Chapter 46: Thursday, Sept. 27

I awoke with my sister snuggled to my chest and my butt hanging half off the bed. It wasn’t so much a matter of rolling out of bed as trying not to fall on my ass before I could get my feet under me.

I’m pretty sure Kacie never had this issue when she slept on this side of the bed. I was usually pressed up against the wall on the other side in an attempt to create as much room for her as possible.

I certainly wasn’t going to ask her about it. I could just hear that conversation in my head:

“Are you saying my butt’s big?” she’d accuse.

“I didn’t say anything of the sort,” I’d reply as I looked for an escape route. “I was just asking if you had enough room to be completely on the mattress.”

“MOM! GARY SAID I’VE GOT A HUGE ASS!!!”

“Gary, apologize to your sister and behave yourself, young man.”

Dad, of course, would have to throw in his two cents and get us both banished from the house.

“It takes a solid foundation to hold up that size upper structure,” he’d say, drawing glares from Mom and Kacie.

“What? She’s got more than a little junk in the trunk,” he’d say just before we had to run for our lives.

I either needed to get a bigger bed or just move into the apartment full time.

Such were the thoughts running through my mind as I had a quick wash in the sink, shaved face and lower legs and brushed my teeth.

I returned to my room and got dressed for the day as Kacie grumpily came awake. I was making sure I had everything I’d need for school — all my books were still in my backpack. I really needed to check on my locker today. I was beyond tired of lugging this much weight around.

Kacie reluctantly got out of bed, claimed her kiss and headed for the bathroom.

“You still woke me up,” she mumbled after releasing me.

Grabbing my backpack, I made my way to the kitchen for cereal and pineapple juice. Dad, nursing a mug of coffee, made a point of looking toward the back yard.

“Gettin’ a little deep out there,” he muttered. “I was thinking of having your grandfather bring a yearling to graze it, but then I remembered he’s shipped them all.”

Shit! I’d completely forgotten about agreeing to do the yard today. And it’d better be done before I visited Marie. Marie would be pissed if I tried to put her off this evening, but not as bad as Dad if the work wasn’t done. I’d better try to get some of the guys to help. Which meant I’d better hit an ATM at some point.

I really needed to get some kind of day planner to keep up with this stuff.

“After practice,” I said, “but Marie wants to fix me dinner tonight. I think she got some new recipes or something.”

“Or something,” Dad snorted.

“Not until you finish your homework,” Mom commanded as she came in to refill her coffee, “and be home by 8. You’ve got a test to study for.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

I hurried through my breakfast, disposed of my dishes and prepared to head out before my parents could place any further restrictions on my planned activities. All I needed was a boatload of homework on top of everything else.

On my way to Sherry’s, I called Marie to give her an update on the situation. I’d finally figured out the Beemer allowed me to connect my phone via Bluetooth and didn’t have to worry about speaking so loud or risk the phone sliding off the center console when I took a turn too fast.

“Daddy!” the little waif squealed when the call connected.

It sounded like she was doing something in the kitchen with the noise of rattling dishes and gushing water almost drowning her out.

“I’m just cleaning up after breakfast,” she chirped. “Ready for tonight? What do you want me to fix for dinner?”

“About that,” I said with a little sigh, “my dad expects me to mow the yard and my mother said my homework has to be done before I go anywhere. Then she said I have to be home by 8. We may not have time for a meal if you expect to do anything else.”

I could hear the pout in her voice when she finally replied.

“What time can you get here, then?” she asked.

“If I can get some of the guys to help with the yard, maybe by 6:30,” I said. “But that’s assuming I don’t have any homework.”

“I can have something ready by then,” she proposed helpfully. “Maybe sandwiches or something you can take with you. We’ll figure it out. Call me when you know.”

“Will do, baby,” I said. “Love you.”

“Love you, Daddy,” Marie replied. “See you this evening!”

I pulled up to the Parkers and Sherry was out the door with a “bye, Mom” flung over her shoulder before I was halfway up the walk.

“So, did she ask you?” Sherry asked with a devious grin.

“Yes,” I admitted as we made our way to the car, not wanting to get into the who and what of the matter. “I told Stephanie I’d pick her up at 6:30 Saturday and we could have dinner at the country club.”

“When are you going to take me to dinner at the country club?” the cheerleader asked, sounding only slightly envious.

“We can do that whenever I can work you in,” I said as I opened and held the passenger door for her. “I’ve got to live through this weekend first, then I’m supposed to take Staci to the Homecoming dance next week.”

Sherry was again wearing an outfit that, while it may not have had a plunging neckline, certainly allowed for an interesting view from the angle I was looking as she took her seat. I closed the door once she was securely in, reminding myself to concentrate on the road, and went to put her bag in the trunk with mine.

“I don’t know if I can go to the dance, but I hope to be at the game,” Sherry pouted prettily as I took my seat and buckled up. “My next round of chemo starts the next Monday and I’ll be out all that week. You’ll have to find someone else to drive to school.”

Not that I couldn’t find a willing passenger, but I would like the chance to sleep a few more minutes in the mornings. A quick review of my upcoming schedule reminded me I’d be at the apartment that week while Arlene and Jan were in LA. I might need to make myself available if Bethany needed a ride one of those days.

The conversation turned to the latest cheerleader gossip ... er, news ... as we progressed toward school.

“All I know is something’s going on with Kelli and Coach Wilkes,” Sherry said. “They spent nearly half our practice time yesterday in Coach’s office. Neither one was smiling when they came out, but Kelli’s still head cheerleader. She was a total bitch the rest of the period, like she was reminding everybody she’s in charge.”

As long as my name didn’t come up, I thought, there shouldn’t be anything for me to worry about. I still had this nagging feeling my name had come up somewhere along the way.

We pulled into the senior lot before traffic got too bad and were soon safely in my assigned spot. It looked like someone had spilled oil on the decorative paint job the cheerleaders had done back in August. I’d better check to make sure the Beemer wasn’t leaking.

“Speaking of Homecoming,” I said as I helped Sherry out of the car, “I ordered you a mum. It’s supposed to be delivered to your lomph...”

I suddenly had a tongue down my throat as Sherry tried to suffocate me with a kiss. I was beginning to think I’d black out from oxygen deprivation before a teacher could bust me for excessive PDA when she released me.

“That’s very sweet of you,” Sherry cooed, rubbing against me enticingly. “What did Staci have to say about that?”

“I haven’t had the chance to tell her,” I gasped as I tried to regain my breath. “But yours is a little bigger and fancier. I made sure I got one for Staci that she could wear during the game and still do cheerleader stuff.”

That resulted in another kiss, though this one was a little less torrid. The relative tameness didn’t prevent Travis Murtaugh from getting his two cents in.

“Might want to tone it down,” he laughed as he pulled into his parking spot. “Teachers are probably lining up to bust you as soon as you get in the building.”

Sherry giggled and blushed, but I don’t think she was the least bit embarrassed. I took the opportunity to get our bags and we proceeded toward the main building.

“I don’t think we need to worry,” she giggled. “The teachers have a hard enough time patrolling the hallways. I doubt anyone could even see us all the way across the parking lot even if they were looking.”

I still did my best to tone it down, just giving Sherry a quick hug when I dropped her off at her locker.

“Same time tomorrow?” I asked.

“No, Staci’ll give me a ride,” she said. “Cheerleaders have to be here a little early on Fridays to start setting up for the pep rally.”

I tried to look disappointed at the news, but admit I was looking forward to the extra sleep.

“I guess I’ll see you at the pep rally, then,” I said, getting in one more hug.

With a little time before the bell, I decided to check on my locker. Work seemed to be completed. At least, the lock had been installed. I spun the dial to see if my original combination worked. It didn’t, meaning I’d have to lug my backpack all the way back to Mr. Cochran’s room.

The first bell rang before I could reach the office. I’d have to wait until the break between classes to check on the new combination.

We graded and turned in the homework assignment in Economics, then were given a pop quiz on basically the same material. I doubt Mr. Cochran had done more than change some of the numbers from the questions we’d answered last night.

Chuck didn’t ignore me, but he didn’t go out of his way to talk to me as we exited at the end of the period. I took that as a good sign. He at least didn’t seem like he intended to beat the shit out of me this morning.

Western Civ was just another lecture, but the announcement of a test on Monday didn’t help my mood. Not that I was in a bad one, but the thought of having to study on Sunday was not enticing. The NFL team had a noon kickoff at home, then Marie would require some attention. I’d just have to make it all work out, kind of like I would this evening with my conflicting obligations.

After second period, I swung by the office to check on my locker combination. The lady I asked didn’t get in much of a hurry, pecking occasionally on her computer keyboard as she tried to call up my file.

“You should have received an email about this by now, but we’ve been having some issues with the server,” she said. “The whole system’s moving slow today.”

That just reminded me I’d never logged into the account the school district had created for me. I really needed to do that. It had been nearly seven weeks since school started.

By the time she was able to provide the information, I had to hurry to make it to Mrs. Albracht’s room for my next class. Good thing it was in the North Wing. I’d have to wait until lunch to have enough time to try my locker again.

In English IV, we turned in our assignments and watched an extremely gravid Mrs. Albracht waddle around as she lectured us some more. I couldn’t help but wonder how she could stay on her feet for nearly an hour with the load she was carrying. There were two more weeks of class before fall break when she was scheduled to start her maternity leave. I had a hard time believing she’d make it. We’d better have the school nurse on standby just in case her water broke during class.

At the bell, I loaded up and lugged the heavy load out to the fieldhouse for what I hoped was the last time. After dropping my things off in the locker room, I joined everyone else in the team room for our test on the game plan. It went about as I expected, with questions regarding our reads against certain looks and the appropriate checkoffs in case an audible was needed.

I was still of the opinion the starters could do pretty much what they wanted even if the defense was stacked against a particular play call. We were just that much better than the Lions. My biggest worry was going to be accurately relaying Coach Tucker’s play call on the occasions I was sent in.

After turning in my test, I went back to the locker room and started going over my Western Civ. Better get on it while it was still relatively fresh in my mind. I was reading through a passage from the book when a large shadow fell across me.

“You doin’ anything after practice?” Chuck asked when I looked up. “We need to talk. Privately.”

“I’ve got to do the yard before it gets dark, then I’ve got a dinner date after that,” I said.

“Morgan, Staci or Bethany?” the guard asked with a smirk.

“Nothing like that,” I said. “I’ve got to be home by 8, so I’m barely going to have time to eat if I do everything with the yard.”

“I’ll come help, but it’s gonna cost ya,” he grinned. “I think they’re servin’ Beef Strokin’ Off for lunch.”

“I’ll get extra, then,” I replied. “I’ll head straight home after we get done with the walkthrough. No need to shower if I’m just going to get all sweaty again. Just meet me at the house.”

“I’ll be there,” Chuck said before departing.

I half expected Coach Tucker to request a word with me, but I guess that would wait until tomorrow. I still had to finalize plans with Stephanie — I had no idea where I was supposed to pick her up, just that I’d told her I’d be there at 6:30.

When the bell rang, I headed outside to be greeted by Morgan, who wore a knowing smirk on her face.

“What’s up?” I asked as she looped an arm through mine and turned toward the cafeteria.

“Coach Miller,” she snorted. “He thought you must have skipped several questions on the test to finish as quickly as you did.”

“Why would the secondary coach be worried about some last-string slot receiver?” I asked.

“Because he still doesn’t think you should be out here,” Morgan grinned evilly before delivering the punch line. “Coach Wilson shut him up by telling him you’ve had the highest grade among receivers every week and one of the highest among the entire offense. You even outscored Reggie a couple of times.”

That was news to me. The coaches never discussed test grades with players as far as I could tell. A sudden drop in playing time should be indication enough that one’s grade wasn’t acceptable. And I’d already played more on offense than I’d expected to for the whole season.

“And you’re not last string,” my little elf giggled. “You’re listed third on the depth chart this week, second at both U and V.”

“I haven’t even caught a pass,” I snorted.

“Which is another thing Coach Miller pointed out,” Morgan said, “but Coach Wilson pointed out how many times we’ve scored when you’ve been targeted. And your blocking grade has improved significantly since the scrimmage.”

I had a hard time getting that one. I’d tried one block in the scrimmage and got stepped on for my trouble. The season opener against the Bearcats had seen most of my attempts to block a defender and I wound up on my ass on every one of those.

We got in the serving line along with the rest of the team. Chuck had been right — they were serving Stroganoff today. I made sure to get extra.

After hitting the checkout stand — whatever trouble the school district server was having didn’t seem to be affecting the card readers — we made our way to our regular table. Talk focused on the test and the game plan, with Reggie bemoaning the fact that it didn’t look like he’d get to pad his passing stats this week.

“Coach Turner said we’d only pass in long-yardage situations once we complete the script,” the quarterback complained.

“If you even get through the script,” I said. “The running game’ll be more than enough against these guys. Their linemen don’t look any bigger than me. Mario’ll probably be in there on the second series of the third quarter.”

Estimates on how many points we could score started at 49 and went up to 84 — 12 touchdowns plus conversions. I was pretty sure Coach Tucker wouldn’t let it get that out of hand, but the Lions might not be able to avoid it.

I actually made it through a good portion of my meal before my Thursday curse — which was not to be confused with my Tuesday curse — intervened.

The table got very quiet as Dr. Stirling approached with Debbie Wilkes in tow.

“May we have a quick word, Gary?” the superintendent asked politely while the cheer coach tried not to give me too baleful a glare.

“Yes, sir,” I said, wiping my hands on a napkin. “I’ll come back and finish this, guys, so try to control yourselves.”

That drew a round of snickers, especially from the offensive linemen. I swear I heard forks hitting my tray before I got out of earshot.

I followed Dr. Stirling and Miss Wilkes out to the courtyard, which seemed to be the superintendent’s preferred venue for distracting me while my teammates devoured my lunch in my absence. And I had a hard time convincing myself that Kelli Thornton would bring me a burger to make up for it this time.

As a matter of fact, the head cheerleader, who I still had not seen since taking her home Saturday, turned out to be the reason for our little confab. She definitely wasn’t finished trying to cause me trouble.

“Tell me about this party you took Kelli to last Friday,” the cheer coach demanded.

“Excuse me?” I asked, more than a little befuddled. “I didn’t go anywhere with anyone last Friday. I was working at a photo shoot at the modeling agency. I don’t know anything about a party.”

“Kelli said you slipped her something — she thinks it was ecstasy — at the party,” Miss Wilkes accused. “She said she didn’t really come down until after you had her tied up and blindfolded in your secret apartment.”

Well, that might explain the head cheerleader’s agreeing to being restrained.

“Again, I know nothing about any party or what Kelli may have ingested,” I said. “As for the rest of it ... well, I told you I had an idea on how to handle things with her if she made an unwanted advance. I had to show her who was really in control of the situation. That was Saturday night after Sadie Hawkins. She should have had more than enough time to recover unless she took more than one hit of whatever it was.”

“She said she had to threaten to charge you with rape before you let her go,” Miss Wilkes persisted.

“That’s not exactly true,” I said. “Yes, she did threaten to charge me with a variety of crimes, but I didn’t let her go until after she agreed to my demands that she leave me alone and quit giving ‘advice’ to Staci Patterson on how to control me. I’ve got enough people trying to do that already. As for any rape allegations, I offered to take her straight to the emergency room right then to get checked out and have a full toxicology scan. She didn’t accept.”

“Just what did you do to her, then?” Dr. Stirling, who’d been standing by listening calmly, asked.

“Kissed her once and gave her a footrub,” I said for the however-manyeth time. “She dozed off, so I went to take care of something else. I was gone less than 10 minutes. When I got back, we had our little conversation. Then I took her home. As far as I know, she’s still a virgin.”

Miss Wilkes blushed at that last bit, but was quick to go back on the attack. I was beginning to think Grandpa was right — I could have avoided a lot of drama if I’d just fucked the girl.

“She said something happened,” Miss Wilkes snapped. “What did you do?”

“Exactly what I said — kissed her once and gave her a footrub,” I said, getting more than a little tired of this whole scene. “Anything else must have been a product of whatever drug she thinks was given her.”

“Did you give her anything that could have been spiked?” the superintendent asked.

“A Diet Coke, which Kelli opened herself,” I said. “If that was spiked, it happened at the bottler, and I have a hard time believing someone could manage that unless they have a psychopath working there. I don’t even want to think how large an amount would have to be dumped into a tank to still have an effect in a 12-ounce can. I saved the can in a sandwich bag just in case anyone wants to test it for residue.”

Miss Wilkes still looked like she blamed me for all the world’s ills. Dr. Stirling maintained a placid expression, which I’m sure came in handy in his line of work, dealing with school board members and parents and all. I’d be interested in seeing him and George Patterson at the same poker table one of these days.

“Look,” I said, pulling out my phone, “let me give you the number for the agency. Armand Shoffner can tell you exactly what I was doing Friday night and how late I was there. He even has pictures.

“As for Kelli, I don’t know what her deal is. If there was a party and she did attend, it wasn’t with me. If she took anything illicit, knowingly or not, I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t have any contact with her until she invited herself over following the dance on Saturday.”

The bell rang, letting me know I wouldn’t be finishing my lunch. Again. It was Morgan who brought me a burger this time, ensuring I wouldn’t die of starvation before the end of school. Chuck followed her out, lugging my backpack.

“Man, what you got in this thing, Fort Knox?” the left guard asked as he set the bag on a table without too much of a thump.

“Just my school stuff,” I said, “books, notebooks and a couple of folders for homework.

Morgan handed me the burger, said she’d see me at practice and scurried off to her next class. I took a bite out of the burger and gathered up my backpack.

“Why do you have all your books in your bag?” Dr. Stirling asked. “That’s what your locker’s for.”

“You haven’t heard?” I asked. “Someone trashed my locker over the weekend. It looked like they ran everything through a shredder, threw it back in and doused it with something that may have been manure. The lock and the door were glued. Coach Dunwoody managed to force the door open.

“I had to replace all my textbooks except English. I’m still chasing down notes for the first six weeks from classmates. The maintenance staff replaced the door and lock, I just haven’t had time to drop my things off. I had to go to the office to get my new combination.”

“Who would do something like that?” Dr. Stirling asked.

“I have my suspicions,” I said before taking another bite, “just not any proof. Someone who has access to the school on weekends, someone who has a master key for the lockers, someone who has an ax to grind with me. Now, who do we know who fits all those parameters?”

Miss Wilkes turned real red at that, grumbling something that may have sounded like “that little witch.”

“And I have my suspicions that whoever did my locker may be the same person who made a phone call to Coach Tucker,” I said. “Claimed I was seen at a party Friday night and may have been partaking of illicit substances. I had to take a drug test and was held out of practice until the results came back. Negative, of course.”

“That’s rather serious,” Dr. Stirling said. “How much do you owe for new books?”

“Two hundred and twenty-five dollars,” I said, “payable in cash by the end of the school year or they’ll hold my grades.”

“I’ll have a word with Mrs. Montero and see what can be done about that,” the superintendent said as the tardy bell rang. “I’ll leave any issues with the cheer team to Miss Wilkes. Finish your lunch. I’ll see you to your next class.”

Miss Wilkes departed to deal with her part of the problem while I wolfed down the rest of the burger.

“You really had the girl tied up and blindfolded?” Dr. Stirling asked as we turned toward the East Wing.

“Yes,” I said with no intention of elaborating.

“Aren’t you a little young to be into that kind of stuff?” he asked.

“I’m really not into it,” I said. “But a friend has some rather ... unique tastes and was able to provide the required implements. Like I said, I had to show Kelli who was really in charge. She agreed to being restrained. Thought it sounded kinky. But, except for the kiss and the footrub, I didn’t touch her.”

The superintendent mulled that over as we reached Mr. Henderson’s room. He went in to explain my tardiness to the teacher, but had to get in a parting shot.

“Just don’t try anything like that with my daughter,” he warned ominously.

This time, there was no conspiratorial wink.

“Your daughter won’t make it necessary,” I said.

Mr. Henderson just looked at us like he couldn’t decide if we were serious or putting on another performance. This would surely get the rumor mill hopping.

Dr. Stirling took his leave and the teacher directed me to my seat.

“Got your homework?” Mr. Henderson asked while my classmates looked like some were about to burst with curiosity.

“Right here,” I said, reaching into my backpack.

I don’t know how well the rest of the class was able to concentrate on the review for Friday’s test, but I felt I was keeping up rather well. I even answered a couple of questions when Mr. Henderson called on me.

When the bell rang, I made my way across the hall to Mr. Debussy’s room. I figured it would be less of a hassle than trying to make it to my locker and back before the tardy bell. I’d just have to do it before Creative Writing.

I’m sure the rumor mill was doing its best to keep up, but it was obvious not all the details had made the rounds just yet.

“I heard you had another visit from my father,” Elise Stirling snickered as soon as she got close enough. “What’d you do this time?”

I seriously considered going with “failed to catch the latest girl to throw herself at me,” but decided the less I contributed, the better.

“You’ll have to ask your dad,” I said. “I’m not going to get any deeper in than I already am, if I can help it.”

My lab partner pouted petulantly at my reply, but Mr. Debussy prevented her from pursuing the matter by calling the class to order. After wrapping up his lecture, he earned my eternal enmity by assigning us homework on a night when I really didn’t have time for it. I’d let Marie take out her disappointment on the teacher if I was unable to keep our date because of this. At least it was only 10 questions that could be answered out of the book. And we had about 10 minutes before the end of the period to work on it.

Elise, of course, had to pry a little more.

“So, what’s going on?” she asked fairly quietly.

I stopped what I was doing and gave her my best stare. I’m sure it was my imagination, but it looked like there was a nostril flare as she blushed slightly and shivered under my gaze.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m not going to talk about it,” I said in a low voice. “I’ve got things to do after practice and I have to finish my homework so I can get to it before it gets late. The more I can get done now, the more time I’ll have for other things.”

“What other things?” she asked rather timidly, like she didn’t want to but couldn’t help herself. Her blush reddened as my stare grew sterner.

“Mowing the yard,” I said. “Wanna help?”

That quieted her down and I was able to complete a good portion of the assignment before the bell rang. It helped that most of the questions required only brief answers.

I fully intended to hit my locker and unload my backpack during the break between classes. Sherry Parker had other plans, flagging me down as I neared her locker.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?” she asked after sneaking a smooch.

“About...?

“Coach Wilkes just had another meeting with Kelli,” she said. “Pulled her out of her fifth-period class and she didn’t return. Someone said they heard raised voices in the hallway that sounded a lot like them.”

“I honestly know nothing about it,” I said. “Sounds like they weren’t discussing plans for the pep rally, though.”

“Duuuh!” Sherry grunted, giving me a cross-eyed look at the same time. “I know Coach talked with you at lunch, now this. What’s the connection?”

“I don’t know,” I said, not lying too much. “I could guess, but I’d probably be wrong and we wouldn’t want false information floating around. It might do Kelli more harm than good.”

For the second time in a matter of minutes, I had a pretty girl pouting at my refusal to give a straight answer. At least I hadn’t slept with either of them.

Brief as our conversation was, it was just long enough to prevent me from having time to visit my locker. And I’d need to head straight to the fieldhouse after seventh period. It was like the fates were conspiring to make sure I had to carry all this weight around a little longer.

Creative Writing had a writing assignment that required a little research online. The school server did seem to be moving rather slow, but I was able knock out 500 words, citing my sources along the way, and turn it in with plenty of time before the period. I immediately started back in on the Chemistry homework and was able to finish before the bell.

Mr. Debussy would never know how lucky he was. He still had my eternal enmity, but now I wouldn’t have to turn Marie loose on him.

The bell, the mad dash to the fieldhouse, taped and dressed in shorts and helmet. I was on the field in plenty of time to please Coach Tucker. Luckily, I didn’t have Stephanie tape me up.