Chapter 39: Thursday, Sept. 20

Kacie obviously joined me at some point. Either that, or some other honey-blonde female with a really nice body had. She was spooned up against me, her butt pressed against my groin and a hand clasping mine to a magnificent boob. I was pretty sure neither Aunt Patty nor Aunt Karen would be here and my two little cousins didn’t have boobs that big. Yet.

I was really beginning to like waking up in this position.

A light squeeze of the breast in my hand brought forth a quiet moan and a little wiggle of her bum against me. Too bad Kacie was on the shelf this week. I was tempted to see just how far I could go before she woke up.

Reluctantly, I extracted myself from my sister’s grasp and crawled over her. My movements were rather stiff after the hits I took in practice yesterday. My clock showed it was a little after 6 as I staggered to the bathroom. I climbed in the shower and just stood there as the hot water pounded my back. My muscles eventually loosened up enough I could move somewhat freely, so I soaped, scrubbed and shampooed before Kacie came in to take over the bathroom.

I was brushing my teeth when she arrived and wrapped me in a hug from behind.

“I’m going to miss you,” she grumped drowsily. “I sleep so much better with you.”

“It’s only two nights,” I said as I spat and rinsed.

“Three,” she countered. “You’ll be at Arlene’s Saturday night.”

“You can handle it,” I said, turning in her grasp and giving her a minty-fresh kiss.

Kacie held onto me a moment before sending me on my way so she could perform her morning routine. I dressed, made sure I had everything I’d need for school in my backpack, packed clothes for Friday in my duffel and headed for the kitchen.

Mom was sipping on a cup of coffee as I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and poured a glass of pineapple juice. I don’t know why Mom kept stocking the stuff, but Dad sure didn’t seem to mind.

“Ready for your tests?” she asked as I placed my bowl and glass on the table.

“Should be,” I said, taking my seat. “As long as there are no surprises. I went over everything we reviewed in class and feel like I know what to expect.”

Dad strolled in, looking especially chipper for this early in the day, kissed Mom on the cheek and went to pour himself a cup. I got the feeling he’d started his day with a bang based on his smug expression. I really didn’t want to know.

“Got another date this morning?” he quipped as he joined us.

“I’m supposed to give Sherry a ride to school, if that’s what you mean,” I said.

“You be careful with her,” Mom said. “I’m afraid she may be setting herself up for a broken heart.”

“I’m not doing anything to encourage her,” I said. “I probably won’t even see her again until Saturday evening.”

“How late will you be working tonight?” Mom asked, finally acknowledging that I would be attending the photo shoot.

“Arlene seemed to think they’ll be done with me by 9 so I can get to bed at a normal hour,” I said. “The agency’s assigning me a handler to make sure I’m where I need to be on time the rest of the week.”

“Take your books and study,” she commanded. “I don’t want you goofing off just because you’re spending the night down there. You’ll be hitching rides with Kacie if you let your grades slip.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

I finished my breakfast and took my dishes to the washer by the time my sister made her entrance. That was my cue to get moving. I had just enough time to pick up Sherry and make it to school before the first bell.

“See y’all later,” I said as I picked up my bags and headed out.

“Be careful on the road,” Mom called out, getting in one last bit of parenting.

The traffic lights were in my favor this morning and I made it to the Parkers on time. I actually made it most of the way to the porch this morning before Sherry exited the house wearing another coordinated outfit. She bade her mother farewell and hooked an arm through mine, dragging me back to the car.

I held the door as she took her seat, stowed her bag in the trunk with mine and went around to perform chauffeur duty one more time.

“Just in case you didn’t know,” I said as I cranked up, “I won’t be able to give you a ride in the morning. I’ll be staying in the city tonight and driving in tomorrow.”

“But I’ve already picked an outfit,” Sherry pouted. “It’s the only Friday until football’s over I don’t have to wear a uniform.”

“Maybe I can see you during school,” I said. “I have three classes in the East Wing. That’ll make it easy for me to swing by your locker.”

“You’d better,” she huffed.

I reconfirmed plans for Saturday, promising to keep her updated on my status and let her know when I departed the agency.

We arrived at school in time for me to again escort her to her locker, Sherry again latched to my arm as I carried our bags. There were teachers posted on both sides of her section of lockers, which seemed to prompt Sherry to tone down the PDA to a chaste peck on the cheek. I could still feel disapproving eyes upon me as I made my way to Mr. Cochran’s room.

The Economics test was surprisingly easy, or at least no more difficult than any of the others we’d had in the class so far. My graphs looked pretty good, I thought. I didn’t even use any of the extra sheets of graph paper I’d brought.

I coasted through Western Civ, letting my brain cool off before my test in English IV. Mrs. Albracht had a surprise for us in that we could either take the test longhand or type on a PDF file that we could copy from a thumb drive. She even had separate ones for PC and Mac, though I’m not sure we had any Apple users in the class. I wasted no time in opting for the PDF. If nothing else, I’d be able to correct any spelling errors before turning it in.

I’m sure I wrote more on the essay questions by typing than I would have with pen and paper. I felt like I was channeling Aunt Karen on a couple of them. The main thing was remembering what Bill was really saying in his sonnets.

After everyone turned their tests in, Mrs. Albracht reminded us we’d have a substitute teacher on Friday. We were under orders to behave but — and for some reason she looked directly at me when she said this — her replacement wasn’t going to be someone we could easily snow.

I was more than ready for a break as I headed to the fieldhouse for athletics. The period would mostly be a study hall except for the lucky ones who had an appointment with Coach Tucker. I was going over my Algebra II assignment one more time when I was summoned to his office. I put my stuff away and mentally prepared myself to hear I would be spending most of my time on the sideline except for extra points and field goals.

Boy, was I in for a surprise.

Coach greeted me and pointed me to a chair. After some chitchat about how my football experience was going and what I’d be doing with the photo shoot this weekend, he hit me with the first shocker.

“We’re going to use you at punt returner starting next week,” he said to my utter amazement. “Your job will be to call for a fair catch and then catch it. If we’re in a situation where I feel like we need a return, we’ll put Ronnell back there, but you’ll be the man most of the time. There may be a time when we put you both out there and run something off it.”

“I guess I’d better keep my arm loose,” I said, waving my right one over my head and receiving a chuckle.

“That’s the spirit,” Coach said before delivering the next surprise. “I also want you to start working on the kickoff return. I don’t see us running the starburst during district, but I want teams to get used to seeing you out there. If you get a short kick like you did in practice yesterday, you should be able to get to the 25, which would be the same as a touchback. We’ll take that.

“And I liked the ingenuity you showed in getting the ball to Ronnell on that one. That’s something we might want to try after people see the starburst.”

OK, looks like I’d be on the field at least once a game even if the defense pitched shutouts the rest of the season.

Then came the big one.

“We’re going to start sending in plays with the slot receivers instead of using hand signals,” Coach said. “Too many of our district opponents have seen them over the years and would be able to figure out what’s coming. Depending on the situation, you’ll basically be in every other play at U or V. I still want both Calvin and Ngogwe on the field as much as possible, so you’ll mostly go in on second down as long as we keep drives going. We plan to use a lot of trips sets with both slots to the same side, so Coach Wilson is going to expect you to be up on that part of the playbook. If we get in a power set, we’ll use the tight ends as the messengers.”

Then came the outrageous one.

“I want you to practice taking more snaps under center with Jed and Wes,” he said. “You’ll be our Victory Formation quarterback if we ever wind up in a situation like we had last Saturday. Just secure the ball and fall down. Think you can do that?”

“Sounds simple enough,” I said.

At least he didn’t tell me I’d be working on defense, as well. If I had to make a tackle, we were already having a bad day.

I was dismissed and asked to send in the next lucky contestant. I spent the rest of the period ruminating on the implications of my new assignments. I’d better improve my blocking if I was going to be on kickoff returns. I was probably going to be a stain on the turf the first time Marshawn got to run over me. Which was probably going to be Monday’s practice.

The lunch bell rang and the herd stampeded toward the cafeteria. Morgan latched on to me as soon as I exited the fieldhouse and seemed quite pleased with herself. It seems she knew what Coach Tucker had in store for me since Monday and had managed not to say anything.

“That must have been torture for you,” I teased, “having all that inside knowledge and not being able to say anything.”

“I didn’t want to ruin the surprise,” she smirked. “Just don’t screw up.”

Yeah, that was going to be the tricky part.

The situation didn’t get any better once we reached our table. The team grapevine must have kicked into overdrive because just about everyone seemed to have a comment about my new duties.

“I can’t wait to get my shot in practice next week,” Marshawn crowed. “You just thought you’ve been hit before.”

“You aren’t on punt coverage,” I pointed out.

“I’ll volunteer,” the linebacker cackled.

“How’re we supposed to get any field position with the slowest slow white boy returnin’ punts?” Reggie asked. “It’ll take him half the quarter just to get on and off the field.”

“Nah,” Chuck chimed in. “Y’all aren’t seeing the genius behind Coach Tucker’s plan. Gary’s so slow, the coverage guys will wear themselves out runnin’ all the way down to where he is. They’ll be gassed late in the game and that’s when we’ll break one. They won’t have any energy left to deliver a hit.”

“There’s also the physics involved,” Morgan added. “One of the other return men would be able to generate enough force that the collisions would be more violent when two bodies meet at full speed.”

“I’d better not have any collisions,” I said. “Coach said I’m supposed to call for a fair catch when I’m out there. If we need a return, Ronnell will do it. I get the feeling Coach would tackle me himself if I ever tried to run one back.”

“I think I’d pay money to see that,” Chuck laughed. “Might teach ya to keep your hands off his daughter’s butt.”

“My hands aren’t going anywhere near his daughter or her butt,” I said as the rest of the table cracked up. “I’ve hardly even seen the girl since last week. She hasn’t even taped my ankles lately.”

“Nah,” Jed said, arriving late, “his hands are gonna be busy elsewhere. My new job is to help keep ‘em off Stephanie’s butt.”

Jed was walking without crutches or walking boot. He was actually carrying his own tray for the first time this week. Funny how he’d managed to remain out of action until we were through practicing for the week.

“How you gonna do that?” Reggie grinned knowingly.

“You know full well how,” Jed snapped. “You’ll get to quit early on Friday nights if things go the way they should.”

The other guys apparently hadn’t gotten the memo on all my new responsibilities.

“So, how ya gonna do that?” Marshawn repeated.

“His hands’ll be on my butt,” Jed said with a shudder like he found the whole thing distasteful. “I’ve got to get him where he can take snaps under center for Victory Formation.”

“Maybe I should try out for center,” Morgan mused. “I don’t mind having his hands on my butt.”

“Hush, you,” I reprimanded her. “That’s exactly the kind of comment that will get back to your parents and I’ll be the one who gets in trouble. Besides, I’ve taken snaps from Jed before.”

“When?” Reggie asked, sounding surprised.

“Back in junior high when he first started playing center,” I said. “He had me help him practice just like with the deep snaps this summer.”

“And you remember how to do it?” Marshawn asked like he was baiting me.

“I probably wouldn’t if Coach hadn’t had me run scout team a few weeks ago,” I said. “Those option segments we’ve been working on haven’t hurt. Most of my snaps in that have been under center. I think the idea is to have good enough field position that Reggie can take a knee in the shotgun and we won’t have to worry about me.”

That seemed to satisfy the linebacker, but Chuck had to get in one last shot.

“Instead of lettin’ Morgan play center, we should get Keri to play quarterback,” he cracked.

After the laughter died down, I was able to get in a couple of digs of my own.

“I agree that she’s the better athlete,” I said. “Scottie may not even be the best quarterback in that family. But Coach Tucker would get tired of us getting delay penalties because Jed would never snap the ball.”

“Watch it,” my buddy growled, “or I’ll fart on your hands.”

Our revelry was brought to an end by the bell for fifth period. At least the rest of the guys didn’t seem to think my increased playing time would be a detriment to the team.

We graded and turned in homework in Algebra II, then spent the rest of the class reviewing for the test. Mr. Henderson hinted that test problems would be drawn equally from all the chapters covered, but wouldn’t tell us how many problems there would be. I figured about 25. Fewer wouldn’t be enough to get in more than a couple of questions per chapter and more would make it almost impossible to complete the test before the period ended.

At the bell, I was waiting for traffic to clear when Zoe Yeats, the girl I’d switched seats with the first week of school when I’d cramped up in class and signed a poster for last week, came up to me.

“Um...,” she started, turning bright red before getting things somewhat under control, “I was just wondering if you’re going to Sadie Hawkins with anyone?”

The mousy little girl was practically hyperventilating. I almost laughed at the thought she wasn’t aware Sherry had asked me — it seemed like everyone in school knew I had a date after those freshmen got into a fight during A lunch — but was able to avoid making the situation even more awkward.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, trying not to make this any worse than it had to be. “Sherry Parker asked me a couple of weeks ago.”

Zoe looked crestfallen, but there wasn’t much I could do. Then Cody, the student trainer, stopped to ask if I’d be coming to study hall after school. He wanted to go over things one more time.

“Henderson will probably do something different for the morning and afternoon classes,” he said. “I’d like to work with somebody from fifth period.”

“No, I’ve got to run into the city as soon as school’s out,” I said, hopefully using the same tone I’d used with Zoe, “but maybe Miss Yeats, here, can study with you.”

I left them looking speculatively at each other and made my way over to Mr. Debussy’s room. I detoured by Sherry’s locker and was rewarded with a big smile when she showed up.

“I can’t take long,” she said, greeting me with a smooch that went undetected by anyone in authority. “My next class is in the West Wing. I hardly ever make it before the tardy bell, but my teacher cuts me some slack.”

“I’d better let you get going, then,” I said as she stashed some books in her locker and pulled out others. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With another kiss, this one slightly more provocative, she sent me on my way.

Chemistry was, thankfully, a blow-off today. I got out my laptop and used the school wifi to get online and look over newspaper articles one last time.

“Whatcha reading?” Elise Stirling asked after Mr. Debussy told us to keep things to a dull roar.

“Just some editorials from the metro papers,” I said. “I have to write an opinion piece in Creative Writing next period. Might help to have an idea of how to do it.”

“Ready for your big date?” my lab partner asked.

“Not yet,” I said. “I’ve got a modeling deal starting tonight and two more tests tomorrow. If I survive all that, then I get to play dress-up all day Saturday before I get to go out.”