Chapter 9: Friday

The pep rally last period was a bit subdued. Everyone knew about Jay's suspension, but no one really knew how it would affect tonight's game. On top of that, people seemed to be split on the cause.

Me.

Half the kids considered Jay a slime ball who deserved what he got and the other half were in the "He's a football player, let him get away with anything" camp, so the rally was anything but normal.

After school Beth and I grabbed a quick McWendyking Arbycastleburger and got to the field to find Cindy and a bunch of our friends had staked out part of the bleachers and had two seats saved for us. At least I wouldn't have to worry about getting assaulted during the game.

I'd like to say the team de-chapeaued the lapin, but it wouldn't be the truth. What happened instead was stranger yet...

The first quarter ended up even. Dan seemed unsure of himself at first, but gained confidence as the quarter progressed and both teams ended up with a field goal each. The second quarter was all West High's. They scored two TDs and another field goal, so half time saw us down by seventeen and I was starting to sweat.

In the third quarter Dan managed a couple of long bombs for two touchdowns while the defense kept West from even getting into our half of the field, so we were within three points going into the final quarter. West got the ball on a fumbled kickoff and ran it in for another TD, while the best we could do was a pair of field goals. Final score: 27-23, West ... and I was dead meat.

Cindy and the whole gang escorted Beth and me to my car.

The team was waiting for us...

Chuck stepped forward and motioned to me, but Cindy beat me to it and, looking like a toy poodle telling a mastiff to get the hell off her yard, snarled at Chuck, "Look, you animals, you're not going to get away with this!"

Chuck held up both hands, palms out clearly taken aback at her reaction, "Hey, we're not here to start a fight!"

He looked at me, "I know we told you that a loss was going to hurt you more than us, but tonight proved we can get along without Jay if we have to. A win would have been nice, but at least we didn't get creamed."

Chuck seemed to hesitate for a second, "Look, we're not happy with some of the shit Jay's pulled either, but we really thought we needed him. He's a good QB, don't get me wrong, but maybe some of us are going to have to re-think whether having him on the team is worth the bad karma he seems to bring along.

"Look, Tommy, I'm sorry we gave you such a hard time the other day. Can we let it go?" and he held out his hand.

I stepped forward and shook hands with him, "Thanks, Chuck. Look like I'll have to stop thinking all jocks are the same.

"Oh, and does this let me off the hook for next week, too?" Ever the optimist, that's me.

"Yeah, no more hassles from us."

"I can't believe the team backed down. Looks like I'm going to have to re-think my attitude about jocks too." Beth said as we pulled into the lot to the coffee house for the gang's usual Friday night.

(Okay, I'll admit calling our hangout a coffee house is pushing things a bit. It's really just a little corner café, nothing fancy, but the back room—just four booths and a couple of tables—is decorated with empty burlap coffee bags hanging on the walls, and they do serve good coffee. Oh, nothing like Starbucks or Caribou. No fancy half-this-half-that-with-a-full-gainer-and-a-half-twist choices, just leaded or unleaded, with sugar and cream on the tables for those who don't want their mud straight.)

"Yeah, tonight's going to have a lot of us reconsidering things."

We walked into the back room where most of the gang was and Greg Kendall looked up. "What? Did we win? I don't see any blood."

"Nope, but the team seems to have had second thoughts about re-arranging my rugged profile." I quipped.

That brought a round of hoots and improbably obscene comments—about what I'd expected to hear.