Chapter 54: Friday, Oct. 5

GAME DAY — HOMECOMING, TIGERS

We’d been in school for eight weeks now and Kacie still acted like the alarm going off each morning was the worst thing that could happen to her. There were times I was inclined to agree, but not today. There was a football game to be played.

And, hopefully, rewards to be reaped following another victory.

I extracted myself from my sister’s grasp and crawled out of bed. After setting out my blue team polo and a pair of slacks, I went to wash up, shave (face and legs) and brush my teeth. Kacie stumbled in rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and claimed her wakeup kiss once I wiped the foam off my face.

I went ahead and grabbed a pair of socks to wear with my loafers. It just felt like I should wear as much blue as possible today.

A quick check of my backpack showed everything I needed for classes today was in place, but I added several sheets of graph paper to my Economics folder just so I’d have some at school. I really should have bought two packages.

With Kacie occupied in the bathroom, I took advantage of the privacy and stashed the remaining graph paper I’d been forced to buy last night in a different drawer of my desk and stacked some empty folders on top. Maybe that would keep my female relatives from cleaning me out the next time I needed it for an assignment. I just had to remember where I put it.

With everything in readiness, I headed for the kitchen to get fueled up for the day. Mom and Dad, all decked out in their game-day finery, were nursing their coffee when I arrived.

“Did you finish your homework?” Mom asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, stopping myself before I added “no thanks to you.”

“What about your test?” she asked.

“I think I understand the material,” I said. “I’ll go over it with Cody after lunch. Oh, I forgot to ask last night. When are Grandma and Aunt Karen leaving?”

“It was supposed to be today,” Mom said, “but your grandmother decided to delay a day when she found out you’d been nominated for Homecoming. She changed all her reservations, then you went and got yourself in more trouble.”

Of course it was all my fault a woman’s plans had been disrupted. I was the one with a Y chromosome.

“You’re just lucky Jimena asked her to help out with your cookout tonight,” Mom continued. “They’re supposed to get on the road first thing in the morning, but your grandmother will probably want a full night’s sleep first.”

“She can sleep in the car while Karen drives,” Dad said. “It’s not like she’s going to see any color before they get out of state.”

That earned a disapproving look from Mom. Dad quickly picked another topic.

“So, what are our chances tonight?” he asked me.

“Remember when I said the Lions might be the worst defense we’d see? I was wrong,” I said. “These guys have one linebacker who makes most of the tackles. Get him blocked, it’s pretty much over. The best part of their team from what I’ve seen is their punter.”

“Sounds like another early night for the starters,” he said. “I hope y’all are gonna be ready for the tougher teams coming up.”

“Just gotta take ‘em one at a time, Dad,” I said before turning back to Mom. “Now, what was the other project y’all had that required my graph paper?”

“Arlene intends to have some work done to her house while she’s in Europe,” Mom said. “She’s looking at replacing all the windows and combining some rooms into suites. She doesn’t need eight bedrooms. We were trying to figure out which rooms could be disconnected from utilities without unhooking everything. Marie will still need access to the laundry even if she stays in the apartment while her room is worked on.”

I wondered if I’d still be allowed to use the apartment in that case, but was afraid to ask. And I didn’t even want to think how my girlfriends would react to the loss of my little lovenest. Looks like folks weren’t done cockblocking me.

“Before I forget, you need to check in with Coach Tucker before school,” Mom said. “He wants to know why you didn’t answer your phone for curfew check last night.”

“It never rang,” I said. “I had it plugged in right there on the desk while I did my homework.”

“Was it turned on?” Dad asked.

“Yeah, I texted Mom what my dinner plans were,” I said. “I never touched the power button after that.”

“Let me see,” Mom commanded, holding out the hand that wasn’t holding a coffee mug.

I pulled out the phone, unlocked it and handed it over. Mom set down her coffee and poked and swiped a few times before speaking.

“There are missed calls from Coach Ramirez a 9:52, Coach Wilson at 9:56 and Coach Tucker at 10:08,” she said. “All of them left messages. Coach Tucker called us about 10:15, but you were already in bed.”

“How can you tell which one called when?” Dad asked.

“I have their numbers in my contacts,” I said. “The name comes up on the screen when they call.”

“There are also a lot of other missed calls,” Mom said. “Looks like they’re from California area codes, most of them in the evening.”

“So why didn’t it ring?” I asked.

“Because you have it on silent mode,” Mom said, looking at the little switch on the side. “Probably not a bad idea if reporters are still chasing you. I wonder how they got your number.”

“No idea,” I said.

“You’d better get moving if you’re gonna talk to your coach,” Dad said. “It’s after 7.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, reclaiming my phone and putting it in a pocket. “See y’all tonight.”

On my way to the door, Dad had one last thing for me.

“The yard could stand some attention this weekend,” he called out.

“Yes, sir.”

I made it to school before 7:30 and headed directly to the fieldhouse. Coach Tucker was out watching the freshmen, but I quickly became his top priority. I explained the situation with my phone being on silent mode as we stood on the track.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls that I’m pretty sure are from reporters,” I said. “I don’t need the constant interruptions.”

“It’s a good thing your mother vouched for you,” he said sternly. “She actually looked in on you to confirm you were in bed. What time did you get home last night?”

“Before 8,” I said. “Then I had to go out again, but I was back before 9.”

“Why’d you have to go out again?” Coach asked.

“I needed some graph paper for a homework assignment,” I said, omitting the part about why I ran out.

“Make sure your phone’s on for bed check in the future,” he commanded. “You also might want to stay out of Coach Doss’ way today. And Dr. Stirling’s. He’ll be here for the pep rally.”

“Sir?”

“You weren’t the only one who didn’t respond at curfew,” Coach said. “Elise got home late and she was last known to be in your company.”

“We had dinner together, but I haven’t seen her since about a quarter to 8 last night,” I said. “If she was late, it wasn’t because of me.”

“Just keep your nose clean,” he ordered. “We’ve got a game tonight, in case you forgot. You’d better go get ready for class.”

“Yes, sir.”

As I made my way to the main building, I realized that if Mom had looked in on me to confirm my presence in bed, she must have noticed Kacie’s presence, as well. And somehow I was still alive. It’s a good thing Mom took that call and not Dad.

With time to kill, I swung by the StuCo store in the cafeteria. I needed to replace the dance ticket I gave to Chuck. The line wasn’t too bad this early in the morning, but it grew behind me as the clock edged toward 8 a.m.

“One couples ticket, please,” I said to the girl manning the counter, glad she wasn’t the one who’d disapproved of my multiple mum purchases, which reminded me. “I also need to pick up some mums that I’ve already paid for.”

“Plural?” she asked with an arched eyebrow as she accepted my cash in exchange for the ticket, which I put in my wallet.

“Yes,” I said without explanation. “They should be under Gary Robinson.”

“I was warned about you,” she said as her eyes narrowed. “I heard you’re a total Chad.”

“I’ve heard that, too,” I smiled. “I’m still not real sure what it means, though.”

Whether she approved of me or not, she found my order and put the mums in a little bag, taking care to fold the ribbons so they wouldn’t crease. I thanked her and took the bag. It would be much easier to hang in my locker than Sherry’s mum had been.

There was a definite buzz in the air as I headed for the North Wing. It seemed everyone was excited for Homecoming. I’d missed out on the week’s activities because of football practice, but at least I hadn’t run afoul of Mr. Dunwoody as he oversaw the preliminary events.

It wasn’t like they would have been any different from last year when I’d been forced to attend them all with the girl I took to the dance. Those had been the only dates we had as she declined my offer of dinner and a movie for the next week. We never even made out.

I realized I couldn’t recall her name or really what she even looked like. I remembered light brown hair, a pleasant enough face and a nice enough figure, but that was about it. She was just a typical high school junior at the time.

God! I was turning into such a Chad.

I arrived at my locker before traffic got too heavy and placed the bag on one of the little hooks inside. After getting what I’d need for the morning classes arranged in my backpack, I took the opportunity to shoot a text to Arlene, Jan and Marie that I had a little something for them that I would deliver to Arlene’s house after school. I was pretty sure they’d all be there since Jan was accompanying Arlene to her obstetrics appointment and they had a number of errands to run after that, like collecting the little box of pendants from Arlene’s boutique.

After sending the message, I turned off the phone and put it away just as Staci and another cheerleader — a pretty black girl named Erika, if I remembered correctly — came around the corner with a box containing goodie baskets for the football players.

“Good morning,” I smiled, accepting a quick smooch from Staci. “I guess you made it home all right last night.”

“Sure did,” she grinned, reaching past me to open the door I’d closed maybe two minutes ago. “I talked to Sherry this morning. She sounded much better than the last time I spoke with her. She’s supposed to be out of treatment around lunchtime, but is going to stay at the hospital all afternoon so she can get some rest before the game. I can’t wait to see her Homecoming dress. It sounds beautiful. She’ll wear something a little less formal for the dance.”

“Just in case this messes up your plans for Saturday morning, my dad expects me to do the yard at some point this weekend,” I said. “If I get on it by 9 o’clock, I should be done by 11. I’ll need to get the Rover from Kacie, anyway, and can do that at the same time. We could have a light lunch somewhere and hit the mall.”

“You’d better shower after you finish your chores, then,” Staci advised. “You’ll get all sweaty and stinky and I don’t want to be around that, especially in public.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, thinking she didn’t seem to mind me getting all sweaty and stinky around her in private. “I’d better get to class. See you at the pep rally.”

“Love you,” she chirped, grabbing another smooch.

“Love you, too,” I said, my mood considerably better than it had been just 15 minutes ago.

We graded and turned in homework in Economics, then Mr. Cochran gave us a pop quiz with more of the same type of problems. I was glad I thought to put some graph paper in my folder. After everyone was done, we were told to read the next chapter over the weekend. There would be a test next Thursday, sort of a semi-six weeks test.

Western Civ was more on the Reconquista with “suggested” reading, which may as well have been required as we would have an “intermediate” test next Wednesday. It was beginning to dawn on me that pretty much all of my teachers were intent on getting in one last test before fall break. While I hadn’t been to my afternoon classes yet, we always had one on Friday in Algebra II. All that was left was Chemistry and Creative Writing.

After more discussion of “The Comedy of Errors” in English IV, it was time to go get pepped up. I had just enough time to swing by my locker and prepare for the afternoon. All the players reported to the team room before being herded over to the gym. We had a few minutes to wait. Morgan, wearing her mum pinned to her coaching polo, came up to me and asked for a word. She led me into the hallway, which was deserted for the moment, and proceeded to attack me. I was suffering from oxygen deprivation before she pulled her tongue out of my throat.

“What was that for?” I gasped, reaching for a wall as I waited for the world to return to normal.

“For having Wil get me this, you goof” she grinned, swatting me on the chest. “He never would have thought about if it weren’t for you.”

“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?” I asked.

That earned me another swat.

“Why else would your jersey number be on it?” my little elf countered. “Besides, Benny told me the three of you went in on it when he told me he was taking Midori to the dance. You’d better get back in there. It’s almost time. But wipe your face first.”

I made use of the napkin Morgan handed me and returned to my place in line just before we received the order to move. Several of my teammates were giving me shit-eating grins as we moved toward the door.

“What?” I asked. “She just wanted to thank me for the mum.”

The pep rally went pretty much to script even with the larger than normal crowd. A special section for a few dozen old grads who’d distinguished themselves in some way was set up along one side and they were introduced. I noticed Kelli was back in place and it was she who provided the distraction as the fuzzball pantsed the mangy cat when the time came. The one problem I had was the highlight video, which started with my kickoff return played at three or four times normal speed as “Yakety Sax” blared from the speakers.

That was bad enough, but what really worried me was the next part, which featured Marshawn. He’d been named defensive player of the week by some outlet for his performance against the Lions — eight total tackles, three tackles for loss and the pick-six. Those were nice numbers for any game, but he’d done it in one half.

I got an uneasy feeling when the clip was accompanied by Dusty Springfield. I don’t know who did the syncing of video and music, but they timed it where “the only boy who could every reach me” played over a crushing hit on a ballcarrier.

Coach Tucker gave his little speech, harkening back to the championship teams of the past and our goal to honor them with our level of play.

Dr. Stirling then took the mic to introduce the Homecoming court. It may have been my imagination, but I could have sworn he scowled in my direction before getting started.

The freshmen, who looked to me like little kids playing dressup, sophomores and the junior boy were introduced first. I didn’t recognize any of them.

Sherry Parker received special mention — and the biggest round of applause — when she was announced as the duchess. It was explained that she was unable to attend because she was undergoing her final treatment of this round of chemo, but was expected to be at the game. That received even more applause.

I found myself wondering what would have happened if Staci had been selected for the position, something I could easily see being the case had it not been for the machinations to give it to Sherry instead. Something about Duchess the duchess just struck me as funny.

The eight seniors were then introduced. Isabella Quiñones was given a raucous reception by the band kids with Marshawn drawing a big cheer from just about all groups. I’m sure the highlight video helped. Elise and the dude from the basketball team, who was the only boy who exceeded her in height, were next. Kelli Thornton and the guy from student council followed. The last pair I didn’t recognize and probably never would.

Just as things were winding up, the gods decided to have a little fun at my expense.

“Where’s Gary?” came floating down from the freshman section, causing a wave of laughter to ripple through the crowd.

The question went unanswered as the pep band struck up the alma mater and we were done.

As we returned to the fieldhouse for lunch, I hurried to catch up to Marshawn.

“I just want you to know I had nothing to do with the choice of music for the highlights,” I said.

“I know you didn’t,” he grinned wickedly. “I picked it my own self.”

My blank expression caused him to cackle madly.

“And it was worth it just to see yo face right now,” he laughed. “Nah, Pop told me I should own the situation instead o’ lettin’ it get to me. He said black folks been doin’ that for generations.

“Ya gotta admit, though, that’s a much better theme song for me than what you suggested the other day. Did you know it was written for Aretha Franklin? She wouldn’t record it at first ‘cause her daddy was a preacher. But then that English chick made it a hit and the Queen of Soul did her version of it later on.”

We got in line for lunch — baked ham, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. It would get me through the afternoon, but I still planned to grab a snack after school. Those steaks wouldn’t be ready until 11 at the earliest.

My parents and grandparents were there with the Stirlings, Pattersons, Richardses and Ensberrys. The men were deep in conversation about something. I didn’t ask what, but my ears were burning.

Morgan and Staci bracketed me when I finished getting my plate and herded me to a different table.

“Sherry’s mom called to say she’s finished with her treatment and is resting comfortably,” Staci said. “They expect to be at the stadium on time.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said. “What are we looking at for tomorrow?”

“You’ve got to do your chores first,” Staci said. “Call me when you get done. And be sure to shower!”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, earning giggles from both girls.

I ate quickly, thinking I needed to get out of here before Dr. Stirling accosted me when Cody came up to ask if I wanted to go over the algebra one more time.

“Couldn’t hurt,” I said, noticing Mom watching us. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me. See y’all later.”

I collected quick hugs from both — there were too many adults around, including our parents, for more — and followed Cody into the locker room. We basically repeated what we did last night in study hall, then packed everything up.

“I’ll see you in class,” Cody said. “I’ve gotta go buy a ticket for the dance. Zoe’s already asked me about it twice this morning.”

“Make sure it’s a couples ticket,” I advised as he headed out, getting a middle finger in response.

I only had to wait a few more minutes for the bell to ring and began the trek to Mr. Henderson’s room. I noticed several girls proudly wearing their mums and shook my head. The stadium gates wouldn’t even open until 6. Most of them would probably try on and discard two or three outfits before then.

Students trickled into the classroom chattering away about their plans for the game and the dance. It reminded me this was one of the three biggest events on the school’s social calendar.

Cody was among the last to arrive, triumphantly waving a ticket in his hand. I turned to look at Zoe Yeats in the back corner. She was blushing brightly, but also looked pleased he’d accomplished his task.

Tardy bell, roll call, “take one and pass them back.” It was good to have a dependable routine.

I took my time on the test, making sure I avoided stupid mistakes that had cost me last week. I paid particular attention to questions involving the material I’d missed on Monday and Tuesday, but Cody had done a good job of catching me up.

After double checking my work, I tackled the bonus question. Based on the video I’d seen, the Tigers were probably a touchdown or two worse than the Lions. As long as they played nice, I was sure Coach Tucker would do everything in his power to keep the score from getting too out of hand. I figured one TD for each of the starting skill guys, then maybe a couple for the second string. Manny Dominguez always seemed to be good for one. I honestly didn’t see the Tigers offense doing much against even our scrubs. As long as we didn’t have some kind of return, 63-0 was about as good as I could do.

I turned my test in and Mr. Henderson immediately looked at my last answer.

“That close?” he asked.

“Unless they do something stupid like the last bunch,” I said. “Otherwise, we may find out how high the home side of the scoreboard will go.”

The bell rang, sending me across the hall to Chemistry. I really wasn’t looking forward to this, but my only option — cutting class — would get me in more trouble. And that was the last thing I needed right now. At least Elise wore a sheepish expression as she sat down beside me.

“I’m sorry if I got you in trouble,” she whispered after Mr. Debussy gave us a list of 50 questions to finish before the end of class. It wasn’t exactly a pop quiz, since we were allowed to use our books to look up the answers, but it would consume most of the period.

“What did you do after we left the restaurant?” I asked, not really having much choice but to get through this as quickly and quietly as possible.

“I went over to Riley’s and did my homework like I planned,” Elise said quietly as we flipped through our books. “We were all done in plenty of time. It wasn’t even 9 o’clock. She said she’d heard about a specialty shop out on the freeway and wanted to check it out. I didn’t have to be home until 10. I thought we had plenty of time, but we got distracted looking at everything. They have some really wild stuff. I didn’t realize how late it was until we got back to my car.”

I was starting to get one of those uneasy feelings again. My lab partner demonstrated why with her next statement.

“I saw one of those outfits,” she whispered, blushing brightly.

Lord, help me because I just couldn’t help myself.

“You didn’t buy it, did you?” I asked.

“No, I mean I saw a girl wearing one of those outfits,” Elise said hurriedly, keeping her voice down. “I think she’s a stripper. In fact, I think a lot of the customers in there were strippers. They just had that look, ya know?”

“Sounds like I’d better stay away from there,” I snorted. “If you were distracted, what would happen to me?”

“You’d probably get a free show, knowing you,” she giggled. “They had a private area in the back with a curtain covering the doorway. I saw a brass pole when one girl came out. I think it was a practice stage where girls could test how different outfits move on them when they dance.”

I really did not need to be thinking about such things and tried to focus on the assignment.

“Well, I wasn’t totally blameless,” I admitted. “My phone was on silent mode when the coaches called me for bed check and I didn’t answer because it didn’t ring. You were last seen with me and neither of us were responding to those trying to reach us. It was one of those one-plus-one-equals-four deals. At least your father hasn’t attacked me. Yet.”

“He’ll get over it,” Elise said. “The worst Coach Doss will do is not play me tonight, which actually works out for me. If I don’t get all sweaty, I can get ready for Homecoming that much faster. I’ll still take a shower, but I wouldn’t have to wash my hair, just brush it out.”

Her attitude seemed awfully similar to mine in regard to how our punishments actually benefited us. The one difference was she wanted to be part of the Homecoming court while I desperately wanted to avoid it.

We both managed to complete the assignment and turn it in before the bell.

“See you at the game,” my lab partner said, placing a hand lightly on my arm as we exited the class. “Good luck tonight!”

“You, too,” I said, struggling not to envision the Amazon in one of “those outfits.”

Blessedly, Creative Writing was a nothing day. Mrs. Cohen did announce we would have a short test on Thursday, but she seemed as ready to get the weekend started as the rest of us. We were given a list of five articles to read and told to be ready to discuss them Monday. I got three of them read during class, but I’d need to go over them again and make notes.

So, I was looking at a shit-ton of reading this weekend, but no real homework as I swung by my locker. Algebra II and Chemistry were classes in which I didn’t have something to do for Monday. I could also leave the books for Western Civ, English IV and Creative Writing behind since the reading for those classes was all from other sources, mostly online. I considered taking my Chemistry book because Mr. Debussy was known to throw you a curve on a regular basis.

There would be tests in English IV on Tuesday, Western Civ on Wednesday, Economics and Creative Writing on Thursday and Algebra II on Friday. There was also the game plan test in athletics on Thursday, but that just required paying attention in film study and practice. Chemistry was the wild card, but I’d bet Debussy would hit us with a pop quiz at least once during the week.

I contemplated what I had on my schedule for the weekend. There was the postgame meal and whatever Arlene may have planned for after. On Saturday, yardwork, lunch and shopping with Staci, dinner and dance with Staci, Bethany and Sherry, then whatever Staci may have planned for after the dance. I might have a couple of hours between the shopping and dinner to squeeze in some reading. There wouldn’t even be time to watch college games.

Sunday would be my chance to rest and get caught up. The NFL team had the Sunday night game at Houston, giving me all afternoon free. I’d have to see what Jed’s plans were. And I could expect Marie to need some attention.

I dumped the Chemistry book, gambling Debussy wouldn’t start throwing curves right away, grabbed the bag of mums and the goodie basket, then started for the senior lot. There were plenty of students and teachers offering encouragement for tonight as I progressed toward my car.

I turned my phone back on when I got everything stowed and immediately received a call from California. When are these goobers gonna learn, I thought as I punched decline and switched it back to silent mode. A quick check showed nearly 40 missed calls. I’d let Morgan deal with it for me, but that wouldn’t be until after the game.

I shot a followup text to Arlene, Jan and Marie that I was on my way, dropped the top and cranked up. I had to go deliver mums.

I arrived at Arlene’s relatively quickly, considering the amount of traffic around the school. I’d need to find some kind of after-school activity once football ended. I did not like dealing with the rush to get away from campus each day.

Jan wasn’t present, having gone home to make sure Bethany had what she’d need for the weekend. Mrs. Metzger would take over the care and feeding of the little blonde after I returned her home from the dance.

Arlene and Marie, however, were in constant motion preparing for tonight’s gathering and Arlene’s business trip when I entered the kitchen of the main house. The little waif gave an excited squeal at my present, while the redheaded goddess just smirked at me.

“That was supposed to be a joke,” she snorted.

“I just thought I should give all my girls a little something for tonight,” I grinned. “Maybe it’ll help you not forget me while you’re out there in LaLa Land.”

“You can do that by giving me a big ‘something’ later tonight,” she growled, giving me a kiss that was pretty tame by her standards. “I’ve been cleared for action. You’re up, bucko, and you’d better be ready.”

“Just say the word,” said, my grin growing broader, “but you need to wait about six more hours. I’ve got something to do first.”

Arlene insisted on showing me the layout for the postgame meal. All the patio furniture had been moved into spare rooms, where it could stay while she was gone. I got the feeling I — and maybe Jed — would be expected to put everything back in place.

Instead, the space was taken up by four picnic tables that looked like they could seat three on a side. But since 10 of those planning to be here were linemen and Coach Bennett was also coming, the third person on each side better not be any larger than Morgan.

At the back end was a contraption that would have been right at home in Buchanan County. I’m talking about a prime example of rural engineering. I had to get a closer look.

A 55-gallon oil drum had been cut in half, using a blowtorch by the look of it, with a handle made out of sucker rod and hinges welded on in the appropriate locations. The smokestack was two lengths of 2-inch oilfield pipe connected by an elbow joint to form a right angle. One end was threaded and screwed into the bunghole on what had been the lid of the barrel. When the lid was closed, the spout pointed straight up.

The base and legs were made from lengths of sucker rod that had been welded together into the necessary shape. The thing looked almost as heavy as the little stand we’d had at the pool for the cabana crew.