Chapter 25: Friday Evening

I don’t know why I waste my time getting mad at Dan. I can never stay mad at him for longer than a few minutes. See it works like this. What’s the first thing you do when you get mad at someone? For me, the first thing I do is make a big long list in my head of all the horrible things that person has ever done to me. Then I add the new thing to the list. Then I compare this huge long list to the pitifully short list of nice things that person has done for me. That way I have proof that I am justified in getting mad at them, so I can have a wonderful, guilt-free tantrum.

That system doesn’t work so well with Dan because the list of horrible things he’s done to me is incredibly short. I mean, I think the worst thing he’s ever done was back when I was five. He kidnapped one of my dolls – her name was Lucy – and hid her somewhere in the house. Then he told me he’d invented a new game which was for me to search around and find her. Three hours of searching, the last hour of which included a full-bore, hysterical, screaming fit finally convinced him that I didn’t much like his new game. Dan showed me how he’d put Lucy inside one of Mom’s saucepans. I don’t remember much about what happened after that, but apparently I took Lucy and hid under my bed for hours. Mom says I didn’t talk for two days and I carried Lucy around with me everywhere for nearly a month. I don’t remember that part though. All I remember is the panic and fear I felt when I couldn’t find Lucy. Because of that, I’ll probably be in therapy until I’m fifty. (Hmm. That joke isn’t funny any more – I probably will be in therapy most of my life.)

So anyway, my list of mean things Dan’s done to me is really short and that time is probably the worst one. On the other hand, the list of nice things he’s done for me is really long – really, really long.

So I get cross with him about something, then I try and build myself up into a nice, satisfying rage, but I can’t find any suitable materials to build my righteous rage with, so my tantrum deflates like a badly tied balloon. I’m usually left standing there feeling all empty and frustrated.

All this had been going through my head while I had my back firmly facing towards Dan. I decided to turn around and give him a smile so that he knew I wasn’t mad at him anymore. When I turned, all I could see was him jogging away from me as he ran off to join in the game. How annoying!! I went over and slumped into one of the plastic chairs near my drinks table. I had all these important personal issues to sort out and they had to wait because of a silly football game. I decided that Dan really should get his priorities sorted out – how dare he run off and play football instead of talking to me. Hmmm! Like I said, empty and frustrated.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that maybe it was me being unreasonable and not Dan. One of the things that helped convince me was that nearly every member of the team, plus the coaches, trainers and cheerleaders all came over and gave me a high five for my touchdown. I did so many high fives that my hand ended up sore. It’s hard to be miserable when so many people are being happy for you – especially when you know perfectly well that your misery is just a stupid thing in your own head.

It didn’t take long before I was laughing and joking with everyone. I made sure to thank Al for setting up the touchdown for me, I wanted to thank the opposition captain, Vince, as well but that was a bit hard because he was somewhere over on the other side of the field. Al promised to pass my thanks on to Vince next time they ran into each other – he kind of laughed when he said that so I think he meant it like as in, actually run into each other!

I didn’t get to make up with Dan though, he stayed away from me. I think he figured that if I was mad at him, then he would concentrate on the game and sort things out with me later.

Once I started taking notice of it, I realized that the game in the second half was a terrific contest. The two teams trundled up and down the field, each frantic attack stopped by equally desperate defense. Somehow or other, both sides managed to keep the other scoreless for nearly the whole of the third quarter. The only exception was that they got a field goal in the dying minutes of the quarter. In a way, the lack of scores was disappointing because we all wanted to see what would happen next time either team scored a touchdown.

I had a fair idea what our side was going to do. That’s because early in the second half I’d been surrounded by most of the offensive team as they begged for an idea of another dance they could do. After a bit of thought, I came up with an idea that the guys seemed happy with. It was something the guys sheepishly admitted they’d been to enough school dances to have learnt so it only took a very quick discussion to remind them of the steps.

The dry spell ended in the first minute of the last quarter when their fullback burst right through the middle of our line and bolted thirty yards to score a touchdown. It came so suddenly after so much solid defense. We were all disappointed that he made it look so easy in the end. Of course, their side of the field went bananas. The fullback threw the ball up into the air and hugged his team mates then four of them quickly lined up side by side, linked arms and went into a full-on dance from Swan Lake. You know, the famous bit out of the ballet where four young swans dance together in a line with their arms linked. The four footballers did it incredibly well. It was hysterical. I found out later that they’d done it the week before for a student revue wearing football jerseys and tutus and it had been the hit of the revue. Apparently they had rehearsed for ages beforehand and it showed. They really knew what they were doing. The entire crowd, including all of us, were standing and clapping and cheering.

I think the head referee wanted to penalise them for time wasting but I saw Al go up to him and persuade him not to. They didn’t do the dance for very long but it was very funny and at the end they all did a little curtsy and everyone gave them a standing ovation.

Fortunately for us, we managed to strike back about five minutes later. Al, playing quarterback of course, did one of those spectacular long throws that went all the way to the end zone where our wide receiver managed to catch it by leaping several feet into the air. It was truly awesome. Touchdown!

What happened next went exactly to the plan we’d worked out earlier. We all lined up on the sideline, including the cheerleaders, the coaches, the entire team and me. Then the cheerleaders counted us in and we launched into the words and moves...

Let’s do The Timewarp again!
Let’s do The Timewarp again!
It’s just a jump to the left,
then a step to the right,
with your hands on your hips,
you bring your knees in tight,
but it’s the pelvic thrust...

It was quick, it was easy and it was very recognizable. And as I said before, the guys admitted that they’d been to enough school dances that they knew it well enough already. I think it looked pretty good with a long line of more than fifty people all doing The Timewarp.

So there I was face-to-face with Gareth, the really big linebacker. We were doing the pelvic thrusts at each other when suddenly I blushed bright red and froze. Oh My God! It’s about sex! I never got that before. It was like pretending to have sex! Thrusting our hips at each other like that. It was so blatant that it was downright rude. I guess that makes me innocent, huh? I mean I learned the dance from Dad when I was about six and he never made it about sex. And here I was facing a twenty-year old guy, a few thousand pounds heavier than me and pretending to have sex with him – Oh My God! And I was doing it in the middle of a college football game – in front of a crowd of who-knows-how-many people. OH MY GOD!

I must have gone pale. I know I felt dizzy. Gareth suddenly stopped dancing and wrapped his ginormous hands around my upper arms. “Hey! Little Becky! Are you okay?”

I could feel my face turning bright red – so red that I figured I was probably radioactive. I muttered something about needing to sit down and Gareth guided me towards a chair and lowered me into it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he half-carried me to a chair and lowered me into it. I was hugely embarrassed.

Fortunately, everyone had stopped about the same time I did, so it wasn’t like I made a big scene or anything. I half-noticed that the other team were all standing around clapping us as we went back to our places to continue the game.

Soon after I’d sat down, I heard The Timewarp start up over the PA system. The announcer had seen what we were doing and dug it out of his collection to play. A lot of people in the bleachers behind me were standing up in their rows and dancing The Timewarp as our kicking team ran on to do their conversion. They stopped long enough to cheer when the conversion went through, then went back to dancing. They only stopped dancing and settled down when the music got turned off because the players were ready in the center of the field for the kick-off to restart play.

I was immediately surrounded by a committee of cheerleaders and players talking about what dance to do when we scored again. One of the girls suggested the Macarena as another dance with easy moves that most people could do. Everyone laughed and agreed and we went back to watching the game. I didn’t find out until later but apparently the announcer sent a messenger down to ask our cheerleaders what dance we were going to do next time we scored a touchdown.

I helped myself to a drink – that made me feel a bit better – then I went back to my job, tidying up the drinks table and pouring more drinks and so on. It was good that I had all the players well trained by then. I didn’t have to pick a single cup of the ground. I did see one guy forget and throw his cup on the ground, but his team-mates reminded him and he picked it up himself.

Within a few minutes, we scored a field goal which made the scores level and everyone got excited, but then they scored another field goal almost straight after so they were ahead again. Each time a field goal was scored, the announcer put some dance music over the PA and some people in the crowds would dance along with it until the players were ready to restart the game.

Then they managed a drive that forced us all the way back to our five yard line. Our defenders worked hard, but they couldn’t hold out and the other team scored a touchdown. Of course, the other side all screamed and jumped up and down. Then they raced into position on the far side of the field. Almost immediately, music started blaring from the PA system and the entire opposition squad started into:

It’s fun to stay at the Y M C A...

It’s about as old as The Timewarp and a fairly dorky sort of song, but the arm movements are easy and dramatic – especially when thousands of people are doing them all at once. That’s right, not only were the players and cheerleaders and coaches doing it, but virtually everyone in the bleachers on that side of the field were doing the Y M C A. moves. It was pretty awesome to see. We all stood there and clapped. What else could you do?

The next section of the game was exciting but frustrating as first one team, then the other, seemed to gain the advantage but then lost the ball through fumbled receptions or crunching tackles or missed opportunities. I guess it was extra frustrating for us because now we were behind and time was running out on the game clock.

With only eight minutes to go, finally we made a comeback. To my great joy it was Dan who managed to slip through, following almost exactly the same path I’d taken at half-time. From the tight-end position, he curled around behind the line of scrimmage, then steamrolled up the field with several of the opposition falling off him in failed attempts to tackle. All of us were screaming and I was probably the loudest. Dan somehow managed to jink past the fullback, but a defender covering from the left side managed to catch him just before the goal and the two of them crashed to the ground right up against the line. Someone else dived on top and quickly Dan disappeared under a pile of bodies in a kind of grown-up version of stacks-on-the-middle. The official had to peel the bodies off one at a time, but when he got to Dan at the bottom, the arms went straight up in the air – touchdown! Somehow under the weight of the tackler, Dan had managed to make that last desperate lunge and get the ball across the line.

Of course, everyone was yelling and screaming – me most of all. I was so happy for Dan, he scored a touchdown in his last college football game. The music for the Macarena started over the PA and we all started dancing, taking our cues from the cheerleaders. I glanced over my shoulder and I could see that all the crowd on our side of the field were on their feet and dancing too. It was very exciting. Somewhere in there was my Dad. I wondered how he was doing. I had a mental image of him standing there, trying to copy Pearl and her friends and follow along in that dorky way he has when he tries to dance.

When it came time for the game to restart, the guy in the PA booth didn’t turn off the music like he was supposed to. Instead, he turned it down a bit and changed to another dance track. I hope he didn’t get into trouble for that. The crowd didn’t seem to mind, they stayed on their feet and kept dancing. Even a lot of the players waiting on the sidelines kind of jigged along with the music.

The last few minutes of the game were a weird mix of tense – because we were three points behind, and fun – because the music was going and everyone was dancing. The crowd hadn’t stopped watching the game – they still yelled and cheered when something happened. It’s just that they yelled and cheered musically – then they started dancing again.

The gun sounded and the score hadn’t changed. We lost. That was disappointing. But it had been a great game and lots of fun. I think it was a game that most people involved would remember for a long time. Most of the guys on the team seemed a bit disappointed that they’d lost, but not too upset – if you get what I mean.

By the time the game was over the music had crept back up to full volume, so the end of the game really only meant a change from people dancing and watching a game to people having a party. All the players and cheerleaders and so on from both sides ran on to the ground and congratulated each other and did high fives and hugs and hand shakes and stuff like that. I quickly realized that the other team was happy they’d won but weren’t over-the-top excited about it either. I mean, it wasn’t as if they’d won a final or anything. These were two teams well down the ladder and they’d both played their last game of the season. The music was playing pretty loud through the PA and lots of people on the field were kind of jigging along with the music.

I got lots of hugs from players – they were all a bit smelly from the game but I put up with that because it was nice getting the hugs. Even some of the cheerleaders came over and hugged me. A couple of them made comments to me about how I was stealing their boyfriends with all the kissing that went on at the start of the game and I got a bit worried that they were mad at me until I realized they were teasing me.

I searched out Vince, the captain of the other team and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and thanked him for organizing the touchdown thing for me at half time. I told him it had been a lot of fun and that I would remember it for a long time. He thanked me again for looking after Joe, their wide receiver. Several others of their team came over to thank me as well and I started to get a bit embarrassed at being the center of so much attention. I kind of thanked them as politely as I could but I think my voice went all quiet on me so I don’t know if they heard me. Then I turned around and ran away – well, I walked quickly anyway. I wanted to run but somehow I knew that if I did then more people would look at me instead of less, so I made myself walk.

I guess going all shy like that was a bit stupid because I’d had the whole crowd looking at me when I scored the touchdown and it hadn’t bothered me, but at the time I’d been pretty sure I was dreaming so I suppose that doesn’t count.

I decided I should probably finish tidying up the drinks table then I would find Dad and get him to give me a lift home.

Dan came up to me when I was at the drinks table. I hadn’t seen him up to that point. I don’t know if that was because he was avoiding me or if I was avoiding him. Anyway, he wrapped up my wrists in his big hands and turned me to face him.

“Seeing as how I’ve learnt my lesson from before, I thought I should warn you about something.”

I looked up at him suspiciously. “What?”

“There’s a tradition amongst the guys on the team – for when they have a birthday. And since you got to be an honorary member of the team tonight, that means you get included in that.”

“What?”

I heard a rattle just behind me, but Dan was holding me so I couldn’t turn. Not that it mattered because an instant after the noise, I was suddenly drenched with a flood of freezing ice-water. They’d emptied the melt-water from the drinks ice chest all over me! There were still bits of ice floating in it. I could feel them sliding down my skin! I squealed and flinched. My entire skin tried to turn itself inside out in an effort to get away from the freezing water. My hair was plastered down and my clothes were drenched. I squealed again.

My eyes were screwed shut as I stood there and shivered, my body still trying to cope with the shock of the sudden drenching. I could hear a bunch of guys standing around cheering and wishing me happy birthday. Dan had set me up. He’d turned me around and held me while they did it. A little bit of my brain wanted to break free of his grip and punch him in the nose. But I wasn’t really angry with Dan, annoyed but not angry. Dan was still gripping my wrists, so I dug my fingernails deep into the tender skin on the inside of his wrists until he let me go. I mean, if he didn’t want me to do that to him, he shouldn’t have shown me how to do it in the first place.

As soon as Dan let me go, I turned around to face the others and used both hands to push some strands of wet hair back off my face. They were all laughing and joking and slapping me on the shoulder and on my back. They were so happy and being so friendly that I couldn’t help laughing. I pulled a bit of ice from where it had gotten caught in my collar and threw it at them and that made them laugh even more – which made me laugh some more.

Then I stopped laughing and started shivering. My nipples were so hard from the cold that they were hurting. I felt like I was going to burst into tears any second but I bit into my lip and refused to cry in front of all these people. A towel got wrapped around my shoulders and Dan was hustling me towards the changing rooms, making some comment about getting me dry before I froze to death.

Something about this was familiar – like that dejavu thing. That’s right! This morning at school I’d been drenched to the skin too. This really must be an official “Get Bec Wet” day.

Dan walked me into the changing rooms and checked that it was empty. He handed me a towel from the big pile of dry towels.

“Here! Dry yourself off and change back into your street clothes. I’ll make sure no one comes in until you’re ready.”

With that, he walked out and closed the door behind him. I stood dripping into a little pool of water that was rapidly spreading. I stared at the closed door in disbelief.

“Street clothes? What street clothes?”

The door didn’t say anything. It didn’t seem to have any answers.

“Dan! You idiot! I don’t have any clothes to change into! I wasn’t expecting to be playing this evening.” I said to the door.

The door stood there, looking all solid and unimpressed.

“Bec! You’re talking to a door. Get a grip!” I said.

I started using the towel to pat my face and hair dry. I also dabbed at my clothes which was pretty much a waste of effort. I wandered over to Dan’s bag, thinking maybe he would have something in there that I could steal to wear home. If it meant he had to go home in his boxers then so be it. I giggled to myself as I got a mental image in my head of him having to do that.

In Dan’s bag I found my big shirt which was his old football jersey. I’d taken it off when I’d been given my official team jersey and forgotten it was in here. Okay, so that was a start. I stripped off my wet jersey and found that my shirt and shorts were soaked too, so I had to strip them off too. My sports bra and panties were soaking wet too so I had to peel them off too. I quickly wrapped the towel around me. Being naked in this enormous room was a bit weird. Strangely, my shoes were dry and my socks were only a bit damp on one side. Apart from them and Dan’s old jersey, I had nothing dry to wear.