Chapter 26

Friday night came around and I found myself at a high school football field. It felt weird. I hadn’t been around so many teenagers since I’d been a teacher’s assistant in grad school. I knew intellectually that Lavi and Melissa were teenagers but I didn’t think of them like that, just young women who happened to still be in high school. My phone pinged and I saw a message from Yussef that said ‘over here’. I looked up to see him waving at me from some stands so I walked over. I had expected a packed high school with teeming crowds of excited people. There was a crowd but it was relatively sedate and not as many as I expected but Melissa told me to expect that from an exhibition game. Yussef had a short trimmed beard and was dressed in khakis and a polo shirt. He offered his hand as I sat. I shook it.

He greeted me, “Welcome, your first game?”

“Since my high school days, yeah and really I didn’t go much even then.”

“I have to admit I didn’t understand the appeal but it has slowly grown on me.”

I looked around and caught sight of Linda sitting a good ways away with a group of other women. I waved politely and she waved back, with an expression that was an almost perfunctory smile. Around her were a small gaggle of other women. I recognized June immediately and in front of her, a woman that I suspected was Ji and Xinyi’s mother based on her features. Most gave me discrete looks as Linda waved briefly as if obeying protocol. The exceptions were June who waved enthusiastically and Mrs. Gou who gave a tiny wave and whose gaze lingered on me. The only one who pointedly did not look at me was one of two African American women there. I wondered if she might be the mother of this T’wana whose name kept coming up.

Yussef gave me a questioning look. “You have created a miracle. I still haven’t gotten Mrs. Milton to say more than hello to me and she still acts like she has bitten into bitter fruit when she does.”

I chuckled, “It’s a long story.”

“Truly?”

“No, not really. Its a short one but I don’t know how to tell it.”

“Ah, the madness of women.” He grinned conspiratorially.

I grinned back. “Maybe we’re all mad here.”

He chuckled. “Or else why would we have come here?”

“Exactly.”

We sat and chatted as people milled about the field and things were setup. A small fanfare was played by the band for football players from each team as they came out. Yussef told me many of the player’s names and gave me a breakdown of what was expected of certain ones. I recognized a few names. Grace’s boyfriend Owen had been described by the girls as whipped though I think that was in jest. He was a mountain of a young man, a fullback who apparently had already had several offers from good college programs. Jerry was there, he played several roles, usually a wide receiver and kicker. He was also apparently very religious and came from an Irish Catholic family. Yussef provided the last with an air of ‘you take the bad with the good.’ The other name that stood out was Chris Newton, another star player along with Owen. I didn’t know much about him except when we had considered letting boyfriends come to the pool party the girls hadn’t wanted him there. He was wearing bandages on his arm which Yussef pointed out as he stopped to get them checked by the coach before joining the others.

During all this, the cheerleaders were doing some kind of warm-up and trying to hype up the crowd doing jumps, cheers, and clapping. I couldn’t help but stare at Melissa and Lavi. It was the first time I’d seen them in their uniforms in person. They were black and silver outfits that left their midriffs bare and had short skirts. There were shorts under the skirts but they provided a wonderful illusion. Lavi’s sports bra must have been working overtime as both girls jumped and clapped. Despite Lavi’s lack of enthusiasm when talking about cheering here you couldn’t tell it. She jumped and screamed and seemed to be just as into it as anyone else. It was the new girls, Coraline, Emma, and two I didn’t recognize that seemed to be nervous but Melissa and Grace were near them and regularly patting them on the arm or saying something. Xinyi sat nearby with another girl on a bench. The girls didn’t wave but frequently looked at me. I glanced over at Yussef. He only had eyes for Zahra. Her outfit was slightly different, covering her stomach and she wore a long-sleeved shirt and leggings that covered all but her face but she was jumping and cheering with everyone. As they cheered Yussef shared more details about the cheer routines with occasional comments about Zahra’s hard work. Pride for his daughter dripped from his voice.

I decided to rib him a little. “I think you’re a cheer mom in disguise.”

He smiled broadly, “I suppose I have taken a ... feminine role at times since we lost her mother but...” He shrugged. His shrug said a lot. I suspected taking a feminine role in raising children was not approved of by his culture but he didn’t care. I began to suspect that Zahra got her independent thinking from more than her mother’s side.

On the field the game started, a whistle blew, I saw the ball snap and I was mostly watching Lavi and Melissa but found myself starting to get caught up in the game a little. But when I looked back I couldn’t find Lavi among the cheerleaders.

I turned to Yussef, “Did you see where Lavi went?”

“She was talking with Mrs. Richardson, the cheer coach.”

“Oh.” I watched and at first, everything seemed normal. Then Melissa’s movement seemed to become less fluid. I couldn’t see well but she seemed to be looking off to the side. Suddenly she stopped and was walking towards the bleachers to my left. I looked and Lavi was wearing a summer dress made from a print of Van Gogh’s Starry Night and carrying a bag while walking towards me in the bleachers. She waved a little sheepishly and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as she sat.

“Lav...”

She cut me off as she looked across me and greeted Yussef, “Dr. Tahan.”

He nodded politely, “Yussef please.”

By now Melissa was jogging up the steps, already up to us, and got the question out I was trying to ask.

Melissa, “What’s going on?” Now everyone was looking at us. One cheerleader sitting down and another jogging off the sidelines.

Lavi made a grimace and said, “I’m suspended from the game. Maybe from school.”

I managed to get out a, “What?”

Melissa, “Because of Chris?”

“Yep.”

“He’s playing.”

“Richardson says there’s no evidence he did anything wrong.”

Suddenly Linda was behind me and I heard her voice over my head, “What is going on here!?”

I now was the literal center of three women talking over me.

Lavi held up her hands to quiet everyone. Yussef was watching intently. “So, we were on the bus here and the guys were being dicks. They were making a bunch of crude comments but we were ignoring it. Grace and Owen tried to get them to stop but that seemed to egg them on like Chris wanted to prove no one could tell him what to do.”

Melissa took over the story, “But it wasn’t like focused on us, yeah, they made comments like, ‘Hey babes, want to give us a victory show after the game’ but we can ignore that shit. Then they started giving Jerry a hard time. One of them said Jerry must have a tiny dick if it didn’t make a difference if I got any or not.” Melissa was now getting red and took a deep breath and Lavi picked back up.

“So, Melissa stood up for Jerry and said girls talked and she knew he was a ... uh, bigger man than any of them” She grimaced and said, “that’s not exactly what she said but you get the idea. So, then Jerry is embarrassed and says to leave Melissa alone and that they were cool. Then that bitch T’wana said, ‘it’s not like she’s not getting dick, there’s some old guy they’re both screwing.’ Then Chris comes up and grabs Melissa’s arm and says something like ‘Maybe you can still be some fun after all’ and acts like he’s going to put her hand on his junk.”

“So,” Melissa took up, “that’s when Lavi grabbed his arm and squeezed. Hard. Like, bleeding from where she clawed her fingernails cutting into his arm hard.”

Lavi continued, “We were almost here by then and when we got off the bus Richardson talked to us. I figured it was done but then Richardson pulled me out of the cheer line and said they had evidence of me assaulting Chris so I had to go and not come to school on Monday while they reviewed it.”

“This is ridiculous, he was harassing us and assaulting me,” Melissa said.

“Well, this is just splendid,” Linda said as she glared at me. How was this my fault? Suddenly I heard a voice yelling, “Melissa Milton!” It was a middle-aged woman making a “come here” gesture at the bottom of the stands. The cheerleaders had stopped cheering and were gathered up around Grace.

Linda, “I will fix this.” Suddenly Linda was pushing past people in the stands and descending the stairs towards who I presumed was Mrs. Richardson. Melissa gave chase.

Yussef leaned over me and extended his hand to Lavi. “Well, I applaud you defending your family.”

“Thank you,” she replied. She shook it.

“Was it necessary to cut his arm up?” I asked.

“If I’d had a better angle I would have punched him and broken his nose.”

“Better angle?”

“You need a straight line where you can extend your arm but I was sitting behind Mellie. I was able to put my weight behind my nails and really pull though.”

I looked at her, impressed she had thought it through even in the moment. “You’re kind of sexy when you’re scary.”

“Awww, you’re sweet,” and she laid her head on my shoulder.

Yussef, “Escalation can be a good deterrent though, he puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue.”

I blinked.

“The Untouchables, great movie,” he said. I think I stared a second. “Very old testament,” he said as if in response to an unspoken question and suddenly looked a lot younger with a sly smile. Meanwhile, for the first time, Yussef was not watching Zahra. There was no point, all the cheerleaders had stopped and were watching as Coach Richardson and Linda Milton had a quiet but tense dialogue.

“Oooo,” Lavi said.

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know what she said but I know body language and that was ‘bitch you better not’ if I ever saw it followed by an ‘I ain’t playin’.”

Yussef chuckled as did some random teenager sitting behind me. I glanced at him but then he glanced away, obviously embarrassed at being caught listening in. I couldn’t really blame him though. Suddenly Melissa was between them. She turned and looked at first her mother and then the coach and had words for both of them. Then she walked off the field and towards what I guessed were the locker rooms. Linda watched her daughter go, pointed her finger at Richardson, said something, and walked towards the exit.

I glanced up and saw June headed towards us with the other gaggle of moms watching. Soon she was leaning over me, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. “What is going on!?”

“At this point, I have no idea.”

Lavi, “Chris grabbed Melissa on the bus and I grabbed his arm and hurt him, now he’s being a whiny bitch and the school suspended me and Melissa and Linda got mad and that’s all I know.”

I have to admit that was a very succinct summary.

June, “Wait, isn’t he playing?”

“She said there was no evidence he was fighting.”

“Other than your words?” I asked.

“Most of the team didn’t see anything. The bus seats and Chris’s body blocked everyone’s view so its just Mellie’s and my word against his. And I got the feeling Richardson didn’t consider Mellie’s and my viewpoints reliable.”

“You said she’d given you weird looks,” I said

“Yeah, I don’t think she likes two of us being together, makes drama for the team in her mind.”

“So, it’s not because...”

“No, I think she just takes this really seriously. We’ve been keeping it on the down-low but she’s not stupid, she’d have heard.”

June sat down behind me and started talking with Yussef. Clearly this was exciting. She made a ‘hold on’ gesture to the crowd of women waiting for her.

“By the way, Robert, I think Meilin wants to meet you.”

“Right now?”

“Well, probably not a good time but eventually. She’s asking a ton of questions. Like, what your job is, are you a nice guy, things like that.”

I groaned internally. “Do I want to know what Linda said?”

“Actually, and this is like the holy shit thing for me tonight, Linda was kinda-sorta nice. She said you were respectable.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right? Well, I told Meilin you were very nice and the girls adored you and you take great care of them.” She was doing the talking thing with her hands again. Turning my neck to talk to her I was half afraid she was going to hit me with one of her motions. Soon Melissa was back, like Lavi she was carrying a bag and had changed into civvies, in her case jeans and a t-shirt.

“Where’s my mom,” she asked as she sat down on the other side of Lavi.

“Bailed,” Lavi replied.

“Good.”

June, “What happened?”

“Well,” Melissa started, “Richardson said it was none of my business and it had to do with Lavi and mom got mad saying a guy had put his hands on me and it got uglier from there. Mom read her the riot act saying she was enabling a would-be rapist.”

June’s eyes got big, “Go Linda.” Bloody hell, I was cheering Linda Milton. What was the world coming to?

Melissa continued, “I got tired of it and told my mom that I was eighteen and she couldn’t legally speak for me anymore and I told Richardson since I was a part of this I was out and assuming I was suspended and I would consider what to do legally about the fact that the school chose to ignore a report of sexual assault. Then I left.”

June held up her hand for a high five, “You go girl!” Melissa sheepishly high fived her. “I gotta get back,” June said, “but I know this woman, used to work with me, now does workplace harassment suits, I’ll bet she could tear this school a new hole.”

Melissa, “Thanks!”

June said, “I’ll text it to you,” as she hurried back to her seat. She returned to the gaggle who looked hungry for the gossip June might have.

“So,” I looked at Melissa and Lavi, “you want to go?”

Lavi shrugged as if to say sure. Melissa however said, “Can we stay a bit? I want to see how the girls do at half time.”

It was a given that Lavi would agree with Melissa and I saw no reason to object. As we sat Melissa settled between Yussef and me and they had a running commentary about both the game and the cheerleaders. I could tell that Melissa and Lavi were tense but they distracted themselves. I kept looking at Richardson walking around and considered going down there to give her a piece of my mind but I knew it wouldn’t accomplish anything. I did get some satisfaction at her looking up and giving annoyed looks at Melissa and Lavi still being here.

They, however, ignored her. Melissa pointed out where Zahra could do a little better and Yussef immediately knew what exercises would help her. I wondered if I should have brought a copy of The Naked Ape to read but figured no one would get the joke here. Lavi meanwhile gave me a running commentary on the sex lives of cheerleaders and football players and a surprising number of the marching band.

“So,” I had to ask after hearing about one football player’s preference for what Lavi called robust women, “if you know all this, how much of our sex life do they know?”

She shrugged. “Not much, we told them you make us pass out from amazing sex, read us poetry, and make gourmet meals. That got four out of five of the girls in the school ready to climb in bed with you. The others were ready to jump in after I told them about the dresses you bought us.”

Melissa was apparently still keeping an ear on our conversation though, as she now leaned over and said, “Those skanky hoes can get lost.” She looked like she had more to say but decided not to. She didn’t have to, I knew Melissa was sensitive about money in relationships.

I however had my own need for clarification from Lavi. “What? Wait, back up. Seriously?”

Lavi: “Robert, I adore you and Mellie, but if you think I’m not going to brag and make those thots jealous, really, modesty is not one of my virtues, you know that.”

I rubbed my forehead. Why was I having this conversation in the stands at a high school football game? Fortunately, Lavi got distracted by Instagram soon, and was soon posting pictures of the girls with comments like “OMG! Emma is so cute, she’s going to be amazing!”

As the girls cheered they did a few routines but there were also times they took breaks and did a more informal hyping of the crowd. Grace would move them around some and Melissa explained she was giving some of the girls’ experience in different roles. Melissa and Lavi stepping out required some adjustments on the fly, but only for the multi-part routines.

Soon it was half time. The players exited the field while the cheerleaders took a break. Though I was a bit on edge I had settled down into a relaxed pattern of chatting with Lavi and Melissa. Both were a little tense but distracting themselves. Meanwhile, I looked up to occasionally see eyes on us from the gaggle of cheer moms. I considered sticking my tongue out at them just to see what they’d do. I’m mature like that.

Melissa, “So, there will be a break for a few minutes and then the big routine will start. Looks like Emma is taking Lavi’s role which is good, she’s a strong thing. Amber is taking mine, makes sense she has the height and she knows the drill. That means they are probably going to toss Coraline, I swear that girl needs a few burgers.”

Lavi leaned into me and whispered in my ear, “She could eat me.”

I whispered back, “I don’t think that would give her the calories.”

“Well, it’d just be for practice.” We both started giggling and she bumped my shoulder with hers. I delighted in the fact that even among all these things happening we could still lean on each other. I didn’t have much time for contemplation though, because that’s when Ji started yelling at Grace and walked off the field. I sat stupefied for a minute. What the ever-living fuck was going on? Lavi’s eyes were wide and Melissa’s mouth was hanging open. Suddenly both were on their feet, bags left with me, and headed to the locker room in Ji’s wake. Grace was standing there with her head down. A few minutes later Melissa and Lavi were back with Ji, now wearing a button-up dress in rainbow colors. Melissa and Lavi sat down again while Ji headed to her mom.

Melissa leaned over, “Can we give Ji a ride home? Things are getting tense and she doesn’t want her sister or her friends to ride back on the bus but her mom doesn’t have room for five, so if we can take Ji that would be great.”

“Uh, sure,” I said. “What’s going on? She can’t get a ride with someone else?”

Lavi, “She wants to leave right now. Apparently, T’wana has been over the fucking moon about this drama and it’s gotten on Ji’s nerves until she broke. Owen talked to Grace and apparently Chris and Jerry almost got into a fight in the locker room. All the girls are finding other rides, fortunately, there is plenty of the mom squad here.”

‘So, abort plan ‘watch half time’?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“No problem.”

Yussef leaned forward, “I can give a ride if anyone needs it as well.”

“Thank you, Dr. Tahan.”

“T’wana is pissing off Ji now?” I asked.

Melissa, “She said, and I quote, ‘I’m tired of that bitch riding my dick.’”

I looked over at Yussef to see if this offended him. It didn’t seem to so I ignored it. As soon as Ji was back we were heading out. Melissa peeled off to talk to Grace but soon rejoined us and I eased Lavi’s car out of the parking lot. I drove, Melissa in the front seat while Lavi and Ji took the back.

“So ... how was Grace?” I asked.

Melissa, “Seriously upset. I think three of us walking off is fucking with her but she’s mad as hell at Richardson too.”

Lavi sighed, “God, I’m worked up. All that stuff has my blood going.”

A moment passed and she added, “And I mean, worked up, you know?” Another moment passed and she added, “You know, like horny.”

Ji started laughing. Melissa scolded Lavi, “Lavi, really?!?”

“What?”

“Ji is here.”

Ji, “I’ve heard this before.”

Melissa, “Yeah, but Robert is here.”

“She doesn’t say stuff like this around Robert?”

“Well, yeah, but she shouldn’t with other people around too.”

I couldn’t see her while driving but all I heard was Lavi continue as if Melissa had never said anything, “Really horny.”

That was it. Ji and I both were laughing and after a second so was Melissa who then yelled, “SLUT!”

Lavi, “I broke her!”

Melissa was still laughing, “I’ll break you later!”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” Melissa was smiling now. They blew kisses to each other.

That seemed to remove a lot of tension from the car.

“So,” Ji asked, “how does this work, do you all just fuck each other?”

“Uh,” Melissa seemed to think, “yeah, pretty much. I mean it’s not like a constant orgy or anything.”

“No one is going without, though,” said Lavi.

Ji, “It’s so weird.”

“So, I have to ask,” said Melissa, “why ask us for a ride? Someone else could have given you a lift.”

“Well, to be honest, partially to piss off T’wana. I’m tired of her riding me. But mostly because I just wanted out right now, not after the game was over.”

“About what?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“What is she giving you grief about?”

“You three really. She knows something happened at the party with Xinyi but no one is saying what so she’s been like a bitch with a bone.”

“So,” I had to ask, “What did you tell Xinyi and Grace, at the party?”

“I lied. I told them you had a hidden security camera over the door in the kitchen and once I said that Xinyi admitted everything. She fessed up and said it was exactly like you said.”

“Uh, good to know,” offered Melissa.

“Well, I had to say something and I didn’t want to share your ... uh, details.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“I did have to tell, the Xinyi part, to my mom. She wanted to know why Xinyi wasn’t on the team right away.”

“She gave me some funny looks at the game,” I said.

“Oh, she thinks you’re... “ she sighed, “dangerous.”

Dangerous? “Like, violent? She doesn’t think I’d attack you does she?”

“Oh, no, no! She thinks you’re going to seduce me.”

Melissa and Lavi both started a new round of chuckles. I didn’t join that one. I mean, I wasn’t going to but it wasn’t that funny...

Ji continued, “She said there was a dragon behind me and a tiger in front of me.”

“Huh?”

“I think you’re the tiger. Oh, the saying? It means surrounded by danger.”