Chapter 19: In the Spot Light

On our way to the hospital, I notice that Deana has a black eye and her cheerleader uniform is ripped and she is holding her stomach and moaning in pain, we get to the hospital and they whisk Deana away, who is crying. I’m told that I should wait in the waiting room.

I sit down and realize that people are staring at me. I realize that I’m still wearing my football helmet. I take it off and look around embarrassed.

It’s my fault. I should have known that something was wrong, when Deana told me that Coach Anderson wanted to see her after school. I also remember the conversation I heard between Principal Gallegos and Vice Principal Anderson about Coach Anderson being removed from his last school and not being charged, because his Uncle is on the school board. What did he do that got him removed? What did he do to Deana? My thoughts are interrupted, when the cheerleaders come in and start asking questions.

“They took her in the back,” I cry. I start crying, knowing that I should have done something. I should have stopped her from going to Coach Anderson’s classroom. “It’s my fault. I should have stopped her from going to Coach Anderson’s classroom.”

Martina sits beside me and hugs me. “George, it’s not your fault.”

“She told me that she was going to Coach Anderson’s classroom and I didn’t stop her.”

“George,” Pam interrupts. “Deana told me the same thing and I didn’t stop her. No one knew what would happen so stop blaming yourself.”

What did happen? All I saw was the cops cuffing Coach Anderson and Deana being wheeled out to the ambulance. My thoughts are interrupted as I see Deana’s parents run up to the nurse’s station. I watch as they are taken to the back to see their daughter.

After an hour of waiting, we are told that Deana is being released to her family and we are told to go home.

By lunchtime on Monday, gossip and rumors are all over the school. I talked to Principal Gallegos, who gave me the real scoop. Coach Anderson had tried to rape Deana. He was unsuccessful, because Deana fought back and pulled the fire alarm, which is why the fire department and the police got there so quick. And as I suspected, Coach Anderson had tried that before at his last school, which is why he was transferred. Principal Gallegos assured me that he would be in jail for a long time. She also told me to keep things hush-hush, because the investigation is still going on

“Deana will need her friends when she gets back to school,” Principal Gallegos adds as I assure her that the cheerleaders and I will take care of her.

I head to the lunchroom as I’m grabbed by the arm and lead down the hallway.

“I called an emergency meeting,” my sexy little secretary informs me. “Everyone is waiting in Coach Evan’ classroom.”

We get into the classroom as I see the group waiting for me. I also see Coach Evans sitting in the back row.

“May I join your group George,” Coach Evans asks, I look at Ericka, who immediately takes charge.

“Okay,” Ericka shouts, getting everyone’s attention. “Raise your hand if you are opposed to Coach Evans joining our group.” No one raises their hand as I see an amused look on Coach Evan’ face seeing his daughter take charge. “Coach Evans is officially in our group. Now I will turn it over to our President.” Erica sits at Coach Evan’s desk ready to take notes.

“As of today,” I begin as I have everyone’s full attention. I can feel grandma smiling down on me as I take charge. “We are on full alert. Jenny, Martina. When Deana gets back to school, I want you two to keep an eye on her and let her know that we are here for her.”

They nod as I continue. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m sure the bullies will use this to their advantage. Donald, Eddie. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything the bullies might be planning. Billy, Lucas, Marcus, Raymond. You guys will provide security for the rest of the group and anyone else that needs it. We need to stick together in case the bullies retaliate.”

The bell rings ending lunch as we head to class.

“All right ladies,” Coach Evans grins as we listen knowingly. “We made it to the playoffs again.”

It is the first Wednesday in November, the first game in the playoffs. The school is still in shock about what happened. Coach Anderson is in jail without bail while he awaits trial for attempted rape. Deana’s parents sent her to California with her grandparents until the trial. Rumor is that she doesn’t want to come back to this school.

The Anti-Bully group is still on high alert. The Intel that I received is that Calvin and Willie are mad that their Uncle was put in jail. Their dad and Uncle have hired an expensive attorney to defend Coach Anderson.

We head out to face the Darts our rival team. There are three games in our region. Today, Tuesday and next Friday. Then the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the State championships are held at the state University for all regions in their school category.

We are hyped up and ready to destroy the Darts. We are at the Darts field with standing room only. We see recruiters and TV cameras televising the game.

After the pep talk, Coach Evans warned me about the crooked coach that tried to take me down with his big players.

I get a hug from Jenny before Trevor and I head out for the coin toss. We are met by the lineman that gave me two cheap shots and I put down after he intercepted the ball.

“You’re going down,” he growls at me.

“You must really be a dumbass,” I laugh. “You don’t remember what happened the last time you tried to put me down?”

We win the coin toss and defer as I leave the guy growling at me. This is going to be a fun game. I have a lot of anger to release.

Our special teams kick the ball and the Darts bring it to their twenty. Three plays layer and they have to punt it to us. Even though Kevin is a total asshole, he is a great middle linebacker. I am glad he stopped hanging around the bullies, but he is still an asshole.

We head out to our thirty yard line. Trevor calls a running play. I head out to a mad lineman.

“Set. Hut!”

I hit the lineman hard with a loud CLACK of our pads that he wasn’t expecting. Our running back, Jerry is able to get us twenty-five yards for a first down. The next play Trevor sends the ball to Lucas for our first touchdown.

At half time, we are up 21-7. The darts are frustrated and mad that we are holding their offense and defense. I am taking some hard hits from the linebacker, but ready to go back out and fight.

At the start of the fourth quarter, we are up 35-10 and the crowd is going crazy. We hold them scoreless for the rest of the game. After my last touchdown, the lineman tries to hit me with a cheap shot as I side step him and he falls into the crowd.

One more win and we play for the state championship.

Even though it is a school night, we head to Alonza’s for dinner before heading home. Sharon rides with me along with Billy and his new girlfriend. A freshman cheerleader.

The place isn’t packed since it’s a weekday. I walk over to the sexy ass and give it a pinch as Ericka squeals.

“Bad boy,” Julie smirks as Martina laughs.

“At least it’s not my ass this time,” Martina grins as Raymond, and everyone else laughs.

Martina convinced her mother to hire more people since the restaurant is doing so well. Ericka jumped at the chance since her dad bought her a Volkswagen Bug, however he told her that she had to buy her own gas and insurance.

“Shields party,” Ericka shouts trying to imitate Martina. She sits us in the party room as I put a twenty dollar bill in Ericka’s cleavage. Everyone laughs and Ericka grins. I don’t have to worry about Kevin since he is banned from the restaurant. Sharon claims the seat to my left as Martina sits on my right.

I look around at all of my friends talking and having a good time. Even Sharon is having a good time and not acting like a stuck up bitch. We have a good time and head home.

“Are you excited for the big game tomorrow,” Doctor Jackson asks. It is Thursday, my monthly therapy session. Even though I think that I don’t need it, I don’t want to fall back into my shell. Martina is seeing a therapist so I am doing it for us. Tomorrow is our last playoff game. If we win, we play our sectional winners on Saturday after Thanksgiving at the State University.

“I am,” I answer. “I think we can win State. But...” I pause as Doctor Jackson sits back and waits for me to continue. “Have you ever felt that things can be too good?” I pause again knowing that she isn’t going to answer. “It’s like things could come crashing down at any moment and I have to start all over again.”

“George, those feelings are natural. The important thing to remember is that if they do...” She pauses for effect. “Is that you are strong enough to defeat them.”

“Last stop before competing for the state championship,” Coach Evans screams as we yell our school name and head out to our field to face the lions. The Lions lost to the current state champions last year and are looking for a second chance. But they have to go through us. We are on fire and will not let anyone beat us.

I wave at mom in the bleachers as she blows me a kiss. Our relationship is much better. I actually feel like her son and she treats me like a son. I get a hug from Jenny as we head out for the coin toss. We lose the coin toss and head back.

“We take the lead in the first half and don’t give them a chance to come back,” Coach explains as our special teams gets the ball to our forty five.

And that is what we did. Trevor fires a long pass to me on the first play as I run it in to a screaming crowd. We are on fire. We kick the ball to the lions as they get it to their twenty. Kevin sacks their quarterback as we recover and run it in.

By halftime, we lead 21-3. Coach sends the JV in after halftime ending the game 28-10. We just wanted it more than they did.

It’s Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for. The state championship is on Saturday. Our school is in the AA league so we play at 1pm.

I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner, which mom has no problem with. And Jenny and Sharon are too lazy to help. I’m still pissed off at Sharon for volunteering me to escort her to her movie premier in December.

I am peeling potatoes as I feel arms wrap around me and I smell the familiar smell.

“What would Raymond say,” I ask as Martina giggles. I turn in her arms and kiss her.

She is the most important girl in my life and I would probably have ended my life without her. She is my life.

“The same thing your loving girlfriend would say,” Martina counters as I swat her on her sexy butt and she squeals.

She starts peeling the potatoes as I hear the phone ring. I grab the phone and hear a British girl talking so fast that I can’t understand her. I give the phone to Martina as she sticks her tongue out at me knowing who it is.

They talk for a bit as I finish dinner.

“We are going to California to see Brittany during Christmas break. Don’t worry, you can still take your girlfriend to her movie premier.” I try to swat her on her ass as she squeals and runs away. “We should run away again like last year.” I think about that for a moment. A smile comes to my face as I remember the fun we had,

“It’s a date.”

I sleep in Friday morning after Thanksgiving. I want to relax and save my energy for tomorrow’s game. I promised Lou that I would watch over the restaurant today since he has to go to New York for a meeting. Plus I have to order all of the supplies since I will be too tired tomorrow after we win our state Championship.

I am at my desk at 10pm when Martina’s mom walks in and sits on my desk. I wish Martina was working tonight. However. she traded her shift with Ericka since the cheerleaders are working on a grand entry project for tomorrow’s game.

“I’m heading out early to get fucked,” she informs me. “I wouldn’t have to do it if you would fuck me.” Martina’s mom is hot. That is where Martina gets her looks, but Martina and her mother are total opposites as far as personality. “I closed the restaurant so make sure everyone cleans up.”

It’s 11pm when the last employee leaves. I’m glad, because I can get home and get some sleep for tomorrow’s big game. I walk around the restaurant checking the doors and making sure everything is secure like Lou taught me.

I lock the back door and get in my car and head out. I pull around the restaurant and see a familiar Volkswagen bug. I see Ericka inside, who left work ten minutes before me. What surprises me, is there is a car in front of her and one car behind her. Ericka is trying to start her car as I hear it grind. I see Calvin. Willie and Carlos standing outside her door.

“Get out bitch,” I hear Calvin shout at Ericka through the closed door.

“Let her go,” I surprise them as I get out of my car.

“Well-well-well.” Calvin chimes. “If it isn’t the Big-Man-On-Campus. What are you willing to give me to let her go.” I know what he wants. He wants to put me down. He can’t take me down alone so I know that he will need his thugs.

“Me against you and your goons,” I answer. “But you need to let her go first.”

Calvin grins as I let Ericka out of her car. I lead her over to my car, put her into the driver’s seat.

“George,” Ericka cries.

“Go!” I order as Ericka peels out in my Mustang.

“Do your best,”

The whole goon squad is here. Plus Calvin, Willie, Carlos and my long time bully, Marty.

Unlike before, I am not scared. I am not the fat weakling anymore. I have friends and family. If I die, I die by their hands not mine.

“We were going to fuck the shit out of Ericka, but killing your fat ass will be better,” Marty grins.

I don’t know what I did to him to make him hate me, but I am ready to finish it. Ever since Elementary school, Marty has bullied me. A lot of people have hated me for no reason. If I live through this I will ask Doctor Jackson of why people hate.

I see Willie and Carlos run to me as Marty swings a baseball bat at me, hitting me in the gut as the bat slips out his hands and falls to the ground. Marty sends a haymaker at me. I connect to his face with my fist, knocking him out. I feel a punch in my lower back as I am grabbed by both arms. Calvin gets a hard punch into my gut as I use the leverage of the two people holding me to send a kick into Calvin’s knee-cap, sending it backwards as Calvin screams in pain.

I hear sirens as a sharp object is pushed into my back and I feel warm liquid run down my side. I feel something hard hit the back of my head as I fall to the ground. I am kicked in the ribs and the face as I lay there not able to fight back. I am helpless as the sirens get closer and then something sharp stab me in the back. I’m hit in the back of the head again.

“You promised me,” I hear someone cry. I can’t wake up to answer whoever is talking to me. Am I awake? I can’t feel anything. “You promised you would never leave me.” I wonder who is talking and what is going on. Have I gone somewhere? Have I left someone?

“You can’t die and leave me,” I hear someone cry again. It’s not the same voice as last time, which seems long ago. “We have just gotten to know each other.”

“Son, please don’t leave,” I hear another voice say. I’m assuming that I have been gone again. I’m not sure where I was. “I’ve always wanted a son and yet I never spent a lot of time with you. I am so proud of you. Please don’t leave us.”

“You can’t leave me,” there’s that word again, ‘leave’. Am I going somewhere? I do feel like I have been gone a long time. But am I gone? And where did I go? “I need my big brother. We miss you George. Please come back.”

“Help!” I try to squeak out, but my mouth is dry. I am in darkness. I can only see out of my left eye. I can’t move my arms. I try to look around, but my neck is stiff. I see some lights to my left. I hear the door open and see someone rush in. She is wearing a mask and gown. I’m assuming she is a she. She shines a light in my eye and sighs.

“George,” she asks. Who the fuck else am I supposed to be, you stupid bitch. I am glad I can’t talk. I need sleep. Stay with me George. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Where the fuck am I going to go,” I ask myself as I drift off to sleep.

“Try to stay with us this time George,” I hear someone order. “I need you to talk to me.” I open my mouth and nothing comes out. He stands back as a woman lifts my bed and sticks a straw in my mouth as I drink. I am thirsty as I suck, but the straw is pulled away. “Slow down, George. Don’t overdo it. How do you feel?”

“I can’t move my arms.” I answer whoever this guy is. Then I suddenly remember why I am here. “Ericka! Is Ericka okay!” I need to get to the football game so that we can win the state championship,” I babble.

“George calm down. I am Dr. Chase and you are in the Intensive Care Unit. You’ve been in a coma for two weeks.” Two weeks? I start to freak out, when the lady sticks a needle in the tube that is attached to my arm. I relax and am out once again.

When I wake up. I see a nurse. She is wearing a mask over her face. “Can you stay calm long enough for me to bring a doctor in here to talk to you,” she asks holding up a syringe. “Or do I need to put you out again?” I shake my head ‘no’ as she leaves and returns five minutes later with a doctor.

“George, how are you feeling,” the doctor asks. He is also wearing a mask.

“I feel like I got the crap kicked out of me,” I answer. “My chest feels tight and my head hurts. And I can’t see out of my right eye.”

“You received two heavy blows to the back of the head, giving you a concussion,” the Doctor explains as I try to listen the best I can. “You received a kick to your right eye, which we taped up. You were stabbed in the back, which caused you to almost bleed out before you arrived in the emergency room. You also received multiple lacerations to your body. You have two broken ribs, which we taped up and is why your chest feels tight.”

“And,” the Doctor continues. There’s more? “You have blood in your urine, which we hope is not due to internal damage. If it doesn’t clear up in a couple more days, we will need to go in and have a look around. We will take you out of ICU tomorrow. It will be a long recovery, but you will be back to normal in no time. Your mother is out in the hallway and has been waiting to see you. After her visit, we will put you back to sleep. And transfer you to a regular room in the morning.”

I am about ready to doze off again, when mom comes in the room. She is also wearing a face mask and looks like she has been crying.

“Oh George,” mom cries. Not getting to close. “I’m not suppose to touch you until you get out of intensive care. I’ll tell all of your friends they can come visit tomorrow after the detectives talk to you. Poor Martina has been worried sick about you. She has been here every day and would stay until the nurses sent her home.” Martina! I hate for Martina to have to go through this. I start to ask mom what happened to the goons that beat me up, but her time is up and she is told to leave.

“Two weeks, I’ve missed two weeks of my life,” I think to myself as I drift off to sleep.

I wake up in the morning and am rolled into a room where I am X-rayed. Then they move me into a regular room, where I see dad standing there in surgeon scrubs.

“Good morning son,” dad smiles. I actually see a sigh of relief on his face. We have never been close, however he seems like he is trying hard to be a part of my life and actually be a dad to me. Him calling me son makes me feel that he is really trying. “I’m glad to see you out of ICU. We have been worried that we might lose you.” I see his eyes water as he said that. “I need to get back to work, but I’ll stop by before I go home.”

He leaves as two nurses and another Doctor come in with a cart.

“Okay, let’s get that bandage off your eye and see how your vision is,” the Doctor said as he pulls a stool beside me and sits down as one of the nurses checks my vitals. The other nurse closes the blinds and turns off the lights.

The Doctor removes the bandage and puts on a head set with a round glass on it. My eye is sore, however I can see. The light the Doctor is shining in my eye is not helping.

“I don’t see any damage, however, I am going to ask your mother to get you into my clinic so that I can make sure there is no optic nerve damage.”

After the Doctor leaves, my arms are released from the bed-rails. I am given some yogurt and apple sauce, which I didn’t eat a lot of. I am still weak and don’t have any energy. When they left, I immediately fell asleep.

When I wake up, I see mom sitting beside me still wearing her nurse uniform.

“There is a detective that needs to talk to you,” mom informs me. “Are you up for it?”

I nod my head knowing that it is going to happen whether I like it or not. There are always two sides to a story and I’m sure the goons lied.

Mom lets a detective in the room. I can tell she is a cop, because of the way she is dressed. She is 5’10” 140 pounds. Short red hair and looks to be my mother’s age.

“George Shields,” she asks. I nod. “I am Detective Brenda Holmes and I need to ask you a few questions about what happened to you.”

She asks me if I’m willing to answer questions without a lawyer present and verifies my name and date of birth. Then she asks me to tell my story.

I tell her the full story of what happened.

I started from the time I left Alonza’s to saving Ericka and the last blow to my head. She makes me repeat the story as she asks questions. Her questions are simple. Why was I at the restaurant? Was they harassing Ericka or trying to help her start her car.

Then the barrage of questions come as she interrogates me,

“What made you think that Ericka was in danger?”

“They were yelling at het through her closed window.”

“Why didn’t she just drive off if they were a threat?”

I’m sure she has already talked to everyone and these questions are routine, but she is really pissing me off.

“Because there was a car in front of her and a car behind her blocking her exit. If her car did start, she could not have got away.”

“Why didn’t you get in your car with Ericka and drive away.”

“Calvin Anderson said that if I didn’t give myself up that they would gang rape her and beat me. And I needed time for Ericka to drive to safety.”

She pauses her questions and wipes a tear from her eyes. It’s apparent that she is getting the other side of the story.

“Okay George,” She continues. “But there are some accusations against you.” I look at her confused as she smiles.

“There are three of the assailants that are accusing you of harassing them in school and stealing their girlfriends.” I bark out a laugh, which makes my head hurt as she smiles. “I figured as much. I have already talked to your friends and family and Principal. However, some of the families have money and have lawyered up.” I remember Amy, Marty’s older sister telling me that her father and her brother Marty have money, because her dad is a lawyer. I sigh as the Detective shakes her head.

“Most of those guys that were there,” have been bullying me since Elementary School,” I end the conversation.

Late in the evening, after my dinner of applesauce and yogurt, I have a crying Jenny in my arms as I cringe in pain. Mom tells her to be careful as I now have a crying Martina in my arms.

“Oh George,” Martina cries into my neck. “I knew you would keep your promise!” I remember the promise I made to Martina at the waterfall, that I would never leave her. “I knew you would come back to me!” I wrap my arm around her as she cries.

When Martina finally gets off my aching body, I look up and see most of the cheerleaders in the room. Mom grins, shakes her head, and heads back to work.

Pam and Tracey give me a hug and a long wet kiss as Martina and Jenny giggle.

We start talking as I find out that we lost the game 31-21. Jenny explains that when she found out what happened, she immediately called Martina.

“All the cheerleaders went to support the game except Jenny, Martina, Tracey, Sharon and I,” Pam inform me.

“Yeah, we knew they were going to lose without you anyway,” Tracey adds as I look at her. She doesn’t have a lot of faith in her boyfriend, Trevor. “Hey, Trevor is not a good quarterback. He is only good when he has good players.”

“Where is Sharon,” I ask noticing that she isn’t in the room.

“Her mother took her back home to California,” Jenny pouts. Jenny and Sharon have become good friends. So I know what she is going to say before she finishes her sentence. “She took her away. She said it is too dangerous here.”

“Took her away kicking and screaming,” Martina adds. “Sharon still wants you to escort her to her new movie premier after Christmas.”

Before we can continue the conversation, a nurse comes into the room.

“Okay Casanova,” the nurse shakes her head. “It’s time for your harem to go home. Visiting hours are over.”

The girls giggle and line up to kiss me. Sophia is first, since she is the head cheerleader. “I have a surprise for you when you get better.” That’s all I need is to piss Lucas off, because his girlfriend has a surprise for me. That’s all I need is another enemy.

After the third cheerleader gives me a kiss with lots of tongue, the nurse puts a stop too everything.

“Girls stop and get out. George has a catheter on and it is probably getting very uncomfortable.” Most of the girls giggle as I look at the nurse confused. “You have a tube in your dick,” the nurse smirks as there are howls of laughter from the cheerleaders. I feel my face heat up in embarrassment. I wonder if there is a feedback form to fill out about the nurses.

“Must be a long tube,” Pam quips.

“How do you know,” Martina asks with a little heat in her voice.

“The same way you know,” Pam smirks as Martina frowns at me.

Oops! I forgot to tell Martina about the morning Pam snuck into my room.

“When do I get to find out,” Tracey pouts as the cheerleaders start howling in laughter again.

“Out!” The nurse screams.

“Your homework is on the chair,” Jenny adds with a quick kiss on my cheek as she makes a hasty retreat.

I am working on my school assignments that Jenny brought me yesterday. The blood in my urine is gone so they removed the tube from my dick. I am feeling good, but I am still a little weak. My ribs are feeling better. The nurses removed the bandages from my head and told me that my black eye is still there, but not as bad as it was when I got here.

I asked mom to make a phone call to my lawyers, Buckley and Maw. I certainly don’t need to be charged for something I didn’t do and I don’t want Marty and his goons to get away with what they did. The door opens interrupting my thoughts as I have a crying redhead lying on top of me. I am trying not to scream in pain.

“George, I am so sorry,” Ericka cries. “You saved my life.”

“Ericka,” I groan in pain.

“Ericka get your fat ass, off George,” I hear Coach Evans order.

“Daddy!”

Ericka crawls off me as I look up and see Coach Evans and his wife.

“Hey Coach,” I greet sheepishly. I am surprised to see him. I also feel sadness inside me that I let him down in some way. Yes, he screwed my mom and was the reason I was sent away. But if he hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have met Martina.

“I let the team down again,” I cry as he motions for his Wife and daughter to leave the room. All of the pent up emotions that I have inside me are let out. I remember letting the seniors down when I was a freshman and now I let my team down yet again.

“George,” Coach Evans starts as I cry. “The team didn’t want to play. They are loyal to you. I had to make them play.”

I look at him as he nods his head and continues. “I want to thank you for saving my daughter. You could have just drove away and left her there. But I know that you are not like that and will do anything to help your friends. You are a good man George.”

I see a tear come to his eyes as he lets his family back in the room and we talk for a while about what is going on. Apparently the detectives interrogated Ericka about that night and have been interviewing a lot of people in the school.

“The only person that was formally charged, was Willie Anderson, who was the one that stabbed you. The knife was found in his pocket with your blood still on it. Everyone else is claiming self defense.” Coach Evans finishes as I scoff.

When did eight against one become self defense for the eight that attacked me? Looks like this is far from over.

It is Friday, and I am laying in my own bed getting caught up on homework. The rest of the week went without incident. I was released from the hospital yesterday. I will return to school next Thursday only to take the final tests that I missed. Christmas break starts the week after next.

Mom talked with Mr. Buckley, my lawyer and he said that nothing could be done until charges were filed against me or someone else. If no charges are filed against the people that put me in the hospital then he could go after them if I wanted. The only person that has been charged is Willie and he can’t deny anything, because they found a knife in his pocket with my blood on it.