw a couple of fries at his friend. The teacher cafeteria monitor pointed at Jeff for throwing food. Jeff shook his head acknowledging the mistake in decorum.

“These ass-clowns,” Tony began reading the first of several profanity-laden tirades from the Judson varsity running back. Tony also acknowledged his societal faux pas to the cafeteria monitor who had taken up position behind Tony and could see what he was reading.

“Yes, Mr. Parker, I can see what is written on the screen, but there is no need for you to repeat the profanity of this hooligan.”

The matronly woman was a favorite of the school because she could bullshit with the best of them. In her English class, she did not mind profanity as long as it was used properly, and you could defend your use of the said word as the best word for the point. Tim felt, if he didn’t have Julianne, he would have liked to have had Mrs. Baker for an English teacher – not to sleep with her, since she looks like a perfect stand-in for Mrs. Claus in a holiday movie, but to actually take her class. The debates would have been epic!