Chapter 18: Thursday, Aug. 30

After nearly three weeks of getting up early, I again awoke a little before 6 a.m., more than an hour before my alarm would go off.

Kacie was snuggled up close, pressing those fabulous tits into my side. I just stared at her face for a moment. She looked so peaceful. If it hadn’t been for the call of nature, I would have been content to stay right where I was for as long as the world would let me.

With a kiss to her forehead, I tried to crawl over my sister without disturbing her and hit the bathroom. I was just finishing up when Kacie’s alarm went off. I stepped into her room to stop the racket and retreated to mine to get ready.

Shaking Kacie gently by the shoulder, I tried to get her up to start her day so I could get on with mine.

“Time to get up, babe,” I said softly. “Your alarm’s already gone off. If you’ll hurry and get ready, you can ride to school with me.”

Kacie was a little grumpy as she came awake, but she yawned and stretched as she sat up. The T-shirt she’d slept in had ridden up, exposing everything below her belly button. The thought of eating something other than cereal for breakfast crossed my mind.

“I was having the weirdest dream,” she yawned. “You had your hands full of leashes, like one of those dog walkers in New York City or something. Only you weren’t walking dogs. You had almost every girl I know collared and were walking them down the halls at school.”

That was definitely something I didn’t need in my life. I could only imagine Mrs. Montero’s reaction to such a scene.

My sister gave me a sweet kiss and scooted off to do her thing. I got dressed, made sure I had everything I’d need in my backpack and headed for the kitchen.

The offer of a ride to school must have been great motivation for Kacie. She came in all dolled up and ready before I finished eating. Grabbing some yogurt and fruit, she joined me at the table as Mom and Dad came out. I went over Western Civ and my game plan one more time as they all settled in.

“So, what are we looking at for tomorrow night?” Dad asked as he refilled his coffee mug.

“Looks like a lot of zone read and play-action passes off that look,” I said. “I don’t expect to do anything but hold for kicks, though.”

“What’d you kids get up to last night?” Mom asked.

“Just went for ice cream,” I said. “I wanted to get a handle on everyone’s schedule for the next couple of months. I think you could say it was a productive evening.”

Kacie snickered at that, drawing questioning looks from our parents, but neither pressed the matter.

Kacie finished up and went back to her room to get her school stuff while I put my things away and took my dishes to the sink. She came bouncing back in with way more pep than I would have expected for this early. It still wasn’t quite 7:30.

“Let’s go,” she chirped. “We can beat the traffic. It’ll get crazy around the parking lots before you know it.”

“Kicking me to the curb, huh?” Dad asked, feigning a hurt look. “Is that all I was to you, a free ride to school?”

“Oh, Daddy,” Kacie said with an eye roll and a kiss to his cheek. “If it’s not now, it would’ve been next week when I start driving myself. You had two weeks. Gary’s only getting two days.”

It took us about 10 minutes to get to school. My sister had been right — the place was a madhouse. I took almost as long to get into the parking lot and to my spot.

The area was pretty crowded with students heading to the main building, but we had space to get our things out of the trunk, which was just big enough to hold our two bags.

“Thanks, Bro,” Kacie said, giving me a quick peck before she headed off to her locker.

“Another one?” Travis Murtaugh, one of our tight ends, asked from an adjacent parking spot. “How do you do that, man?”

“She’s my little sister,” I replied with just a touch of exasperation. “It’s not what you might think.”

OK, it was exactly what he might think, but I wasn’t going to admit that.

“My sister never kissed me like that,” Travis said.

“We’re close,” I said. Yeah, real close.

I had enough time to hit my locker and still get back to Mr. Cochran’s room before the tardy bell. The morning was surprisingly smooth — no homework and the tests contained no surprises.

The test in athletics was a little tougher for the simple reason that I hadn’t practiced any of these scenarios while quarterbacking the scout team. One thing I noticed on the special teams portion was the Bearcats’ tendency to overshift one way or the other in an effort to get someone around the edge. I couldn’t wait to get a live look at their block attempt. They had to be leaving something open that we could exploit.

Coach Tucker reminded us what we’d be doing in our walkthrough, which should only take 20-30 minutes, then went over the pregame schedule for Friday. We’d need to be at the fieldhouse by 5 p.m. to get taped and dressed in pants and UnderArmour shirts. We’d carry our helmets, shoulder pads and jerseys in our laps on the busride to the stadium. The yellow dogs would start pulling out at 5:30 and everyone was supposed to be at the stadium by 5:45.

We’d start pregame warmups at 6:15, taking 20 minutes, then head to the locker room for final instructions while all the other stuff — school songs, cheerleader introductions, announcement of the starting offense and defense for both teams — was going on. We’d return to the sideline at 6:50 for the coin toss and national anthem, then get ready for kickoff.

The bell signaled our dismissal for lunch. Morgan hooked an arm through mine when she caught up to me outside the locker room.

“You should probably call Arlene,” she said as we moved along. “Based on Coach Tucker’s schedule, you won’t get out of here until after 4:30. If she’s expecting you at 4, you’re going to be late.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I don’t expect you to keep my schedule for me. I appreciate the help.”

“Well,” she said, “I was kind of hoping you’d let me tag along. I’d like to learn more about this whole Dom/sub thing. I looked up some things online last night. I wish they offered psychology courses here. Maybe I can take one at a junior college around here.”

“Like you don’t have enough going on,” I said.

“It would probably have to be in the spring,” she conceded. “Maybe we could take a night class together.”

“Put it on your calendar,” I said as we reached the cafeteria line.

Since no one required a shower, pretty much the entire team hit the line at the same time. Since the line was still well outside the door, it took us a bit to reach the serving line.

I noticed they were again serving Beef Stroganoff, so got in line for the hot lunch. We made it through the checkout stand, which accepted our student ID cards, amazingly enough, and went to our regular table.

We were discussing how everyone felt about the test on the game plan when I noticed Dr. Stirling coming our way. At least he didn’t have Mrs. Montero in tow today.

“Hey, fellas,” he greeted the table, “and ladies. Everything ready for the game tomorrow night?”

“Yes, sir,” we chorused.

“Any news on the volleyball team?” Morgan asked.

“We won in three sets this morning,” he said. “Apparently, it wasn’t the sharpest performance. I haven’t heard about the second match, which should be over by now. I’m about to head out for the last pool match, then it’ll be bracket play the next two days, two matches each day.”

Then he stepped around to where I was sitting and leaned close so the entire table wouldn’t hear his next statement.

“Gary, may I have a quick word?” he asked in a low voice. “Don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied.

I was getting the feeling that I should avoid the hot lunch at all costs. The Tuesday meatloaf deal was bad enough, but this was two weeks in a row that Beef Stroganoff had been accompanied by an audience with the superintendent. It was disappointing because both dishes were pretty good.

“Excuse us,” Dr. Stirling directed to the rest of the table, most of which appeared ready to burst with curiosity. “This will only take a minute.”

I followed him out to the courtyard, which was relatively empty in the midday heat.

“I need your help,” he said somewhat sheepishly. “Elise was a little upset about my comment about you not coming over when I’m not home. She took it a bit too literally. I’d like to be able to enter my own home without receiving another one of those looks. And her mother is taking her side.”

Sounds like my lab partner had decided against the Daddy’s Little Girl approach.

“What do you want me to do, sir?” I sighed, expecting an answer I really didn’t want to hear.

“Ask her out,” he said. “Just something simple, like go get a Coke at Sonic. It doesn’t have to be a big production.”

“And when am I supposed to do this?” I asked. “We’re both kinda busy this weekend.”

“Just the next time you see her,” he said, “though the sooner the better as far as I’m concerned.”

“Are you familiar with Prairie Star Country Club?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “A membership goes with the job, though we haven’t used it much. I don’t play golf and most of our weekends the last few years have been taken up watching my daughter’s club teams.”

“My family is having a birthday party for one of my cousins Saturday evening,” I said. “Why don’t you, Mrs. Stirling and Elise join us if she’s done playing volleyball by then? I can clear it with my mother tonight. She’s the club’s general manager, so it shouldn’t be any trouble to add three more seats.”

“That sounds like a good start,” the superintendent mused. “Elise may be a little less forward in public with both her parents around. What time should we be there?”

“I think we’re gathering at 6 p.m.,” I told him. “I’ll let you know if it’s different.”

“Dress code?”

“Casual will be fine,” I said. “Some of the men will wear a jacket or sport coat, but it’s not required. I usually get by with slacks and an Oxford cloth shirt. Tell Mrs. Stirling that something like what Elise wore Monday night will be more than acceptable. Most of the women wore sun dresses during the summer.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Dr. Stirling said. “Now I’d better get you back to your lunch before your teammates start getting ideas. You wouldn’t believe some of the gossip I’ve heard about you this week. Heck, this morning.”

“Oh?”

“Did you know that you spanked a girl at Dairy Queen last night just because she dropped her ice cream?” he smirked as he opened the door to the lunchroom.

“My mother would kick my butt halfway to Memphis if I tried something like that,” I said, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

Dr. Stirling returned me to my table unscathed, but felt the need to get in another dig in front of an audience.

“Be sure to take good notes in Chemistry today,” he ordered. “I don’t want to see my daughter’s name on the three-week grade report next week.”

“Yes, sir,” I said as the other football players tried not to laugh too hard.

I reclaimed my seat to find an empty tray. The laughter really picked up then.

“What happened to my lunch?” I asked the table at large.

“It was gettin’ cold,” Jed grinned. “We didn’t want it to go to waste.”

“We?”

“The O-line,” Chuck Edwards chimed in. “Some of the defense guys were eyeing it pretty hard. We had to protect the property of the offense.”

“Yeah, they got the rest of your meatloaf the other day,” Hank Preston, the starting right guard said. “We felt like that set a dangerous precedent. All of their takeaways should come on the field on Friday nights.”

At least with the meatloaf, I’d never even returned to finish it. This time, I got the feeling guys were grabbing forkfuls before I was even out the door.

“Did Michael and Lloyd at least get some?” I asked. “I’d hate for the tackles to feel left out.”

“We were busy blockin’ Marshawn,” Lloyd Daniels, the left tackle, said with a toothy grin. “But if you wanna go back for seconds...”

“Good thing I had a decent breakfast,” I groused.

Morgan couldn’t contain herself any longer.

“What did Dr. Stirling want?” she asked, practically bouncing in her seat.

“To make sure Elise doesn’t fall behind in AP Chemistry,” I said. “She should be all caught up after this weekend since this is the last tournament. The rest of the matches will all be Tuesday and Friday evenings until the playoffs start.”

The little brunette looked like she didn’t believe me. I’d have to fill her in on the superintendent’s request when we had some privacy.

With my lunch eaten by someone other than me and a few minutes left before the bell, I decided to call Arlene and let her know when she could expect me this afternoon. I grabbed my backpack, stepped back out into the courtyard and hit her number. The sounds of young children and splashing water came through when she answered.

“Having fun at the pool?” I asked when she answered.

“For four more days,” she said. “I’m still debating keeping No. 16 for next year since Eric’s going to be the one paying for it, but I don’t know how well that’ll work with a newborn.”

“Just think of all the babysitters you’ll have available,” I said. “My sister’s gang alone will be enough to have a different girl every day of the week, and you know all the women that hang out there won’t be able to resist helping out.”

“We’ll just have to see how it goes,” Arlene said. “Now, what’s so important you had to interrupt my busy schedule of lounging in the sun?”

“It’ll probably be closer to 5 before I can get there this evening,” I said. “Practice will take about half an hour and won’t start until after 4. It could be a little later if I have to shower.”

“Surely it won’t take you as much time in the locker room shower as it does in mine,” she teased.

“No, I don’t have nearly the distractions I face when I use your shower,” I grinned. “And don’t call me Shirley. But it does take a bit of time to get 86 sweaty teenage boys clean enough to be allowed out in public.”

“Oh, the images I have running through my mind right now,” she purred. “You do know how to help an old woman remember her misspent youth.”

“You aren’t old and your youth wasn’t misspent,” I said. “At least not based on what I learned from you this summer.”

“You say the sweetest things,” the redhead replied.

“Look, I’ve got to get to class pretty soon,” I said. “I just wanted you to be aware of my situation. Would you please explain things to Marie? I don’t want her getting all anxious if I’m not there when she expects me.”

“Will do, Hon,” Arlene said. “I’m about ready for lunch, anyway.”

“OK,” I said. “Love you, babe.”

“Love you, too, Sugar,” she said before disconnecting.

“That sounded interesting,” Kelli Thornton said from behind me. “Anyone I know?”

I spun to find the head cheerleader sporting an enormous shit-eating grin.

“Actually,” I said as I slipped the phone into my backpack and shouldered the bag, “I doubt it. Turns out it was a wrong number.”

Algebra II and Chemistry followed pretty much the same script as last Thursday.

I made a 100 on my math homework and reviewed for tomorrow’s test. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be too bad since Mr. Henderson was on record as not wanting us to burn out all our brain cells on a game day.

Mr. Debussy didn’t even work us that hard in Chemistry, just giving us a sheet of 50 questions, telling us where to look the answers up in the book and turning us loose. I didn’t know if that was to my benefit or not.

It would certainly mean I wouldn’t have to spend as much time reviewing notes with Elise Stirling, but she might take that to mean we had more time to do other things. I’d better make sure Dr. Stirling was going to be home this Monday evening.

Creative Writing was interesting. We went over how to write a balanced piece on controversial topics. Topics like abortion, immigration and other political flashpoints were discussed. I got the feeling we’d be revisiting the subject in the future.

The walkthrough in football practice was pretty much what it sounds like — we ran a bunch of plays at less than full speed. Or at least the starters did. I think I spent more time getting dressed and taped than I did running plays. And since we were just in shorts and helmets, I didn’t take a lot of time getting dressed.

We went through the 15 scripted plays the offense would run to start the game, which I still had to know even though there was no chance of me being on the field for any of them. There were a number of personnel packages we expected to use, but I wasn’t included in any of them. Most of my energy was expended holding for kicks, though we did work on the fakes that were in the game plan just in case.

The most interesting part of the session in my eyes was Coach Miller sitting in one of the training staff’s John Deere Gators with his leg in one of those wraparound splints and a pair of crutches. I heard that it would be at least a week before it would be decided if surgery was needed. The injury had caused Coach Tucker to shuffle some assignments for games since Coach Miller obviously wouldn’t be climbing up to the press box to watch from the spotters’ booth. He’d have a little electric golf cart on the sideline tomorrow night.

After finishing up with gassers — Coach Tucker said we were still in need of conditioning — I was in need of a quick rinse in the shower. Arlene was right — I didn’t spend as much time as I would have in her shower.

I dressed and exited the locker room to find Morgan waiting for me. No surprise since she said she wanted to tag along. What was a surprise was Staci’s pickup was parked next to my Beemer with Bethany riding shotgun. It looked like there would be more than one onlooker at my meeting with Arlene and Marie.

We reached Arlene’s a little before 5 o’clock. I pulled into my spot between the kitchen and garage while Staci circled around back to take Jed’s spot.

The redhead was waiting for us at the kitchen door and led our little band out to the patio, where Marie and Jan were waiting. I guess I’d have to fill Kacie in when I got home.

Our hostesses had some cool drinks ready to serve, for which I was grateful. It was still in the 90s with the sun beating down in the little courtyard.

I made sure everyone else was served and seated, then pulled Marie into my lap as Arlene began. If the little waif misbehaved again, I had her right where I could give her another spanking. I think she realized that, based on how still she sat.

“Let’s get things straightened out so we don’t have to deal with another scene like last night,” the redhead said. “Gary, what’s your schedule going to be like the next few months?”

“We’re just now getting into our routine,” I said, “but basically the same as this week has been. School five days a week, practice until about 6:30 Monday through Wednesday, a short practice like we had today and games on Fridays. That will change a little in two weeks when we have the Saturday game.”

“Basically, push everything back a day,” said Morgan, who was privy to Coach Tucker’s master schedule. “That Monday will be a light workout, mostly running and lifting, then Tuesday-Thursday will be like Monday-Wednesday of a regular week. They’ll do a walkthrough on Friday during the athletic period.”

“How does that affect the next week?” Jan asked.

“The next week is the open date,” I said. “We’ll have light practices through Thursday, maybe an hour or so, then we’ll get back to the routine the following Monday.”

“This coming Monday will be different because of Labor Day,” Morgan said. “They’ll have practice at 8 a.m. and do their lifting after. That’ll be the schedule they use the week of fall break, too. Practices will be in the mornings and they’ll do the stuff they normally do in athletic period right after. They should be finished for the day by 11 a.m. Monday through Wednesday and by 9:30 on Thursday.”

“I don’t know what it’ll be like in the playoffs,” I said. “We could play Fridays or Saturdays depending on what the coaches agree on, so it shouldn’t be too different. The state finals are scheduled for the Saturday before Christmas, Dec. 22, so we’ll probably start playing Saturdays if we get very far. The good thing is we have no Thursday games on the schedule.