Chapter 7

Tracey drove straight to the hospital, but I didn't remember much of the rest of that night nor the next day. What the pain didn't obscure, the pain meds I'd gotten at the hospital did. Tracey had been unyielding about my taking the meds, too, watching until I had taken each dose. Even so, I was still sore when I limped into school. I guess I was lucky that I was just bruised.

Missy gasped when she sat down next to me. "John, are you all right?"

"Just a little bruised, Missy."

Mr. Hayes spoke up, interrupting any further conversation. "Mr. Robinson, you are to report to the principal's office immediately."

I nodded and gathered my stuff.

The principal, Mr. Jefferson, and the head football coach, Mr. Keifer, were sitting in the office when I arrived. Mr. Jefferson waved at a chair and I sat. Mr. Keifer closed the door and then sat down beside me.

"I'm at a loss, Mr. Robinson," Mr. Jefferson said, staring at me over his glasses. "Up till now, you have been an exemplary student. You have one of the highest GPAs in your class. I expected you to be graduating with honors in May. Now, I find that all of that may change."

"And why is that, Mr. Jefferson?" I asked naively.

"Because you single-handedly destroyed my football team, Mr. Robinson," Mr. Keifer exploded. "You injured my all state tailback and my middle linebacker. Neither of them will be playing this week. We'll be lucky if we make State thanks to you."

I stared at him incredulously. Then I turned and looked at Mr. Jefferson.

Mr. Jefferson frowned. "I have no choice but to expel you from the school, Mr. Robinson. You will not graduate. You will not go to State; they will rescind their scholarship offer."

"What? You can't do this!"

"You know the rules, Mr. Robinson. You were fighting, people were injured, that is automatic expulsion."

"And Junior Bishop and Heath Boardman?"

"They will be returning to class as soon as they can."

"That's not fair! For one thing, none of this weekend's fighting happened on school grounds. For another, it was Heath Boardman, Peter Hawkins, and Junior Bishop that attacked me. I did not run into a door." I pointed to my head. "This bruise is where your precious linebacker hit me. I can't tell you anything about the bruised ribs or the knee that is swollen like a softball, because I was out of it at the time."

"Be that as it may," Mr. Jefferson said. "You are hereby expelled from school. If you are on campus after nine, the police will be called and you will be arrested for trespassing."

I shook my head. "It's nice to know that we have a fair and equitable system of justice, Mr. Jefferson. I have no intention of taking this lying down. Your precious football team and their extra-curricular activities will not rob me of my future. My lawyer will be in touch before the end of the day."

"I wouldn't advise that, Mr. Robinson," Mr. Keifer said.

"Oh, and why not?"

"Well, your sister is rather pretty," he hinted.

I laughed, the one reaction I don't think either was expecting. "Didn't Heath tell you who gave him that fat lip? No? Well it was my sister, after Heath invited her to strip and fuck him and the other dozen football players that were watching. He implied that if she didn't, he might have to hurt me worse. I'm afraid Tracey didn't find that amusing."

Mr. Keifer and Mr. Jefferson stared at me for a moment.

"That has nothing to do with this school," Mr. Jefferson said firmly.

"And my beating did? My, you have some singular views on what concerns this school."

"You couldn't just leave well enough alone."

"Leave well enough alone? Did you see Stacey Jackson Saturday morning? She looked like she'd been through hell. The problem is, she had. You are going to be lucky if my lawyer is the only one you hear from today. You act like the football players are gods, and you and everyone else in town ignores the virgin sacrifices offered up to them so that we can win the state football championship. What a price for us to pay!"

"You arrogant son-of-a-bitch!" Keifer exploded. "The people of this town are proud of their football team and the scholarships it brings their children."

"Your superstars seem to like popping virgins. Well, what if it was your daughter, coach? She'll be a sophomore next year. Or maybe yours, Mr. Jefferson, she's got three years. Will you volunteer them for 'keep the star happy' duty? Some how, I doubt it."

Mr. Keifer and Mr. Jefferson were quiet. I looked over Mr. Jefferson's head and saw that it was quarter to nine. "Time for me to go. I wouldn't want you to have to disturb the Sheriff on my account."

The Sheriff was disturbed anyway. By noon, I was down at his office. His deputy came by and issued an invitation I couldn't turn down.

I spent the next two hours telling the Sheriff, his Deputy, and the town Attorney about my weekend.

"Fascinating story, Mr. Robinson," the Sheriff said as I finished. "Not much truth to it, but fascinating nonetheless."

I smiled.

"You see, you sanctimonious pissant, I've talked to the witnesses. You broke Heath Boardman's hand with a ball bat when he tried to stop you from hitting Missy Harmon."

The story he told was so ridiculous, I had to laugh. The three of them didn't think it was funny and stared at me until I stopped laughing. "What witnesses, Sheriff?"

"Heath Boardman, Peter Hawkins, and Ethan Bishop."

I chuckled again. "I don't suppose you talked to Mrs. Bishop, Missy Harmon, or Tracey Robinson?"

"Why? Boardman said there were no other witnesses."

"Well, if Missy didn't see anything, I couldn't have been trying to hit her."

The Town Attorney, Mr. Larson, nodded. "You need to talk to the girl, too, Hank. Why Mrs. Bishop, son?

"She was a tad annoyed when Junior hit Missy."

Eyebrows rose. "Sit tight, Robinson. Jack, pick up the Bishop woman and Missy Harmon."

"I would like to call my sister now," I said. The Sheriff looked at Mr. Larson.

"He hasn't been allowed to call anyone?"

"No, sir. I thought we could get this settled..."

"You stupid son-of-a... ! Call her now, son."

An hour later there were two dozen people in the Sheriff's big room. Missy Harmon, her mother and her husband and their lawyer, Mrs. Bishop and Junior, Heath Boardman, Peter Hawkins, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Keifer, six other guys from the football team including Jesse Caldwell, Tracey, my lawyer, and I all sat around watching one another.