Chapter 22

Monday morning my day started off bad and from there went downhill starting with me going into the house to grab some fruit for breakfast. My mother was already awake sitting at the table when I entered. Asking her why she was up so early she said that she was still on east coast time and could not sleep. Suggesting that she go back to sleep she replied that she had too many things she needed to get done for Brodie's estate.

I tried to correct her saying that Brodie's attorney, Mr. LeBois, was already handling Brodie's will in addition to how Brodie wanted his funeral arranged so there was nothing for her to do. In addition to that, he had a list of where Brodie's personal effects were to go. When my mother asked how I knew about the will I informed her that I had hired Brodie's Attorney Mr. LeBois to be my attorney as well. The look she gave me would have made any lemon proud and I was hard pressed to keep from laughing at her, which brought up her next question as to why I needed an attorney. I told her about my arrest on Friday when I talked back to the cops who wanted my passwords to my computers and I told them to go fuck themselves.

Heading out the door to get to the gym, she asked how it was I could afford an attorney and I told her that the money came from some odd jobs I had done. I was comfortable saying that as my attorney and I had discussed the situation and he stated that my money should be secure, and any attempt by my mother to gain control would take years and he could delay it until I turned eighteen. Brodie's estate was another matter but he had that put in trust for me until I turned twenty five with him and four other farmers as the ranch's board of trustees.

I left soon after that only to arrive at school to a whole host of problems, two that could not be put off were Julie and Rachael. Of the two Julie was the easiest to deal with as she had been a week without being boosted and her run time showed that she was still running better but nowhere near the level she was at when she was seeing me regularly. When she found me I was still pissed off at my mother and what she was trying to pull, so I told her that if she wanted to talk to me, now was not a good time and that I would be home later. She was relieved that I was at least talking to her.

Rachael was another matter because after our date and her fulfilling her part of our agreement, she asked me to come to her meet. I had planned on attending but due to me being arrested by the DEA, I was unable to fulfill my promise. After finding me in the weight room, I did my best to calm her down even explaining what had happened with my arrest and Brodie's death. She was not happy about the whole thing but at least she said that she understood. I stated that I would be there for their next meet in two weeks.

The next person I found was Coach Van where I told him what had happened with my grandfather and the multiple visits by the DEA. He expressed his reservations due to my arrest on obstruction charges and I assured him as I was assured by my attorney that they would be dropped. He did remind me that I had signed his honor sheet and that if I were convicted I would have to leave the team.

I agreed adding that it might not matter because with the death of my grandfather my mother stated that I would be joining the family living in Boise. I could see the disappointment written on his face but he said that after I told him of my grandfather's death he should have expected some changes. Asking me when I would be moving I stated I did not know and if I had anything to say about it, I would not be moving. He answered that that was fine and until there was more, he expected me at practice.

My mom had other ideas about my remaining time at school because I had no more than sat down and given my name, I was pulled out of my civics class with Rachael and told to report to the counselor's office. When I arrived, the meeting was already in progress between my counselor and my mother and my counselor was as unhappy as I was and although we both knew it was a lost cause, she did try to convince my mother that attending school here was still in my best interest. Her argument fell on deaf ears with my mother; within the hour I was out of school on vacation for another week, long enough to get moved to another school.

That afternoon at the ranch was rather tense between us as she ordered me to pack up the apartment while she did the same in the main house. By five o'clock, she was done getting everything that would go bad out of the house. I did my best getting everything in boxes by late afternoon, and after school let out I had a number of classmates come by while Burt, Julie and Rachael did not stop by until later as they had practice.

Their reactions were as different as they were with Burt saying that it sucked that I was being forced to move and that he was dreading facing me when I played for my new school. Rachael made something of a big deal about me leaving after we had been together and I explained or I should say that I tried to explain that it was not my choice. I did promise her that I would come on Friday as I had promised.

Julie's reaction to the news that I was moving was more in line as how I saw her character as she complained my moving was going to screw up her plans. Go figure everything was all about her and not about me. She continued to complain to me that it was not fair and at first I agreed with her but after she started to repeat herself, I had had enough stating that I needed to get things loaded, if she wanted to stay, she was welcome to but that she would have to help. Julie was having none of that saying that she had homework to do. I never saw her again.

That night after stopping by to let Steve know what was going on I slept in my new room. The accommodations were lacking much as I not only lost my king size bed (down to a twin), but I went from a thousand foot apartment with my own entertainment center to an eight by twelve room with a clock radio for entertainment. Falling asleep that night I made a vow that I would solve those problems in the morning.

Tuesday was proving to be even more troublesome as my mother enrolled me in school. That went easy enough, what was not easy was getting on the football team as the coach stated that he did not want to upset dynamics of the team. Not even my mother could sway him even with the hint of legal action. Leaving his office it was just another thing I was pissed off at my mother for. She tried to apologize, saying that this was the best thing for the family and me but I was not listening as I was nearly seeing red. I was thinking that it was time for me to head out on my own, not just immediately but also to live on my own.

For the present I headed for my truck planning on going shopping for a new laptop as the government had not returned mine and I needed one for school but also for a new stereo for my room. All I told my mother was that I was going shopping for a few things. Returning home with a top end laptop as well as a top end stereo, mp3 player, and digital camera left my mother speechless long enough to get everything to my room. Following me to my room, she asked how I could afford everything I had lain out on my bed. I gave her the truth that I had earned the money working for Brodie as well as a few others. When she asked how much I had left, I told her that I had enough for what I bought saying nothing else about the true source of my money. To get the last word in she said she did not want me to spend my money like that, as I would need it for college. It was all I could do to keep from smiling. Leaving me alone I put everything away and put all the software I would need onto my computer

Wednesday was more of the same spending time with my mother as we headed over to the university to get all the paperwork transferring the cost to my new school. Of course when the college contacted my school they balked at having to pay the fees for a student to attend. By the time we finished with the paperwork, getting things approved, it was time to pick up Francis and my sisters from the airport as their vacation was spent in the land of the mouse and his minions.

At home, I had time to myself as my sisters along with Francis regaled my mother with details of their trip. When they ran out of things to talk about it was decided to go out for dinner with all of us. Now it was Francis's turn to grill me as to what happened with the DEA and sheriff out at the ranch. When I finished, he agreed with my mother and her statement that I needed to watch what I say as I was getting too old to act like a snot nosed kid.

Thursday was more of the same getting things where I wanted them in my room along with going with my mother and my sisters for our yearly shopping trip for clothes. Just like the year before I got the wardrobe I wanted only now I had discovered that after a year of lifting I was up to a respectable five foot eight inches in height. My weight was another matter because instead of being the lean bean pole I was last year I had filled out.

My new physique did not pass unnoticed by my sisters because Sherrie, the quieter of the two was standing waiting for me to emerge from the bathroom. Opening the door, I stepped out and my sister's first words were, "Oh my GOD!" as she looked me up and down. Thankfully, I did have the towel around my waist so I was not naked as I usually was in my old apartment. If I did not know better, I would have sworn my sister was checking me out. That was just weird.

Before I could say anything sister number two, came out of the room they shared. She was not subtle at all as she openly gawked at me, adding, "Looking good there Brian."

I retreated to my room as soon as I could and the last view I had of them was of the two of them watching me as I closed the door. Shopping with them proved to be a lot more interesting as both of them found more time to accompany me shopping for my clothes than they found for what they needed. There was our mother who thought the whole situation was funny until the two of them described to her what I looked like without my shirt on.

I got some help from her as she defended me saying that they should not spy on me and how would they feel if I tried to peek in on them. For the first part they said I was in the hallway so that was open territory and if I wanted to hide then I should put a shirt on first, the second part they looked me up and down in unison before saying that so long as they got to look too they were fine with it. Once again, our mother came to my aid saying that it was not okay for any of her children to spy on the others even with permission. Eying my sisters, she added that anything like that and the offending party would be grounded for a month.

Friday started off well enough that I went for a run and my sisters asked to join me. I questioned them, knowing that being on the cross-country team they had a meet today to which they added because they had gone on vacation they were suspended from the team for one meet. For the first time ever my sisters joined my program running in the mornings and they impressed me, because long before they moved to town with Francis and our mother they hated anything to do with exercise. Now they were running with me and they were slower as they were shorter than I was but they did do a good job of staying up with me for the first mile before their lack of aerobic exercise during their vacation had caused them to slow down. Slowing down to match them, as I did not want to leave them behind before they got their second wind allowing them to finished strong. Not wanting to show them up I stopped at that point saying that was good enough for me as I was going to the track meet to support some friends. They of course asked to go and with permission from our mother, they joined me supporting our respective schools.

Of course I was supporting more than just my school, I was there fulfill my promise to Rachael. After finding our team, I took her aside boosting her just as I had promised. On the downside, I also ran into Julie and she did her best to convince me to give her a boost too but I was having none of it as her attitude towards me was just bitchy which destroyed any goodwill I had towards her. She left me after that clearly pissed off saying that I would regret not boosting her. I never saw her after that and honestly, I did not care to see her after her earlier display.

I had better things going on and watching Rachael run with her shapely long legs was high on my hit parade. I also noticed the other girls but none of them had Rachael's height. Yep I'm a sexist, when the starting gun sounded, I stood there watching her head out the gate with only a couple of boys ahead of her. The only reason they were even there was due to them starting in front of her. By the time she cleared the gate the ground opened up and like that she was gone running like a Gazelle. Reappearing after several minutes out of sight running around the course, she was alone. The first boy did not appear until she was close to the finish line.

That day Rachael Gammon set not only a school record but also a state record that had stood for years having cut an additional twenty seconds off of the time of Julie's previous record. I did not get to see her after that as she was mugged by not only reporters but also state sports officials wanting her for what I found out later were drug tests. I found out when she called me later telling me everything that had happened including the scene that Julie made at her eighth place finish among the girls, claiming to anyone that would listen that Rachael had cheated and that I had helped her.

Rachael's concern now was whatever I had done to her would show up on some test. I reminded her that she had been there when I gave her a boost and I had given her nothing so nothing would show up in any drug test results.

After watching the race, Burt found me and asked if I was going to watch their game. Having nothing going on at home I thought it would be a good idea and after corralling my sisters saying we were staying to watch Burt play, they agreed when I added dinner into the mix.