Chapter 1

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 1991

Have you ever had one of those fevered dreams? Have you jolted awake in a cold sweat after dreaming about showing up to school in your underwear? I tossed and turned fitfully all night, not sure why each time I woke up until I remembered the phone call the night before.

My best friend and I had said some pretty awful things to each other. I knew I would need to fix this mess as soon as possible. It was a complicated relationship, but I was sure it could be smoothed over.

There was also a budding relationship with a gorgeous, athletic girl who had been on my mind all summer, even through dalliances with three other girls over the warm months.

Did I say three? Make that four. I know. Complicated.

Did I mention that our first JV football game of the season would be played the next night?

So I hadn’t slept well when mom woke me up earlier than I had planned for Tuesday morning.

“Jake, wake up...” mom said softly.

I peeled a crusted eye open to double-check my alarm clock. Was I late? Did I set it wrong?

6:50 AM

“What the?”

“Jake, can you get up a little early? It’s Josh’s first day of school.”

Things started to make sense. I didn’t need to be up this early because I didn’t need to catch the bus. Josh did.

“Yeah-sure,” I mumbled, rolling over and pulling the covers over my face.

“Jacob Gabriel Parker! Get up!”

That did it. My full name with each word punctuated for effect. I was fully awake now.

“Just for today, Jake, get up and see your little brother out,” mom said softly.

“I got it,” I mumbled, shooing mom out of the room.

A yawn, a stretch and a hot shower put me closer to right for the day.

I put on a new pair of acid-washed jeans, a bright blue T-shirt and my new Nike high tops, white, with neon green and blue accents.

Josh was very much ready for his first day of school. A striped polo, fresh kicks, a haircut and a full backpack, he was bouncing off the walls in excitement.

I had to smile, and his exuberance was at least a little contagious. I shoveled down a bowl of cereal, got dressed and posed for photos at the front door with the little guy. He was so proud to be headed to school. Mom and dad walked him down the driveway to await the bus.

I returned to my room with some time to spare before I had to leave. I looked at my teen-phone line and thought about calling Shelby. She’d be at marching band practice. That call would do no good.

Maybe getting to school a little early wouldn’t hurt? I grabbed my backpack and my gym bag and headed out to my little detached garage and pulled the double doors open.

The first day of school would be a day for introductions, for some. Today I’d be introducing my school to “Sally.”

There she sat awaiting me, cozy under her blanket. I carefully pulled the cover off of her striking curves, revealing a deep blue metallic skin with chrome accents. “Sally” was one of my first loves, my 1968 Mustang Fastback.

I dumped my bags in the back seat and sat down in the driver’s seat, a foot on the clutch and a hand at the key.

She fired right up and idled at a rough pace. I shifted her into gear and slowly pulled out of the little garage, nearly blinded as the reflective paint of her long hood hit the morning sunlight.

‘What a gorgeous day,” I thought, even with a lack of sleep. ‘Maybe things will be OK today.’

I rolled up to Mikey’s about ten minutes early. He was unimpressed.

“Dude, you’re early,” a sleepy Mike complained while opening the car door.

“The early bird gets the worm, Mike.”

Mike glared at me for a moment, wiping crust from his eyes.

“The second mouse gets the cheese,” he said drearily.

I chuckled at him. “I guess cheese sounds better than worms either way.”

We rumbled off to school, taking the 12-mile drive south. The road was pretty clear of traffic, as I’d likely hit a sweet spot between early risers and those coming right on time.

We rolled into the big parking lot. The band was marching and playing on the practice fields.

Somewhere with the flutes, Shelby was marching along with them, I knew.

We couldn’t hear the band over EMF’s “Unbelievable” cranked up on my radio.

“The things you say Your purple prose just gives you away The things you say Is for what I love you more The things you say Your purple prose just gives you away The things, you say You’re unbelievable!”

It was my first time parking in this lot; my first time driving to school. I circled the lot once before finding the exact spot I wanted to hit. It was in the third row back, right next to a big, black Bronco. I could see the driver still waiting inside.

A sneaky half-grin spread over my face.

“What?” Mikey asked suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing. You go ahead. I need a minute or two.”

Mikey gave me an odd look, then looked to his right and up to see Jennifer Fox giving me a shy wave from behind the steering wheel of her big, black Bronco.

“Oh my God, dude!” Mikey said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Mike opened the car door, gathered his backpack and looked to a blushing Jen.

“He’s all yours,” Mikey bowed and smiled, before turning and heading into the building.

The tall girl demurely stepped down from her big truck and bounced into my passenger seat, closing the door behind her. She was in a plain starch-white T-shirt and some rather tight jean shorts with what looked like brand new sneakers. She had most of her hair pulled back into a cute a ponytail.

“Good morning,” I said with a half grin.

“Good morning,” she replied shyly, running a finger through her long, golden blond hair to straighten it behind her ear.

“Ready for this?”

“Not really,” she said without confidence.

“You’re going to love it here. Everyone’s going to love you.”

“I’m not so sure...”

“Well, I can walk you in and help you find your locker, your classrooms, whatever you need.”

Her blue-green eyes were on mine fully for the first time.

“I suppose that would be nice,” she said with a shy grin, each word evenly spaced apart.

“What do you have first period?”

“Um, let me look,” Jennifer begged, opening a folded piece of paper from a pocket in her backpack. “English II.”

“Bah!” I complained. “I have Algebra II first period. I can show you where it is, at least.”

“I have History second period,” she added hopefully.

“Strike two,” I complained. “I have Bio 1 then, and since I have English II third period, we don’t have that class together either.”

Jennifer frowned. “Spanish, then lunch?”

“Spanish! Then lunch!” I cheered with a fist pump, finally finding common ground with her schedule.

Jennifer giggled at my antics, her chest rising and falling with her laughs.

“Study Hall? P.E.?”

“Yes and yes!” she cheered.

“Journalism?”

“Keyboarding,” she frowned.

“Keyboarding?” I asked dubiously.

“I think it used to be called typing.”

“I know what it means,” I razzed her. “Why are you taking it?”

“To learn how to type,” she said flatly.

“I’m just messing with you. I took it last year,” I grinned.

“So, Spanish, lunch, study hall and P.E. together?”

“Not bad,” I smiled.

“Sooo... , “ Jennifer drawled slowly, looking at me expectantly.

“Sooo... , “ I responded, leaning toward her face expectantly.

“Oh, um, no,” Jennifer said awkwardly, moving her face away from mine. “I was just wondering if you wanted to go inside.”

My eyes opened in surprise and immediate embarrassment. I misread things. We had kissed just the afternoon before, in her truck, on her terms.

I fumbled this one.

“Yeah, sure!” I enthused, leaning back quickly to hide my embarrassment.

Jennifer was already opening her door, making it pointless to try to open it for her. I locked the passenger door from the inside, grabbed my backpack and gym bag and closed and locked my own door. Jennifer was leaning up into her truck to get her own stuff, one long, lean leg bent upward with the toe of her sneakers pointing back. I was seconds away from drooling before she hopped down with her bag and slammed her door shut.

The tall blond stopped at the front of her truck and looked at me expectantly with a wry smile.

I tried to hide a sly grin and walked over to her and led her between the cars toward the school building.

Out of habit, I nearly walked into the freshman hallway doors, but corrected at the last second.

“Sorry, habit. That’s the freshman hallway,” I indicated with a nod.

Jennifer laughed and took her place next to me, walking in step and pretty close to me.

A few other people were trickling in as we walked through the open doors of the sophomore hallway for the first time.

Eyes widened. Heads turned. Chins dropped. I have to imagine it in slow motion as Jennifer and I strode down the hallway. A confident smile on my face. Jennifer’s long blond hair swaying back and forth from her ponytail. I walked in like I owned the place, and I probably thought I did that morning.

I nodded, said ‘hi’ to a few friends. Introduced Jennifer to a few, then made my way down the hall.

“This is where my locker is,” I pointed. “I’ll take you down to yours.”

“Still having quite a summer, Jacob Parker?”

An icy tendril crawled down my back at the sound of her voice, dripping with mock honey.

It came from my left, a surprise. I missed Alexis Hunter in the middle of a group of girls, mostly cheerleaders.

They were already in uniform, red and blue sweaters over pleated blue skirts that ended at mid-thigh. Alexis stepped out of her circle seemingly to measure up with Jennifer.

The raven-haired beauty was inches shorter than the new blond girl, with perfect complexion and an arrestingly attractive face. She ran the cheerleading clique and as much of our class and school as she could get her cunning fingers on.

Cold, emerald-green eyes looked the blonde athlete up and down before she smiled and extended a hand.

“Where are my manners? I’m Alexis. You must be Jennifer Fox?”

“Nice to meet you, Alexis, yes, I’m Jennifer. My friends call me Jen.”

It went down like a western duel set in a high school hallway. Not a breath could be heard, and a stray tumbleweed rolling down the hallway would not have shocked me.

“Welcome to County West, Jennifer,” Alexis left the meaningful emphasis on her full name.

Alexis drew blood first with her quietly cutting remark. Jennifer was quick to fire back.

“You know, Jacob warned me that there would be a lot of interest in a new girl. Now I see why,” she responded through a mock smile.

“It’s a small school, Jennifer. Anything new at all is interesting,” Alexis responded with a healthy dose of arrogance.

“Well, it was SO nice to meet you, Alexis,” Jennifer replied, looping her arm through mine. “Jacob here offered to show me where my classes are, so I better not make him late.”

“That I did,” I responded quickly, starting to tug the tall blond down the hallway.

“Hi Jake.”

Those two words stopped me in my tracks a second time. I hadn’t even noticed her standing right there in Lexie’s circle.

I stopped long enough to find the gorgeous redhead and meet her dark blue eyes. She’d let her hair grow out again, just past shoulder length now. She gave me a shy smile that popped both of her trademark dimples in over lightly freckled cheeks. I quick glance from floor to forehead showed a toe turned in toward the other foot, bronzy legs from a summer of work as a lifeguard at the pool peeking out under the cheerleading skirt and the cheer sweater covering perhaps even bigger breasts than when I last had my hands and mouth on those massive jugs.

“Hi DeeDee,” I said slowly enough to be polite before gently guiding Jen closer to safe ground.

“Sooo, that’s the Welcome Wagon?” Jen asked derisively.

“Uh, yeah, not exactly,” I said in apology. “That’s the popular clique, but I’m generally welcome around them. I get along with a lot of people.”

“If you get along with everyone else as well as you get along with her, I have to wonder if you have any friends at all,” she teased.

“Well, there are friends, and there are ‘friends,’” I added conspiratorially with air quotes.

“And what kind of ‘friends’ are you with the redhead?” she stopped and asked me with the same air quotes.

“Uh, we have time for the Cliff’s Notes version of that question, so, uh, we dated briefly.”

“You can do better than that during our walking tour?” Jen giggled. “Not your first love, was she?”

The air came out of my lungs and I must have looked sick for a second.

“Oh, touchy subject?”

“Uh, you could say that,” I said, realizing just how much she didn’t know about me.

“Not her though,” I said softly after a moment. “She was nice, and we had a good but short run. Truthfully, she dumped me the second baseball was over, likely at Lexie’s direction.”

“Not really much of a girlfriend then?”

“She just needs to develop a backbone,” I said plainly.

“Are you kidding? She has to have a hell of a backbone to support a set of tits like that,” Jen said mirthfully, holding her hands obscenely out in front of her own chest.

I stood there shocked, then laughed out loud with my eyes and mouth wide open at a chuckling Jennifer.

“Oh, we’re going to get along SO well!”

“Shall we?” the surprisingly smart girl held the crook of her arm out for me again.

“We shall,” I grinned, looping my arm through hers and walking her the last few yards down the hall of sophomore lockers.

After showing Jennifer around, I wandered back down the hallway to stow my gear.

“What’s wrong with Shelby?” Mikey questioned me from behind.

“I dunno,” I said flatly.

“Well she would barely say ‘hello’ to me at my locker, and when I asked her what was wrong, she told me to ask you,” he complained.

“Well, uh, we kinda had a little bit of a fight last night after some things came to light and that’s about as far into it as I can get.”

“What came to light?”

“That is about as far into it as I can get right now,” I said through gritted teeth indicating sets of ears around us.

“Ah, gotcha,” I’ll just pester you later, man.”

“Of course you will, dipshit,” I grinned. “What class do you have first?”

“Precalc,” he complained.

“Pre-calculus? I can just beat the shit out of you for free if you want to take it easier?”

“Nah, dude. Gotta take a lot of math. I’m going to be a programmer.”

“Computer programmer? I guess I found that line of work interesting until a few seconds ago.”

“Yeah, whole lotta math, dude,” Mikey said ruefully, then grinned. “But you can always farm.”

“Maybe I could race for a living,” I mused out loud.

“Not the way you drive.”

“You need to take a break from the steakhouse and come see me wheel it, ya tool. I did win two races this summer,” I said with confidence.

“That pays squat, and you’re not all that good.”

“It’s my first year,” I said in exasperation. “I won, two races, in my first year!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mikey chuckled. “Overgrown go-karts those things are.”

“You’d shit yourself just sitting in one. Either way, I’m sure I can earn a fine living without learning math I’ll never use again,” I said with finality.

“Probably right,” Mikey drawled as the first bell rang.

“Shit, better get to it,” Mikey said.

“See you at lunch, or another class or, I guess, game time.”

“No later than game time,” Mikey laughed.

First days are generally a pushover as far as any homework or difficulty in class. You get your books. You get an introduction, maybe even a syllabus from a particularly organized teacher.

Spanish was something else though. I managed to grab a seat next to Jen. Our teacher, Miss Davis, insisted on only speaking to us in Spanish on the first day. I could understand about a quarter of what she was saying. Most others were just as bad off as me.

That class ended mercifully, and it was time for lunch.

Jen and I walked side-by-side, nearly bumping into my little freshman cousin and her little freshman friends, each clad in cheerleading gear.

“Hi Jacob,” the chorus of girls greeted me.

“Girls,” I said stiffly.

Jen, of course, had met the three cunning little sirens at my parent’s Labor Day party the day before. They exchanged hugs and teased Jen about taking me to lunch.

“I think I’ll make him pay,” she winked at my cousin Natalie, her friend Julie Anders and little Harmony Rogers.

They shared a giggle and moved along, before Jen and I settled into the line for lunch.

“What’s on the menu today?” I wondered aloud.

“Tacos, I think,” Jen added.

“Oh, trial by fire on day one,” I chuckled. “They put greasy meat and some orange cheese in the shells, then bake them and stuff some lettuce in them just before handing them to us,” I said with a grimace.

“I think they made them the same way at my old school, orange cheese and all,” Jennifer made a mock gag with a finger pointed at her throat.

We made our way through the line. I made small talk with some other classmates in line and dutifully introduced the tall blond beside me to everyone I could. We got our trays and Jen followed me into the small gym/cafeteria.

Still laid out mostly in long tables, I walked toward my traditional spot from last year.

Much had changed already.

On the far end, Kim Nguyen, Allison Grimes, Mandy Prentice, Morgan Emerson, Autumn Kent, and Lea Rens held court with a smattering of athletes, including Mitch Carter, Chris Anders, David Keller, Brian Thompsen, Wyatt Jones, Chad Woody, and Corey Blank.

Allison and Chad were a perma-couple, so they sat together. Kim, Allison and Mandy were cheerleaders, although Mandy was also a short-but-effective volleyball player. We dated over the summer. Morgan Emerson was a tall, athletic, brunette bitch. We never saw eye-to-eye. Autumn and Lea, another tall athletic blond, were best friends. Autumn had made some changes to her look over the summer, now wearing a forest green jumper with some high-end high heels. The slim redhead and I had also dated over the summer. Complicated, I know. We had grown close as lovers and friends over the summer, but had ended it amicably. I wasn’t quite as certain about Mandy. She seemed to have grown much stronger feelings for me than I had for her, but no signs of trouble so far.

Notably absent were Lexie and DeeDee, and my usual crew was just arriving toward the middle of the table. The other end of the table held the Wilson twins, Vernon Donaldson and some very short new kid. Rachael Hudson was joined with Jesse Wilson at the hip. Chris Anders was down there as well, next to, well next to Shelby Ray.

It was the first time I’d spotted my best friend all day. We’d sat together at lunch more years than I could count, but today was a day of firsts again. I introduced Jennifer to as many people as I could. She, of course, already knew her volleyball teammates for a couple of weeks of practice. We were welcomed warmly as we sat down.

I happened to glance a few tables away when I first saw them. The look on my face must have been delicious to Morgan.

“Oh, he didn’t know,” she said venomously.

I’d spotted Lexie and DeeDee alright. Both were sitting at a table full of seniors. Lexie was attached at the hip to Troy Bartz, star running back. DeeDee was sitting up against none other than Mitch Carter’s older brother Mark, star quarterback.

Well, the girls had certainly done well for themselves after unceremoniously dumping both Mitch and me the day baseball ended. I’d been warned, but I didn’t know for sure. Seeing it was still a bit of a shock.

“What’s that, Morgan?”

“Oh, just thought you might not have known who DeeDee is with now,” she practically sang.

“I didn’t, but that’s OK. We’re just friends now.”

“She certainly traded up, don’t you think?” Morgan said gleefully.

“Matter of opinion,” Jen muttered.

I chuckled and gave Morgan a meaningful grin.

“This spot taken?” Mikey drawled.

“Pull up a seat,” I offered.

Trent Turner and Marcus Robinson (Tree and Beast) trudged up behind Mikey, and settled in across from Jen and me.

“Still making friends with Morgan?” Beast grinned.

“Best of friends,” I teased.

“She raz you about DeeDee already?”

“Yeah, you just missed that. Thanks for the heads-up by the way.”

“I thought everyone knew,” he shrugged.

“Ahem,” Jen cleared her throat meaningfully at me.

“Where are my manners? Beast, er, Marcus, this is Jennifer.”

Each gave a quick nod.

“And this is, um, Trent?”

The tall tight end and power forward was practically staring at Jen with his mouth hanging open.

“Tree,” he offered tightly, then quickly looked down at his tacos.

“My friends,” I shrugged at a grinning Jen.

Study hall right after lunch is like an invitation to put you right to sleep.

“Those tacos were nasty,” Jen complained.

“Yeah, the grease is strong with them,” I replied.

“I’ll take them off your hands next time,” Beast offered, smiling.

“You hear that?” I complained. “He just met you, and he offers to eat your taco.”

Jen stared at me wide-eyed and snorted a laugh through her nose. Lea Rens joined her in cackles and Beast chuckled along.

“Quiet down, or I’ll have to split you up!”

Our fearless study hall leader had barked at us a second time. Mr. Lambert, a very odd-looking old putz of a music teacher, hated dealing with anyone other than his singers. He looked like a cross between a vampire and a Muppet with ears like tea saucers. Study hall duty was where he was nastiest.

“Sorry,” I offered.

“You will be,” he snapped.

“Sure,” I said under my breath.

The rest of the table sucked in a laugh, but their eyes couldn’t hide it.

P.E. was generally coed for us, but we’d split apart for a few weeks for different sports. The girls would hate too much wiffle ball. The boys couldn’t get enough of it. Volleyball would be a given right now with the nets already in place.

I strode out into the gym in new black cotton shorts and a red tank top. Jen emerged from the ladies locker room in her skin-tight practice volleyball shorts and a tight, long-sleeved shirt. She knew what was up.

Everyone was directed to line up for stretching, and indeed it was volleyball. There would be four teams divided up.

Unfortunately, we weren’t on the same team and we didn’t even get to play each other that day. A stray wink or a raspberry blown one way or the other was just more flirting we’d been going through all day. I think had a near permanent grin on my face all day.

We said a quick goodbye at the end of the session. I was off for Journalism and she would go learn to type. I planned to try to catch a little of her game before we had to be dressed and ready for ours. She liked the idea, and said she’d come watch my game after hers was over.

I love it when a plan comes together.

“You seem to be having a good day,” said Autumn

“I am,” I smiled. “You are turning quite a few heads yourself, I’ve noticed.

The pretty redhead smiled demurely, pretending not to blush at my words.

“That might even have worked on me last year,” Autumn teased, razzing me with purpose. “So she’s the one you were waiting for all summer?”

“Yeah, I guess,” I admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“I told you, you don’t have anything to be sorry for. I wouldn’t trade a moment of our summer for anything,” she said in earnest.

“Thanks,” I smiled, putting a hand over hers for a moment.

“The five Ws of journalism are what, again, Mr. Parker?”

Mrs. Garret had caught me red-handed talking to my erstwhile lover and now close friend.

“Oh, the uh, five are who, what, where, when, why, and I guess how, sort of.”

“Not bad, Mr. Parker. Maybe you can be a journalist yet.”

I caught up with Jen one more time on the way to the locker rooms before I’d get some treatment and tape on a troubled wrist, then suited up and got ready for our game. The volleyball game would be just before our game. Thankfully, I could wish her good luck this way.

“Good luck tonight.”

“What? Oh, thanks,” a clearly nervous Jen replied, avoiding eye contact with me. “I have to get going.”

“Hey, anything wrong?”

“No,” she squeaked, before stopping in her tracks clutching a book bag to her chest.

“What’s wrong?” I walked around the tall girl to look her in the eye.

“It’s, um, just been a lot to take in today, first day and all,” she said nervously.

“Were they bitchy to you again?”

“Um, not exactly,” she said with a wince.

“What’s wrong, tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s just a lot. A lot to think about.”

“What’s a lot to think about?”

“Um, look, I heard a lot about you today, a whole lot the last hour in Keyboarding.”

“Like what?” I swallowed hard.

“Just, um, that you have a lot of experience and what you were up to all summer and um, tragic stuff.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. Who told you all this?”

“I’d rather not say,” she said meekly.

“Make me a promise?”

“I can’t promise unless you tell me what it is first,” Jen replied, nervously toeing one new sneaker into the floor.

“Just promise me you’ll let me tell you my side before you make any judgements?”

“Well, I like, already have made some.”

“No. Please don’t do that. Someone is spreading poison. Please let me tell you my side.”

“I guess, I owe you that,” she said with a small smile.

“Look, um, there’s no one else. There’s no one I want to spend time with more than you. I don’t know if I’ve made it clear enough yet.”

“You have,” she smiled a little more broadly.

“OK, just remember the guy who brought a nice car to your garage for a new interior, and the guy you kissed in your truck last night, OK?”

“I like that guy,” she said quietly, then frowned. “But now I’m not so sure.”

“Give me a half hour after the game. It’s all I ask.”

“I’ve just gotta call my parents after my game and tell them I’ll be late watching your football game.”

“Perfect! You won’t regret it!”

I felt a little better. I felt like there was still a very good chance. But I felt betrayed. I felt like someone was out to get me. Who did she talk to? Who would dare?

“You’re going to have to unclench your fist if you want tape on that wrist.”

“Oh, sorry,” I apologized to the trainer, applying a wrap and tape to my left wrist. I’d jammed it in a practice the week before holding off a second blocker. Well, Mikey and Beast at the same time.

I put my football pants on and went shirtless to get treatment. I stood leaning in the gym doorway the same way, watching the first volleyball match get underway. I got to watch about 10 minutes of it. Jennifer was in her element, clearly already the leader of this team. She was a force at the net and especially at serve. She was pure power, fluid movement and grace. I loved watching her move. That trademark ponytail would flare up each time she struck the ball. She was something to behold.

I wasn’t alone. There was a whole group of freshman boys watching with tongues wagging. Not that I worried about them. They were even more pathetic than I was a year ago, little punks.

Soon enough, it was time to finish getting dressed for the game. I almost felt sorry for the East High players, because I was going to take out my frustration on them.

I loved our uniforms. Shiny silver pants, with royal blue jerseys set off in red and white. Our helmets were white with a stylized wolf paw on each side, identical to my racing helmet.

Unlike the varsity squad, who preferred total silence in the locker room before a game, we preferred a lively environment. Woody had brought a boombox and the Beastie Boys were at near full volume. Coach let it rock until it was time for last minute instructions.

Keys to the game? Tackle. Pursue. Play until the whistle. That was it. Short and sweet. Just the way I like it.

Coach gathered us around for last minute preps and a pep talk. Then it was helmets on and out to the field to stretch and warm up.

Mitch, Woody, Shawn Spears and I would be captains. Coach wanted us to kick off whether we won the toss or not. We won and we chose to kick.

This was it. The butterflies of the first game of the season were alive in my stomach.

Our massive defensive tackle, Ryan Stubben, was also our kicker. He blasted one to about the 10, which was returned to the 30.

It was showtime. I ran out on the field to join the rest of the defense. I stood just behind the ball, calling the defense to a huddle and watching for the signal from coach.