Fanfare (Country Roads #2) - Chapter 28

We had a game the next day, which usually meant David and I helped Coach Dean get the equipment we’d need either carried over to the field or packed up for a trip to the bus. Today was a home game, which meant a lot of trips to the baseball field. Normally, the Coaches would have already started pulling stuff up, since they preferred to stay inside where it was warm, while David and I made all the trips back and forth, so I was surprised to find nothing pulled out of the equipment lockers, and the Coaches in a huddle.

As I came through the door Coach Bryant said something animated, slammed a clipboard down on the desk that sat right outside the coach’s office, and stormed out, nearly running me over as he did. The look he gave me as he passed didn’t leave a lot of mystery as to what who he was pissed at, even if the why wasn’t clear.

“David, please start pulling stuff out of the locker. Coach Cooper’s going to help you. Charlie, I need to see you in my office.”

David looked at me with a concerned expression before following Coach Cooper to the equipment locker, leaving me alone to my fate.

“What’s up?” I asked nervously.

“Have a seat,” he said, pointing at one of the chairs across from his desk as he shut the door. “First of all, I want to say that I understand your frustration with how things have gone this year for you. While I’m not pointing any fingers, you have been on the short end several times this year, including when we were picking teams. Honestly, you have the ability, if not the experience, to be on varsity. While I think I made the right call having you stick with me, we’ve decided to move some things around for the remainder of the season. Specifically, we’re going to be moving you.”

“Do you mean moving up to varsity?” I asked, not seeing it as the promotion most players would have.

Sure, it would be nice to play on varsity and I was proud that he thought I was good enough, that also meant being on a team with Coach Bryant, which I didn’t think I could deal with. It also didn’t really explain the look the coach threw me. If anything, I would have thought he’d be happy to have another reason to torture me.

“Before you get too nervous, let me tell you about some other changes. First, none of this is public yet. We’re going to announce it before the game after we’ve spoken to everyone involved, so you need to keep this to yourself for the time being. Understand?”

“Not really? I mean, I get not talking about whatever’s happening, but I have no idea what that is.”

“Sorry, I know I’m being a little cryptic. This is a tricky situation and we’re trying to tiptoe through it as carefully as possible. We had a meeting with the athletic director and the administration last night about some of the difficulties we’ve had this season, both on and off the field. It was decided that, for the remainder of the season, I’m going to switch places with Coach Bryant. He’ll be taking junior varsity and I’ll be taking varsity.”

“Okay. So I’m moving to varsity to keep off of Coach Bryant’s team?”

“No. I mean, I do think that you don’t respond well to his teaching style, but that isn’t why you’re being moved. You’ve really improved this year so far and you’ve got the skills to be there on your own. I think you’ll be a good addition to the team.”

Of course, what he meant when he said I didn’t respond well to Coach Bryant’s style was that the man hated my guts and would likely try to strangle me at some point. While I liked Coach Dean and he’d always been fair with me, I wasn’t sure I really believed him that much. At the beginning of the season, he’d told me that I needed to get experience for a season before I was ready to move up and now I was good enough to have always been on varsity, like my being on JV was some kind of clerical mistake.

Either he was lying then, he was lying now, or he’d lied both times and the only reason I was being put places was because of Coach Bryant. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which one was true.

“Okay,” was all I said though.

“One more thing. It’s been decided that Harry Torres will be moving down to JV as well. I know there has been animosity between you and I don’t doubt that he’ll take this badly, especially after what happened last weekend. I need you to be the bigger man here, and keep your distance from him until everyone adjusts.”

“I’ll try, but if he comes after me, I’ll defend myself.”

“Try to walk away. If we’re at a school-sponsored event, zero tolerance applies. If you touch him, at all, even defending yourself, you’ll be suspended right along with him.”

“You understand how ridiculous this is, right? You’re basically saying you have no doubt Harry’s going to come after me, and all you guys can do is wait for him to do it, and that I need to make sure I don’t defend myself. Shouldn’t you be talking to him about not attacking someone?”

“We are going to talk to him about it, but do you really think that will work?”

“No,” I said grudgingly.

“Charlie, I know you’re angry about how things have gone lately, for a good reason, but you can’t just lash out at everyone. Or do you feel you have enough people in your corner to push some away?”

“I guess not.”

“Believe it or not, I remember what it was like to be in high school, long ago as it was. I know that you’ve got hormones raging and you’re trying to figure out what to do with your life all while navigating through high school social circles. I know the rules in place seem punitive and unfair, but we all have to deal with things as they are. If you feel like your only option is to stand up to Harry, then fine, but you need to realize what the cost of that will be. You’re a smart kid, Charlie. Don’t let them force you to play their game.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Even when giving the well-meaning adult speech, he couldn’t help but fall into a coaching cliché. He shooed me out of his office and I went to help Coach Cooper and David finish moving the rest of the equipment.

When it came time to go get suited up, Harry was nowhere to be found, which was fine by me. Coach Dean was almost certainly right. No matter what warnings and threats they gave Harry, he was still going to blame me for this and try and take it out on me, despite his own previous attempt to come after me and his lies about it afterward being part of the reason he was in this situation in the first place.

Coach Dean explained the changes to everyone with an incredibly pissed Coach Bryant standing next to him. Then we broke out into teams to go over the roster for the game, and pray and stretch. JV was up first, so we got to sit on the bench and watch them, which was fine by me. They did pretty good and pulled out a win, although it was close. Having been on the team until today gave me an interesting chance to observe the changes Coach Bryant brought to coaching JV and how they responded. Except for his aggressive style and how much he seemed to hate me, he wasn’t a bad coach. The team responded well to him and he even managed to sucker the other opposing team in the bottom of the fourth with a sacrifice bunt from one of our big hitters that pushed a runner to third, which was then turned into a run scored by the next batter. He ran a more aggressive offense, pushing for base position and taking chances I didn’t think Coach Dean would take. While I’m sure that sometimes burned them, this time at least, it worked out.

Harry did finally show up and played with JV. He looked sour the entire game and hardly talked to his teammates, but at least he didn’t hassle me.

“Hey, man,” Marcus said, sitting next to me while we watched JV play. “Glad you could join us.”

“I just go where they tell me to go,” I said.

Marcus and I weren’t exactly friends, but because he dated Hanna we were friendly. He’d give me a nod if we saw each other in the halls and we’d chat whenever he showed up to take Hanna out if I was around. We just ran in different circles and had wildly different interests. I played baseball because I enjoyed the game, but he played because he wanted to do this as a career one day. He spent most of his time with Christian and the rest of the varsity guys.

We chatted for a bit while JV played. Since we all practiced together, I knew most of the guys on Varsity, but he introduced me around anyways. The game itself went okay. It was definitely a faster tempo game than I’d played in JV, with better hitters and faster pitchers. I held my own, even if I didn’t have any stand-out moments. Christian hit his fifth homer for the season, getting in three runs, a lead we held onto for the rest of the game. I was batting down in the order and managed a good base hit in the third inning, although the side got retired before I could score a run. I also managed a good catch in the fifth, grabbing a ball out of the air as it sailed over my head, keeping it from becoming a line drive that would have given them a base hit. It wasn’t a spectacular play or anything, but it was the kind of thing we needed to be able to do every time to keep from losing.

Since I was the new guy, the rest of varsity left packing up all of the stuff to me. As hazing for the new guy went, that was pretty light and I’d take it. Most of JV had gone off too, which left me more or less alone on the field, except two of the coaches on the far side talking and David from JV collecting team equipment off in the infield. I guess because there were others around or maybe just because we were on the field, I’d let my guard down and wasn’t really paying attention. My mind had wandered off to Kat and when Mrs. Coats was finally going to do the interview with her.

It had been a full week since she talked to me in Chef’s apartment, and so far there hadn’t been any other word. Chef just kept saying these things took a little time and that we had to be patient. I’d sent texts every day to Kat, making sure she knew to cooperate with her or Mrs. Leighton and tell them everything that had happened, and to find out what was happening on her end. So far, neither Kat nor her father had heard from anyone, and he seemed more or less clueless about the investigation into him.

I don’t know what it was, but some lizard part of my brain recognized a slight scraping sound behind me as a fight or flight moment. Maybe it was because I was unfocused, but I didn’t stop to think about the feeling that came over me, or if I was overreacting or just imagining the sound. I just reacted moving forward and to the right to get some distance from whatever it is that had set me off before turning to try and see what it was.

It wasn’t a shock to see Harry charging me, his shoulders down, going for a shoulder tackle. He’d gotten pretty close before I’d noticed him, and it was only dumb luck that kept him from wrapping me up and taking me to the ground. His foot slipped on some of the gravel and sand by our bench, just getting his hands down in time to catch himself from falling. I dropped the equipment bag I was carrying and took two skip steps back, getting set for whatever he was going to do, when Coach Dean’s words came back to me. The parking lot after school may have been borderline, but this was clearly still a school event, which meant if I touched him I was going to get suspended.

Part of me wanted to say screw it and just take him down hard, but Coach Dean had all but begged me to keep from engaging. Besides, Mom had nearly made me give up playing on the weekends last time I got suspended. I didn’t want to risk it again.

Instead, I took several more steps backward, and yelled, “Coach!”

I’d hoped some part of Harry would realize how bad this was for him. Both coaches across the field turned to look in our direction. It didn’t stop him though. He started to charge again. I tried to take another step back and bounced into the fence that separated our bench from the bleachers where fans sat.

Harry got a grin on his face as he put his shoulder down, probably seeing visions of pinning me against the fence and pounding the crap out of me. Instead, I turned, put my hands on the top edge of the short fence, and vaulted over it just before he got to me. Harry bounced off the fence, landing on his butt, as I went over the next one and out onto the field, backing my way towards the coaches, who still hadn’t moved yet, probably trying to figure out what the hell we were doing.

Harry didn’t let falling a second time slow him down, though. He got up and went over the fence that was currently separating us. I kept backing up towards the coaches, not wanting to turn my back on him, when both of us got a surprise. From somewhere in my peripheral vision a grey and blue blurry something came out of nowhere and smashed into Harry’s side.

I was surprised to see David. He’d never struck me as the fighting type, and once Harry had attacked I’d forgotten all about him. He and Harry went down in a pile, tumbling over. I stopped my backpedal and started forward as Harry managed to get on top of David, one arm going up to pound down on him.

I was almost at them when a voice behind me pulled me up short.

“Charlie! Step back. You two, break it up. Harry, get off him,” Coach Dean was yelling in a loud voice that cuts through everything else.

I pulled up short and to my surprise, Harry stopped, and looked back, his fist still hanging in the air.

“You heard him, Harry. Get off him,” Coach Cooper said, reaching them and pulling Harry off.

“Charlie, finish picking up everything. You two come with us,” Coach Dean said.

“Coach, David was just …” I started to say, but he cut me off.

“Let us deal with this. You just pick up the equipment,” he said, grabbing David’s arm and pulling him towards the school while Coach Cooper did the same with Harry.

I watched them go, a little stunned. I felt bad that David was getting in trouble for helping me, especially when it hadn’t been necessary. I could have outrun Harry and gotten to the coaches before he touched me. Sure, it might end up with him spreading rumors about me running away, but I didn’t really care about that. The people that would actually listen to Harry weren’t people whose opinions I valued very much.

“Coach, he was just keeping Harry from attacking me,” I yelled after him, starting their way again.

Harry stupidly tried to pull out of Coach Coopers’ grasp and come back after me. Coach Dean let go of David and grabbed Harry by the other arm, both Coaches pulling him back hard.

“Harry, you need to get control of yourself,” he said before looking back at me. “Charlie, I saw what happened. Please don’t make me ask you again. Go get the equipment.”

With the coaches letting go of Harry, who at least had stopped struggling to get free, the four continued on towards the school while I watched. I didn’t try to stop them again, since it wouldn’t work and all I was doing was making things worse, especially if I said something and Harry managed to get away. I still felt bad about David, but I’d talk to Coach Dean in the morning when everyone had cooled down.

Even as dumb as Harry was, I couldn’t believe that he’d attacked me in front of two of the Coaches. I get that he was pissed about getting dropped to JV, but there was a good chance he was going to get kicked off the team altogether now, even with Coach Bryant in his corner. I watched them walk away for another minute and then got back to what I was doing.

***

Thursday afternoon the call that I’d been waiting on all week finally came as I was headed to the Blue Ridge. This time I thought to look at the caller ID, and the number for the disposable cell I’d given Kat.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing I said when I answered.

“It happened. I’m out!”

“What happened? Do you mean you’re out of the house? Did Mrs. Coats show up? What did your dad do?”

“She showed up this morning with the sheriff and Mrs. Leighton. They said they needed to speak with me and he tried to say no, but the sheriff convinced him it was in his best interest to cooperate. I sat down with the three of them in another room and they asked me all kinds of questions, and I did what you said. I told them all the times he hurt me, and showed them the bruises I still had from when he hit me a few days ago, and about all the times he made me spend the night with him. I was able to describe this little birth mark he has … well, in a place that you wouldn’t normally see. The Sheriff tried to say that I could have heard about it or might have seen it another way, but Mrs. Coats told him that wasn’t why they were there and kept asking questions.”

“Are you okay, with everything you had to tell them?”

“Yes. It was hard, but I think it was why they said I had to leave. After they finished, they had me wait with my aunt and then took my dad into the room and talked to him for a long time. I could hear some yelling in the background and my aunt was going crazy. She kept asking me if I knew what was happening, but I wouldn’t say. When Mrs. Coats came out she gave a series of papers to him and said that her investigation had turned up enough evidence of ongoing abuse that I had to be removed from the home for my own safety. They had me go pack a bag with anything important. Some clothes and any personal keepsakes I might want, while they kept talking to my dad. When I came downstairs they escorted me outside and into her car, and we left. Daddy was as angry as I’ve ever seen him, and kept saying they’d hear from his lawyer.”

“Where are you now?”

“We’re at the police station. They let me keep my phone and I’m not in trouble or anything. They said it’s cause Mrs. Coats office is in Asheville and they didn’t need to take me all the way down there just to bring me back. Do you want to know the best part?”

“Leaving wasn’t the best part?”

“No. I’m going to be staying at Hanna’s!”

“Hanna? Why?”

“Chef and Mrs. Leighton did it. They talked to my grandparents and decided that they weren’t able to take care of someone my age at the moment, since only grandma is at their house now that grandpa is in the home. So they called Mrs. Phillips, explained everything, and asked if she’d want to take temporary custody of me while this thing worked its way through family court. She said yes and they got all the paperwork and clearances or whatever done. Once I’m done here they said they were taking me to Hanna’s house, and Mrs. Phillips has already made up their guest bedroom for me. Can you believe it?”

“No. Chef said he’d find a way to get you somewhere safe, but I wouldn’t have ever believed he could have made this happen.”

“I should have listened to you months ago when you said we should have talked to him.”

“It’s okay. I was worried about it too. Something Chef told me when I said something similar to him was that, especially at our age, it’s okay to make mistakes. What matters is that we get to the right answer at the end. All that matters is you’re out, safe, and you don’t have to go back. So you’re going to have to go to family court?”

“Yes. Mrs. Leighton said that we’re going to have to go to court tomorrow for an emergency application for temporary guardianship so that Mrs. Phillips can get me back in school and everything. Daddy can be there to fight it, but she says that she thinks we’ll be successful, since I’m almost eighteen anyway.”

“That’s great. When do you go to Hanna’s?”

“Any time now. I had to answer all kinds of questions and Mrs. Leighton made me give a statement to the police. She’s arguing with them now, because the sheriff said it’s only my word against daddies, so they can’t do anything.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’d love to see him in jail, but you being out of that house and safe is what really matters.”

“Will you come see me at Hanna’s house?”

“Yes. I’ll call Chef now and tell him I won’t be there today, although he’ll probably expect it if he knows what’s happening. Then I’ll meet you there.”

“Great. Mrs. Leighton just came back in. I have to go.”

“Okay, see you at Hanna’s.”

And just like that, it was over. Or almost over at least. If Mrs. Phillips got temporary guardianship tomorrow, then it seemed doubtful her father would have enough time to do anything else about it before she turned eighteen.

It felt weird, having months of uncertainty and doubt suddenly just disappear. I was still worried for Kat, because this left her future in swimming and college up in the air, since it was doubtful her father would pay for anything. But she was safe, and that’s what really mattered. We could figure out the rest afterward.