Second Down - Chapter 25

“Come on, I’m just trying to understand what happened,” I said as Eduardo and I walked into the cafeteria.

I’d first asked about his cousins the previous night, after we all finished dinner just before I’d gone home, but he’d found a way to keep dodging the question. I really wanted to get a better idea of how Raf had gotten them to make such huge mistakes. His mom would have answered, but kids would never tell parents, or aunts, everything.

They would tell their cousin.

“It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, I get that. But how did he convince them. You said one of them tried to rob a bank or something? Like, what the hell, that isn’t small stuff. How do you convince someone to do something that’ll put you in federal prison?”

“It was an ATM. He hooked it to the back of his truck and tried to haul it away so they could break into it later. And I don’t know, he just… did. That wasn’t the first thing that Raf had them do. It just kind of escalated.”

“Okay, I get that, but how did it start.”

“Blake, can we drop it? Please?”

I tried to not make a face. I didn’t want to keep pushing him, and maybe even push him away, but if he talked about this stuff, he might be less likely to follow in their footsteps. Still, there was a limit to how much he could ask in a short amount of time before it went from friendly checking to actually annoying.

The decision was more or less made for me when Mickey Evans appeared beside us, practically materializing out of the lunch crowd.

“Blake! We were talking, and we think you should join the rest of us, instead of sitting off by yourself,” he said, jerking his thumb toward the back of the cafeteria where the football players and cheerleaders held court. “Time to upgrade from freshman territory.”

I looked over at my usual table where Miguel, Connor, and even Li were already sitting. It didn’t seem right, abandoning all of them just cause I had a chance at an upgrade.

“Thanks, but I’m good where I am,” I said. “Those guys were there for me when I needed backup. Can’t just ditch them now that I moved up to JV.”

Mickey looked over that side of the cafeteria, first at my group of friends, and then sliding over to where Elijah and his crew sat. They couldn’t have been oblivious to the politics that had been going on at the freshman side of the team, even if they did choose to ignore it.

“Yeah, those guys seem cool,” he said, looking at them then glancing with an odd expression at Elijah and the rest. “Go ahead and bring them.”

If they disliked Elijah even half as much as I did, it meant I’d have fewer problems when he was off the freshman team and in with the rest. That was maybe the best thing about getting to JV early, it helped me set up some insulation against him.

Eduardo, however, was looking green and I knew how Li would feel about moving to a whole new area with a whole new group of people. It would do her good. Eduardo too.

I made up my mind.

“Sure. We’ll be over in a minute.

“Perfect.” Mickey grinned and headed back to the other football players.

“That was decent of you. Most guys would’ve bailed the second they got invited to sit with the older kids,” Eduardo said after he’d gone.

“I’m not most guys. And you’re going too.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I’m not leaving any of my friends behind. Let’s go break the news to them.”

“You’re serious?” Eduardo asked as we walked toward our usual table.

“Dead serious. Think about it, this’ll be great for everyone. The freshman guys need to build relationships with the older players they’ll be teaming up with next year.” I gave him a light nudge with my elbow. “And you and Li need to get out of your shells more.”

“I don’t need…”

“Not taking no for an answer,” I cut him off. “Consider it part of your personal growth plan. You and I are sticking together.”

Eduardo let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine.”

“Good. Hey guys,” I said as we got to the table. “We’re moving. Over there.”

I pointed to the table with the varsity and JV teams and almost all the cheerleaders.

“About time,” Jamal said. “We’ll miss you, man.”

“No, you don’t get it.” I made a sweeping gesture that took in everyone at the table. “We’re moving. All of us.”

“For real?” Connor’s face lit up.

“Sweet!” Miguel was already grabbing his tray.

“What?” Li’s eyes went wide. “No, absolutely not.”

“Yes, absolutely yes,” I countered. “Come on, it’ll be fun. It’s already decided. Everyone up.”

Miguel, Tyrell, and Connor were already standing and helping Jamal to his feet. The guys’ excitement was almost infectious, except Li and Eduardo seemed immune. To look at them, you’d think I was leading them to a firing squad.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Li muttered, but she picked up her tray.

“You’ll thank me later,” I promised.

As our group made its way across the cafeteria, I caught sight of Elijah watching us. He wasn’t even trying to keep the jealousy off his face as he saw where we were going. Part of me felt satisfied seeing him stew, knowing he was watching the end of any chance of his becoming the big man on the team. I looked away, though. Antagonizing him would only make him more likely to do something stupid out of desperation.

We reached the JV table where Mickey had already made space for us.

“Welcome to the big leagues,” he said with a grin.

“Thanks for having us.”

We were off to one end, kind of an add-on to JV, with me as a buffer between my guys and the JV team, with the cheerleaders between JV and varsity. The two long tables they’d pushed together were absolutely packed.

Even better, a few of the freshman cheerleaders had been seated down on this side. Most importantly, one in particular.

“Uhh, If I’m here, Li, you sit across from me and Eduardo, you sit there,” I said, pointing at two seats.

They were both kind of in a daze and did what I said. It wasn’t until Eduardo had put his stuff down and looked over to a brightly smiling Sarah that he paled and looked over at me, shooting me a glare. I gave him the same smile Sarah gave him.

“You two know each other, right?” I said, trying to be very helpful.

“Yeah. We have math together. Hey,” Sarah said.

“Uhh, Hi,” Eduardo replied oh so smoothly.

Sarah had it in hand though. I saw her brother Elton giving Eduardo a hard look and thought I might need to talk to him in practice, let him know Eddie was a good guy and he didn’t have to worry.

“And this is Li. She’s trying out for the basketball team soon.”

“Nice,” Drew, one of the sophomores, said. “Welcome to the cool kids’ table.”

Li just kind of bobbed her head, unable to find her voice. I wasn’t worried. This was how it went for both Eduardo and Li the first time they moved to the other table. Miguel and the rest settled in alright on their own. It helped already being part of football, so this was just an upgrade, not a whole new thing.

“Since when did we become a daycare?” Jorden said from a few seats down, ruining the mood. “This is getting ridiculous. There’s barely room to breathe.”

Jerry rolled his eyes. “Drop it, man. They’ll all be on the teams next year anyway. Plus, we need Blake with us.”

“Oh yeah, can’t function without the golden boy,” Jorden snapped, shoving back from the table. “You guys used to have some kind of pride.”

He stormed off, tray in hand. He kind of lost steam after a few steps, trying to figure out where to go. Unfortunately, Elijah had been watching and waved him over. Great, just what I needed. My biggest JV critic teaming up with my least favorite freshman. But what could I do? Jorden had hated me since the moment I took his starting spot.

“Good riddance,” Andre said, watching Jorden drop into a seat next to Elijah. “That guy’s been blaming everyone but himself for his problems since day one. I’m sick of hearing it.”

A whole lot of the guys kind of mumbled agreement or shook their heads.

“Man, I’m not gonna miss that drama,” Ronald Lewis, one of the other seniors on JV, said.

Everyone agreed and then went back to what they were talking about. I was just happy I had them solidly on my side. It was setting up so I’d have plenty of backup the next four years.

The conversation shifted to lighter topics. Li gradually relaxed as Sarah drew her into a discussion about their shared AP Biology class. Eduardo even managed a few contributions here and there, though he still looked ready to bolt at any moment.

Yep. I’d done a good thing.

At one point I kind of glanced down to the other middle of the two tables where the cheerleaders were all gathered, and Melanie caught my eye. She gave a sly smile and then a slow wink that made my stomach tighten up. She didn’t get up or anything, but she had a good spot among the senior cheerleaders. I kept looking down, stealing glances and caught her doing the same thing several times.

Not a bad way to start the week.

***

The flirting looks and smiles kept happening every time I saw Melanie, although Tuesday and into Wednesday, which was a lot more now that we were eating lunch together, or at least at the same table.

She didn’t stop to talk to me, either at lunch or the times we saw each other after school, while the cheerleaders were practicing over on the track and we were on the practice field. I would just catch her looking at me, and she’d give me that sly, playful smile she had.

To be honest, sometimes she caught me looking at her. I found myself drawn to her. Part of it was because of the crush I held for her in the dream life, but the rest was all right here and now. She was beautiful, for starters. Golden-blond wavy hair that reached just below her shoulder blades, these captivating green eyes behind thick lashes, a smattering of cute freckles across her cheeks and nose that really stood out on her fair skin that was much less tanned than most of the other cheerleaders.

She could say so much with those eyes too. It’s what made those glances get to me so much, I think. Those eyes really drew me in.

If I didn’t have the memory of dating as an adult from the dream, I might have let this go on for weeks. It was painfully obvious she liked me and I certainly liked her, but I would have been too scared to pull the trigger. But I remembered some of the lessons dream me had learned.

She was probably as nervous as I was. And if it didn’t work out, so what? The worst she could say was no.

Which was why, when I saw her coming down the hall toward me with some of her friends in between the last two periods, I veered toward her, kind of cutting her off and separating her from her friends. She gave a little giggle and moved to duck around between the wall and me, and I put my arm out, blocking her path.

Not touching her, but making it clear I wanted to stop and talk.

“Oh!” Melanie’s surprise was so obviously fake it was almost funny. “Blake, you scared me.”

“Did I? I’m surprised because you’ve been watching me since you turned the corner.”

“Someone thinks highly of himself,” she said, but the small smile she couldn’t hide as she looked away for a second said she liked my direct approach.

“Just calling it like I see it. What are we going to do about this thing between us?”

“Thing? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No? Ohh, my mistake then,” I said, dropping my arm and starting to turn away. “In that case, there’s this other girl…”

Her hand shot out and grabbed my forearm. “Wait.”

I turned back, fighting to keep my expression neutral. “Yes?”

“Maybe...” She looked down at her shoes, then back up through her lashes. “Maybe there is something.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, stepping closer to her. “So let’s do something about it. Jimmy’s, Friday night?”

“Friday?” She pursed her lips, pretending to think it over. “I might have plans...”

“Cancel them.”

“Pretty confident, aren’t you?”

“Should I not be?”

“I suppose I could move some things around. Now move, I have to get to class.”

“Good, it’s a date.” I stepped back and extended my arm, “After you.”

Instead of walking around me like a normal person would, she somehow managed to squeeze past me, even though there was plenty of room, brushing her chest against my side. The move was so calculated it would have been funny if it wasn’t also effective.

I stood there, watching her walk back toward her friends. Just before she got to them, she glanced back over her shoulder, shooting me that knowing smile of hers again.

As soon as she rejoined her friends, they immediately huddled around her, giggling and sneaking obvious looks in my direction as they hurried down the hall.”

When they were out of sight, I turned and headed to my next class, feeling pretty good about myself and the way that went.

That feeling didn't go away the rest of the day. I was riding high all through practice, although coach did have to yell at me once to get my head in the game when he caught me looking over at Melanie.

The guys found it hysterical and teased me the rest of practice, but I didn't care. Nothing was going to knock me off the high I was riding.

Dad's cruiser was in the driveway when I got home, which meant he'd had the day off today, since it was also there when I left for school. I honestly had trouble keeping up with his schedule since it changed kind of often. Midlands was a big city for West Texas, but it wasn't actually a big city and its police force was on the small side, which meant any small change such as someone needing a day off or someone having to be in court could reshuffle the whole department's schedule.

At least for the deputies.

"Hey, how was school?" Dad called from his recliner when I walked through the door.

Mom wasn't around, so I assumed she was in her room lying down. I guess she could have been at work, but she'd missed a lot of days lately cause of her headaches, and odds were her car was just in the garage.

"Amazing. Practice went great. Coach finally let me open up the passing game during scrimmage."

Dad perked up, muting the TV. "Yeah? They finally letting you show what you can do?"

"God, I can only hope. Ohh, also, I don't know if you're working on Friday, but I'm going to be out Friday night, okay?"

"Sure? Something with the team?"

"Nope. I have a date."

"Good. We haven't seen much of Brandy lately. Everything okay there?"

"Actually, we broke up about a month ago. This is someone new. Melanie. She's a JV cheerleader."

"I'd ask if you were okay, but having a date with a new girl tells me you're probably doing fine."

"Yeah. It was for the best. Melanie's great, though."

"Well, have fun," Dad said, grabbing the remote to unmute it and then paused. "You remember the rules, right?"

I couldn't help rolling my eyes. "Don't do anything that ends with someone dead, pregnant, or in jail. Got it covered."

"That's my boy." Dad unmuted the TV.

I laughed and headed upstairs. My weekend had been pretty busy, and I had a lot of homework to do, since I was supposed to go to Eduardo's again on Sunday. With the date on Friday night, that wouldn't give me much room for doing homework, so I needed to get busy tonight.

I walked into my room and tossed my bag across the room to my desk, and then froze in place. Something was wrong. It took a beat for the smell to hit my brain. It was like the worst parts of the locker room, but concentrated. Stale and eye-watering.

I turned several times, looking around the room, trying to figure out where it was coming from. My covers were messed up, pulled back in places they shouldn't be. I yanked them away completely and saw it. A massive yellow stain in the center of my mattress.

I didn't even have to take a guess what happened. I knew.

"Son of a..." I spun and stormed back downstairs, taking the steps two at a time.

"Dad!" I said as I got to the bottom of the stairs and went around the corner into the living room. "I need a new mattress. And I'm putting a lock on my door."

Dad sat forward in his recliner. "Hold on there. What's going on?"

"Josh pissed on my bed."

"Blake, that's a pretty serious accusation."

"Yeah? I think it's a pretty serious thing for someone to do."

"How do you know it was Josh?"

"Because I'm not an idiot. I know you didn't do it and I know I didn't do it, and unless Mom's gotten really creative with her revenge for me not making my bed, that leaves exactly one suspect."

"Why would Josh do something like that?"

"Are you serious? You know why he'd do something like this. Hell, it shouldn't even be surprising. I've heard you and Mom fighting about how he's out of control for weeks. This isn't even the worst thing he's done."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when Mom grounded me for 'hitting' Josh? He stole one of my Peewee medals, and when I caught him, he slammed his own face into the doorframe and then told Mom I punched him. He's a vindictive, evil little piece of shit."

"Blake…"

"No, Dad. Josh is messed up. Like, seriously messed up. And everybody keeps acting like it's fine, like he's just going through a phase or something. But normal kids don't do this stuff."

Dad sat there for a long moment, his jaw working. I know I was being too hard on him. He'd been arguing with Mom to get Josh into treatment. The fact that Mom was blocking it wasn't entirely Dad's fault.

Finally, he stood up and said, "Alright. Let's get that mattress out to the garage. We can put it out with the heavy trash next week. You can use my old sleeping bag tonight, and we'll get you a new mattress tomorrow."

"That's it? We're just going to pretend this didn't happen?"

"I'm not pretending anything, but right now, you need a place to sleep, and I need some time to think about how to handle this."

"Fine, but I'm putting a lock on my door."

"No. Blake, that will just cause more problems around here that we don't need."

"So what, I'm just supposed to leave everything I own where Josh can get to it? My room isn't safe. Nothing in this house is safe while he's here. We can pretend all day that everything's fine, but we both know Josh is a problem. And if you won't let me protect my stuff, then fine. I will go stay at Eduardo's or something."

An empty threat. The Guzman's didn't particularly have room for me, and it wasn't like I would run the idea by them first.

"That is not an option, and I don't care for you threatening me."

I took a deep breath and tried to dial back my anger. Dad wasn't the 'you better respect me' kind of dad, but that didn't mean it was right for me to disrespect him either.

"I'm not trying to threaten you. But you have to see this is out of control. This isn't normal teenage stuff anymore."

Dad didn't respond, but I could see him considering.

"Look, I get it. I'm not trying to tell you what to do about Josh, that's between you and Mom. But you have to at least let me protect myself and my stuff. If you're not going to force the issue with Mom about getting Josh help, then at least let me keep my things safe."

He still didn't say anything, but I'd made my point. Anything else would just be repeating myself. So I shut up and let him decide.

"Fine," he said finally. "We will put a lock on your door."

"Thank you. I'm sorry for being a pain in the ass about this. It's just... I've got a lot going on right now. I need to focus on school and football, and I really don't want to make things worse by getting into fights with Josh."

"I know, and you're not a pain in the ass. I'm sorry you've been caught up in all of this. Come on, let's go move that mattress and find your sleeping bag. We can stop by the hardware store tomorrow after school."

"What about Josh?"

"Let me worry about Josh. You focus on your stuff."