Chapter 85: Easy Like Saturday Night?

The ride up from Roosevelt High School parking lot to Waco, TX, was easy, with one exception. Almost every person sitting on the right-hand side of the bus jumped over to the left side, attempting to look for the stadium where the University of Texas plays. Unfortunately, a minor convoy of eighteen-wheelers going the same direction as their bus passed on the left side, so no one got a clear view of the stadium. Coach Conley went nearly apoplectic, yelling at the dumb-asses who nearly killed them all. The mood was significantly more subdued after that.

Pulling up to the hotel raised spirits as everyone got excited about who they would partner with to spend the night. Before the bus stopped, Coach O’Shaughnessy stood up in the aisle and raised his hand to bring their attention to him. Frank Robinson blew out a deafening whistle shriek and got everyone’s attention. He didn’t say anything; he just sat back down and pointed his attention toward the coach, as did the rest of the team.

“Okay, ladies, listen up. Coach Barrett has your rooming assignments, but we need to check in first. I expect you all to act like you are adults and don’t embarrass the school, your coaches, and especially me. Got that?”

“Yes, sir!” The nearly perfect, in-unison answer was terrific to hear but surprisingly frightening as well. There was something not natural about it. Even Coach O’Shaughnessy gave the team a second look before he, Coach Conley, and Coach Barrett went to check in with everyone at the front desk.

Coach Alvarez took over babysitting duties. “Okay, y’all, we’re gonna get off the bus, and I expect everyone to grab their bags as well as their equipment and keep them close. The coaches will come back with the room assignments in a couple of minutes, and we’ll drop off our stuff,” Coach Alvarez announced. “Next, when we get our rooms, we go and drop off our stuff and get dressed in shorts and shirts, then come back here on the bus for a walk-through on the field. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” The in-unison answer was just as eerie the second time. Coach Alvarez gave a visible shake to show what everyone was thinking and got a few chuckles.

The chatter was at a minimum as most of the team made exaggerated stretches and moans, fighting the stiffness from more than nearly two hours on a school bus since they are not known for their incredible shock absorbers. Some of the minor complaints were justified in most minds. However, the three coaches returned to the bus much quicker than anyone thought.

“Okay, girls, they were ready for us, and we have this entire side of the hotel to ourselves. We do not have access to the pool. We do not have access to the front desk for anything from the restaurant, and the phones are off. When Coach calls your name, come forward and get your key. Everyone gets a key. Don’t lose it. If you do, we’ll be disappointed,” Coach O’Shaughnessy said to the group.

Coach Barrett held up his clipboard and started naming off names, but the interim head coach interrupted. “One more thing, everyone,” he said, then waited for their attention. “Do not switch roommates. I repeat! DO. NOT. SWITCH. Roommates! We want to be able to keep track of each of you when we do room checks tonight. Oh yeah, no pay-per-view, either. That goes double for you, Newsome!” the head coach’s smile let the team know he was joking with Newsome.

Tim had already figured out who his roommate would be before they called their names based on the alphabetical listing being called. “Murphy and Newsome,” Coach Barrett called out and then pointed to Coach Conley to receive their electronic key cards with the room number on the small strip of paper the hotel had wrapped around them. Coach O’Shaughnessy was right; the hotel knew what they were doing and had everything set up for the team when they arrived.

Tim and Rob met up before entering the room, and Tim gave Rob the honor of being the first to use their key and open the door. “Age before beauty,” Tim joked.

Rob’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. The room was nothing to sneeze at. It was clean, with two full-sized beds and a small table to the side. Two chairs were neatly tucked in on either side of the table. On the near side of the room was a set of drawers with a 50-inch flat screen TV on top.

“I’ll take this one,” Rob announced as he placed his bags on one of the two full-sized beds filling the room.

Between the two beds was a small end table with a lamp and a simple digital clock. The nanites announced the clock to be three minutes behind the actual time and asked Tim if they should correct it.

“No thanks,” Tim mumbled under his breath.

“No thanks, what?” Rob asked. He had returned from the attached bathroom and was stuffing his jeans into his overnight bag.

“Nothing,” Tim responded and quickly finished getting dressed. Tim didn’t bother putting his jeans away; instead, he left them folded on the bed next to his overnight bag.

“You ready?” Rob checked.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Before locking the door, Tim looked at Rob and held up his key card. Rob showed him and tucked it back into one of his signature knee-high socks. Rob singled himself out by wearing knee-high, black gym socks covering his calves and just below his knees when he worked out or practiced.

The two rushed back outside to the bus but slowed down when they saw only a couple of guys with “A” last names waiting. The two gossiped with the others, and the time flew by as the other players rushed up.

It was a light practice. The entire exercise was to quiz the players who’d had trouble in the past remembering their assignments during the offensive plays. Each player was asked to concentrate on their “B” team assignments. The “B” team assignments were secondary assigned positions, often on the other side of the football. Defensive players learned a position on the offense, and offensive players learned a position on the defense. Tim spent most of the walk-through reviewing his hybrid tight end/wide receiver positions and their responsibilities during the plays. Though there had been plans for Tim to play offense every week, he had not done so very often at all.

When the team returned to the hotel, all players were told to take a quick shower and meet in the large meeting room on the main floor of the hotel for a small dinner. They were also reminded of the rules for the night.

Tim allowed Rob to use the shower first while he spent his time making sense of the local channels.

Rob exited with one towel wrapped around his waist and another around his head. “Dude, I don’t think there is another towel in here for you to use. Sorry, but all they got left is this hand towel,” he added, waving a small towel generally used for drying your hands after washing. A knock on the door stopped Tim’s response.

Rob turned to look through the peephole. “It’s Coach Van Cleeve.”

“Uh-huh,” the coach murmured under his breath as he came through the opening door. “Other guys have been using up the towels before their roommates can take their showers. So we have a cart here with more towels. I’m figuring you’ll need one,” Coach Van Cleeve announced as he tossed a large towel to his freshman phenom defender.

“Thanks, Coach,” Tim shot out as he walked by Rob with an annoyed look.

“Hurry it up. Twenty minutes and we open the pizzas. There might not be much left if you wait too long to get some. We got a couple of movies for while you eat.”

“‘Remember the Titans’?” Rob asked hurriedly.

“You know it.”

“We’ll be there. Hurry up, Tim! We gotta remember them titans!”

“Got you!” Tim said before turning on the water. “At least he didn’t waste the hot water,” he thought to himself. A few minutes passed before a knock on the bathroom door won over Tim’s attention.

“Yo, I’m heading over to get some pizza. If they are running low, I’ll snag some for you. My way of apologizing for the towel thing. Bad joke.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you there,” Tim called out. A few moments later, the room door closed, and Tim heard the door lock.

Tim finished his shower and dressed again in what he had worn for school earlier. He left the room, double-checking that the door was locked, and went to the hotel’s convention ballrooms. He found the correct room in short order, and luckily, there was plenty of pizza.

Tim saw his friends choose a table near many of the starting defense in the middle of the room. In the food line, Coach O’Shaughnessy gave Tim a whole large pizza box for himself. Tim looked a little confused.

“Eat what you want. Your buddies will take care of the extra slices,” the interim head coach explained. Then he dismissed Tim with a wave toward another table with cans and cans of many choices of soda.

Tim approached the drinks table, and one of the parents accompanying the team handed him a small cooler that was just big enough for a couple of six-packs. Tim opened it and smiled at the two six-packs of Hawaiian Punch.

When he made his way to his friend’s table, he found himself comparing their current situation to when they all met at lunch in the school’s cafeteria during the week. The gang was much quieter now, so he decided they were all concentrating on eating. The only sounds around them were of muffled discussions from table to table, and the tension in the room was becoming unbearably high. Tim stood up after noticing the mood of the room.

“What the heck, Coach? I thought you said we were going to ‘Remember the Titans’?”

The muffled talk turned to cheers from every table in the room. Coach O’Shaughnessy stood and walked up to the screen on the wall.

“Okay, okay, we’ll start the movie in a second, but I wanted to talk to you guys here for a second, straight from the heart,” Coach O’Shaughnessy stated and coughed before continuing. “This year has been one to remember, and that’s for sure. We started below our potential to the rest of the football world, but we soon realized we had something here. Something unique. We ain’t done yet. Well, hell, I know I ain’t done yet.” The cheers started again, and the head coach put the group under control again.

“Okay, ladies, I know for sure we got two more games we need to win to get us a state championship, and it’s going to take all of us working together to finish our goals. Together. Never forget that.” The cheers started up again, and Coach allowed them to fill the room for a few extra moments. The cheers were beginning to die down when he yelled for the lights and the movie to begin.

When the movie finished, Coach O’Shaughnessy took command of the room once more. “Okay, ladies. Yes, we all love this movie, and I can’t wait to watch you guys show the world how good this team is!” He waited a few moments for the cheering to die down. “Now, everyone, there will be bed checks later tonight. No leaving the hotel grounds. No switching rooms or roommates. We have to keep track of you numskulls so we don’t lose you, and I end up having to deal with your parents all pissed at me because you couldn’t follow simple rules.”

The two captains stood from their table up front and looked around the group. “Don’t worry, Coach,” Troy Williams announced, with Frank Robinson nodding with his arms crossed. Both captains stared eye-to-eye with each player. Tim noticed Frank took a few moments to look toward the six girls who served as the student training staff. They were all eagerly nodding their agreement.

“Okay then, everyone! Get a good night of sleep. Try not to stay up too late messing around with your roommate,” Coach said, wondering about the sudden snickering spreading throughout the room. It looked as if the coaches also caught a whiff. “Awe, gee. You know what I mean. Go to bed, you knuckleheads,” the coach squawked, red from embarrassment. “Don’t forget! There will be at least one bed check, so don’t try anything!”

Several members of the team helped police up their team trash and deposit it all in the cans at the doors.

Tim turned the corner to go to his room at the end of the hall. He saw several other players shaking hands and smiling before he turned to open the room door.

“What’s all that about?” Tim asked as he followed Rob into the room. Rob did not answer until the door was closed.

“Me and a bunch of the other guys are gonna hit up this house party we heard about in town, so one of the guys has an uncle who lives here in town and will pick us up to take us to the party. We’ll be back way before we gotta get up in the morning for our walk-throughs,” Rob gushed as he pulled clothes out of his bag. “You wanna come with? It should be a great time!”

Tim didn’t take long to answer. “No way, man. I got some homework, and I don’t think you should be out partying the night before one of the most important games of our season.”

“What? You gonna tell on us?”

“No way, man, I ain’t gonna say shit, but I’m not covering for you either.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Dude. If a coach comes to do room check, they ain’t taking my word for it and asking through the door if we’re both here or not. He’s gonna come in and check your bed to see if you’re in it,” Tim explained. “And I’m not coming up with some lie to try and keep you out of trouble.”

Rob just stared at Tim for a minute. “How’d I get stuck with Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes freshman? Damn, I wish I would have gotten roomed with someone else who was cool.”

Tim stood up tall. “Whatever, man. I’m just saying, if a bed check comes and asks where you’re at, I’m not lying. I’ll tell them exactly what you told me. So don’t say nothing else.” Tim turned, pulled his laptop out of his bag, and set it on the small table. “Like I said, I got homework. Then I’m getting my rest before we leave for the game.”

Rob mimed pushing himself away from a table and went to work ironing his clothes so he could go out later.

Tim shook his head and pulled up his homework. It didn’t take but an hour or so, and he spent the next hour re-watching some game film for tomorrow’s game. Tim didn’t even notice Rob had left when he was working on his homework, but the knocking on the door did get his attention. Before reaching the door, Tim took a final look in the bathroom and found it empty. He was hoping to find his roommate still there.

Tim peered out through the peephole and saw Rob standing there. Tim opened the door, and Rob was pushed inside by Coach Van Cleeve. “Evening, Timothy,” Coach Van Cleeve remarked after closing the door. “Nice to see you stayed in your room as instructed.”

Tim didn’t say anything; he simply moved back to the table where he had spent a few minutes sniping terrorists. He quit the game and turned off his computer. Tim looked up since neither said anything for at least a minute when another knock on the door got their attention.

Rob opened the door, and three other guys, all of whom Tim had seen talking to Rob after the movie, entered the room, followed by Rob and a couple more coaches. Each person who came into the room looked like they’d much prefer to be anywhere else right now – the coaches especially looked so.

“Well, we have ourselves quite a predicament,” Coach O’Shaughnessy started. “We have four players taking it upon themselves to break the rules to go out on the town. Mr. Mery, don’t be mad at your uncle. I’ve known him longer than you have. When his crazy nephew called him asking for a stupid favor, well, he got in touch with me and let me know what was happening. He did the right thing, unlike you, Mr. Murphy.”

Tim was mindlessly following along when he heard the beginning of the coach’s harangue. His friends even spoke up, “What?” A brief pause. “End of message.”

“Wha?” Tim voiced.

“Mr. Murphy, why didn’t you inform the coaches?”

Tim could not help but tell the truth. “Teammates, Coach ... but I did tell Rob if the bed check came, I wouldn’t cover for him. The farthest I would go was not to inform anyone of what he was doing, but if asked, I wasn’t going to lie.”

“Is this the truth, Mr. Newsome?”

“Yes, sir, almost verbatim.”

“Very well. Boys, Mr. Newsome, let’s get out of Mr. Murphy’s hair. He’s the only one who doesn’t deserve to lose sleep over this,” Coach O’Shaughnessy declared. “Let’s head back to my room, and we can figure out how to deal with this clusterfuck.”

The sad group shuffled out of the room, one by one, with Coach O’Shaughnessy pulling up the rear.

“I’ll be right with you guys,” he said and turned to Tim. “I’m happy you didn’t go out with these knuckleheads, but I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t come to us as soon as you found out about it.” Tim was about to fight for his point of view once again, but the coach held his hand up to shut the football star up before he got started.” But I understand that you are a freshman, and he is your teammate. I just wish I’d had the chance to perform the bed checks before we caught them to make sure you are telling the truth,” the coach turned and closed the door without another word.

Tim sat at the table, stunned.

Soon after, he got up, exited the room, and followed the coach down the hall. He challenged, “Coach, does that mean you don’t trust me?”

“For this incident, unfortunately, yes. I’m having trouble with trusting you,” the coach answered honestly.

Tim took a moment, staring at his head coach, and noticed several other players peeking outside their doors looking for gossip. Tim noticed Coach Barrett a few doorways down the hall.

“Coach, if you don’t trust me. Even if I told the truth as soon as I was asked, then how can you trust me to play football for you?”

The coach, sensing the importance of the conversation, was about to start defending himself when Tim held up his hand like the coach had done earlier to stop him from talking.

“Coach, if you don’t trust me to do the right thing when it comes to this team, then why should I continue playing?”

Tim’s emotions were in danger of overpowering him. So, instead of giving the coach a chance to answer, Tim turned and walked swiftly back to his hotel room. He unlocked the door and rushed back inside.

Tim stood with his back propped against the door for a minute or so and decided to get some sleep. He sat on the bed, removed his shoes, and slid out of his blue jeans. Next, he reached into his bag and pulled out an older t-shirt he often used to sit around the house. At the same time, he was pulling the bedsheets out from under the near-hospital tucked corners when the door opened.