Chapter 9: Know This, We’ve Noticed

Monday September 21

When I got to school I saw Halle, Brook, Zoe and Pam all waiting on me. They all looked at me expectantly and I panicked. Who did I say hi to first? Did I dare kiss any of them? I held up my hand to stop them and had a brilliant plan: I called Beth.

“Who died?” Beth asked when she answered the phone.

“I don’t know, why?” I asked.

“Someone had to die for you to call me this early.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll call back,” I offered.

“Don’t you dare, ‘stupid boy’. Why did you call?”

“I have four women waiting for me on the school steps and I’m not sure what to do.”

“Oh, this was worth waking up for. Tell me about them,” Beth said.

“You met Pam this summer. I think we’re friends who have benefits now and then. Halle is the actress I met last spring making my movie. We had sex for the first time last week. Brook is new to our school and is a lot of fun, but she might be too much fun. Finally there’s Zoe, who’s a farm girl and was homeschooled until this year,” I explained.

“Do any of them think they’re your girlfriend?”

“Probably not.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” I whined.

“Do you not like any of them?”

“They’re all very nice,” I said.

“Why did you call me?” she asked.

“Could you talk to them?” I begged.

I think she dropped the phone. There was a lot of laughter. So much for my brilliant plan. I heard her catch her breath and pick up the phone.

“Are they near?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Go to them and hand one of them the phone. I’ll solve this for you,” Beth said.

I felt a lot better. Beth had always been on my side. Something in the back of my mind told me I should just walk over there and act like nothing was going on, but I trusted Beth.

“This is for one of you,” I said, and tried to hand the phone to Pam.

Brook snatched it from my hand.

“Hi,” Brook said.

“Oh, uh-huh ... hmmm, yes ... okay, yes ... no, he’s a dork ... right, ‘stupid boy’ is a better term ... okay, bye,” Brook said, and then turned to the other three. “We need to talk.”

She handed me back my phone and they all walked into the school, leaving me on the front steps wondering what had just happened.

During PE Coach Hope found me lifting with Wolf.

“Dawson, in my office,” he barked.

I looked at Wolf and neither of us could think of anything we had done wrong, so I just followed him to his office. Waiting for us was Vice Principal Palm and Mr. Hicks, our athletic director, along with the rest of the coaching staff. I sat down and waited for what was to come next.

“We were informed yesterday that the game film from Friday night’s game had been reviewed,” Mr. Hicks said. “We have confirmation that you set a national single-game record with 848 yards. You also set state records for attempts and completions.”

“That’s great, but why’s everyone here?” I asked.

“Because this has caught the nation’s attention and we’ve been flooded with media requests,” Vice Principal Palm said.

“I don’t want this to disrupt the team,” Coach Hope said, which I agreed with. “We’ve decided to have a press conference on Wednesday. Alan suggested that we let Tracy Dole help with that.”

“Tracy helped a lot during my freshman year. She has a knack for keeping reporters in line,” I said.

“That’s what I was told, and I’ve seen her in action a couple of times. I’ll get it taken care of,” Coach Hope said. “On Friday we’re having a pep rally, and Governor Higgins has volunteered to give you your national award.”

“ESPN has called, and they want to arrange a featured game to replace our last game of the year. The game would be nationally televised and played at a neutral location,” Mr. Hicks said.

“Hang on. That’s right before the state playoffs. When they do those games it’s between national powerhouses. Some of those schools could give some college teams a good game. I’d be afraid of injuries,” Coach Hope said.

Everyone agreed, and Mr. Hicks told Coach Hope that before he scheduled the game, he would get Coach’s approval. He would also pass on Coach’s concerns to ESPN. I wasn’t sure I trusted Mr. Hicks, but I did trust Coach Hope to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.

Coach Hope held me back when the meeting broke up.

“I’ve never had a player as highly rated as you are, and we’re getting swamped with requests for your grades and game film. I was thinking about just posting your grades and film on a website, but to do that I need your parent’s permission. Do you have a problem with that?”

“I don’t. I’ll have my dad stop by and sign whatever you need. Talk to Brandon about video. He and Alan have put some things together. We could also feature other players like Jim, Ty, Wolf and anyone else who will try to play at the next level. You might also call Bo Harrington. He helped me a lot, and I’m sure he could give you some ideas. Coach Styles, from Kentucky, also offered to help me with recruiting,” I said.

I gave Coach Hope phone numbers and went back to class. The circus had begun and we had only played two games. We played our archrival Eastside this week. I was sure they would be gunning for us. Last year there had been a brawl in the parking lot and Coach Hope’s kids were right in the middle of it. I would bet there would be extra security this year.

During lunch Kendal called me.

“I have movie news!”

Someone sounded a little too happy.

“It must be good. Lay it on me,” I said.

“First thing is, the Official Trailer will be introduced at Comic-Con in Tampa, Florida this weekend.”

“As opposed to the current trailer that’s all over the internet?” I asked.

“Exactly! I thought it was pretty funny, but they know how to market the movie. Starting next week you’ll see the ad buys start, and you’ll be on TV. They’ve also changed the release date. The evil empire decided to release a week early, so Star Academy will be released the Wednesday before Christmas.”

Star Wars would be on everyone’s mind for their release. No one wanted to release their movie the same weekend, especially a second sci-fi movie. It had originally been thought they would release the week of Christmas and power through until the end of the year. We were in a prime location to go Christmas weekend. If all the kids had already seen the monster we would be competing against, and they wanted another space adventure, we could do very well.

“That might be good for us,” I said.

“Everyone’s really happy. I’ve asked them to get me revised press junket information so we can work it into your shooting schedule for the new movie. I called them and gave them a heads-up that things are fluid right now.”

If things weren’t bad enough with the Governor’s visit, I would now have to deal with my face being plastered all over TV between now and Christmas. I felt sorry for the rest of the cast. They would all be in Florida this weekend. I had gotten out of all of that type of stuff because of football.

Cassidy, Brook and I went to the dojo after football practice. Brook wouldn’t give me a clue as to what Beth had told her. She would just give me a mysterious smile and make vague references that I’d find out soon.

When we went inside I spotted Fritz, Rita James’s security person. I had directed him to the dojo so he could train. He came out with Shiggy.

“This is my best and her student,” Shiggy said. He introduced Cassidy to Fritz and then went to teach his beginners class.

“I’d like you to spar with David so I can get a feel for you,” Cassidy said.

“Are you sure he’ll be okay?” Fritz asked.

“Just don’t do any permanent damage,” Cassidy said, which had me worried.

We got on the mat and Cassidy ordered us to begin. Fritz was sneaky-fast, and I think I surprised both him and Cassidy, because I knew I was surprised when I survived his initial attack. Cassidy had drilled me on how to protect myself, and I was enough of an athlete to move out of the way. On the second pass Fritz upped his game, and it was obvious he outclassed me by a wide margin. He had years of experience on me, whereas I had reach and was a little quicker than he was. I also had better stamina. If I could keep the match going I might have a chance. Cassidy stopped us.

“I think we need to equalize things,” she said, and handed me a baton.

I dropped it and looked awkward. Fritz smirked and attacked. It was really his fault. I just tried to defend myself, but I knocked him out with the baton.

Cassidy and I looked at each other. Of course the beginners liked to watch us, and when we got too rowdy Shiggy would have to make us stop. I guess their gasps had Shiggy running to our mat as soon as Fritz hit the mat.

Fritz had tried to do a leg sweep, and with my extra two feet of reach with the baton I tried to block his faked punch. As he dropped to do the leg sweep the baton had caught him in the temple. If it had been a metal one, I might’ve killed him. That would leave a mark.

Shiggy sent Cassidy to his office for his first aid kit. She ran back and Shiggy got a small plastic pill and cracked it. It was smelling salts, and he put the cracked pill under Fritz’s nose. Fritz came to and tried to sit up.

“You’re okay. Just give it a minute,” Shiggy said.

Fritz said something in German that was probably a cuss word. Shiggy helped him sit up and then Fritz looked for me.

“I haven’t been knocked on my ass like that in over ten years. That’ll teach me to be overconfident.”

“I’m sorry I hit you so hard,” I apologized.

“No, that was on me. I got too eager and made a dumb move. I’d like to work with you two and get back to fundamentals. I’ve let my training slide.”

“What do you think, Cassidy?” Shiggy asked.

“No. David isn’t ready. I would ask that either my dad or Coach Zoon join us to spar with Fritz. If David and Fritz spar we can expect more of the same.”

Cassidy went and made a phone call, and then came back and she and I began to work with batons while Fritz watched. I respected that he never made a comment while we were sparring, but would discuss things with Cassidy when we took a break. About thirty minutes into the class Coach Zoon showed up. Cassidy took the lead and directed us in what we were learning.

Coach Zoon and Fritz took each other’s measure and I was glad they were there. Watching them showed me what I could be like if I worked at this for many years. They were never out of position and they were so powerful when they struck. I could see where I held back, afraid I would hurt Cassidy. These two warriors trusted in their training and went full-tilt on each exercise. I really wasn’t ready.

When we got home I saw a lot of cars at my house. I had to park on the street.

“Go take a shower and then come down,” Brook told me, as she and Cassidy went into the house.

After I took my shower I walked in the back door to see my house filled with girls. The first person I saw was Pam, who met me at the back door.

“What’s going on?” I asked her.

“Beth is getting everyone organized,” Pam said.

“What do you mean?”

“They told me Tracy had a calendar that they scheduled dates on. This way you won’t have to worry about anything,” she said.

That was not happening. I walked into the kitchen and saw Mrs. A and my mom talking. I gave Mom a hug.

“There’s a chef’s salad in the refrigerator for you,” Mom said.

I pulled it out and found some ranch dressing. Cassidy smiled at me and I made plates for her and Brook. Mom had made homemade chicken noodle soup, so I threw that into the microwave. I sat down with the two girls at the kitchen table and began to eat. Beth walked in and I got up and kissed her. She sat down while we ate, and talked about her classes at Purdue. The guy she’d dated last semester went back with his ex-girlfriend from home over the summer, so she was single again. When we were done eating she took us into the living room. Besides the four girls from this morning there were Tracy and Mona. Beth got up to talk.

“During David’s freshman year there were three of us that dated him on a regular basis. We found that the best way to handle things was to schedule them,” Beth started.

“No,” I said.

That simple declaration caught all the women and girls off guard. Mrs. A and my mom had big smiles on their faces. Beth and the other girls looked confused. I think they were all used to dictating things, and that I would go with the flow.

“What do you mean by no?” Beth asked.

“Beth, I love you to death, but you misread what I wanted you to do. It’s not your fault, because I was used to being led around like a love-sick puppy,” I said, and looked around the room at the confused faces. “I guess I better tell you all that I care about each and every one of you. It wouldn’t be a leap to say that I love each of you.”

Then I remembered that my mom and Mrs. A were in the room. I might not want to go into specifics. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to organize my thoughts,” I said. I saw Beth smile at me, and I felt her love and support. She gave me the courage to go on. “Over the past few weeks I’ve had a chance to really examine myself. What I found didn’t make me happy, and it showed me that I have a long way to go before I become the man I want to be. My uncle helped me create a set of goals to live my life by. Before football started I’d hit a low point. I’d just lost my best friend to an accident, and I’d put myself out there once again, only to find that the other person wasn’t ready to commit.

“I think Tami knew I wasn’t really ready. The curious thing was I looked at my goals, and nowhere was there a life partner on the list. Uncle John told me that my goals would change as I grew up. All I have to do is look at my brother and see how true that is. I’m a junior in high school, and I’m supposed to be learning about love and heartbreak. I’m also supposed to have fun.

“I have so much going on in my life right now it’s ridiculous. Heck, last Friday night I shot myself in the foot by setting some stupid record. Because of that Governor Higgins is giving me some kind of award at our pep rally on Friday,” I said.

“Did you just say you’re receiving an award from the Governor on Friday?” my mom asked.

I rubbed my forehead to stave off the headache that was sure to develop. This was the first the cheerleaders had heard of this, too. They had to get ready for a pep rally, which got them all talking at once. I finally whistled very loudly to get them all settled down.

“I’m not sure if I was supposed to tell anyone about that yet, but I’m sure you can all keep a secret,” I said, which made everyone laugh, because there was no way to keep this quiet. “There’s more. Wednesday there’ll be a big press conference to talk about the record. Because we did so well, ESPN has hijacked our last game of the year, and we’ll be playing some nationally-ranked team at a neutral site.

“If you think that’s bad, wait ‘til the movie comes out. The new trailer for the movie will be introduced at Comic-Con in Tampa, Florida this weekend. That’ll kick off the advertising for the movie. My life will just get more complicated over the next few months.”

“Poor baby,” Pam teased.

“Now let’s get back to my original point. I was talking about my goals and how a relationship wasn’t part of them. I mistakenly thought I needed someone in my life to make me complete in some way. Not that at some point, way into the future, I won’t need that. What I figured out was that I have to be happy with myself before I can seriously commit to someone. Right now I plan to date several different girls. What I hoped Beth would do was explain that, even though I might not pick anyone to be the one, I am capable of having a good time with several girls,” I said.

“Was that one at a time, or all at once?” Beth asked.

“BETH!” Mrs. A screeched.

“Careful how you answer that,” my mom warned.

“I may have phrased that wrong,” I admitted.

That got me out of trouble. I should have just said all that this morning, but I had a brain-freeze or something. I sat down next to Beth, and then Pam sat on my lap.

“Hi, David,” she said with a cheeky grin.

Beth rolled her eyes at me.

“Hi, Pam,” I said.

“I want to be your date to Michigan this weekend,” she said.

“I’m not doing that anymore. This weekend is just the guys. Our parents aren’t even going.”

“Did the Wesleyan girls ruin it by what happened on the last trip?” Pam asked.

She alluded to us having to rescue Missy at the fraternity.

“No, they didn’t. We decided that we needed to focus on the visit, and with everyone coming we weren’t doing that,” I lied.

Rescuing Missy had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. With everyone else there, I was more worried about them than I was about the football program and campus. I wanted to go to Michigan and have some fun. I didn’t want to go on a raid of a fraternity house in the middle of the night, or find my two best friends naked in my bed.

Pam leaned forward and blew her hot breath on my neck, which woke up Mr. Happy.

“So, you never answered Beth’s question,” she said.

Beth covered her mouth and tried not to laugh. Tracy saw my look and came and rescued me from Pam.

“We need to get going,” she announced.

When Pam got off my lap I jumped on Beth and tickled her. We ended up almost breaking the coffee table when she pushed me off of her and I grabbed her as I rolled off the couch. I bench-pressed her when she tried to give me a hickey. Mom quickly stopped us before we destroyed her living room with our roughhousing. I think that was a direct quote.

Tuesday September 22

Brook waited for me after practice.

“You ready for another adventure?” she asked.

If it was like skydiving, I was more than ready.

“Sure,” I said, as we got into the Jeep.

She directed me to the State Road out of town. On the ride she wanted to talk about Saturday night.

“I was pissed when you didn’t want to have sex with me to get revenge on Ken.”

I felt my temper flare.

“Hang on, that turned out to be a terrible idea. I felt awful about even being a part of it afterwards. Plus, the first time I have sex with you will not involve other people. It’ll just be the two of us,” I said.

“I’m not sure I want to have sex with you. From what you said last night I would just be part of your harem. I’m not some booty call!”

I bit my tongue and went quiet. I think that was exactly what Ken had thought.

It was probably good that our ride was so long. It gave us a chance to cool off. She made me pull into McDonalds. I tried to avoid fast food, but my stomach felt like it was ready to chew its way out to find food. We ate as we finished driving to our destination. It turned out to be a motocross track.

I’d always wanted a motorcycle! I probably looked like the Joker, my smile was so big. Currently racing were little kids who couldn’t have been more than ten. Their dirt bikes roared as they jumped the hills on the course. Brook had to pull me away to go get signed up and into the proper gear.

We walked into the office, and it was a combination motorcycle shop and where they managed the track. The girl behind the desk told us that they could rent us gear and bikes. She took one look at me and shook her head.

“I don’t think we have any rental gear that’ll fit you.”

“I don’t think I want to wear rented gear either,” Brook said.

The girl took us over to where they had motocross gear. Bright yellow racing pants were all that they had that were long enough. The girl went into the back and found a matching jacket. While that was going on Brook found their leather section.

“David,” she called across the store, as she held up some leather pants.

I walked over and she handed them to me.

“Go try these on,” she ordered.

I figured I would humor her, because she had brought me to this little spot of heaven. I went to the dressing room and learned that leather pants weren’t like putting on normal pants. I had to work to get them on. I think the legs were designed for someone smaller than me, even though they were my size. They didn’t give like jeans would have. When I finally got them up, the issue became getting them buttoned up and the fly zipped. I worked at it and finally got it done, but my balls gave me a serious warning that they were not staying trapped like that for very long.

I came out and Brook shook her head.

“Take your t-shirt off so I can see.”

I took it off, tossed it to her and did some of my model poses.

“Mom, get out here,” the girl called.

“What’s so important that you have to yell?” she said, and then saw me. “Oh!”

I glanced over at a mirror and did a double take. I knew these pants were tight, but they looked like a second skin.

“We’ll take them,” Brook announced.

“He needs a leather jacket to go with it,” the girl’s mom said.

The girls grabbed one off the rack and I tried it on. The sleeves were too short. They didn’t have anything that would fit. If the arms were long enough, the jacket was too big.

“We could special-order and get everything to fit correctly,” the girl offered.

I looked at Brook and she nodded.

“If I’m doing this, so are you. I want to see you in tight leathers,” I said and waggled my eyebrows.

She licked her lips and just nodded. When the girl came out, her mom opened up a catalog that looked to be four inches thick. I didn’t have time for this. I wanted to ride.

“I’m going to change into the gear so we can ride. Can we pick out clothes later?” I asked.

“You’ll need help getting out of those pants,” the mom said as she followed me into the dressing room.

I figured she was just being a perv, but she was right. Once I got them over my hips and my underwear firmly back in place, she had to peel the leather pants off like it was a snake skin. I ended up lying on the floor while she grabbed the waistband and pulled. They ended up coming off inside out.

When someone does you a solid like that you learn their name. Ellen and her daughter Betty were the two helping us. She had already seen me in my boxers, so I let her measure me. I put on my motocross pants and she went out to get my t-shirt from Brook. I finished getting dressed and thought I looked like a big banana in my yellow outfit.

Brook reminded me to get my GoCam. I wasn’t sure I wanted video evidence for my mom to see, but Brook insisted. Betty took us out to the track and showed us the bikes we would be using. They were Yamaha YZ250Fs. They were bigger than what the younger kids were riding. She made us run around a short track before she let us loose on the main track. By now most of the younger kids were done and having snacks and drinks.

I planned to take it easy the first time around, but Brook took off like her butt was on fire. Like a complete dumbass, I followed her. On the track they had two paths when it came to the bigger jumps. One was flat and safe; the other had the big hills. As we screamed out of the corner we came upon the first jump. There was a small kid in the safe lane, and Brook braked so she didn’t run him over. I was playing catch-up, and came out of the corner to find them bunched up in front of me. I couldn’t get stopped, so I swung into the jump lane. I’m sure that, with practice, I would have known how fast I could take a jump like that and land safely on the next hill. All I could think was that I needed speed to get up high enough to land on the other side. I had visions of coming up short and smashing into the other hill. I was pretty sure that would hurt.

I rocketed up the hill and launched into the air. My life flashed before my eyes as I took flight. It was obvious that I would outjump the landing hill as I continued to rise from the face of the earth. As I reached the apex of my trajectory, all I could think of was that I didn’t want to be seated as I landed because I would break my tailbone. I wanted my legs to absorb some of the impact or I would kill myself.

As I rushed toward earth I made sure I was straight and then I looked up. To my horror there was another jump.

“Oh, Shit!” I yelled.

I barely touched ground before I was once again rocketed nearly twenty feet into the air. When I hadn’t died, I reverted to my little kid inside me.

“Hell! Yes!”

As I came down I found a turn with an embankment that I found I needed to get the bike around the corner. I made my way around the track, and where the younger kids were seated there was a triple jump. I knew I was going too fast when I launched over the second jump and landed on the downslope of the third one. All I could say was I was hooked. I tried to run the track at full speed for five laps. On the fourth lap I passed Brook again.

When I finished I knew two things for certain: the first was that if I did this very much, I would eventually kill myself. The second was I would do this again for sure. I couldn’t wait until I turned 18 and could buy a bike of my own. This was an adrenaline-junkie’s dream come true.

Brook finally came off the track. I was bouncing around with excitement.

“Did you see me?” I asked.

“What were you thinking? You could have killed yourself!” Brook said.

“Yeah, wasn’t it cool?”

“When I saw you on the first jump, all I could think of was what I was going to tell your mom.”

“Oh, she can NEVER know!”

“Then when you didn’t die, and did the second jump, I figured you’d love it,” she said.

“Yes, but my mom can NEVER know!”

I cringed when Brook got an evil look on her face. I would be her slave forever!

Before we could talk more, the kids all came over and wanted to talk about the jumps. I took the GoCam off my helmet and let them watch the run from my point of view. They couldn’t wait until they could graduate to bigger bikes. They were running 80cc’s compared to my 250cc’s. I could see why you wouldn’t want to put them on the bigger bike, but I could imagine them flying through the sky and having a wonderful time.

After I had changed into my street clothes I found Brook and Ellen talking about leather.

“There are several different types. Full grain has been made from the whole hide, including the outer layer of skin. It’s tough, long-lasting stuff, but frequently has blemishes and marks from the animal’s life. Top grain would be the preferred material for most jackets; again, it’s the whole outer hide, but with the skin smoothed off to make an even surface. Genuine leather is an industry term for leather made from the inner hide. It’s thinner, cheaper, and less durable than top grain or full grain, but it has still been made from a whole piece of animal hide. Finally there’s bonded leather, a cheap, low-quality material made from scraps of leather pressed down and chemically bonded together.

“Then we offer different types of hides. Steerhide is the skin of adult cows, which is the byproduct of slaughtering for meat. It’s tough, stiff, and requires a long break-in period; but it provides excellent durability and protection. Bison performs much like steerhide, with a little added suppleness and a unique vein pattern that gives it a more prominent texture. Deerskin is a lighter material, good for warmer-weather jackets. It’s not as damage-resistant as the other hides, but stretches well and doesn’t wear thin. Lambskin is the softest and smoothest conventionally used leather. It has an almost silky hand feel, but isn’t as durable as other hides.

“There are also different treatments and finishes that can affect how the leather looks and feels. One steerhide jacket might be bright, glossy, and stiff, where another will be weathered, cracked, and softer. So long as you’ve got the material you want in a top or full grain, the rest is a matter of personal preference,” Ellen explained.

“What do you think?” Brook asked me.

“I like the smooth look, so I’d want the top grain. I would prefer either steer or bison, and I want it softer.”

The leather pants were not very comfortable. I knew if you wore them they’d eventually break in, but I knew if they were stiff I would never wear them. Brook showed me her top choices. I was fine with both of them, so I let her pick.

As we walked out to the parking lot we found that everyone else had left. I was still a little bouncy from the adrenalin rush. When Brook glanced over at me right before we got to the Jeep, I saw desire in her eyes and I attacked her. Brook was surprised, but she was no shrinking violet. She grabbed the hair on the back of my head and we were soon in a passionate embrace. I shoved her up against the Jeep and grasped her thighs so I could lift her up to my waist. She had no choice but to feel my desire as I ground into her.

She broke our kiss and began to frantically try to get my pants open. I pulled her shirt over her head and broke her bra when it didn’t come apart fast enough. By then she had freed Mr. Happy. I put her back on the ground and reached for my pants so I could get a condom.