What ended up working the best was rolling out as Bert floated in front of me. He was now in a position to either block or catch the ball. We found it helped to keep the corner and outside linebacker home because they had to account for Bert on short passes. By the end of practice, we were ready to go and all had smiles on our faces.
Chapter 5 – Football Boils Over
Friday September 26
When I got to school, there were banners everywhere. It looked like our school spirit was flying high. The guys wore their game jerseys, and the rest of the school had on their Lincoln High Bulldog gear. I hadn’t seen them this wound up since State last year. Brad and his merry band of ass-hats were at the door to greet us. I almost went around to the back, but they saw me.
“Go, Lincoln!”
“Beat Eastside!”
Some of their comments shouldn’t be repeated. I let them slap my back, and I hurried into the school. I felt like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone. Yeah, I know, I watch too much late-night cable.
‘In a strange parallel universe where Brad Hope wishes you well ...’
I could hear the music in my head. I needed to wake up from this nightmare.
I HURRIED TO PE AND changed. I found Wolf and we went running. It was going to be a perfect day for football. The high for today was going to be in the mid-70s. I was looking forward to the leaves changing with fall just around the corner.
“My uncle told me some Eastside jokes last night,” Wolf shared.
I just groaned.
“Did you hear that an Eastside fan died in a pie-eating contest? The cow kicked him in the head.”
“Do yourself a favor, and don’t repeat that one,” I advised.
“Okay, this one is better. What do you call an Eastside fan with a sheep under his arm? A pimp.”
I just shook my head.
“How many Eastside fans does it take to change a light bulb? None, they’re happy to live in Lincoln’s shadow.”
I chuckled at that one. It was a mistake because it encouraged him. Jogging and listening to bad jokes was exactly what I needed. Wolf was a good friend.
I WAS SITTING WITH my girls at lunch when I got a text from Harper to jump on video chat. I turned on my tablet and logged in. Harper was on with several of the girls from Tami’s old floor. The freshman cheerleaders crowded behind me so they could see who I was talking to.
“Hey, Harper, how’ve you been?” I asked. “Hi, girls, looks like some of you have been using your cream.”
Last spring I’d told them I had a special cream that would make their boobs grow. That got some comments that had my girls looking at me funny.
“So, since Wesleyan’s season is over ... well, maybe not over, but we don’t think they’ll win a game this year. We wanted to come see you play tonight.”
Eastside was located very close to Wesleyan. It would be good to see everyone.
“I would love it if you came tonight,” I teased her.
“I bet you would. How about we just see you play,” Harper suggested.
“Seriously, I’d love it if you showed up and watched me play. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you gals. I promise I’ll come up for the Christmas Dance.”
“How about we see you sooner?” Harper asked.
“Sure. We need to work something out. I miss you.”
We really couldn’t talk with everyone on the chat. I could tell she needed to talk. I would make sure to touch base with her this weekend. When I logged off, I had seven girls wanting scoop.
“She’s cute. Who’s Harper?” Emma started.
“She and Missy are good friends with my friend who’s in the UK. I think I have a picture with all of us,” I said.
I pulled up the picture of when we all went to Formal together.
“You clean up pretty well,” Faith commented, seeing me in my tuxedo.
“So, which one was your date?” Kylie asked.
I was surprised when I blushed.
“I actually took all of them. We went as friends.”
“We can’t wait to meet them,” Emma said.
Why did I think that was a bad idea?
THEY HAD A PEP RALLY for us before we all loaded on the bus to go to Eastside. The Booster Club had made us sub sandwiches to eat on the trip, so we all relaxed and ate. Wolf was telling his jokes. I wasn’t so sure how I felt about him practicing on me. At least he wasn’t telling the truly awful ones. None of them were great, but we were having fun anyway.
When we finally got to Eastside, there were people waiting for us. Before we were let off the bus, Coach Hope talked to us.
“Emotions are running high for this game. Do not get baited into doing anything stupid. Let’s show them that Lincoln High has some class. Tim, David, lead them in.”
The crowd wasn’t hostile, it was the Wesleyan girls. As the guys got off the bus they saw me hugging and kissing Missy, Harper and Sarah while the other girls crowded around us.
“Coach, he said he’d distract them so we could all safely get to the locker room,” Tim said to fill in Coach Hope.
Coach Hope made me go to the locker room to get dressed. I promised to talk to them for a little bit before the game. When everyone was ready, Tim and I led them out to stretch. We had to run through Brad and the other ex-players who had quit because of the steroid scandal. They all seemed to be a little too excited. Tim and I were talking about it while we stretched.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think they’re going to get into a fight before the night’s over.”
“That’s what I thought. I just don’t want this to turn into a full-blown brawl. We all have friends and family here. I’m nervous someone’ll get hurt.”
Tim motioned for Coach Hope and Moose to come over. He told them what we were worried about. Moose went to find someone from Eastside. Coach Hope went to find Brad. Coaches Diamond and Stevens kept us on track with the warm-up. We then broke up into our positions and ran some drills to get ready. Mike and I were throwing to Jeff and Bill to loosen up when I saw Nick, Wayne and Ray. I jogged over to talk to them.
“You ready?” Wayne asked me.
“Sure. We’ll win tonight,” I said with a cocky smile. “I’m a little worried that there may be some trouble tonight. Could you spread the word to the JV and freshmen that we want to show some class? We don’t need to get a bad reputation.”
They agreed and went to watch the game. The rest of the team was headed to the locker room, so I jogged to catch up. It was time to quit worrying about matters I couldn’t control and focus on getting ready.
WHEN WE CAME OUT FOR the first half, the sun had started to set. The stands were packed on both sides of the stadium, and you could feel the excitement as we ran onto the field. This feeling was why I played football. It was Friday night, and this was the social event for our town. It looked like everyone was there. I heard the Eastside stands erupt and turned to see them come onto the field as their marching band was playing their school song. When everyone had settled down, Tim and I headed out to the center of the field to do the coin flip.
We won and deferred to the second half. Eastside was going to get the ball first. Our kicker put it through the end zone, so they were starting on their 20 yard line. Eastside had used their West Coast offense and methodically taken it to their first three opponents.
Moose had decided not to let them get into their rhythm. He was going to have us pressure them. He had us line up in what he called a 46 defense: four down linemen and six linebackers and cornerbacks playing close to the ball, with one safety deep. We had practiced blitzing from all positions. His game plan was to send five to eight players on every down.