Chapter 31

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Hanna, since she’d mentioned she was heading home right after school to find out what was going on with Kat. I still wanted to talk to her about the festival, but it could wait until tomorrow. We had a week until spring break and Mr. French had handled most of it, anyway.

I was just jogging out to the field, my head still miles away, when I almost tripped over my own feet. JV was practicing their fielding while varsity was over in the batting cages working on their swings, and standing on second base was Harry Torres, who should have been off the team completely after attacking me in front of two of the coaches.

I made a beeline for Coach Dean, who saw me coming and met me halfway, grabbing me by the bicep and leading me off to one far side of the field, away from everyone else. I didn’t take my eyes off of Harry, who was tracking me as I got hauled away, until Coach Bryant yelled at him to get his head into practice.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Coach Dean said once we were far enough away to talk without being overheard. “I know you thought Harry would be kicked off the team, but a decision was made to give him another chance. I get that seems unfair to you and probably makes you angry, but I think the best thing you can do is just focus on playing baseball. Harry’s still going to be on JV, so you aren’t even going to be playing together.”

“But how did he get a second chance, Coach? I’ve been almost kicked off the team twice, and I haven’t done anything but defend myself. I had to practically beg Mr. Keller to keep me in and I spent the first month training by myself and I’m still not able to do regular classes with the rest of the team. Harry clearly attacks me in front of you and Coach Cooper, and he gets a second chance. I’m not even sure I want to play baseball anymore if this is the bullshit I have to deal with.”

“If that’s your decision, then I won’t stop you, but I think you should take some time before you make any rash decisions. Is that what you really want? I thought you said Harry has been trying to get you off the team since you joined, wouldn’t this be giving him exactly what he wants?”

“But how did you let this happen, Coach? You said you were going to take care of it and make sure I got treated fairly.”

“I know, and I talked to Mr. Keller about it, but Coach Bryant and Harry’s father made a request to give him a second chance and demanded that if Harry was removed from the team that we’d also remove David Reid, since they both were suspended for the same offense.”

“David didn’t lie about me attacking him and he didn’t instigate it.”

“I understand that, but we are required to treat each incident separately and there are district policies Mr. Keller has to consider.”

“That’s bullshit. Mr. Packer argued that I be punished for my ‘continued disciplinary problems.’ How is that treating each incident separately?”

“In that instance, Mr. Packer was wrong and Mr. Keller knew that, which is why you weren’t penalized. Charlie, I just want you to think about this. You’re not playing with Harry and even if he’s off the team you’ll still have to see him in school. Is quitting really what you want to do?”

“No. I’m just tired of some students being treated differently than the rest of us, and being told I’m the trouble maker on top of it.”

“I know, I agree it’s not fair. I will still do everything in my power to help you, so I don’t want you to take what I’m going to say next as me saying you don’t have anyone on your side. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’ve heard a little about your background, how you traveled with your dad growing up. Did you see a lot of people worried about treating each other fairly? Was everything equal and based on just a person’s actions?”

“I ... no, not really.”

“I wish I could tell you that life was all about people getting what they deserve and everyone treated each other as fairly as possible, but it isn’t. The older you get, the more you’re going to find that sometimes things are just unfair. You’ll find it in college and you’ll find it when you get out into the real world. You really don’t have much control over what kind of deal the rest of the world gives you. All you really have control over is how you react to what you’re given and what you do from there. If you quit every time you’re given a raw deal, you’ll spend a whole lot of time starting over.”

“That has to be the worst motivational speech I’ve ever heard,” I said, grousing.

He was right, of course. I’d watched Dad get screwed over plenty of times when he’d done nothing wrong, although it was hard to really keep track because I’d definitely watched him screw himself over even more often with bad choices and poor impulse control. I guess it was a solace to know that eventually Harry would screw up one too many times, or not have the right person in his corner, or screw up big enough that they couldn’t or wouldn’t give him third and fourth and twelfth chances.

“Wasn’t trying to motivate you. Your problem isn’t you don’t believe in yourself, at least not usually. Your problem is you’re sometimes naïve. It’s good to believe that people should follow the rules and do the right thing, but you have to expect people to do just the opposite, that way you’re never surprised. You need to learn that, and now seems as good of a time as any to start.”

“I guess,” I said, still grousing.

I started to walk away and then stopped, calling back, “Hey Coach?”

“Yeah, Charlie.”

“Do you think maybe next time you could save the brutal truths for like a Thursday or something? Mondays are tough enough without having to examine the harsh reality of life on top of everything else.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, laughing.

I shook off my funk and joined the rest of the team, all of whom knew why I’d been pulled aside, since Harry’s antics the week before had made their rounds in no time. Thankfully, since I wasn’t talking about it they all decided to leave it alone too, which I appreciated.

My putting it to the side wasn’t in any way me coming to terms with Harry’s skating through the consequences once again, however. I was still incredibly pissed. Thankfully, Harry’s boundless capability for stupidity could be counted on once again, this time with an assist from Aaron when both of them found their way to my car after practice.

“You think you’re real clever, huh Nelson?” Harry called out as the two of them walked up.

“I mean, sure, but you’re going to have to narrow it down,” I said, dropping my backpack behind me and checking to make sure they didn’t have any friends trying to get around us.

Not that they were smart enough to think of that kind of thing.

“You know what I mean,” Harry said, both defensively and confused at the same time. “You think...”

Aaron put a hand on Harry’s shoulder for a moment in a silent gesture for him to shut up and said, “We’ve had it with you. Every time I turn around, you’re causing trouble for someone, and that’s going to end today. You didn’t learn your lesson well enough on the first day of school, so we’re going to teach you one today.”

Aaron reached into the gym bag he’d been carrying and pulled out a crowbar of all things as he dropped the bag. That changed things. Chef had gone over what to do about a variety of blunt weapons, including shorter ones like crowbars, but he’d repeatedly made it clear that the best option was to avoid the fight altogether if you could. I didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver though, and there were two of them, which would make it easier to get cut off and trapped between cars. There were other ways to avoid the fight, though.

“You two haven’t thought this through at all, have you?”

“Shows you what you know,” Harry said. “They told me Aaron couldn’t be suspended last year because it was after school and we weren’t part of any organized event. Well it’s after school and we aren’t in practice anymore, so I won’t get suspended this time.”

“That’s not what I was talking about. Look around you. There are already people looking this way and a couple of them already have their phones out now that Aaron has the crowbar. It’ll be easy to prove I didn’t throw the first shot this time and was only defending myself.”

“The only thing they’ll record is us beating you unconscious,” Aaron said, although he was making no move to come at me yet.

Despite it being cold out, beads of sweat were rolling down the side of Aaron’s temple.

“Could you two be any dumber? How many times have you come at me since the first time we fought? Four? Five? How’s it been going for you so far? All I’ve wanted this year is to be left alone and I’ve gone out of my way to keep from actually hurting you. It’s pretty obvious that’s not working, so I’m going to change things up. I’m sick of you two thinking I’m some kind of easy target to make yourselves feel less like losers. I’m not an easy target, and I’m not someone you can keep fucking with, and this time I’m going to make sure you both get the message for real. No more of this submission hold bullshit. Bones heal pretty good, but joints are a different matter. A shattered kneecap or torn tendon will give you a limp for the rest of your life, just so you don’t forget. I’m going to make sure neither of you ever walk without pain again. So go ahead. Take the first shot. I’m done playing games.”

Aaron and Harry looked at each other. Like bullies the world over, they were cowards. Even though I’d taken them both down several times, they kept thinking back to that first fight, the one that they’d won, and seemed to think they could get the same result if they kept trying.

“What? Nothing? You’re just going to stand there looking like the pathetic pieces of shit you are?”

Harry looked ready to run, but Aaron had more of a backbone about him, gripping the crowbar tight and licking his lips. I gave a quick feint to Harry, like I was about to charge him and pulled back, but that was enough for him. Harry turned and took off like a shot, leaving Aaron by himself.

“All alone now,” I said. “You know, after I take your knees from you, I think I’m going to take that crowbar and shove it up your ass, so you learn not to threaten people with that kind of thing again.”

I started moving to the left, forcing Aaron to circle, to keep me in his swinging arc.

“You’re looking a little sad here, Aaron. All those people taking video are getting you just standing there holding the crowbar, afraid to do something. Shit or get off the pot.”

For a second I thought he might go for it, but then he took a step back, lowering the weapon.