Chapter 44: Tuesday, Sept. 25

Kacie’s hair tickled my nose as I slowly came awake. I was sorely tempted to stay right where I was. The last thing I needed was another day like yesterday, and Tuesdays had been even worse than Mondays for me the last several weeks.

As much as I wanted to stay right where I was, my bladder made that an inadvisable option. With a groan, I crawled over my sister and headed to the bathroom to begin my day.

I’d just finished up when Kacie came in looking more asleep than awake. She seemed to be operating on autopilot as she claimed her good morning kiss and shooed me out.

After getting dressed and making sure I had everything I needed in my backpack, I took a chance that it wasn’t too early and texted Sherry.

“Feeling better?”

I didn’t even make it to the kitchen before my phone pinged with a response.

“Can I get a ride?” with a kissyface emoji.

Mom came in as I prepared a bowl of cereal. She didn’t seem a whole lot calmer than she’d been last night, but didn’t give me any more grief about Kelli.

“What are your plans today?” she asked once she had her first sip of coffee.

“Same as yesterday,” I said. “Classes, practice, study hall, try to stay out of trouble.”

“You might ought to give that last one top priority,” Mom said. “After classes, of course.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I grunted, wondering how bad things would have been had I not made straight A’s the first six weeks.

I hurried through my breakfast, downed my glass of pineapple juice and prepared to get on the road as Dad and Kacie made their entrances. Neither looked like they were thrilled that another day was starting so early.

“Sherry Parker wants me to give her a ride to school,” I said, shouldering the overloaded backpack. “See y’all tonight.”

I arrived at the Parkers a little before 7:20 and waited patiently on the porch after ringing the doorbell. Mrs. Parker answered the door looking like she was in a bit of a rush to get ready for her day.

“Sherry’s almost ready,” she said as she let me in. “I didn’t realize you were giving her a lift again, but I do appreciate it. I have some appointments of my own this morning and need to get going pretty soon.”

“Glad to help,” I said as Sherry made her appearance.

“Bye, Mom, see you tonight,” Sherry chirped, hooking my arm and pulling me toward the door.

Sherry wasn’t exactly full of pep this morning, but she definitely seemed to be in better shape than when I’d last seen her Saturday night. We moved steadily down the walk to the Beemer and she seated herself with no trouble as I held the passenger door.

“Staci called and told me all about what happened after I left the dance and the deal with Kelli,” she said once we were under way. “She also told me you were supposed to be cut off. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Too many girls have been waiting for a shot at you. If word got out that you were suddenly single, you’d have more coming after you than you do already.”

“And I’ve already got more than I can handle,” I said. “That’s one reason I didn’t do anything with Kelli. Bonnie was bad enough after her ex-boyfriend showed up. I’m just glad she doesn’t go to school here.”

“And just what did you do with Bonnie?” Sherry asked with a leer.

“Just danced with her the one time,” I lied, figuring my Sadie Hawkins date didn’t need to know I’d boned another girl maybe an hour after she’d had to leave. “We were just starting a second dance when her ex-boyfriend interrupted us.”

“She’ll be back,” Sherry asserted. “Staci said Bonnie was ready to take you to the sale barn the night y’all went to the dance out at Cedar Springs. I can only imagine how hot she is for you now.”

I kept my mouth shut on that point. Bonnie had been pretty damned hot Saturday night.

We reached the senior lot and made it to my spot without too much traffic. A few minutes later and we’d have been lucky to get in the building before the first bell.

“Look, I don’t want anyone stirring up more trouble with Kelli,” I said as I walked Sherry to her locker. “I doubt Miss Wilkes would be very happy with me if the cheer program goes down the tubes because of me. My goal is to keep my head down and hope this whole thing blows over real soon.”

“I won’t start anything,” Sherry promised, “but don’t be surprised if one of us hits back if she does anything. She’s been rather full of herself since we met our fundraising goal. Someone needs to remind her that it wasn’t all her doing.”

“Well, try to keep my name out of it,” I said.

Sherry didn’t waste the opportunity to get a kiss when I delivered her to her locker. I got the feeling teachers were just waiting for an excuse to pounce, but she kept it pretty tame. It wasn’t like she was trying to crawl inside my shirt this time.

“Pick me up tomorrow?” she asked almost bashfully. “I’ll see what I can find out from the other girls.”

“See you then,” I grinned, declining to add “if I’m still alive.”

With a little time to kill, I headed to the StuCo store in the cafeteria. Student Council was in charge of Homecoming and sold mums made out of cloth flowers, which were only slightly cheaper than buying an actual chrysanthemum from a florist. Of course, it was way too late to buy real flowers, anyway. Most shops in town quit taking orders at least a week ago because of the time needed to put everything together.

I don’t know what the markup was for either StuCo or florists, but all the ribbons and other extras — literally bells and whistles along with lettering and all kinds of sparkly bits — added to the total. Some of the really big ones even had little plush toys attached. Last year’s craze had been little teddy bears in Mighty Blue apparel. With what I was looking at spending, Staci was getting the bare basics. Bethany might get a few extras since she’d presumably be sitting in the stands.

One of the StuCo girls was manning the counter. She’d obviously been working on her sales pitch because she immediately launched into how I should be willing to show more affection for my girlfriend by getting more extras. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she was nowhere near the saleswoman Cassie from Victoria’s Secret was. The girl seemed shocked when I told her I needed three. I decided on the spur of the moment I should get something for Sherry while I was at it.

After hearing what I needed, she showed me the model most of the other cheerleaders were getting. If that was small and basic, I didn’t want to know what outrageous and extravagant would look like. I did get slightly more extravagant with Bethany’s and Sherry’s, but both were still small enough to not block their vision. In the end, it came to more than $300. I probably should have taken more time and shaved $50 or so off, but the first bell rang just as we were finishing up.

I charged it with my student ID since I had hardly any cash on me and the store wasn’t set up to take credit or debit cards. I’d have to hit an ATM on the way home tonight.

“They’ll be ready next week,” the StuCo girl said. “You can pick them up or have them delivered to the girls’ lockers. You probably should have them delivered just so they don’t see you giving one to another girl.”

That last bit was delivered with a rather condescending tone, but I was beyond trying to explain my love life to people. Besides, I had to get to class.

Chuck was oddly quiet in Economics. I could only hope he’d had a productive talk with Kelli after our dinner last night. He barely acknowledged my presence when he entered the room just before the tardy bell.

The morning classes were thankfully uneventful. We graded and turned in our assignments in Economics and went over the next part of the chapter we were working on. Western Civ had an essay assignment that I could knock out in less than 30 minutes. English IV had more reading. All in all, just a typical Tuesday morning.

Still, I felt like a hammer was about to drop. I just hoped I wasn’t the nail.

Between second and third periods, I swung by my locker just to see what had been accomplished on that front. The door had been removed and the inside completely emptied. The scent of whatever cleanser the janitor had used on it still lingered, but at least the stench of what had coated the contents was gone. I’d have to check in at the office to see about getting at least a temporary replacement. I was more than tired of lugging all my books around all day.

In athletics, we did our lower-body lifting quickly and broke up into position groups to finish going over the game plan. I wasn’t as far behind as I’d feared after not practicing on Monday. It helped that we were still keeping things fairly simple this week, but we could expect to add more elements as we went along. The thing was our first three district opponents — the Lions, Tigers and Bears — were so bad that we likely wouldn’t need to do anything fancy.

The Cougars, who somehow had picked up even more votes in this week’s state poll despite the open date, were the team we’d probably need to get fancy against. But, as Coach Tucker repeatedly reminded us, we had to take it one game at a time. We’d worry about the Cougars when it was time. Right now, our focus was supposed to be squarely on the Lions.

The biggest development in athletics, as far as I was concerned, was when Doc told me the test results weren’t back yet. He said he expected them at any time, but it might be Wednesday before they were received.

With that in mind, I headed out to the field when Coach Wilson let us go and began running more gassers in expectation of sitting out another practice. I was surprised when Chuck came out and started running with me.

“Why are you running?” I gasped after we finished our first together.

“I missed curfew last night,” he panted. “I went over to Kelli’s to talk to her and wasn’t paying attention to how late it was. Turned out I was a lucky contestant. Coach Bennett was not happy with me for that. I gotta get 50 of these fuckers done by the end of the day. I’m going to be late to study hall, but that won’t matter if I don’t have any homework in my afternoon classes. You’re gonna owe me even more for this. I’m thinking about that all-you-can-eat place Jed’s been talkin’ about.”

If he meant Grandpa’s favorite cafe, that was going to take some planning. Most of their specials were on weeknights and the place was nearly two hours away from here. Maybe we could work it in over fall break, but we’d still have to get there and back before curfew.

“You’ll have some reading for English IV,” I said, deciding to let him tell me about his conversation with Kelli if and when he was ready.

Right now, I needed to pick up the pace if I was going to have time to shower and eat before Algebra II. I managed to get 25 in before the bell rang and decided that was enough. With the sweat I’d worked up, I needed that shower before I tried to rejoin the general population.

Chuck came in just as I was heading for the locker room door. I was running about five minutes late and he was sure to be another five or so behind me. That didn’t keep him from reiterating his lunch plans.

“Don’t forget, extra meatloaf,” he called out.

I just waved in acknowledgment without looking back as I stepped out the door. Morgan was waiting, if not exactly patiently.

“Why’d you have to run gassers today?” she asked as we hurried toward the cafeteria.

“The results of my drug test weren’t back, so I figured I’d get started on them if I have to miss practice again today,” I explained. “If I do, I’ve got half of them done and can finish the rest in about 15 minutes this afternoon. Then I can get started on my homework before study hall.”

I decided to change the subject as we moved along.

“What are your plans for Homecoming?” I asked. “Do I need to order a mum?”

“Wil Hutchins asked me the other night,” she said. “I don’t know if Benny will tag along or not. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it, but I took him to Sadie Hawkins and Wil hung out with us. What are your plans?”

“I need to actually ask Staci, but it’s my understanding she already has a dress picked out,” I said.

“She does,” Morgan confirmed. “You’ll like it.”

“I also need to see what Bethany wants to do,” I said. “If she wants to tag along, I’ll probably invite Sherry, too. I’ve ordered mums for all of them.”

“You’re really going to have Kelli gunning for you if you show up with two cheerleaders,” Morgan snickered. “Word is she’s decreed you should never get another date this year, even prom.”

“I guess it’s a good thing you have other options, then,” I said.

“Not on your life, boyo,” she snapped. “I’ve already done too much planning. You’re taking me too prom. I’ll just have to deal with Kelli’s wrath.”

We entered the main building at the southeast corner and were moving through the South Wing toward the serving line entrance when my Tuesday curse reared its ugly head again.

“I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU CREEP!” a girl all but screamed. It sounded an awful lot like Stephanie Tucker.

I looked down the hallway to see the head football coach’s daughter backed up against a row of lockers with some guy who did not appear to be a freshman leaning in real close, blocking her attempt to escape.

“Excuse me for a second,” I said as I headed that way.

“Don’t be such a tease,” I heard the guy say as I drew near.

“Pardon me,” I said, squeezing past the guy. “I just need to talk to Stephanie for a sec.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you how much we all appreciate the work the training staff does for the team,” I said to Stephanie as I put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her down the hall. “You don’t know how much peace of mind it gives me to take the field knowing you’ve done such a good job taping my ankles for me. I know my feet are gonna stay attached to my legs.”

“Hey! You can’t...” I heard the guy shout from behind me before being cut off suddenly.

“What’s goin’ on here, Robinson?” I heard from in front of me, causing me to look up — and up — to see Mr. Dunwoody approaching quickly.

“You’ll have to ask Miss Tucker,” I said, pushing the girl forward. “I’ve got to take care of something, but I promise not to get too far away. You’ll get to come down on me in a minute.”

I turned back to find the guy who’d been accosting Stephanie struggling to escape the grasp of Chuck Edwards, who must have set some kind of speed record to get showered, dressed and in here as fast as he had. The guy, who looked positively scrawny in comparison, wasn’t doing a very good job against the offensive lineman. It seemed like teachers were coming from all directions to break up the altercation.

“When a girl — especially that one — says to get away from her, it’s a good idea to get away from her,” I said to the guy. “Her dad can cause you all kinds of misery. I may have just saved your life.”

“She’s been askin’ for it,” the guy claimed. “And I don’t need some fairy like you gettin’ in the way!”

“Break it up!” a teacher commanded. “All of you, to the office. Now!”

“Would one of you ladies take Stephanie?” Mr. Dunwoody asked a female teacher. “I’ll get Coach Tucker.”

Chuck reluctantly released his grip on the guy, who continued to glare at me, as we began moving toward the North Wing and the main office. I was surprised when Morgan joined our little parade.

“You’re going to need a witness,” she said quietly.

When we got to the office, Dr. Stirling, Mrs. Montero and a couple of the assistant principals took charge of things. Chuck and I were ushered into the principal’s office, while the others were distributed to other administrators.

“What are you doing here?” Mrs. Montero snapped as Morgan squeezed her way in behind me.

“I saw the whole thing,” my little future attorney said. “I think you need an unbiased version of what happened.”

Mrs. Montero just snorted, pointed us to chairs and began the interrogation. I gave my version first.

“I heard a girl tell a guy to get away from her,” I said. “When I realized who she was, I figured I’d better intervene. Mr. Dunwoody was on the scene almost immediately, so he can fill in all the details.”

Chuck’s version covered what was going on behind me while I was getting Stephanie out of the area.

“The dude was fixin’ to sucker punch Gary from behind,” he said. “I just grabbed his arm and held on.”

Morgan then gave her version. I thought she laid it on a little thick, lauding Chuck and I for our selflessness in keeping things from getting out of hand.

“Stephanie should file sexual harassment charges against that boy,” she asserted in her closing argument. “No means no.”

Mrs. Montero looked like she didn’t really believe I was all that blameless.

“That’s twice someone’s attacked you from behind because of a girl,” she said. “You need to tone things down and quit trying to rescue every damsel in distress you come across.”

“It’s not something I look to do,” I said. “It was basically an instinctive reaction.”

“You stay here,” Mrs. Montero ordered. “I’ll check on the others and be right back.”

“Are we gonna get to have lunch?” Chuck asked as she exited, receiving just an eye roll in response. “Man, I was lookin’ forward to that meatloaf. That’s another one you owe me, dude.”

We just sat there quietly, awaiting Mrs. Montero’s return. She had Dr. Stirling, Mr. Dunwoody and Coach Tucker in tow when she reentered the office.

“You can go,” she snapped as she handed each of us a hall pass. “If you hurry, you can still get some lunch. I’ll call the cafeteria and let them know to expect you, but this isn’t an excuse to miss your next class.”

“Yes, ma’am,” we said in unison.

Coach Tucker just stared at me and Chuck as we made our way out.

“We’ll talk later,” he said. “Don’t be late for practice.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You just keep fallin’ in it, doncha?” Chuck snorted as we headed back to the cafeteria.

“I like to think I’d have done the same thing for any girl,” I said. “It just happened to be Stephanie.”

“Who’s going to be that much hotter for you,” Morgan snarked. “You’re her hero and she’ll want to reward you.”