Chapter 7: Wednesday

I walked out of Chemistry and right into a bunch of footballers.

"Hey, Randahl, you did quite a job on Jay yesterday."

Oh, shit. Well, it was a nice life while it lasted. "Uh, I never touched him!" Lame, Tommy, lame.

"No, but thanks to you our quarterback is out for two weeks." I couldn't argue with that. Well, I suppose I could say he started it, but that line of reasoning stopped working in first grade.

"Do you know what's going to happen Friday?" Chuck Miller, our star end, growled. "We're going up against West High, one of the best teams in the state, and you know how that's gonna end up?"

"Um, no." I didn't really get into sports so I didn't know how the team would do without Jay.

"We don't either. Dan's gonna fill in as QB, but it doesn't look good. And you know what that means for you?" Oh, shit, here it comes...

"You're toast, Randahl. As soon as the game's over we're gonna find you and take our loss out on you."

"Um, what if you win?" A faint hope, but, heck, you go with what you've got, right?

"If we win?" Sounded like a foreign concept to Chuck.

"Yeah, what'll you do if we win?"

"You're a real dreamer, ain'tcha." This from Billy, one of the tackles.

"Just curious," I replied, lamely.

"Well," Chuck seemed to consider the possibility. "If we win, you're off the hook. But don't get your hopes up. Without Jay we don't stand a chance." Oh, great. How do you tell a jock an attitude like that almost guaranteed I'd be a smear on some parking lot by midnight Friday?

"Well, I'll be seeing you around on Friday, then," as I ducked between them and headed for lunch.

"They can't get away with that!" Beth was not a happy camper. "You don't beat someone up because of somebody else's stupidity!"

"Apparently, when you're a jock, it's an option."

"You've got to do something!"

"Like what? Hide in my basement until Saturday, or maybe until graduation? That'd mean they win." On top of which, I wasn't sure my self-esteem would let me take the easy way out, but I wasn't going to tell Beth that. I guess it's a guy thing.

"But ... But ... I don't want you to get hurt!" Beth wailed.

"I don't either. Look on the bright side, maybe we'll win."

Beth just shook her head and mumbled under her breath, "Great, all the guys in school and I've got to fall for an incurable optimist."