Chapter 50

Monday I had just gotten back from school when Kat made her triumphant return with Hanna and her mother in tow, carrying more bags than I remember them leaving with.

“How’d it go?” I asked, helping by taking some of their bags from them.

“Great,” Kat said. “Five gold and three silver.”

“You should have seen her. She was amazing!” Hanna said.

“It really was something,” Hanna’s mother added. “She was so much faster than a lot of the girls.”

“That’s always true,” I said.

“Not there,” Hanna said. “We met swimmers from all over the country, and they’re all really good.”

“Not good enough. How many events did you compete in?” I asked Kat.

“Eight, but three were relays.”

“Let me guess, those were the three silvers and you got gold in all your individual events, right?”

She shrugged, I guess playing it off, but Hanna said, “Yeah she did. It wasn’t quite like she blows people away here by a pool length; but even in the closest race, she was like half a body length ahead of the next swimmer.”

“I beat two of my best times,” Kat said.

“That’s great. You know, medaling like that in an international event is going to make it a lot easier for you to get into any college program you want.”

“Maybe,” Kat said.

“I don’t even think her coach is thinking about that. The only thing he would talk about is the Olympics in two years.”

“Really?”

“I have a long way to go for that,” Kat said. “I was competing in the Juniors at the Pan-American Games, but in the Olympics and Worlds, there isn’t a Juniors division. The competition will be a lot fiercer.”

“That’s not going to stop you though, right?” I said. “You’ll be eighteen in August anyway, so isn’t this your last time competing in juniors, anyway?”

“Yeah. There are some smaller events in June that I could still compete in at the junior level, but we aren’t going to those. We’re talking about going to Worlds this summer, just to see what it’s like; since we really haven’t seen the competition at that level, yet. Coach also wants me to start working on another form. He says I should be able to be almost as competitive in the breaststroke if I try.”

“That sounds like a lot more practice. Here I was hoping you’d have some time this next semester to hang out more. You’ve been a ghost for the last two months.”

“Look who’s talking,” she said, but with a smile. “Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of practice, but we’ll find a balance. Worlds is a big step up, so I’m going to need to really focus if I want to do well. There aren’t a lot of large, international swim meets where I can go against the same competition that will be at the Olympics in two years, so we basically have this summer and next summer to prepare. This year, we’ll gauge the competition and see what I need to work on, and next year we’ll be able to check my progress again, and hopefully dial everything in by two-thousand twenty-four.”

“You’ll have competitions in college, right? And you can always do more Pan American games.”

“That’s not the full range of competitors, though. A lot of competition comes out of Asia and Europe. There’s this girl in Japan that’s absolutely killing it, from what I hear. This will probably be my only trip to the Pan Am games if I’m going to focus on Worlds for the next two summers. Especially if I have to start getting my breaststroke ready.”

“If you smoked the competition that bad, you can do it.”

“We’ll see,” Kat said. “How was your weekend without us?”

“I got arrested,” I said, as nonchalantly as I could.

“You what?” Hanna’s mom said, dropping her bag.

“Friday night. I got arrested for assault. Harry and three of his friends tried to jump me in the Blue Ridge parking lot after my show. We called the sheriff who showed up and arrested me.”

“Why would he arrest you and not the four boys you were fighting?”

“Paul ran away and drove home; the other three all went to the hospital.”

“Did you hurt them?” Mrs. Phillips asked, sounding concerned.

“Yes. I tried not to, but against four guys, I couldn’t hold back, since that’s how I’d end up getting hurt. I broke Harry’s collarbone, the hand of some kid on the football team, whose name I don’t know, and gave another kid a concussion.”

“Did Chef Tang talk to Sheriff Gibbs? I’m sure if he explained you were attacked, he would drop the charges.”

“He tried, but the sheriff didn’t want to hear it. He even threatened to arrest Chef if he interfered. It’s okay, no charges were filed. Chef called Mr. Eaves, who came down and took care of it. Chef has cameras out front, and we have video of the whole thing. The fight, it’s hard to tell exactly what happened, but you can see them hanging around out front for a long time while acting all suspicious, waiting for me.”

“Are they going to press charges against those boys?”

“No. The sheriff says the case isn’t strong enough.”

“So they get away with it again?” Kat said.

“Apparently, but it will be months before Harry can bother me again. That broken collarbone is going to slow him down a lot. But no, the sheriff said that while the video made it clear I wasn’t the instigator, they can’t include any of the other stuff Harry has done because none of it would be admissible in court. He said the DA wouldn’t bring any charges against Harry or the others, especially since he’d know I was the victim, so it doesn’t matter.”

“That’s not fair,” Hanna said.

“No kidding! But, it’s life. All I have to do is survive another year and a half and I’m out of here. Aaron’s dad’s a pain in the ass, but he won’t be my problem once I move away.”

“A year and a half is a long time,” Kat said.

“Yeah, but I think it will be okay. Harry might get off because of him, but at least the sheriff is turning out to be reasonable. So, as long as I keep my head down, I should be good. School’s out at the end of the week and then we’re off to New York. If I keep busy, it’ll be fine.”

“If Sydney’s dad is being reasonable, is he going to stop making it hard for you to date her?” Kat asked.

“Well, he said I could start picking her up at their house, but he still doesn’t like me dating her. Apparently, I’m a magnet for trouble and he’s worried she’ll get caught up in it,” I said, which caused Kat and Hanna to give each other a look. “I know. It’s true, but what can I do about it?”

“Nothing,” Mrs. Phillips said, walking around and putting an arm around my shoulder. “Just do like you said, keep busy and stay out of trouble as much as possible. Then you’ll be fine. I’m sure the sheriff will come around eventually. Now, help us get these bags upstairs. These two went a little wild shopping last night.”

Well, at least that explained their extra bags. I was happy for Kat. Music was cool and all, but if she got into the Olympics, that would be a serious achievement. I was just sorry I missed out on getting to see my friend do so well.

Friday signaled the end of the first semester and the beginning of winter break. Christmas was a week away, and the Times Square concert was two weeks away. This was going to be a busy weekend, since we had the show at the Blue Ridge, and then had to be out early the next morning to go to Knoxville for shows Saturday night and Sunday night. They were smaller venues, but still bigger than the Blue Ridge, and a good way to test our New Year’s set list against different crowds. The Blue Ridge was great, but the people who saw us were regulars and were predisposed to like us. So, we didn’t get the audience feedback we needed to see where we’d want to make adjustments.

I had stopped by the house to pack my stuff, since I knew I’d be too tired the next morning and was just about ready to head to the Blue Ridge when the doorbell rang. Hanna’s winter break also started today, but she was spending a few days in Chapel Hill with her boyfriend, Kat was back at swimming practice, and Mrs. Phillips was working, leaving me the only one at home.

I was running late, so I rushed downstairs to deal with whoever it was, only to feel my stomach sink as I saw Mom standing at the door.

‘Now what,’ was the first thing I thought; but I managed to at least keep from saying it out loud.

“Hi,” was what I chose to say instead.

“Hi, Charlie. Can we talk for a minute?”

“Mom, I’m in a big rush. Can we talk when I get back from Knoxville?”

“If you have to go, I guess, but it won’t take long.”

Part of me wanted to say that yes, I had to go; but I could see the look on her face. She was struggling. She’d taken our last talk hard, and had to spend Thanksgiving by herself. She was about to spend Christmas by herself, since Dad was still in jail awaiting trial. I didn’t know if they were holding him because he’d committed a crime in a courtroom or if he’d mouthed off when trying to get bail, but either way, I thought it was good news all around, even though my mother was probably unhappy about it.

I sighed and stepped back so she could come in, before leading her into the living room. We took the same seats we’d taken the last time she was here, where I’d screamed at her.

“You came to see me,” I said when she sat down, but didn’t say anything, instead looking down at her hands.

“I went by to see your father this morning,” she said.

“Mom, we’ve talked about this. I don’t want...”

“It’s not what you think. I went to tell him we are through and that I want a divorce. I also told him not to come back to the trailer and that I’d get a restraining order if he did.”