Not Quite Paradise

by KeithCampbell

This is the story of Keith Campbell, a jock at a school in Oregon.

Not Quite Paradise – Freshman Year

By
Stephen Brandt

Chapter 1 – Rehabilitation

I was always a great athlete or so that is what other people said to me. Mom says that I got that from my father, however I never saw that. By the time I was born Dad was overweight, and a heavy drinker. Because of this we never had any money. We weren't poor but I would have liked to go on a trip or two. I am not saying that Dad was a bad person, because he loved watching me play ball, but he did not accept losses well. Some people say that I am a lot like that.

The few times that, Dad was sober and happy was a great person. Dad played briefly at Oklahoma. However, the problem was that Dad was rarely happy and when he was not happy he drank. He cheated on my mom too; but she never knew. I caught him with his girl friend. Dad blew out of town before I went off to college.

Mom did not take the divorce well; she blamed herself for how Dad was, and that she could have changed him. Typical woman response. She was not at fault for any of it; she was a great mother while I was growing up. She did not disserve half of the problems that she faced in life. Mom was always there for me, she came to many of my games, and she was my biggest critic.

Being recruited was not as bad as I thought that it would be. I had been recruited for most of my high school career, but it really picked up in my first semester of my senior year. Many the seniors on our football team the year before had been recruited and negatively colored my view of recruiting. Some coaches promised things to these players', and they were things that they didn't follow up on. Coaches came to visit me at school and at home. The coaches had great plans for me, but most of them were more worried about sports and less to do with school. My parents were not too pleased with that, but I just wanted to play. I figured that school would come easy for me.

Many schools recruited me; Oklahoma, USC, Oregon State, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona State. I think that one of the reasons why Dad left is that I never thought about going to Oklahoma. They were a fine school and a great football tradition, but they were running the wishbone at the time, not what I could do. There were very few things I could outrun. I was a 6'3 220 pound throwing quarterback. Well, I'm not 220 anymore, stupid beer.

Some teams wanted to change their offenses around to fit my strengths. That was faltering, but to change a whole direction of a team just to fit the needs of me was outrageous. Do not get me wrong I was a very good player, but I did not warrant that. Finally, I decided that Coach Craig Firth of Oregon State was the best coach for me.

My second semester of my senior year was rough; Dad was drinking again and the baseball team stated off poorly. And then there was the divorce. In addition, to add insult to injury I was not named Prom king, so I chose not to go. Of course the popular, rich, bitch girls said that I was gay and they started spreading rumors about me. Graduation was great, because Dad did not come, he skipped town with a girl friend.

Once school let out, I left Hopeful Hallow and moved to Corvallis, Oregon to start taking summer courses and to begin to study the playbook. It also gave me the excuse of leaving the town too. The playbook in high school was only about twenty pages and we could have used more plays or developed a more complex offense. But Coach Williams did not believe in making things complex. In the Oregon State playbook there were variations off every set and an option for a run or pass on every set. This was new to me. Plus that playbook was 50 pages my first year.

It was hard to make friends with the other quarterbacks maybe because I was viewed by the local media as the savior of the program. I never agreed with it, it's just that I was the highest recruited player ever at the school in ten years. The media viewed the rest of the quarterbacks were just useless waste. And I didn't agree totally with that either, the players weren't bad, but they weren't great. One player who had an issue with me was the incumbent Eddie Keaton, a junior. He must have feared for his job because he went out of his way to make my life so uncomfortable.

Keaton ushered his girl friend Billy Jeanie Maloney around me all the time almost taunting me with her. Do not get me wrong she was a sexy woman, and I would have asked her out if she was single. She had long flowing blond hair, around 5'5, and she had light skin, with rose-colored lips, and nice round gentle eyes. Billy Jeanie was a cheerleader, and had a soft voice. She was always nice to me; but she really did have bad taste in men.

I moved into Harrison Hall, a dormitory for the athletes with two other freshmen on the team. It was a huge building, twenty floors, and thirty rooms per floor. The outside was rough ridge-like brick, and light green grass and dying oak trees. It was a very scary sight and if a horror writer saw it, it could scare the pants off of normal people. I moved in with two freshmen Mike Jefferson a running back from Tempe, Arizona, a really super guy, and Willie Anderson, a wide receiver from Portland Maine. I do not know why he decided to come out here to play.

Mom moved to Corvallis while I was in school, it was nice to have her around. She came to my football games, just like she did in high school. I did not move in with Mom, because I wanted to live the life of a college student. Well at least for the first year. She took a job, as a secretary at Simth's, a local business, and for once as long as I could remember Mom was happy. Mom was also dating again, which was good for her.

August practice in college football is when the team that is going to play during the season is formed. This is usually when the players who were not in school for spring practice join the team. Fortunately, Mike, Willie, and I already had a leg up on many of the players coming in. Coach Firth at the end of August practice published his depth chart for the season, depth charts tell players if they are starters and what is their value to the team. At the quarterback he had Keaton listed as the starter and I was his primary backup.

I don't think that I was ready to play, but coach did, so he didn't redshirt me. Redshirting was the process in collegian sports where a coach could sit a player for a year, and they would not lose any eligibility. Mike and Willie also made second string at their respective positions. Before we knew it the first game was upon us. .

The first game could not have been any worse for me. The stress of playing made me thrown up a couple times before pre-game warm-ups. We played Ohio University, not a tough team, but then again we weren't good either. However, the worst part of the game was yet to come.

"Zwick, beats Burds around the corner, the offensive line needs to step up, he is chasing Keaton around in the backfield. Zwick sacks Keaton for a loss, and Keaton is not getting up. He looks like he is injured." Radio play-by-play announcer Chris Birds said.

"Keith, get in, and run the Arizona series." Coach Firth said running out to see if Keaton was all right. Eddie was not a tough person at all; every time he took a hit, he whined that he was hurt. I hated players who were weaklings. Eddie always complained about something, and most of the time it was me.

Fortunately, the first play in the Arizona Series is a counter play, which is something that I have been running for years. It is a necessary play that all football teams run at all levels. It is designed for the running back to start running left, and then cut right in the backfield, confusing the defense. It is there for teams if they want to run explicitly to one side, they can do it. Then throw this play in and counter, from that side, and you've got the defense confused. The rest of the first half I just ran the Arizona series; there was an equal amount of passing and running. Their defense was very susceptible to the run, plus our running back Jack Spielman was running well.

The game despite all my worries was not as bad. Usually, college players say that their first game is their worst, and in some ways mine was not that good. Keaton did not have to be injured. We won 35-10, and I threw for 200 yards. The media was all over us, but since I was a freshman in my first game, Coach Firth did not allow me to talk right after the game.

Coach Firth did not allow us to talk to the media because we did not have the experience and know how to talk to them. However, he dropped that after this game because everyone wanted to talk to me. He had not had a player like me in at Oregon State, so he wanted to treat me with kid gloves. For some reason he decided that I did warranted the ability to talk to the media. Nevertheless, that was only after the post game comments, and interviews had ended. Therefore, he set up an interview with the host of the Beaver Den, a weekly news/sports magazine dealing with all things Oregon State.

Chapter 2 – Unraveling

Media was different at this time. Keep in mind that ESPN wouldn't be launched for another year. Rupert Murdock hasn't thought of FOX, and it wouldn't be launched for another eleven years. In addition, we had not even heard of the Internet yet. Al Gore hadn't apparently invented it yet. So any media coverage was regionalized, and only directed to the major events/teams of the day. Our games were not even on regional television, so for me to be on a sports magazine show, it was a big thing for the team, and myself. Games were on the Beavers TV network, which it was first of it's type in the Northwest.

Monday night Mom and I drove to the television station to film the interview. WBEV sports director, Chris Birds, and the former coach of the Beavers, Kerry Lozine, hosted the Beaver Den. They deal with every sport, and anything to do with the Oregon State. During the fall, they have two 13 minutes segments, one with football, and the other with cross-country.

"Keith welcome to the show. You got thrown into your first game quickly, what was your impressions?" Coach Lozine asked.

"Well, I was scared, thought that I would ease into the game. It was unfortunate that Eddie got injured. However, the game I got into a zone."

"For the laymen out there what does the zone feel like?" Coach Lozine said.

"There really isn't a word to explain the feeling. At most it's being focused."

"About the injury that forced you into the game, what have you heard about Eddie?" Birds asked.

"Nothing, he's still in the hospital." Ok I had no clue where he was, but that probably was where he was.

"So how are you preparing for the game?" Birds asked.

"Watching tape for the game against Texas. They have a good cover corner, Bobby Jackson, who I'm kinda worried about it."

"How has your college experience been for you so far?" Lozine asked.

"I have had a lot of fun. Most of my time has been around school and the team." I said. And that was true, I was so micromanaged it was hard to think sometimes.

"Keith, some quick fire questions. Who's your favorite quarterback?" Birds said.

"Joe Namith." I answered.

"Favorite food?" Kerry asked.

"Pizza." I said.

"Favorite show?" Chris asked.

"WKRP" I said.

"And finally, favorite sport that you don't play?" Chris said.

"Basketball." I said.

"Thank you Keith for coming into the Beavers Den. When we come back the story of women's long distance runner, Kelly McLaughlin. You are watching the Beavers Den on Channel Nine." Birds said. I sat and watched Kelly's interview with Mom before leaving, I forgot how boring track people are to listen to. Though to be far, some people say that football players are boring.

"Keith, good job on the show last night," Coach Firth said when he called me early Tuesday morning before class. I was feeling so tired after having stayed up last night to get an English paper done.

"Thanks coach. I was happy to represent the team like I did," I said. Coach called me before nine o'clock; I really didn't like being woken up early.

"Good to hear. I have more tapes of San Diego State," Coach said.

"Cool, thanks," I said.

"So if you want to pick it up, I should be around in my office all day," Coach said.

"I'll be by Allen Sports Complex during mid-day." I was worried about their zone coverage, because I really haven't seen anything like that since I went to college.

"No problem. Coach Larryson will be here if you need him," Coach Firth said.

"Cool coach, I got to run to English, a big paper to turn in," I said. Well, that was not the only reason why I was going to class. There was a gorgeous girl in class who I liked.

"Hopefully, I will see you. Bye." Coach said before hanging up the phone. I never liked going to class, it was a drag and boring. I have a short attention span, so that is over forty minutes, is difficult. However, during our football meetings I don't have any paying attention.

English class met, Tuesday and Thursday at ten o'clock in Herman Hall. It was a tall building, with ten floors. The landscape around it was well kept, the trees were always pruned and the green bushes were always watered. The custodians were during the fall always taking care of the landscape. A lot of the players on the team like to show up late because they know the teachers won't do anything about it. I on the other hand I like to get to class early to read over my notes from the day before. The girl I like to look at, Lisa Weaver, comes early so I also have some time to talk and look at her.

"Good game Saturday, Keith," Lisa said when I sat down. Lisa who had long silky flowing brown hair with tints of red throughout it. She was also small and with an athletic build and pale creamy skin. Lisa's eyes were inviting and friendly, almost like she wanted to talk to you. She was an intelligent girl, was a good writer but she thought that I was a better writer. She was the sexiest woman alive to me. And still is to a point.

"Thanks, the game was scary, but Jack was running really well." I said. "Did you do the homework?" Professor Eric Ron wanted us to write something about ourselves.

"It was kinda hard. So, what you write about?" Lisa asked.

"I talked about my home town, and my mother. I didn't want to talk about playing football. Oh here comes old two first names," I said. Old two first names is what a lot of people called Prof. Ron. He was a good Professor, but he gave hard assignments. Today he gave us another long one; we had to write about someone else in the class. Of course Lisa and I picked each other.

"Keith, I am going to eat at Jake Cafeteria. Lisa said. "Wanna come?" I wasn't hungry but eating with a pretty woman is always good. Maybe it will get Eddie off of my case. Plus, she can see the football offices, something that many women didn't get to see.

"Yeah, sure, but I have to run to ASC to pick up some tapes," I said, "Do you wanna come with?" Coach didn't have any trouble with us bringing our friends into the offices with us, as long as we keep our eye on them. Though some players took it to the extreme, because they brought their posse with them.

"Cool. My roommate's going to be jealous. She's a big football fan," Lisa said. I came to find out that some pretty women at the school were football fans. Maybe they were fans because the players were good looking. It was a nice summer day in Corvallis, so it was temperate; there were a lot of people on campus for the middle of the day. Walking back from main campus to the athletic department at this time of the day, it was rare to see many people because of class. Generally at Oregon State, classes were in the middle of the day.

The Allen Sports Complex was not that busy, some players in the other fall sports were meeting with their coaches but that was it. ASC was a big building; it housed the athletic weight room, our training facility, and all the sports teams' offices. I will be honest it was an ugly building; a lime green color, and small thin windows.

"I've been here," Lisa said. "My coach Mac Williams has an office here." Coach Erin Mac Williams, was the softball coach, and helped the football team during our morning exercises.

"What sport do you play?" I asked.

"I am a softball player," She said.

"Cool, one of my cousins plays in high school," I said. I had a cousin on my Dad's side that was an athlete who I rarely saw. Her name was Allison Williams.

"Is she any good?" Lisa asked. We got to coach Firth's office before I could answer that. Coach's office was not that big, maybe twelve by twenty five, and he had pictures of former players who he coached. There were some couches along the far wall, and a bookshelf full of videotapes of games. His office smelled musty and old because he never cleaned it during the season.

"Hey coach," I said. "Anything on the tapes that I should worry about?" Firth had a better eye for the college game than I did. Also he has seen a lot of games in his time so the slightest change in a game he notices.

"Keith, yeah I saw a soft spot in the their dime coverage that we can exploit," Coach said. "We might open up the passing game a little more." I liked throwing the ball, but the amount of running we were doing was boring.

That was good; our playbook had had also passing plays. Passing at this time was not as advanced as it is today. Instead of the multiple wide receiver sets, with the running back, full back, and the tight end as down the field options, we just had some set's only three wide receivers. The tight end position was not a glamour position even though Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow was playing in the NFL. Each position had their assignments, and there was very little if any variation from that. Future Chicago Bears Head Coach Mike Ditka had been really the first big time catching tight end in the league about 20 years back.

"I'll look at the tape," I said.

"I am leaving, the wife wants me to fix the toilet at home," Coach said.

"If I have any issue I'll talk with Ed," I was done with classes for the day. I needed one day a week to focus on the game upcoming. So when I enrolled I scheduled all my classes for mornings and mid afternoons. I have to account for early morning practice, and our meetings after five o'clock. Coach liked to have practices at five o'clock so I never ate at the cafeteria. After all our meetings and practices I could get some homework done. Generally, I had a couple of hours interspersed among my classes during the day. I was always a decent student in college when I focused on my schoolwork.

"Ok," Coach said as we left.

"Now about that lunch, you ready?" I asked Lisa.

"Yeah," She said. "Do you mind if I watch the game tapes with you?" There really wasn't anything too special about them, but Lisa really wanted to spend time with me, and that was all good.

"I was going to watch them after lunch," I said. "Are you done with classes?" I didn't want her to miss class to be with me, but that was a good thought. She seemed very interested in me, but I did not want to make a move in the fear of making not like me as much.

"Just one. It's not until four o'clock," Lisa said as we were entering Jake Cafeteria. For one in the afternoon, it was not that busy considering that it was lunch.

Jake Cafeteria always smelled like a mixture of cleaning supplies and rotten chocolate chip cookies. The food was served to us in both buffet and cafeteria style. There were six sections of about ten booths. The football players usually sat in the biggest section, and stayed forever talking.

"I want to make sure that you don't miss class to watch football," I said.

"Oh isn't that nice, you are looking out for me." Lisa said. Yes, I was being a little flirtaous, but she was almost a perfect girl for me.

"Yeah kind of," I said blushing. Lunch was lunch; I didn't see any of my teammates so Lisa and I had a nice lunch to us. Then again I would not have introduced her to my teammates, so that she would not have to put up with their remarks. We finished our English assignment while we were eating, so we basically killed two birds with one stone.

"Good to get some homework done," Lisa said. "It's one less thing I have to do tonight." Just once I would like to be home and not have to run off for football or do school work. It would be nice to eat with Mom and her new boyfriend. I was interested to see if he was anything like Dad.

"Cool. I have more work, and practice before I can go to bed," I said. Practice was always tiring, and I slept very well. Eddie was still not out of the hospital yet, and we wouldn't see him for a while.

"The life of a college athlete is never boring," Lisa said as we walked to my dorm. She was speaking the truth, I was never bored, just annoyed with a lot of things.

Walking between Jake and Harrison Hall was nice on that sunny fall day. The birds were out, and even the bugs, so you really got a sense of nature. I remember that campus smelled terrible all the time, kind of a spoiled cookie smell. I never asked why it smelled so bad. I just figured that, that was how a campus smelled. Harrison Hall was a tall building that had twelve floors, with five suites on each side. The outside was nice, very tall, and brown.

Because we were on scholarship, and not coming from poor families we had a television and a beta-vcr. Televisions were not as small as they are now. Our television, which Mike got from his father, was built in a cabinet. It was at least three feet tall, and four feet wide, with a ten inch screen. We somehow hooked up a VCR to it. That was a big help for us while we studying for games. Though many people didn't tape the games.

"Oh cool a VCR and a television. You are so lucky, I wish I had one." Lisa said.

"I wish they were mine, but my roommate came with them," I said.

"I've never been in Harrison, can you show me around?" Lisa asked.

Our room was more like a suite than a traditional dorm room. We had a living room with our television, and our two couches. Next to that room was our bathroom, and we had two separate bedrooms. Mike and Willie had one bedroom to themselves, and I had the extra bedroom. Each bedroom had two beds in it. Both of the rooms kind of smelled because of us being guys and athletes.

"Just what I expected a stinky bedroom, you guys are all alike. You need someone to do your laundry for you," Lisa said. That was kind of insensitive, we are athletes and we tend to smell after we work out. I didn't know how respond to that, it made me mad.

"I do, Mom lives in town. I go over once every two weeks," I said.

"Maybe you should get a cleaning lady too," She said. Man if she is this repulsed by me what was the use of being around her?

"You know Lisa if all your going to do is complain, leave," I had to lay down the law. I hated whinny complaining people. Negative people are just not fun, that's why I never liked Eddie.

"If you're going to be that way with me I will," She said storming out the door.

"Women, God they are irritating," I said to myself of course. I didn't want her to hear what I had said if she was still outside the door.

It was hard for me to focus on the Sand Diego State tape after she left, even though I was mad at her. Lisa is sexy, but that attitude is a real put off. I don't know what to do, I want to be with her, but I don't want to be with that attitude.

It was not like she was the only woman out there. Since, I was an athlete I could find another woman real fast. Women are a dime a dozen in college, but she was different. She had an effect on me. Why her?

Chapter 3 Things Can Only Get Worse?

The rest of the week was a blur; I handed in my paper to Professor Ron and skipped class. She had really made me mad, but I couldn't stop thinking about her. Willie and Mike took me out to a bar to get my mind off of her, but I couldn't. I had to worry more about the game than her. Somehow she just had a hold of me.

Before the game Eddie was released from the hospital so he joined us on the sidelines. "Billy Jean how's classes?" I asked her before warm-ups of the game. I usually get out for the game two hours before to walk the field and to get my mind focused on the game. The game-day conditions were good for a fall day. It was sunny, a bit breezy, and maybe about fifty degrees out. The cheerleaders were out there practicing, and going through their pre-game routine. And they were looking very pretty. Watching women stretch is always a good way to get the day off well.

"Oh, they're going well," Billy Jean said. "I have not been focused on them since Eddie got out of the hospital."

"So how has he been?" I asked. I could give a damn about him, but I was making conversation.

"Really grumpy. The medicine he is on hasn't dulled the pain," Billy said. I left her alone, after that because I had to start stretching. I didn't want to be seen around her if there were some women around. I wanted to look available, even though I was still thinking of Lisa.

Coach Larryson, during pre-game liked to put me through real game situations. These situations were like if the Aztec's came out in a defense that we didn't expect, or if they switched a player from one spot to another. It was key to change on the fly, but you want to be ready for everything.

"Keith the key to their 4-3 defense is to attack Williams. He's not fast, but he will hit you hard," Coach said. Hard-hitting linebackers with speed are a pain for quarterbacks because you have to get the ball off the fast before you get hit. I'd rather have a hard hitting linebacker with so-so speed because I could react fast enough.

"If he's slow then why should I have to worry about him?" I asked.

"You don't have to worry about him, you just have to attack him. Their defense is only strong on the corners," Coach Larryson said. Coach was right and I should have listened to him but during the game, I listened to whoever has fresh information.

Coach and I were on the same page before the game, we both saw that in order to beat the Aztec's was to throw long. Fortunately we had the receivers to attack their defensive backs. The first half was fine; we lead them by seven, fourteen to seven. I had one hundred and twenty yards passing, and no interceptions. Then the second half came, we didn't lose but I got pulled for not listening to the coach.

I came off the field after an interception and Eddie told me that he had seen something that might help me. In reality he was just looking to mess the game up for me.

"Keith, Bobby Jackson is laying off of Jeff Duncan. So you can throw over the top of him. I'd run the X-80-Oreagon-right-60. That's if you see him back away at the line. I swear he's been doing it all day," Eddie said. I don't know why I didn't listen to Coach Firth, but I should have. I think at the time, I believed that Eddie had seen something that Coach had not seen. However, that does not excuse not listening to what your Coach is saying. Coaches tend to miss things, and maybe that was the justification for it.

"I'll try that." I said. Coach was busy with the rest of the offense to worry about me. To be honest on game-day, Coach has many things to worry about and sometimes he wouldn't worry about me.

We got the ball back on a turnover, and sure enough I saw what Eddie had seen. However, Coach Firth called Z-90-Utah-Right-31, a running play. So I changed the play, a no-no for freshmen quarterbacks. Quarterbacks sometimes were allowed to call the plays from the field. That is where they call the play from what they see without a coach telling you anything. Mostly this practice happened in the NFL, and the quarterbacks who were allowed to do this were the veterans or star players. Fortunately, the play went for a gain of seven yards, and we were able to continue the drive. However, it was the last play that I would have during the game.

"Walter get in there, get Keith out," Coach Firth said. "Tell him we need to talk." Walter was my backup, and had barely played in his three years on campus. He was a walk-on, a player who was not on scholarship, but still was a part of the team. Walter was a good guy too.

"Keith, Coach is livid at you for that stunt. That's not the one that he wanted," Walter said when he relieved me. I had no idea why he would be mad at me, because we got positive yards on the play. I was clueless, though I kind of knew he was going to be mad.

"Ok. But he wasn't out here," I said. "He didn't see the change in coverage." Well that was not a good excuse, but how can you come up with a good one?

"Keith, you're on the bench for the game, and suspended until I tell you so," Coach said after calling a play. "That wasn't what I called."

"Yes coach," I said. I was not going to argue with him, that was just a losing cause. Even though I knew I screwed up, I still thought that it was still screwed up to pull me out.

"You'll learn, you run the plays that I call." Coach Firth said. Of course Eddie was smiling because he got what he wanted.

I should have seen it coming; Eddie had been needling me since I came to Corvallis. Coach was right, their defense was weak against the run and Jack was a good enough player to burn them. My teammates didn't look at me the same for a long time after that. It really hurt, but I dissevered it. I did not call the plays in the huddle for a year after that, I let the player coming in off the sidelines call the play.

Coach was right, I should not have changed the play, and I really did pay for it. Missing those first three practices of the week before the Tennessee game really hurt me. This game was our first road game of the year, a big step for me.

"Keith, can I talk to you?" Lisa said, when she stopped me before one of my classes on Wednesday. We had avoided each other in class, and for most of the week.

"Sure, but I have Math 002. Can't miss it. Are you free after eleven?"

"Yeah, we need to chat. See you here after your class." Lisa said.

Man, her attitude was so annoying but she was so sexy, I couldn't stop thinking of her. This math class was for the people who didn't qualify for the one hundred level math courses, because of grades or requirements from high school. If you were in this class you really felt stupid. I just didn't take the courses in high school that were good enough in math for this level.

"Lisa, you wanted to talk?" I had an idea, but you never know with women.

"I am sorry how I acted towards you," She said. "I just didn't like your room."

"It's ok. I wasn't too mad at you." I responded. That was a complete and utter lie. Sometimes with women, I found out, you have to lie. "Well, we have cleaned up, but you got to remember that I am guy, we get tend to get dirty."

"True, sorry to see that you had to come out of the game," She said changing the subject.

"I don't want to talk about it. I messed up." I said.

"Oh sorry, I didn't know." She said, while we walked past Friedrich Library. The library was a nice old, tall building that was gray, and had a gothic look to it. There were tall dead trees that looked like the ones that you could picture in a scary story. The building was set far enough up that the stairs to it later on it would remind me of the Rocky stairs in his movies. I rarely spent time in it, because I didn't like libraries.

"So how was your weekend?" I said.

"I listened to the game, and did my homework," Lisa said. "Didn't play enough this weekend I'm restless."

"Got an idea," I said. She gave me the opening that most women don't. "You want to go out with me?"

"Sure, I really like you," Lisa said.

"Cool, how about a movie tonight?" I said.

"Meeh I have seen a lot of movies lately," She said.

"Well, how about dancing?" I said. I really didn't like to dance but if she wanted to I would go with her.

"Oh I like to dance," She said. "Yeah sure, do you like to dance?"

"Yeah I do," I said. Another complete and utter lie, but as long as I got to be around her, I would have done just about anything.

"This is my stop, I have to study for Math," She said pointing to the Math Building. "When do you want to pick me up?"

"Eight?" I asked. There were many people on campus just sitting in the grass at noon. Outside of the Furer Building there was a huge grassy mall type area. There was a fountain in the middle that was a Beaver on a rock with water around it. It was a gift from the 1976 graduating class to the school. Even though you were not allowed to swim in it, many people did.

"That's perfect," She said before giving me a hug. That was unique, thought I didn't mind it. It was always good when a girl wanted to touch you. But it still bugged me, why did she act that way at the apartment?

"Hey man, she's a cutie," Mike said. "Are you getting somewhere with her?" Mike had came from religion.

"Yeah I asked her out." I said. "She's a really sexy woman, and I just want to be with her. But there is something off about her."

"Have you figured that out?" Mike said. "Cool on the date."

"No, and it's frustrating," I said. "She likes sports, and comes to me for help in English."

"Haha, that's rich," Mike said. "I got you the new plays for the Tennessee game."

"Thanks, is coach still mad?" I said. There was a lot of open space between main campus and the dormitory quad.

"No, he got over that, I think he's really focused on the game," Mike said.

"I am just worried that I have lost the trust of the team," I said. "I don't know what I was thinking,"

"Well, true. You're just going to have to gain that back," Mike said. Mike always had my back, and was my strongest supporter throughout my numerous screw-ups.

"True, but I have to get my homework done," I said walking into the lobby of Harrison Hall. The lobby was huge; we had our mailboxes, and a post office there. We also had a welcome desk with information on what was happening on campus during the month.

"Dude, your homework isn't do for a while," Mike said.

"But if I don't do it now I may not get to it," I said.

"You've got a game to study for in case you forgot," Mike said. Mike was not much of a student, but he got the work done and got the grades to stay on the team.

"Of course I didn't forget," I said. "Give me the damn plays." Coach Firth didn't run a complex offense, so once you got it, you really got it. There were those formations and different variations off of each, but the overall concept of the plays weren't hard to grasp.

"Man don't get testy, here's your plays," Mike said. We walked into our room, and Willie was just sitting there staring of into space.

"Keith while you were at class Aiden called," Willie said. "He wants to practice some of the plays." Aiden Whaley was a freshman tight end that needed work on his route running. I liked working with the skill position players on whatever they needed; it really helped my growth as a player. I also developed that trust and timing with the players that we needed on the field. I said. Aiden was being redshirted, so he was not playing however he was still part of the team. Unfortunately, he was not much of a player but he tried very hard.

"I'll talk to him at ASC tomorrow," I said.

"Mike, told me you have a date, Lisa," Willie said. "You lucky dog, she sounds like a hottie." I had described her to them when I first met her.

"She is, plus she likes me," I said. "But there's something off about her, maybe she's just being a woman."

"That's not good," Willie said. "When do you pick her up?"

"Eight," I said. "I just have to walk over to Fletcher Hall and call her." She lived in Fletcher an all girls dorm, one of the true evil inventions on the face of this earth. All girl dorms basically meant that as a guy you couldn't go in, you had to spend other time with your girl friends.

"I hope that everything works out with her," Willie said. Willie never really dated in college; he was very shy around new people.

"I hope so, because I really like her," I said. I hoped that the date would go well; I hadn't been on a date in a long time and didn't know what to do.

I thought that the only thing that could calm me down was to do my Math homework, but the more and more I worked at it, the more and more I got wound up. It was just not calming me down, and I was bad at it. Dad was a Math minor at Oklahoma and loved numbers, but some how I was terrible at it. However, I did finish the work, and that's all that matters. Also I was looking at the playbook while I was doing my homework, not a good idea.

"Keith we're going to eat, if we don't see you before you leave, we'll see you in the morning," Mike said.

"Cool, don't wait up," I said jokingly.

"What are you going to do for dinner?" Willie asked.

"Dunno," I said.

"Why don't you eat with us?" Willie said.

"I'm going to take a shower, and I will meet you all," I said. It would kill two birds with one stone.

"Ok we will be sitting by the windows," Willie said. The windows overlooked campus. At sun down it was really cool to see campus beyond the backdrop of the sunset. We could see Memorial Field in the distance also.

I wanted to look amazing for Lisa, not only because I really like her, but also to give her the impression that I could clean up. Even thought I should haven been staying in, studying and looking over my playbook it was good for me to get out. Mike and Willie filled me in on the different new plays and most of my work I didn't do anyway. I knew I could get away with not doing an assignment here or there because my teachers would pass me anyway. They didn't want to fail out the starting quarterback. Bonus for me!

"Hello?" My mother said. Also, the whole transportation thing was interesting for me, because I didn't have a car. Most college students at that time didn't have cars either, but I was fortunate that I had my mother living in town

"Hey Mom, do you mind if I borrow the car for the night?" I said.

"No problem, I am coming to campus anyway Eric wants to see a play," Mom said.

"Oh cool, Eric's a nice guy," I said. "What time are you coming?"

"I will be there at eight," she said. "May I ask why you need the car?"

"I am taking Lisa out to dance tonight," I said. "And yes Mom, I do like her."

"I wasn't going to ask if you liked her," She said. "Where do you need me to pick you up?" I jumped the gun because Mom had been on me to start dating again when I came to Corvallis.

"Well, I will be at Jake Cafeteria around seven, so give me half hour," I said. "Lisa lives in the dorm next to the cafeteria."

"Ok, but you have to drop me off at Murphy Hall," Mom said. Murphy Hall was the theatre department until they moved to a new building after I left. I tried staying away from there because the theatre majors scared me. They were either smoking or complaining about something their teachers had done to them.

I really never liked Eric, because I thought of him as a rebound relationship from my father. Mom was going through her midlife crisis at the time, and maybe she was becoming more like herself when she was my age. The whole relationship with Eric freaked me out, because he was ten years younger than she. Really he wasn't the guy for Mom at the time.

"Sure no problem, I will see you then," I said. I ran out the door so fast that day to eat that I forgot my keys to get back in. I was so wound up that I almost forgot my wallet too.

Jake Cafeteria was very packed that late for seven o'clock, and most football players were gone. So I wouldn't get as much flak for looking so nice for a date. Some of the players didn't view it as being cool to get all dressed up. Then again most of these guys didn't have serious girlfriends, just bounced around from one person to another, kind of getting as many women as possible.

While I was getting my dinner, Derrick Williams, one of our senior linebackers was there also. Derrick, was a small player (6'1 230) for his position, but very fast, and had good hands. He was also a heavy partier in college.. But he was a nice guy, with a little too much testosterone for his own good. After college he played football in the Canadian Football League for a bit before being convicted for aggravated assault.

"What are you all dressed up for?" Derrick said. "Another interview?"

"Nah, man I have a date tonight," I said.

"Why'd you get that dressed up," Derrick said. "Man your woman must have you whipped."

"No, I just want to impress her," I said.

"You could impress her in other ways man," He said. "Don't let the women take control of you, next you will turn into a sissy."

"Ok, I will think about that Derrick," I said leaving him. "Hey Mike where's Willie?"

"Went back home," Mike said. "He just didn't feel right here when it was so crowded."

"I am worried about him," I said. "He's not doing anything outside of schoolwork, and he doesn't like being with the team."

"I don't think he is doing his work," Mike said. "We need to get him on track." Willie was always running off somewhere when he didn't feel right, mostly it was crowded areas. He never would address the problem he was having; he would just make a lame excuse.

"Yeah, or at least one of the coaches needs to," Mike said finishing up his food.

"Maybe Coach Lewis," I said. Coach Jimmy Lewis was the receivers' coach. He was a former Beavers receiver in the sixties. Jimmy played for only three years because freshmen weren't eligible at the time; and he was always described as a future head coach.

I ate dinner and waited for Mom to show up, thought you couldn't miss the car. When I was growing up, Mom had a station wagon because she wanted to play the role of mother. Now she was driving a 1973 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a truly hideous car. I hated it, because it was tan, and it looked a car that my grandfather would drive. But I needed that car, so I figured that I could check my hatred of it at the driver's side door.

"Keith, over here," Mom said. She had pulled into the parking lot before I came out, but was parked behind a VW Bus. Those were also hideous cars.

"Sorry, didn't see you behind the hippy mobile, stupid druggies," I said. "So how was your day?"

"Now, now, don't be so negative towards hippy's," She said. "Eh, work was work, but I was able to cut out of work at five."

"Just don't like them," I said. "That's good, so was work hard today?"

"No, not really. Could have been worse," She said. We drove down Front Street that led to Murphy Hall. We had to take a right at the campus church, which was at the intersection of Front and Murphy Streets. The night was nice, I believe it was in the mid fifties, and breezy.

"Oh, can I stay at the house on Sunday?" I said.

"Yeah sure why?" Mom said going around the water fountain at the Tri-Delta House. They always had the prettiest women on the campus, but they were also the sluttiest too. I didn't care for those types of women.

"I just want to clam down after the game," I said. "Plus I am going to need a place to study for Math." Regardless if we won or lost Harrison Hall was going to be rowdy the next day.

"No problem, I'll just have to clean your room," She said. I didn't spend much time in "my room" because it wasn't the room I grew up in. I occasionally would go over after school and study. Mother only lived a couple of blocks away from Memorial Stadium, so it was easy for me to go home occasionally.

"Oh Mom you don't have to worry about that," I said. The parking lot for Murphy Hall was not completely full when we pulled in. The show that they were going to see was in the middle of their run, so maybe people had already seen the show.

"But I don't want you to be in a dirty room," Mom said. "I'll park it right here."

"What time do you want me to drop off the car?" I said.

"Don't worry about it, I will catch the bus to work," She said. "Give me a kiss."

"Ok Mom," I said before we switched places with her in the car. "Have a good time. Tell Eric I said hi."

"You too," She said. "Don't stay out too late tonight." Well that depends on Lisa, if she wants to do more stuff after our date, I will stay up late.

Getting out of the parking lot was hard; I never was a good driver. I couldn't see around other cars, and Mom's car was too big to get around corners. The radio in the car was great, but Mom had bad taste in music. All the station pre-sets were set to Big Band stations. I was more of a rock and roll guy, stuff like the Doors and the Beatles.

I drove to Fletcher Hall in a daze; to this day I don't remember the drive. All I remember is driving out of the Murphy Hall parking lot and picking up Lisa in the front of Fletcher. Many of the times I was with Lisa, it just seemed like I just arrived at her place or just came to her.

"Hi, you look good Keith," She said when walking out of the building. Lisa gave me a hug before getting into the car. She was wearing a long necklace that she conveniently had fitted drop right in front of her breasts, a nice blue dress that wasn't too tight but showed off her body well, and her hair was tied up in a pony tail. She smelled nice also; she was wearing a vanilla smelling fragrance.

"Thanks, you look amazing," I said trying to open the door for her. She wasn't one of those girls that liked to have the car door opened for her.

"You're nice, thanks," She said. "Is this your car?"

"No, it's a family," I said pulling out of the parking lot. Wake Street was also the way off of the campus to Edge Street. Edge Street was the main drag to get into old Corvallis.

"So, not all football players have cars?" She said. Lisa looked very small sitting in the huge seat. The passengers seat basically engulfed her, which is impressive for her being 5'6.

"No why'd you think that?" I said.

"Your scholarship, because I figured that parent's bought you it," She said. "What did you think that I meant?"

"Some people think that every football team in college is corrupt and giving their players certain things to get players to come to their college," I said. That wasn't true, I never got anything from the football team directly, but there were some times that I wondered.

"So college football isn't corrupt?" Lisa said jokingly. "Never heard of that."

"No, I hate the fact that people believe that we are all scum," I said.

"I don't," She said. "I love football players."

"So, you're warming up to me?" I said. "So does anyone think that softball is corrupt?"

"Hahaha, you're being serious?" She said. "I really like you Keith."

"Of course I am being serious," I said. Edge Street was not that long, maybe a half a mile. Main Street was the street that we needed; all the nightlife was there. Corvallis was known for having a vibrant nightlife, there were bars and clubs that were always packed.

"No body watches softball anyway," She said. "They wouldn't believe that we cheat anyway."

"Where are you taking me to dance?" She said.

"I was thinking of the Texas Club," I said while trying to find a parking spot on Main Street.

"Oh that's good, but I haven't been dancing since Tom," She said. "He is one of my ex's." .

"Really?" I said.

Chapter 4
The Couple Has Some Issues.

"I don't want to talk about," She said. "So do you like to go dancing? Do you dance well?" She already asked me that; maybe she was trying to test me.

"Of course I dance well, I am a football player," I said. Well dancing and football do not go along but I wanted to please her.

"What does football have to do with dancing?" Lisa asked

"We are toned, and we know how to move our feet," I said. Complete and utter lie, but I wanted to keep her happy.

"Really? I didn't know that," she said. "You know softball players know how to use their hands to their advantage."

"You dropping hints?" I said. Oh man I should not have said that.

"Maybe, you never know," She said. Hopefully for my sake she has a good date and we do something after words.

"I will try my best," I said.

The only place to park was to parallel park, not one of my strengths. "Keith pull in here," Lisa said pointing to a spot.

"That's on the street, I am a terrible parallel parker," I said. I have trouble in this car parking like that."

"Do you want me to park it?" Lisa asked. We were parked in front of Willard's, which was a couple of blocks away from the Texas Club.

"Sure," I said. There was so much room in the car that she didn't have to get out of the car to switch places with me. She went over the top of me and I swooped under, as I did I caught a piece of her butt with my hand. I meant to do it, then again who wouldn't?

"Hey, mister that's a personal foul fifteen yard penalty for excessive use of hands," She said. I was afraid that she was going to slap me. I wanted to watch her try to park this monstrosity.

"Sorry, this will be rich, a woman driver," I said. I had to say it, just was life.

"Funny," She said as I got out of the car. Lisa parked the car with some difficulty, but I expected that with that car.

"Good job, I couldn't have done it any better myself," I said when she got out of the car and handed me the key.

"So, no more cracks about women drivers?" She asked. She grabbed my hand as we walked up the street.

"Not tonight at least," I said. "But you never know."

The Texas Club was in a huge three-story building with apartments on the top two floors facing the street. Main Street was built up like that, with many store top apartments. On the corner of Main and Kentucky Street there was the Presbyterian Church that many of the football players went to. I didn't go to church anymore, but I was a confirmed Catholic. It was an ordinary building; one if you didn't see the sign wouldn't know that it was a church.

"Is that Eddie and his girl friend?" Lisa asked clutching my right arm pointing to the front of the line. She seemed very clingy, but I had no issues with that.

"Yes it is, I thought he was still going to practice," I said. Aw crap just what I needed to ruin my night.

"Why would he?" She asked. "He's injured."

"It's better than going dancing on a bad leg," I said as the line was moving. It was moving pretty fast, because the bouncers weren't really checking the I.D.'s. I didn't have to worry about being carded for my ID because I looked enough like my drivers license. And most bouncers knew my face well so it wasn't like I was going to have a fake ID.

When we got into the club Eddie pulled me aside while Lisa talked to some of her friends. "Keith who's the girl?"

"My girlfriend Lisa," I said.

"Nice looking Keith," Eddie said. "You've got good taste man."

"Thanks Eddie, how's the leg?" I asked.

"Hurts like a mother fucker," Eddie said. "I haven't fucking slept since the surgery. It even hurts to look at the fucking thing."

"That blows, I will see you later," I said.

"Yeah sure whatever," He said. Lisa was one of those girls who always knew someone wherever she was. She was just one of those very personable people I met in college.

"He's not pleasant," She said bringing me to the dance floor. The floor was not packed, but the club had just opened. It could hold twenty couples comfortably and an extra five could stand on the outside without bumping into people. The place was nice; it had a western theme to it, even a place for mechanical bull riding. I needed to get Lisa on the mechanical bull that would be very sexy. Even the drinks had western names; it was really cool to see. Not that I drank or anything at the time.

"So have you ever been here before?" I asked.

"No, but that guy to your right hasn't stopped staring at my chest since we got into the club," Lisa said. "It's bugging me, let's move." I liked staring at it too.

"Ok, but do you want me to go over and talk to him?" I said.

"Well, if he doesn't get the point, that I am your girl by all means," she said. "No don't you'll get in trouble, we don't need that," I didn't like picking fights for any reason, unless it was for someone I liked.

"Anything for you," I said before I kissed her. That was probably a mistake but she didn't pull back, or act surprised. I did it more for me, but also to warn other guys. You put your hands on her or chat her up; you're going to the hospital.

"My, my your not a bad kisser, better than I expected," Lisa said smiling. She was a good dancer. I was clumsy but tried to keep up with her.

"You thought I would be worse?" I asked. "Wow, at least I impressed you."

"Keith, you impressed me along time ago," she said. "You just don't come off as being romantic."

"Why is that?" I really had fun with her.

"You're not very sensitive, and you're a football player," She said. "Football players just seem to me to not have as much hold of their emotions."

"Me sensitive?" I said.

"True, hold that thought, I need to use the bathroom," She said.

"Ok I will go to the bar and get some drinks," I said. I was really tired, and needed to sit down, the bar was the best place for me to go. The bar had orange and black bar stools, and they looked like they were taken care of well. I really didn't need anything to drink, and I didn't want go through all the problems of getting carded.

Lisa didn't make it to the bathroom that night when she came running back to me. "Keith, Eddie hit on me," She said.

"Oh he did, what did he say?" I asked.

"Well, he said, I know your Keith's girl but for a good time I can lay you better than anything he could."

"That's it, I'm going to beat him up," I said getting more wound up.

"Keith no, don't do it, let's just continue to dance," She said.

"Why, he deserves a beating for that?" I asked. I wanted to continue to dance but I could feel that Lisa wasn't comfortable there anymore.

"No, no one deserves a beating," She said.

"Do you want to leave and go some where else?" I asked.

"Sure, any place you would like to go?" She asked.

"Well, let's get outside and see what happens," I said.

As we walked by the bar, Eddie was sitting there and I said, "If I EVER hear of you hitting on Lisa again, I will break your other leg. Got it?"

"Whatever, I didn't hit on that bitch," Eddie said. "She's only with you because you're the starting quarterback."

"No I am not," She said. "Guys, put it back in your pants."

"So now she's a liar?" I said.

"Keith stop it!" She said.

"Mark my word you ever say anything bad about my girl or flirt with her again, I will get thrown off the team for what I will do to you. And you can quote me on that." I was very angry and ready to beat him, but that didn't impress Lisa, so I didn't want to hurt my chances with her.

"Keith just leave him alone, I want to get out of here," Lisa said.

"HAHA, you got told," Eddie said. "You ain't getting any tonight."

"Eddie shut up," Billy Jeane said angrily. Man where was she when he hit on Lisa? And what was Billy doing with Eddie anyway?

"Hahaha, you got told," I said. I wanted to bring Lisa to a place where she felt better than she did now.

"Keith let's go," She yelled while trying to get me away from Eddie.

"You're woman has you whipped," Eddie said.

"This is not over, you're going down the next time I see you," I said.

"Whatever, wimp," he said. I would have come back at him, but I didn't want to totally ruin my date. Plus it was another pointless fight. So we turned around and walked out the door. It was only nine o'clock, when we were outside there were still enough people in line waiting to get in.

"So where do you want to go now?" Lisa asked.

"Anywhere where you will feel comfortable," I said.

"Well, let's walk around for a while and see," She said grabbing my right hand as we walked down the street. Main Street was nice at night, and was always buzzing with people going about their life. Some of the football players lived on Main Street; the bus system in Corvallis was first rate.

"Wait a minute, Jack lives around here some where, I think above Willard's Drug Store," I said.

"Oh cool, is that Jack Spielman?" She asked. Lisa was smart to bring a coat with her that day. Corvallis generally after nine would get really cold.

"Yeah, good guy," I said. "He's really smart, he's going to be famous for something in life." I thought that he would play in the NFL because of his talent and size (6'0 220), and become a famous something or other afterwards.

"Do you know where he lives?" She asked.

"No I only know the building," I assumed that Willard's was open. "Mr. Willard would know." Mr. Willard was a graduate of the medical school here in Corvallis.

"He helps the softball team out," Lisa said. "Apparently he had a daughter who played for us."

"I didn't know that he was even married," I wondered. "Ah here we are at Willard's." Willard's was your typical pharmacy; he only sold medicine, and had a lunch counter. He filled all of the prescriptions for every one of his customers.

"Hello, oh hi Keith and Lisa," Mr. Willard said. "I didn't know that you were seeing each other." Not many people knew that we were together, just our close friends and some of my teammates.

"Yes we are, do you know the apartment number of Jack Spielman?" I asked.

"Yeah, 29, just go up the back stairs and go all the way to the right, you can't miss his door," Mr. Willard said.

"Thanks," Lisa said quietly. We walked out the door and turned left, the stairs were small and orange.

"Those were tight stairs, why'd people do that when they built it?" Lisa asked. I wasn't an architecture major so how the hell would I know?

"Maybe when this building was built the people may have been smaller," I guessed. "People haven't been as big as they are now, and society will get bigger later in our lives."

"Never really thought of it that way," She said. The hallway was dimly lit, and it gave you that feeling of a murder mystery. Only if Steven King was around in Corvallis at this time, he could have come up something about this hallway that would have further scared the shit out of society.

"There's apartment 29, that's his jersey number," I said. "I would never have thought asking for room 19," I liked my number but to go as far as Jack did was a little too much for me.

"Knock on the door," Lisa said.

"Ok, ok," I said before knocking on the door.

"Keith and Lisa, why don't you come in," Jack said. "How are you?"

"We're in the neighborhood, so we thought about stopping by," I said. "Do you mind?" Jack's apartment was tiny, a studio, it was quaint.

"No, I was going to take a break anyway," Jack said, motioning us towards the living room. He could have been lying, knowing Jack he wasn't but he was always a guy to help out someone no matter what.

"So how was practice today?" I said.

"Not bad, the offense looked bad without you out there," Jack said. "Will is just not a leader."

"I am only a freshman, how much can I change the offense?" I said. "Lisa did you know that Jack has rushed for 2,000 yards."

"Oh really?" She said. "Are you going to play in the NFL?" She was just looking around at Jack's various movie posters. He had posters from some very old movies, a lot from the sixties.

"I don't know, it's up to the scouts," Jack said. "Hey do you guys want something to drink?" I'm sure he did know, heck by the time I was eligible for the draft I had a good idea who wanted me.

"Sure," I said.

"Yeah sure, if you don't mind," she said. "But Jack are you talented enough to play at that level?"

"There's a lot of hurdles that I have to overcome to get to that level," Jack said.

"Yeah Lisa it's hard for a player playing for a program that is not among the elite to get a look at by the NFL," I said. "You have to really stand out to do that."

"You guys, I have lemonade, St. Patrick's or orange juice," Jake said. "I could make some coffee."

"What's St. Patrick's?" I asked

"Whatever that is, I'll have one," Lisa said. Wow she was being bold, score one for Keith.

"St. Patrick's is a beer from my hometown," Jack said.

"Where you from?" Lisa asked

"Vancouver Island," Jack said from the kitchen area. The kitchen was small; it reminded me of the kitchen in the house I grew up in.

"I heard it's nice there," I said.

"It is, I have family that lives there," Lisa said.

"Really, who?" Jack said.

"My Grandparents, the Riley's," She said.

"I know them, they are good people," Jack said.

"This tastes good," I said. "Maybe we should bring some to Coach Firth, it will help him relax some."

"It might help, but I don't like to say that people have to drink to calm down," Jack said. "But he needs some down time."

"I don't know how he does it," I said. "To be a head coach of Division I team and have an infant son at home is impressive." Coach Firth was an impressive man, I gave him so much credit for having a life outside of the job, when in this profession so many didn't.

"At least he's married, same can't be said for Ed," Jack said.

"He is, he's married to his job," I said.

"Keith isn't married to his job yet," Lisa said with a smile.

"Babe, I don't have a job," I said.

"Anyway, I think as a coach you need to be married to your job," Jack said.

"That's a way of looking at it," I said. "I think you would make a good coach."

"Thanks, I don't know if I will be a coach," Jack said. "My goal in life is to make enough money so Mom and Dad don't have to work again."

"Wow that's a cool goal," Lisa said.

"Yeah, well we had it rough, I was in and out of homeless shelters when I was a kid," Jack said.

"That sucks," I said. "Are you looking forward to the Tennessee game?" I didn't know that about Jack.

"I'm a stronger person because of it," Jack said. "I'm so ready to beat them."

"Me too," I said.

"I think we should be ready if we practice well this week," Jack said. "But it's an uphill battle for us." That was so true, they were so talented and we were an upstart team that was looking for a break.

"I wish that I could go on the road with you guys," Lisa said. "I have too much to do, and your coaches might not like having me there."

"No, the coaches wouldn't like that," I said.

"Thanks, do you still want to go out for a walk?" Lisa said. "I feel like we are intruding."

"Your not intruding, I was going for a walk anyway," Jack said.

"Cool, well here's your jacket Lisa," I said. "You want to lead the way Jack?"

"Ok, there is a nice park a block away from us," Jack said. "Just follow me." That's another thing that Corvallis had an abundance of parks.

"Oh which one?" Lisa asked. "I really don't know this area all to well."

"McLaughlin's, there's usually plays in the park on Wednesday's," Jack said. "I like to come here when I am depressed."

"Have you ever talked to Dr. Ray Hall?" Lisa asked as we walked out the back door of his apartment building.

"No, I don't have a good history with shrinks," Jack said sipping his beer. "They want to analyze me too much."

"Oh, didn't know," Lisa said. The walk to McLaughlin was not bad; the streets in old Corvallis were well taken care of. There were pine trees on the opposite side of the street and on our side there was cherry trees.

"Didn't coach Lucas take us here?" I said. Coach Lucas was Earl Lucas, he liked to take us off campus and let us run around the parks.

"No you're thinking of Williams, that's by the stadium," Jack said.

"Ah yes, that one," I said.

"Yeah, I wish we could play off campus," Jack said. "It would be easier, and a nicer place to practice."

"Memorial Stadium is not a bad place," Lisa said sitting down on a park bench to watch one of the plays going on.

"No it isn't," Jack said.

Plays bored me to no end; I tried to stay away from them as much as possible. It's like when a play goes on, it has certain mystical stuff that makes me not care. There was just too much signing and dancing in it for me. Plus the stories were always lame to me.

"Wow, wonderful play," Lisa said. "I am getting tired, do you mind driving me home?" The play was an hour and it was about a quarter after eleven.

"Sure, thanks for everything Jack," I said. I didn't want to go home but with Lisa tired.

"No problem, and it was good to see you again Lisa," Jack said. "Keith I will see you at ASC tomorrow."

"Good to see you again too Jack," Lisa said.

"See ya," I said.

"Why?" Jack said.

The drive back to Fletcher Hall was quite, we just listened to the radio, I was also very nervous and didn't want to say or do anything that would ruin the date. It had been so good for me, and I didn't want the end to be bad for her. I also didn't want the date to end period; it was fun to be with her. We pulled up to Fletcher Hall's front door, and Lisa got out after I parked the car.

"Keith thanks for the fun time, I had a blast." Lisa said.

"I had fun too," I said. "Will I see you early at ASC?"

"I have to talk to my coach, so yes," She said.

"Good to hear, well I will see you later," I said getting back into the car. I didn't know how to end the date, a hug, kiss or just a random drive off.

"Keith, I will see you later," She said coming over to my door and giving me a kiss on the lips.

"My, my your not a bad kisser," I said starting the car up. "See you tomorrow."

I drove home in a daze; the front desk attendant didn't even check my school ID. Usually when you come in during security hours at Harrison Hall, you have to show your school ID to get in. The security around the football team was very tight and Harrison Hall had a lot of security around it, unless you were a football player.

Chapter 5 –The Next Step

The end of the week was a blur, we had great practices and Lisa was with me ninety percent of the time. Mom and Eric also got closer, which I didn't like, but Mom was happy.. The team was ready for the game that we flew to Nashville Tennessee on Friday for the game on Saturday. The drive to Knoxville was very long, and a good time for me to concentrate on the playbook for the game. The bus ride was a time for a lot of players, including me to see parts of the country that they had never seen.

"Keith so do you have any questions?" Coach Lucas asked, as he made his way to the back of the bus to see me.

"Why aren't we throwing to Arute?" I asked. It seemed to me to beat their coverage that it would be easy to hit them with the tight end.

"Because he doesn't have the speed to fool Mitchell, and Landry," Lucas said. "But that's what Coach Firth says." Coach Lucas was so rapped up in what Coach Firth said, and really never spoke for his own.

"But why not use Goodlin?" I said.

"I don't know, I'll ask Coach," Lucas said.

"Ok, can you get Ed, I need to talk to him," I said.

"No problem," Lucas said. Coach Larryson on game day usually sat in a corner by himself before our walk thoughts to get his mind focused on the game. So he was probably sitting in front of the bus just sleeping.

"Keith, you wanted to see me?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, why aren't we looking at using a back out of the backfield or the tight end as a third option today?" I asked. I know I asked the same thing to Coach Lucas but I liked dealing with Ed more. Lucas was more of a yes man for Coach Firth and I really didn't like those people.

"Because Arute isn't fast enough and Erouch doesn't have the hands to surprise them," Coach Larryson said.

"Oh, but what about putting Willie in at fullback for some passing plays?" I asked.

"Hmmm, let me think about some of those plays," Ed said.

"Give me ten minutes on this," Ed said.

"Ok," I said. And ten minutes later, Ed came back to my seat; you could set a watch to him sometimes.

"Keith, Earl and Craig think that the best plan is to work with Arute over the middle," Ed said.

"Ok, cool." I said. "So Willie is out of the question too, for playing?"

"Well, he has to be because he is a small receiver," Ed said.

"I just want to use him more in the offense," I said.

"He's just not ready enough yet," Ed said. "But I think that he can turn into a pretty good player."

"Fair enough," I said. "Are we walking through the new plays today?"

"Yeah, I think that's all you need," Ed said.

"Ok, good well I will see you on the field," I said. Ed was always open to new ideas from the players; unlike Earl you felt that Ed was actually going to use your ideas. Earl took your ideas but he was so wrapped up in what Coach Firth was thinking.

The ride into Knoxville was nice; the town was one of those nice small college towns that really got decked out for their home team. Neyland Stadium was the biggest thing I had ever seen. There must have been seats for a million people, and the orange in the end zones was nicer than at Memorial Stadium.

The locker room was also very big too, there were over a hundred lockers and you could skate between the front and the back of the room. There was a huge helmet in the center of the room in the carpet. That was weird to see carpet in an athletic locker room; I had always been in locker rooms with tile flooring.

"Quarterbacks, we need to step up our masking of the play calling," Ed said when we were changing in the locker room. "I need the centers out too."

"Oh man, why do we all need to go out early, Keith will be the only one playing this week," Will said.

"Hey, you never know, I might be knocked out, or we might blow them out," I said.

"Or you might pull the same thing you did last game," Matt Englund said. Matt was our third team quarterback now that Eddie was off of the team. He had only been practicing with the team for a month at this point.

"That's NEVER going to happen again," I said. "Guys, what happens if I am injured like Eddie? You guys need to be able to step into the saddle and lead the team."

"Sure sure, it will never happen again," Matt said. "We will see."

"Guys, get off of his case," my starting center Matt Case said.

"Ok, ok," Matt Englund said sheepishly.

"Case, you coming out with me?" I said.

"Yeah, be out in a minute," Case said. Matt was a big guy, six foot five, and two hundred sixty pounds. Most centers were twenty pounds smaller and not as tall. He was a good center too. I wished he had a couple more years of eligibility left because he was a great player to have for a young qb.

Walking out to the field was interesting because it was like walking through a tunnel of famous people. It was like a who's who of college football yesteryear, every player was a great player in college history. I knew everyone of those players because I got to see a lot of college football, living so close to Los Angeles.

We went out to the field almost two hours before the game, and the stands were packed. That's another thing that I had never seen, Memorial Stadium rarely gets filled up anyway. It was different to have people cheering and just talking before the game, it was not as quite as I would have liked it. I liked having it somewhat quite while I am practicing before the game, it really gets me in the zone.

"So when they switch to the nickel defense, move Denis over and hit Jack on the out route," Ed said to all the quarterbacks while we were practicing on the twenty-yard line towards the away end zone.

"Then on the bonsai play either dump the ball off to Spielman or Mike Greeny," Ed continued. "Keith, if neither option is open, just run for positive yards."

"I'm not that fast," I said. "I am not going to get that many yards." A cripple was faster than I was.

"Keith, they're not going to expect to you roll out," Ed said.

"Well, true I just don't know if I can sell it," I said. "I think I run unusually."

"When we get to that we will figure it out," Ed said. We finished up our pre game walk through as the cheerleaders were beginning their practice. They were attractive but they weren't as attractive as Lisa.

"Wow that blonde with those nice long, sexy, legs is hot," Will said. "Boy the things I would like to do to that chick."

"That small blonde looks like your girl Keith," Matt Case said. "It might be her."

"No man, Lisa's at home with her family this weekend," I said. "Plus Lisa's chest is nicer."

"Felt them?" Matt asked.

"But of course," I said. "She's soft." Complete lie, but hey I'm a guy and we lie about stuff with our girls.

"Lucky man," Will said.

Just as Will said that, the Tennessee team ran out on to the field. The whole stadium was rocking; it was very impressive at least to me. It was the loudest noises I'd ever heard. The team kept pouring out of the tunnel, there must have been over a hundred players on the team. And then there must have been fifty coaches, behind the team. While the quarterbacks were going through their pre-game rituals our full team came out too.

"Those qb's are huge, DAMN," Will said.

"They're taller than me," I said. That was scary to me, because I had never seen that many tall quarterbacks. I am not small myself (6'5), but I am used to seeing small quarterbacks. They looked like giants to me, in reality they may have been only 6'0 tall, but they were huge.

"Come on, they can't be taller than you," Jack said joining the crowd. "You've got to be at least three inches taller than most of them."

"True, but I am looking at them far away," I said.

"Guys less talk, Coach Firth wants us to start stretching," Coach Lucas said.

"Yes Firth II," Matt Case said under his breath. .

Even thought we had to stretch for our health I was always bored by it. It always seemed pointless to me, I mean I was always in shape so I didn't need to be too limber. At least I thought, but I was just a pimple-faced freshman.

"Guys, we can do this, you are all winners, each and everyone of you," Coach Firth said in his pre-game speech when we went back into our locker room. "We will win this game, they have never prepared for a team that wants the game as much as we do."

"You all have worked very hard this week, WE WILL WIN," Coach Firth went onto say. "Now go out there and play like the way the Beavers can."

"Go, out there and beat the VOLS." Coach Lucas said.

Running out on the field to a hostile crowd was a new experience for me, I had heard boos before but nothing like this in my life. It was scary and very exhilarating, at the same time. I wished that the crowd at Memorial Stadium was like that, because it made the experience of college football so much better.

"Wow, man I never have been in a place like this," Mike said running out before me.

"Me neither, this is very cool," I answered. There were very few of us on the team who had gone to big time football programs in high school. Some of the players on the team had played UCLA, and USC a couple of years ago in Los Angeles.

We stretched again before the game, this time I really didn't mind it because we were so close to the opening. My juices were really beginning to flow for the game; I was almost too excited to play the game. I couldn't concentrate on what Coach Larryson was telling me, I just wanted to play. Coach could have been diagramming the first twenty plays of the game, and I still didn't hear anything. Fortunately Jack was in on the conversation, so he could tell me what coach was saying. Jack was great, he always knew when I needed the information.

On the coin flip we got the ball and decided to go on offense, that was a change of pace. For some reason the coin flip was also always a nerve racking to me, it's a singular event that I never had any influence over. Of course it does influence the rest of the game, and sometimes is one of the reasons why teams lose. Coach Firth preferred to go on defense if he won the toss so that he could fit his game plan to what the opponent was doing. I'd rather be on offense to start the game, and get a quick score than have to wait.The Vols won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, so Coach Firth said in that situation to go on offense.

"On 2, W-80-NY-BLACK-LEFT, ready break," I said calling out a draw to Jack. It was your basic run up the run up the center and the left guard play, which everyone runs. I could run the play, even with my lack of speed. The key to this play to is to be a tough running back that can take a beating. Jack ran for a nine-yard gain, which was a good way to start off the game.

"Good job, that should help me," I said to Jack when he got back to the huddle.

"No problem, let's move the ball," Jack said.

I looked over at the sideline to get the play fully expecting to get another running play from Coach Firth. Coach called the play in by a bunch of hand signals for running plays that signaled the play into me. The hand signals took me a long time to understand. However he was motioning to me to come to the sidelines. For passing plays he would motion me towards the sideline, and that's what he did here.

"Keith, ok we are going to catch them off guard," Coach Firth said. "Y-81-Tennesssee-Left-Tight."

"You want to pass on second and one?" I asked.

"Yeah, we don't need much, and if we get any more than that, it's a bonus," he said.

"Ok," I said. I ran back to the huddle questioning the call in my head, but I was in no stance to change it.

"Ok guys, Y-81-Tennesssee-Left-Tight on ONE," I said. The guys looked like they were confused, but heck it wasn't my play to call. This play is designed to end up eventually on a screen to Jack, but my safety valve is Arute.

Sure enough it caught the Vols off of guard, and Arute took the ball for twenty yards. Arute is not that fast, but if given free yardage he can get down the field fast. He was definitely a better blocker than any other tight end we had on the roster. I liked having him out there because he freed up the fullback for some running and passing plays.

The rest of the half was fun, even though we were down ten to seven going into the locker room. I had a very good half, ten of fourteen passes completed for one hundred fifteen yards and a touchdown. That was very impressive for me, in only my third game I was playing like a seasoned veteran. The rest of the offense played very well, Jack had close to seventy yards, and Mike Taylor had thirty yards receiving.

"Ok guys, I am very proud of you," Coach Firth said. "You are showing how much you guys want to win." Coach was never one for motivational speeches, but when he wanted to get the point across he could.

"Keith, great half, you just need to not stair down your wide outs," Coach Firth said.

"Then how do I scan the field?" I asked.

"Well, the only thing you need to change is your speed on your check-offs," Coach Larryson checked in to say. Normally Ed didn't talk much during halftime, he just sat in the back of the room to stay out of the way. Ed was a man of few words anyway.

"Ok cool," I said. The rest of half we went over our plan for the second half that was when I started to get the feeling that we were going to win. Every player wants to win, and tries in their best abilities to win. But sometimes players can feel when the win is coming.

Until ten seconds left in the second half, the half was boring. The score was still 10-7 when we got the ball on the twenty-yard line, going into their end zone. Then the game became fun again for us.

"Here's the game, Beavers are 0-9 when losing this late in the game over the past two years," the announcer said.

"Campbell under center, he's had a good game today. He has trips to the left, and Jack in the backfield."

"Here's the snap, the rush is coming, Keith looks, he's looking, looking."

"He throws it into the end zone, TOUCHDOWN, TOUCHDOWN, TOUCHDOWN, THE BEAVERS HAVE DONE IT,"

"ZACH WILLIAMS IS UNDER THE PILE WITH THE BALL FOR THE BEAVERS," "THERE'S NO TIME LEFT ON THE CLOCK!"

"THE BEAVERS HAVE WON 13-10!!!!!!!!!" Chris Birds said.

I couldn't believe it when it happened; we beat the fifth ranked team in the country. It was something that I knew we could do, but didn't believe that it could happen until it did. It was an amazing feeling, I hoped after the game to never lose that feeling. I had never felt that good after a game, in high school we never made it far in the playoffs.

"Keith can I get a word with you?" John Lewis the sideline reporter for WBEV sports. I ended up with three hundred yards passing and two touchdowns.

"Sure, but you should get Zach also," I said.

"Oh ok," John said. "We will start with you in a minute."

"Ok thanks Chris, we are down on the field with Keith Campbell. So Keith what was that play that you called for the touchdown?" John asked.

"It was X-C-89-Zarizona-Left-6, basically a roll out pass to the tight end or the widest wide out," I said.

"How was the defense on the play?" John asked.

"Very tough, I credit my line keeping my upright," I said. "Zach got behind, whew, sorry I am still calming down, and was there for the ball."

"What does this mean for the team?" John asked.

"A lot, and it helps Coach Firth, now people will know him on the national level," I said. "I just hope that people will recognize Coach for the star that he is."

"Alright thanks Keith, back up to you Chris," John said. "Thanks, would you come on the Beavers Den up show on Monday?"

"Talk to Larissa when we get back," I said. Larissa McLarune was our Sports Information Director at the time. The SID was the person that took care of all media contacts for the individual teams through out the year. It was the only way to talk to the athletes by the rules.

"Ok, man Will is a lucky guy," John said. "You know he's dating her?"

"Pfff, who cares," I said. "I try not to get involved in other people's lives."

"But you're not the least interested in your backup quarterbacks life?" John asked.

"No, and not even my roommates personal lives," I said. "I gotta go and change." Why did he care, if I knew that Larissa and Will were dating? Maybe he was trying to dig into the team a little too much. That type of journalism made me sick, why dig into someone's personal life?

The locker room was so loud and fun after the game, it took us so long to get out of the locker room, that we damn near missed the bus. We had so much fun in the locker room that I forgot to take a shower.

"Guys, we are flying out of here at 10:00, let's make sure we are at the airport by nine," Coach Firth said. It was four o'clock at the time, it's not like we had any other choice.

"Great game, I am very proud for each and everyone of you," Coach Firth said. "Every one on this team is responsible for the win, you all worked very hard for the win, you deserve it."

"We're off of practice until Tuesday," Coach Firth said continuing. "We have to get ready for Oregon." Oregon was a rival team. They were a good team, but if we continued to play like we did that day, I doubted that anyone could beat us.

"YEAH, THANKS COACH," The team yelled.

"No, thank you guys," Coach Firth said. "Now let's get out of Tennessee." I liked Knoxville, it was a nice small town, kind of reminded me Corvallis. It was a really good experience for me; I could see a new town and play really well.

The flight back to Corvallis was very loud, none of us wanted to sleep as we were too excited. Even Willie was talking to people. Willie had played his first game in college that day, so maybe he would come out of his shell. He really needed to live the college life some more than he already was, it was kind of sad how he was living.

"Keith so what are you doing tonight?" Willie asked. "Are you going to see Lisa?"

"No, she's with the softball team tonight," I said. "Mom is going to cook breakfast for me."

"Oh good," Willie said. "Coming back to the apartment?"

"No I am going to spend the weekend with Mom," I said. "I will be home after a video session on Monday."

"Man you're such a Mommy's boy," Willie said jokingly.

"Fuck you dude, fuck you," I said jokingly. "No, but it's a help having my mother living in town."

"Yeah, if you like you're family," Willie said. Willie came from a good family, at least that's all he ever told us.

"Well, I like my mother," I said. "Dad is a whole different story."

"I hear you man," Willie said. "Well, dude I will see you at home, I'm going to talk to Lucas."

"Oh, about what?" I asked.

"I want to see if there's anything I can do to continue playing on the first team offense," Willie said before getting up.

The rest of the flight home, all two hours of it was boring. We finally calmed down and most of us slept the way back. I finally realized for the first time this weekend how much I missed being around Lisa. Maybe I was whipped like Derrick said, but there was just something about her that made me complete. She was so nice, so sweet, and willing to be with me the person. Lisa was more concerned with Keith the person than Keith the football player.

Chapter 6 – Keith at Home, Lisa on Mind

Mom met me at ASC when we got back into town. She came without Eric, which was a good thing, thou the state I was in, I wouldn't have been too mad if she had.

"Keith great game," Mom said.

"Thanks it was," I said. "I am still on cloud nine from the game."

"Well, I got your room all cleaned up," Mom said. "Do you need to pick up some clothes for the weekend?"

"I should," I said. "Did I leave some clothes there Monday?"

"Yeah, you have enough clothes at home for a couple of days," Mom said as we got into the car. "Why do you ask?"

"I just don't want to go back to the apartment right now," I said. "I'm too tired."

"You should be," she said. "You can sleep in tomorrow."

"Thanks Mom," I said.

"So are you going to call Lisa?" She asked.

"Yeah, probably tomorrow, it's kinda late for that," I said.

"Oh ok," Mother said. "You should invite her over sometime."

"I'll think about it," I said. I really didn't want to invite my girlfriend over to meet my mother so soon. Lisa may not be the one, though I doubt that. I didn't want to jinx the relationship because I felt really good about her right now. It was not that I was embarrassed of my Mom, in fact I wasn't. It's just that some people viewed taking your girlfriend to see your family showing that you want to get married. I liked Lisa a lot, but not enough to settle down with her yet. Plus my model for a married couple wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

"So how's Eric?" I asked trying to make conversation.

"Not bad, his students turned in their essay's yesterday, so he's spending the weekend grading," Mom said as we pulled up into the driveway. "But he might be over for dinner on Monday night."

"That's cool," I responded.

"Do you want to come over?" Mom asked when we got into the house.

"No, sorry can't, too much to do," I said. I didn't care about going over anyway, and the team was going to have a victory dinner anyway.

"Well, that's ok," Mom said. "What time do you want breakfast?"

"Ten-ish?" I asked. "Is that good for you?"

"Sure, I was going to cook pancakes and eggs," Mom said.

"See you in the morning," I said. It was so nice after a long flight and a draining game to be able to sleep in a quiet room. I needed to think about the game and as long as it was quiet the better I could think. Some alone time was always good because I could concentrate on what I had done wrong and how to not do it again.

It felt so good to sleep late, normally on the Sunday after the game I don't sleep. Stupid nerves, I never understood why I couldn't sleep that night. Don't get me wrong I love football but it isn't like if I do poorly in a game that my world is going to end or Mom will die. I need to get my life into perspective. I mean its just football for corn's sake, but as an athlete we are conditioned to take our sport to be more important than our families.

"Good morning Keith," Mom said when I came into the kitchen. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Well, I got into my bed and closed my eyes," I said. "Plus I stayed in that position for eight hours."

"Smart ass," Mother said. "Do you mind setting the table?"

"No, but I will do it," I said. "How was your night?"

"I read my book, but other than that, I slept," Mother said.

"So did you listen to the game?" I asked while setting the table.

"Of course, you played well," Mother said. "Though you should've had one more touchdown."

"Yeah well, I can only take what the defense gives to me," I said. "I am good but I am not good enough to anticipate what a defense gives me."

"On that second down play with fifteen minutes left in the game what was the defense giving to you?" Mom asked.

"They had a cover two defense on and Taylor was so covered that I couldn't get to him," I said. "I didn't want to force the ball in."

"That wouldn't be good," Mom said.

"Plus I don't need to piss off Coach Firth anymore," I said. "I like being in the good graces of the coaching staff."

"Yeah that would be a good thing," She said. Mom was a decent cook, but her best meal that she has made is breakfast. She makes great pancakes and bacon, Sunday's were great times for me because Mom would cook way too much for breakfast and which meant leftovers.

"I am going to need to borrow the car for a bit today," I asked while having my coffee of the morning.

"Sure, take the gas card so that I have some gas for Monday," Mom said.

"You going anywhere Monday?" I asked.

"Work," Mom said. "Kind of do every working day."

"Mother, mother," I said jokingly. "I know, I know."

"Well just checking," She fired back. "Sometimes you are a little off."

"Oh this is nothing, you didn't see me after the San Diego State game," I said. Just then the phone rang.

"Hello?" Mother said. "Yes, I will get him."

"Keith it's Willie," she said.

"Yo what's up?" I answered.

"Um, Eddie called," Willie said over the phone. Why the hell would he call my place?

"Ok, what did he say?" I asked wondering why that idiot would call me.

"That there is a party that he wants you to come," he said.

"Did he invite you and Mike?" I asked, because if he didn't, I wasn't going.

"Yeah, the whole team was invited," Willie said. "It's tonight off campus somewhere."

"Well that's good," I said. "I do need to get out."

"Do you want to call Lisa?" Willie asked.

"Nah, she has to get up early, and I don't want to bother her," I said.

"Oh ok, do you want me to call Eddie back and say that you are coming?" Willie said. I didn't give a rat's ass who he called, I was going to have to go anyway.

"Yeah sure," I said. "Then I will come and get you about seven, I have the car for the night."

"Ok will do," Willie said before hanging up the phone.

"Hey Mom, I won't be here for dinner tonight," I said. "I am going to a football party."

"Oh cool, are you going to be coming home after the party?" Mom asked as she did the dishes.

"Probably not, because we get home late, and I don't want to wake you up," I said.

"Oh it's ok, I will probably be sound asleep at the time," Mom said. I spent most of the morning finishing my homework. I was smart, when I was on the plane I got most of the work done for the first part of the week. Doing homework at home I usually got more done because I didn't keep any playbooks here, so I couldn't be distracted.

"Keith lunch," Mom screamed up the stairs to my bedroom. Mom's house had three bedrooms upstairs including hers.

"Let me just finish up this sentence," I said. "Stupid English homework, I should have called Lisa for some help." But since she was pre-occupied I couldn't call her, thou it would be nice.

"So what's for lunch?" I asked.

"Food," Mom said. That was her normal response to most questions about what's for the current meal. She has a great sense of humor.

"What kind of food dear Mother?" I asked.

"Good food," She shot back.

"Damn you're no help," I said. "You're evil you know that?"

"Now, now don't call your mother evil," She shot back at me jokingly.

"Yeah yeah, yeah, whatever, do you mind if I eat lunch in the television room while the game is on?" I asked. Since I had moved to Corvallis, I had become a Seattle Seahawks fan. They were an expansion team in the NFL and were a decent team, but they were the only team that we could watch. We only got one game a week on the television because we weren't in a major market. The local Corvallis NBC station somehow got the feed from the Seattle station.

"No no, not at all," Mom said. "In fact I will join you."

"Cool, I hope that they play decently today," I said.

"Who do they play today?" Mom asked handing me a ham and cheese sandwich.

"St. Louis," I said. "Not a bad team, but not great."

"Are they the Cardinals?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, there's a baseball team in the same town with the same nickname," I said.

"That's weird, can the leagues do that?" She asked.

"I don't think that each league consults with each other on the names of their teams," I said. Why is it that women think that you know everything about sports if you play sports?

"Just a guess," Mom said. The game was not that bad, but I would have liked to see the team win. They ended up losing 28-7, but their best offensive player Joe Cleverance did catch a touchdown.

"Keith, are you going to leave tickets for the Oregon game?" Mom asked. Mom was in my room making my bed for me because she didn't want me to worry about it.

"Let me see what I can do," I said. "I can't guarantee anything." It was an away game, and sometimes if you asked the SID you could get a couple of tickets for those of games. For home games, each player got three tickets for their family. I usually only requested two, one for Mom and one for Eric, even thought I didn't care if Eric came or not. I didn't want Mom sitting by herself.

"Well, it's ok if you don't," Mom said.

"I'll try," I said trying to finish the rest of my homework. I don't know why Mom wants to go to an away game.

"Mom, where's the iron?" I asked after taking my shower. Mom was in the guest bedroom reading. My bedroom is next to it, so it's easy to talk through the walls. I probably didn't need to look very nice, but I was with the team and I wanted to look good.

"It's in my room, why do you need it," Mom asked. "You don't need to look great for a team party." Mom was always good with how to look properly in all situations.

"Nah I really don't but I want to look good for the team," I said. "Thou they might think that you dressed me." I did have a reputation of dressing well, but enough of the team knew that I was staying at Mom's this weekend.

"Well, then just put on some nice pants, and a shirt," Mom said. "You'll look more like yourself."

"Mom you're doing it again," I said. "You're being a mother."

"Well what do you want me to be?" She asked.

"You know I am just joking with you," I said. Mom and I had a great relationship, and it helped that she had a sense of humor.

"Keith, when do you have to pick up Willie and Mike?" Mom asked.

"In an hour, I should run back to the apartment," I asked. Just then the phone rang.

"Keith, phone," Mom said.

"Thanks, Hello?" I said.

"Hey babe, it's me," Lisa said.

"Oh hey, I was just thinking about calling you," I said.

"So how was the trip to Tennessee?" She asked.

"Not bad, the ride home was better, so how was your weekend?" I asked

"Well not bad, saw my family, and they asked about you," She said. That's weird I didn't know that she had told here family that we were dating.

"Really, what did they want to know?" I asked.

"Well, if you were the typical jock, and if you muscled up stud," She said. Really, they were that shallow? That's sad.

"I am a stud, and you know that," I said. "But being a typical jock, don't know."

"Yes and you are my stud," She said. "So what are you doing tonight?"

"Well apparently Eddie is putting on a party," I said. "I'd bring you but Eddie might hit on you again."

"That sounds good, plus I have a lot of homework to catch up on," She said. "I don't think that it would be smart for me to be around Eddie again."

"True, but oh well," I said. "Will I see you at ASC tomorrow?"

"I have to be, we are starting position drills in the morning," She said. "But I will be there only until eight."

"Well, I will see you then babe," I said. "Gotta get ready."

"See ya tomorrow Keith," Lisa said before hanging up the phone.

"So how was Lisa?" Mom asked. She was still reading in the guest bedroom; apparently her book was very good.

"Not bad, I am going to see her in the morning at ASC," I said finally getting my shirt on.

"That's good, so when do I get to meet her," She asked. Dear God, I wasn't that serious with Lisa yet, and I didn't want to get Mom's hopes up. Maybe Mom was happy that I was dating and that she wanted to met Lisa just to meet her, nothing more nothing less.

"Give it time Mom, I don't know if I am serious with her," I said. "I don't know if it will last, but she's a really good girl."

"Oh, ok." She said. "Well should you get going?"

"Yeah, I should," I said. "I will stay at the apartment tonight after the party."

"I can take the bus, so don't worry about bringing the car back," Mom said.

"Ok, but I won't have the car back to you until late, maybe 10 pm, I have an interview, if it clears with Larissa," I said.

"Cool, yeah Eric should be gone by that time," Mom said. "I can drive you home after that." I just didn't want to walk in on them doing anything, even eating.

"Ok, good well I will see you tomorrow," I said. "I will check on getting tickets for you." I checked myself before walking out the door; I had never been to a college party. The drive to the apartment was so fast that I didn't need to buckle my seat belt, but that's breaking the law.

Chapter 7 – Keith Skirts the Law

"Hey Keith, good game yesterday," Eric a soccer player that lived in Harrison Hall said to me when I came into the lobby.

"Thanks man," I said. "When do you start playing?"

"Two weeks," he said. "Are you going to Eddie's party?"

"Yeah, you?" I asked. I had no clue why a soccer player would go, but strange things supposedly happened at Corvallis parties.

"Aiden Whaley is my roommate, and he is taking me," Eric said.

"Well I will see you there, I gotta pick up my roommates," I said. "See you there."

"Ok, cool," Eric said. If I had known about being able to bring someone else who was not on the team, I would have at least invited Lisa. Maybe Eddie didn't tell Willie that I could invite anyone because he didn't want to be embarrassed again. But I would have loved to have Lisa there; I just needed to see her. I didn't want to wuss out on the team just to see her.

"Hey guys, I am home," I said walking into the apartment. "Anyone ready to go?"

"Yeah, I am," Mike said. "I don't know about Willie."

"Willie you going?" I said walking into our bedroom.

"Don't know man," Willie said. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Why?" Mike asked.

"I just don't trust Eddie," Willie said. "I mean look what the moron has done to Keith. Eddie's not a good guy."

"Well we know that Willie, but we do need to get out and party," I said. I was surprised that Willie didn't like Eddie. I didn't think Willie disliked anyone.

"True, and Aiden is bringing his girl friend Janet," Mike said. Aiden's girlfriend was a cool girl, she was the type of girl that loved sports and liked to do things with everyone. She was from England also, and she was studying to become a businesswoman. Janet was really hot, and with that accent of hers really drove me nuts. She was small, less than six feet, dark, and had nice round sexy eyes. Next to Lisa, she was one of the sexiest women I had seen at college.

"Oh, she's very hot," Mike said. "Willie didn't you say that you dug her?"

"Yeah, I still think she's hot, but I don't want to make a move," Willie said. "Aiden is a cool guy."

"He is, if I wasn't with Lisa, I would see if Janet has a twin," I said.

"Well, if you are not serious with Lisa, I'd go for it," Willie said. I didn't want to do that, Lisa was too important to me. Thou, I did really like Janet, but why would I want to jeopardize that relationship with Lisa. Oh well, but that's part of being a guy.

"Nah, I don't want to hurt Lisa," I said. "Plus if I did anything like that it will spread around campus like wild fire." That's just the problem with being the starting qb at the college.

"Yeah, doesn't that suck?" Mike said.

"I wish just once that I could do something and the whole campus didn't have to know," I said. "I mean I am just a football player."

"You happen to be pretty good at it too," Willie said.

"I am only as good as the team around me," I said.

"Man, are you going to ever admit that you are talented?" Mike asked as we walked out the door. Apparently, Willie did want to go, he was just messing with us.

"Nope, that's just not me," I said. I had never really been a cocky person per say. That's just how Dad raised me, and he didn't think that it was too sportsman like to be cocky. I guess that he was right.

"Oh you'll be," Willie said when we got into Mom's car. "Just give it time."

"Where is the party at?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Willie you took the call, where is it?"

"At Derrick's," Willie said. Derrick lived far away from campus with some of the other linebackers. Derrick was a nice guy, but I never really had a good feeling about him. Something just seemed off about him, and I could never figure it out.

"Ok, what's the fastest way?" I asked.

"How would I know I don't drive," Mike said. "I thought you knew?"

"I do, Center Street is the fastest," Willie said.

"Cool," I said. Ever since I left Mom's house, I had this pit in the bottom of my stomach that something might go wrong tonight. I didn't know what it was.

Center Street took you to the west part of Corvallis, it was really the most un-developed part of town, but there was some housing division out there. Some of the upperclassmen lived out there because the city buses ran that far out. You could really see that the town was planning on expanding as far west as possible.

"Look at all those cars!" Mike said.The music was playing so loud that I could here it over my radio in the car.

"Must be damn near fifty there," Willie said.

"I'll drop you guys off at the driveway and park it somewhere," I said. Once again I had to parallel park, and that was sketchy.

"See ya inside," Mike said.

"Sure, get a beer for me, ok?" I said.

"Will do," Willie said. I figured that Willie wouldn't drink so I would have a driver if I drank a lot. Any other day I would just crash, but having Mom's car would be hard for me to drive. I'd never live it down if I drove drunk, let alone with Mom's car.

"Hey mate, we got a pint for you over here," Aiden said as I walked into the house. There were so many people there, a lot of the people I didn't know. There was a big group of people huddled around a table that smelled kind of weird. It smelled like the crazy neighbor we had in Hopeful Hollow. It looked like it was Eddie and some of his friends.

"Sorry I didn't call you back before the game," I said, I hated to not call people back, and I had forgotten to see him about running routes. I guess that I was too busy with Lisa.

"Don't worry, got in some practice with Ed," Aiden said. "For his age he can still throw." Ed was forty; he should be able to throw still.

"He's only forty dude," I said. "Damn this beer is good what is it?"

"Dunno, Janet got it for me," Aiden said. "Where is that girl?"

"Dude, where's your girl?" Zack asked. "I've heard she's a cutie."

"She's a hottie," Aiden said.

"Hello Keith," Janet said. God she was sexy, damn too bad she was with Aiden, and I had Lisa.

"Hey girl," I said. "So Zack how does it feel to be the man for the weekend?"

"I am?" Zack said sipping his beer.

"Yeah, you won the game for us," I said. "Hey what's this beer?"

"It's Ike's, my mum likes it a lot," Janet said. "When I was home last time I took some."

"It's good, wish I could buy beer," I said. Well, after I downed three or four beers I decided to see what Eddie and his crew was doing. The smell had grown from that area since when we came.

"Woo, man that stuff is…." Sean, one of our linebackers, said.

"Keith you want a drag?" Derrick asked while holding a joint.

"Nah man, don't know how to smoke," I said. "Plus, I'd probably fuck up historically."

"Nah man, it's easy as breathing dude," Eddie said. Well, duh I knew that, I really didn't want to smoke. Then again it was college, which was supposed to be the time of experiencing new things, and personal growth.

"Well fuck it, you only live once," I said pulling up a chair.

"Now the key is not to take it in too deep," Sean said. "You want to take it in, but not enough where you gasp on it."

"Thanks," I said before taking it. And sure enough it was just like breathing, and the stuff felt good going down. I couldn't get a second drag because apparently someone called the cops. I found out later they had already been out to the house a couple of times to tell people to turn the music down. Of course, it's not a good party until the cops have been out a couple times.

"Oh shit, cops are here, turn the music down, stash the beer, get rid of the joint," Derrick said. "Shit, they're coming in." Just then someone broke a bottle of beer on the floor so we were basically screwed.

BANG BANG. "CORVALLIS PD" The police said.

"Yes?" Derrick said answering the door, he had some beer in him, but he was 21 so he was safe.

"We are here on complaints about loud music, and we have been out here too much today," the cop said. "Even though you are football players, you all don't get to break the laws."

"Yes sir, we will turn down the music," Derrick said.

"No, that's not enough, everyone out of here, and I want your names so I can tell your coach," the cop said.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," the collective mass said. The cop went through everyone until he saw me.

"Ok, Keith I didn't see you," the cop said.

"Yeah you did, I'm right here," I said. I wanted to be apart of the team; if they were going to get into trouble then I was going to get into trouble.

"Listen, do you know the trouble you could get into?" he said. "I am going to leave you off the report, because I am such a fan."

"Ok, but that's not right," I said.

"Move along," He said.

"Mike, Willie let's get out of here," I said. The party had only last for three hours, and it was fun, except the getting busted part.

"Coach is going to be pissed," Mike said. "Man he might bench you."

"Nah, cop didn't take my name," I said.

"What?" Mike said. "You gotta be kidding me."

"He didn't," I said, it wasn't right for him to do it, but I liked that I could use my name to get out of things. Maybe I could get Mike and Willie off on this too.

"Well that's what you get for being the star around here," Mike said. "Do you feel well enough to drive?"

"Nope, you?" I asked.

"Sure, am I dropping you off at Mom's?" Mike said.

"I just need to pick up my books for tomorrow," I said. "Where's Willie?"

"Right here, the cop got to me last," Willie said.

"Good, I was hoping you didn't get hauled off for anything," I said.

"Me?" Willie said with a laugh. "I have such a guilty conscience." Plus, I never really thought that Willie was stupid enough to do something stupid like going to jail.

"Anyway, at least that is over with," I said. "Maybe I should have listened to you."

"Where'd you park?" Mike said.

"Over here," I said. "Didn't Janet look hot?"

"No she looked gorgeous," Willie said. "Damn Aiden is lucky." We got into the car, and all I could think about was what is Lisa going to say when she hears about this.

The drive back to Mom's wasn't bad, but all I could think about was how I got out of the report. It just wasn't right that I got out of it. I mean I am just a good football player, nothing more. Why would I warrant getting out of a report because of who I am? I should get full treatment just as a man.

We pulled up to Mom's house and I noticed that Eric's car was in the driveway.

"Oh that dirty mother fucker is over," I said getting out of the car.

"Eric?" Mike asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I'll take care of this." I walked inside, and all the lights were off, and there were clothes all over the floor. The clothes were in a trail up the stairs, almost like someone had been taking their clothes off in a hurry. Then I heard what any son never wants to hear.

"Oh gawd, oh wow, do it again," My mother moaned. My God Eric and her were having sex! "Oh shit, that feels good." So to break it up I slammed my room door.

"Ah, um, Keith, I didn't expect you home," I heard Mom say.

"I can tell," I said walking by her room.

"I can explain," Mom said.

"I don't care," I said. "I'll drop the car off tomorrow."

"Keith," Mom said in a painful way. I didn't care what she was about to say, truth is that she was having sex, and I didn't need to hear that. Now, I don't care if she was getting it, but I didn't want to hear. Eric better ask her to marry him, or I am going to beat him.

"Let's get out of here," I said getting back to the car. I could have driven but being mad, and a little high, I thought that it was the best if I didn't.

"Gee, what's your problem?" Mike asked.

"I caught Eric and Mom fucking," I said.

"Oh, that had to be rough," Willie said. "I caught my Mother and my high school coach staff screwing in a classroom during our team banquet my junior year."

"So how did you deal with it?" I said as Mike worked his way back to campus.

"I didn't, I moved in with my Grandmother," Willie said. "I finished up high school in Portland."

"So you still haven't talked to you mother about it?" I said.

"Nope, and don't care," Willie said as we pulled into the parking lot. Many of the players had already come back and were in their rooms. However, there was an aura of shame and doubt around the place. There weren't any cops or any coaches around, but it seemed like something bad had happened. We didn't stop to ask anyone if they had heard about the bust, we kind of figured people had already heard it.

Chapter 8 –Lisa falls in love

The next day I called Lisa to see if she had heard about the bust. "No, what happened?" Lisa said, sounding pretty sexy.

"The cops came, and busted us for underage drinking, and loud music," I said. I don't think anyone was charged with drug possession.

"That's not too bad," She said. "So coach is really going to bench you for a long time for this."

"I wasn't put on the report," I said.

"You were there right?" Lisa asked surprisingly.

"Yup," I said.

"Why weren't you put on the report?" Lisa asked.

"The cop said that he was a fan," I said. "That's all."

"Wow, so what are you going to do?" Lisa asked.

"Well I am going to take the punishment that coach hands out," I said.

"That's noble," Lisa said. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No, wanna go to Jake?" I asked.

"Sure, meet you there, babe," Lisa said.

"See ya," I said and hung up the phone. I got my football stuff ready before I ran off to see her. I was surprised that she hadn't heard anything; I figured someone had started the rumor already, but then again it was late.

"What happened last night?" Ron the desk dude at Harrison asked when I came downstairs. "I heard something bad happened to the football team."

"It's a team thing, we are dealing with it," I said angrily.

"Sorry, jeez man, I was just wondering," Ron said. He didn't need to know, he had nothing to do with the team. I only discuss the team with two people outside the team; Lisa and Mom. Why the hell would he care? I don't get it.

It was a crappy Monday morning, the sun wasn't showing and it was cold. I always hated these days, it was the type of day that I would have liked to just stay inside. Too bad I had a lot of work and football stuff to do today or I would've. Coach doesn't like it when we miss class for stupid reasons.

"Keith," Lisa said when she saw me. "Man it's good to see you, I missed you this weekend."

"I missed you too babe," I said before giving her a kiss. "How was your banquet?"

"Not bad, it was just our pre-season banquet," She said as we got our food at Jake. The place was really busy for a Monday morning. It was almost like everyone had just woken up and went to eat at the same time.

"Man there are a lot of people here," Lisa said. "Never seen it so busy for breakfast."

"Most people don't wake up early," I said. It was seven o'clock; I didn't even think that there would be a lot of people here. Athletes have to be up early for training so Jake opens up early for us.

"So Derek how long were the cops at your place?" I asked when I saw him sitting in the football player's section.

"Not too long after the party broke up," Derrick said. "Hey, I'm having another party Friday do you two wanna come?"

"Sure I will," I said. "You free Lisa?"

"I think so," Lisa said. "Yeah, I can come." I bet she can, and I mean in more than one way.

"When is it?" I said.

"Saturday after we get home," Derrick said. That's convenient for me at least, and I don't have to interrupt Eric and Mom during their weekend without me.

"Come and get me before you go?" Lisa indirectly asked.

"Yeah sure," I said. "We gotta eat, see you at ASC." And then we walked away, it was kind of rude but what else do we do.

"Hun something seems off about you," Lisa said sitting down to breakfast. "Is there something else wrong?"

"Caught Mom and Eric in the sac together last night," I said.

"Wow, that had to be rough," Lisa said.

"Rough is being nice," I said. "It was a very hard thing for me to swallow." I have never forgiven mother for this one.

"Do you feel bad that she's not with your father?" She asked. Oh, touchy point.

"Have I told you about Dad?" I asked.

"No, did I hit a sore spot?" She asked.

"Yeah big time," I said.

"Sorry, I won't do that again," Lisa said sheepishly.

"It's ok, Dad as you know left us," I said. "Well, Dad's a drunk, womanizer and a downright bad guy."

"Oh, I didn't know," She said.

"It's' ok, I never want to see Dad again," I said. "He didn't approve of me coming here."

"So you don't care about him?" She asked. "That's rough."

"Yeah well he doesn't deserve that," I said. For the rest of the breakfast we sat there in silence, to be honest it wasn't that long, maybe five minutes. I can eat really fast; I blame our insanely short lunch periods in high school for that. It also helped when needing to get ready for training.

"So what's your day like today?" Lisa asked.

"Training and classes," I said. "I have an interview at WBEV today, wanna come?"

"Sure, what time?" Lisa asked.

"Seven, I'm getting out of practice for it," I said.

"Even after all the crap yesterday?" She said as we headed down to ASC. It was awfully nice to be walking with her to training; she's so sexy and great to look at. Being seen with a gorgeous woman is always good, and it takes people's eyes away from me.

"I'd hope so, or WBEV isn't going to be too happy with us," I said. "We have a good relationship with them right now."

"They haven't had any of us on the show," Lisa said.

"I'll talk to them to get you on," I said.

"Aw, you're a sweetie," She said, giving me a huge hug. I wanted to keep her happy, I needed as many people on my side as possible if I did anything stupid. Which was completely possible.

"Anything for you babe," I said walking into the lobby of ASC. There were pictures on the walls of famous Beavers, and there was a huge trophy case. There were at least ten trophies from the football team alone. I loved looking at the trophies because it showed me if I worked hard enough that we could get a trophy of some sort.

"I'll see you in English," Lisa said when I dropped her off in the softball office.

"See ya babe," I said before kissing her. I wondered if Coach Firth had heard about the party at all, because if he did, I might as well just work with Ed this morning. I didn't want to cross Coach Firth when he was mad.

"Keith, can you come in here for a minute?" Coach Firth asked when he saw me. Well so much for avoiding coach.

"Yeah, what you need?" I asked. I knew already, but I wanted to cover my bases just in case.

"Did you hear about this party at Derrick's last night?" Coach asked.

"I was there," I said.

"What?" Coach said surprisingly. "You weren't on the report."

"Cop didn't want to put me on the report because he was a fan," I said.

"Did you drink?" Coach asked.

"Not as much as I would have had," I said.

"Keith, Keith, what am I going to do with you guys," Coach said.

"Don't ask me, but whatever it is, I need to be included on it," I said. "I just want to be part of the team."

"If you had not said anything you wouldn't have been punished," Coach said. "But you will."

"Good, is Ed in?" I asked. Good, so he was going to punish me.

"Keith, I have no problem with you guys having fun," Coach said. "Heck I have no problem with you drinking at a party, just as long as I don't have to hear about it."

"Will keep that in mind," I said. "Is Ed around?"

"No but Coach Lucas is," Craig said. "Or I can help you."

"Sure, I was thinking about the Oregon game this morning," I said. "I was wondering if their defense is like Tennessee's?"

"What do you mean?" Coach said rocking back in his chair. Coach rarely ever sat up straight; he was always slumped over, kind of like he didn't care. It was weird because if you knew him, he cared about two things: his family and his team.

"The Vols were very tough on the run, but took more chances on the pass," I said. "I felt at easy against their secondary."

"Oregon really isn't as good against the run, but they're not terrible," Coach said. "I think that we can run against them."

"Good so Jack gets some yards against the green pricks," I said. I had always hated Oregon, because they used to lay waste to my beloved UCLA Bruins. But our basketball team would always beat them. It was more of a heated rivalry here, because of the proximity to the campuses.

"I hope so, he had a bad game against them last year," Coach said.

"How was Eddie against them?" I asked.

"Running wise he was fine, but he can't throw worth a damn," Coach said. "I know that's harsh, but we lost because he couldn't throw on them."

"Is that why you recruited me?" I asked.

"That's part of it," Coach said. "And I needed a qb anyway, so why not recruit the best in the Pacific." I wasn't one of the best players on the left coast, but that was good to say.

"Can I throw on the Ducks?" I said.

"Yes, let me show you," Coach said getting out some of the play paper. All coaches have sheets of paper that have the offensive and defensive lines penciled in where they play.

"They play a cover two, but their corners are weak," Coach said diagramming a cover two defense for me, as if I already didn't know. We had some plays that we used, if used right could really exploit the cover two.

"We need to get Derrick and Rodney out on the perimeter, Arute can make some strides down the middle also," He continued. "The key is to hit them long a couple of times."

"Coach, is Rodney fast enough to get past Jackson?" I asked. "Last time I checked Jackson is the 100 yard dash champion of the conference." Rodney Cacer was one of the fastest player's I'd played with.

"Not really but a quick juke move off of the line and he's gone," Coach said. "I think we are going to try to stay as much away from him as possible." That was smart, but I wonder how much we could actually do that.

"Is that possible?" I said as the football SID walked in. Larissa McCall was a very pretty woman, and she was my type, but I didn't like her personality. She's small, and dark but she has an attitude a mile long.

"It might be, if we use more motion and shifting at the line…" Coach said before Larissa interrupted him.

"Craig, we have some media requests for you to fill out," Larissa said barging in. "One's for the Beavers Den with Keith, we don't want him to do anything stupid there."

"Excuse me?" I said. "Stupid?"

"Oh, sorry didn't see you," Larissa lied. She saw me there; she just wanted to get a reaction out of me.

"Sure, sure whatever," I said. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, um you know," She said trying to backtrack her statement. "I heard you walked in on your mother getting laid, and acted stupid."

"Where did you hear that?" I asked.

"Saw Eric in the gym this morning, he was saying how good you Mom is," She said. That's when I snapped. I should have just walked out and calmed down.

"WHAT? SO WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?" I screamed. "THAT'S MY FUCKING MOTHER, I AM GOING TO BEAT HIM WITHIN A MILLIMETER OF HIS WORTHLESS LIFE."

"Keith calm down, its just guys talking," Craig said angrily. "Larissa I will sign them and get them too you."

"FUCK THAT," I said. I really shouldn't have sworn at coach, but as wound up as I was, it was the only thing I could say.

"Larissa, that was uncalled for and I am calling Ed on this one," Craig said. Ed was Ed McMillan our Athletic Director. "You do not bad mouth my kids to ANYONE, GOT THAT?"

"Yes, but…" She said.

"No buts, now leave," Craig said very sternly. Coach rarely ever got angry, he was a really good guy, who gave you an honest shake on life. He liked to give people the benefit of the doubt.

"Now Keith, I am going to sign the release for the Beavers Den, but you can't break any rules before the interview," Coach said. "Got it?"

"Of course, but what if I see Eric?" I asked. I was going to beat him within a millimeter of his scrawny life.

"Just ignore him, what's the use?" Coach said. "Unless he keeps on doing it, don't bother."

"But he's talking about my mother," I said. He was scum and he needed to be taken care of, fast.

"True, but if he continues, the team will take care of him," Coach said. I had no clue what he was talking about, and it probably wasn't good.

"Anyway, coach what if we run the J-89-right-Arizona against their aggressive corner split?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"That could work, we just have to shift Zack earlier, because it's a common play," Coach said. We probably had run that play four times a game. It was our best play.

"I could run that play in my sleep," I said. "In fact I think I have dreamt about it a couple of times."

"We want your eyes open," Coach said. "You will get to a point where you will be able to run the offense in your sleep." I had heard that before during one of the quarterback camps I went to in high school. Many of the top quarterbacks that I have talked to say that they can remember exact plays from high school. A good quarterback will know where every player has to go in every play. A great quarterback will know on every play where every player has to be on every play, and every audible from that set.

"Keith, I need your help in here," Ed said. He just appeared from his office. Coaches had their own office. As your duties on the team lessened so did the space you were allotted for an office. Of course, Craig had the biggest office.

"What's up coach?" I said.

"Keith, we are installing new plays for the Arizona game (two weeks from now), and I need someone to run them with me," Ed said. That was weird we never installed new plays for another opponent until that week. Maybe it was important, or maybe put some of them in this game.

"Sure, you got some people to catch for me?" I asked while walking with him into our indoor training center. We had an indoor field at ASC that we practiced on in the mornings.

"The softball team," Ed said. "This is Lisa, Keith."

"Ed, I know her, she's my girlfriend," I said.

"Oh sorry," Ed said. "Ellen can you hold this for me babe?" Wait, What? Ed and Ellen Mac Williams are dating? I thought she was married.

"Yeah no sweat." She said.

"Ok Keith, I need you to get the girls into the huddle," He said. "You'll have Lisa, Laura, Chloe, and Prascilla Saunders as your receivers." Janet Allen plays softball? Wow, didn't know that.

"Keith, be gentle with me," Lisa said. "I'm little, and I don't want to be hurt."

"Hun, I will never hurt you," I said. "But I throw hard, so be careful."

"I will," Lisa said.

"Keith you don't have to put much on the ball," Ed said. "Ok, it's X-32-Idaho-Center."

"Ok guys, sorry girls," I said. "Here's the play, Chloe I need you on the left side of me about two feet away, run ten yards towards the end zone and cut towards the right far corner of the of the end zone." I probably could have watered it down more for them, but I figured that they knew the field.

"Ok, half or full speed?" Chloe asked.

"Full, never run half," I said.

"Nancy your next to Chloe on her right side, I want you to run towards the end zone, you're not my main option but look back for the ball," I said. "Parscilla you're on my right, run five yards and cut towards the left sideline."

"Ok," Parscilla said.

"Should I look back the whole way?" Chloe asked.

"No, look back occasionally," I said.

"Lisa, you're my main receiver on this," I said. "Run a curl route."

"Ok, no problem," She said. I didn't have to explain much to her because she told me once that her father was a high school football coach. She spent a lot of time with him on the sidelines, because she really loved football.

"Girls, snap is on the third HUT," I said. "Ready BREAK."

"Down, set, HUT, HUT, HUT," I said. I wasn't going to go through play call before the snap because I didn't think that it was necessary.

The girls ran the play as well as could have expected. I was however surprised how fast they were. I indented to not have to throw the ball as early to make up for their lack of speed. Chloe could really run, so on our first try through the play I put a prefect ball to her. She unfortunately didn't catch the ball, but it helped to know that I could put a deep ball on this play.

"Sorry about that," Chloe said running back to the huddle.

"No problem, you weren't expecting it," I said. "You were running faster than I expected."

"Thanks, what are we running now?" Chloe said.

"Same thing I think," I said. "Coach same play?"

"Yes, on two this time," Ed said.

"Ok girls we are going to run this the same way," I said.

"Am I going to get it again?" Chloe said.

"Maybe, you have to be there anyway," I said. I should throw the ball to Lisa just to say I completed a pass on her.

"Ready, set, Hut one, Hut two," I said at the line. I waited on the ball a little more this time; I wanted to make sure that it would be caught. Of course I didn't know how good Lisa's hands were. Sure enough I put a good ball on her hands and she caught it.

"Good catch," I said. "You could walk onto the team with those hands."

"They wouldn't let me play," She said.

"Run it again," Ed said.

"Shouldn't I get one of our players in here?" I asked. "Or a defense?" We already knew how to run the offense against the air, but I needed the defense to get it right.

"Not many players are around," Coach said. "Let me see if we have some lineman in the weight room."

"Keith, you do throw a hard ball," Lisa said.

"Yeah, you almost broke my fingers," Chloe said.

"Sorry girls, I don't like to throw unless I put all of my touch into it," I said.

"Laura catch," I said throwing to her. She was ten yards away talking to Ellen. I figured that I should at least get everyone a pass. I would have thrown one to Nancy but she ran off somewhere with Derrick Toles, a wide receiver.

"Bloody hell that hurt," Janet said. "Man you throw hard."

"Sorry about that," I said. I didn't put too much into it, oh well maybe she wasn't as tough as the others.

"It's ok, I got lucky anyway," Janet said throwing the ball back to me. She is one sexy woman. Ed was able to find enough players for a makeshift defense. We practiced for another half and hour before we had to run off to class.

"Keith will you walk with me to campus?" Janet asked.

"Well, um, I'm going to campus with Lisa, your more then welcome to walk with us," I said.

"Oh, no I'll pass, I remembered I have something to do at home," She said. She wanted to be with me without Lisa. Not going to happen, Lisa's all mine, and I'm all hers.

"Sure, Lisa when you going to English?" I yelled to her.

"After my shower," She said.

"Oh, can I join?" I said flirtaously.

"You wish, I'll wait for you in the lobby," Lisa said. I did wish, but since this was a public place, I don't think that it would be allowed.

"Yeah I do," I said. "Give me fifteen minutes." I was fast getting cleaned up when I wanted to be. And to be with Lisa, I could take five minutes.

"You smell good babe," I said when I saw Lisa waiting for me outside the locker rooms.

"Thanks, my hands still hurt from catching that pass," She said. "You weren't joking." For nine o'clock it was busy on campus. People were running here and there, and some were maybe just running to stay in shape.

"Sorry didn't mean to hurt you," I said holding both of her hands. "I'll not make a pass on you so hard again." We passed by Cahill Hall where there were a bunch of students out smoking. I never understood people smoking before class, because you are going to not be able to talk while you are in class, with what cigarettes do to you.

"Aw, you don't have to worry about, I'm so in love with you," Lisa said. And that's one of those statements that guys don't know how to respond to. I like her a lot, and you usually want to be the first to say I love you. Not the other way around. Damn, missed the boat on her.

"You know I love you babe," I used the guy way out of it. She probably didn't know that I loved her, but I just had to say it. I did mean it, but it didn't come out that way to me at least.

"I do," She said. "Now did you finish your paper this weekend?"

"Yeah, fought every minute of it yesterday," I said.

"Why?" She said. "Was it that hard for you?"

"It was boring, why did we have to write about a book we read," I said. "Man I don't have time for that shit."

"Don't you guys have study hall?" Lisa said. Every school has to allot time during the day for the athletes to get their studying done. Most of the time players have to go and get their work done. But on Friday's it's very hard to concentrate in there, because so many people are talking about their plans for the weekend.

"Of course, but I blew it off on Friday," I said.

"Now, that's not good," She said. "You know school comes before football." Man, sometimes women can be annoying.

"It does? Since when?" I asked jokingly.

"Come on you need to stay eligible," She said. Now that she loves me, she's being my moral conscience? Man, she needs to back down off of me a bit.

"That's not hard, I'm smart," I said as we walked into Herman Hall. The place was buzzing, it seemed like all the students had classes here this morning. Maybe it was because it was Monday that people were here. I just was not used to seeing that many people at the same time in one place. It seemed like people would show up to their classes at the beginning of the week and then not show up the rest of the time.

"Wow, I guess we will have to sit at the back of the room," Lisa said. English 100 was held in an auditorium because the class had eighty students enrolled. It seemed like today that everyone showed up. And that's a surprise because Ron's reputation is that he gets only half of his students to show up.

"Now people, I was very upset with your efforts on your last paper," Ron said. "So you are all going to redo them today." Aw man, I didn't think mine was that bad, oh well two names decided it was.

"Keith yours wasn't bad, but could you add more feeling to it," Ron said. "By the way, Eric is spreading rumors about you among the Professors."

"Thanks, yeah I know, the athletic department is dealing with it," I said.

"Oh, ok, if you want me to warn him or tell him to stop I will," Ron said.

"I appreciate that, but maybe Eric is gloating because he actually got a woman in the sack," I said. "He's worthless."

"Anyway, I'm here if you need me," Ron said. And that was nice of him. I just didn't know how much Eric would listen to Ron.

"Thanks," I said. The paper he was talking about was about someone important in our lives. I chose Lisa, but at that time I was not as emotionally involved with her as I am now.

"So how was your paper?" Lisa asked.

"It's not too marked up," I said. "But it says, good work I feel that you don't have an emotional attachment to your subject as you should."

"Who'd you do?" Lisa asked.

"You," I said.

"Oh yeah, I remember that one," She said. "Well I did you." I hoped in another context she did me, but alas on paper she profiled me.

"We haven't yet," I said jokingly.

She threw her notebook at me. "Of course I knew that," She said. We had that kind of relationship, thou I did want to have sex with her.

We pumped more excitement into our papers about each other by talking about our date together. That should add enough spice to our papers to either get a good grade or scare Ron. I was betting on getting a good grade, however our date wasn't exactly PG rated. Plus that walk in the park adds a degree of sentimentality to it that really grabs at the heartstrings. It also makes the students look like they have more personality.

"So next time I want a paper on how college life has been for you so far," Ron said letting the class out.

"Oh that sounds boring," Lisa said.

"And this is a solo assignment," Ron said. "Keith no asking for help from Lisa, and likewise." But he never said anything about asking for help from my teammates or friends.

"Aw man, that's rough," I said leaving class.

"Keith keep in mind that I am here if Eric continues spreading rumors about your family," Ron said.

"Thanks, I will," I said. I needed to stop Eric personally even if it made Mom mad. He can't just go around slandering my mother or even saying that she's good in the sack. I just didn't want to get in trouble; I needed to think this one out. Plus coach couldn't know about it, if I talked to Eric.

"What was that about?" Lisa said.

"He apparently wants to help take care of Eric for me," I said. "A lot of people want to take care of him for me."

"What do they mean?" Lisa asked as we walked to history class.

"I don't know," I said.

The rest of the day was ordinary; I had many more professors tell me that they heard Eric talk about Mom. I was beginning to wonder if they were either telling the truth or Eric was being a real pain. Well anyway I couldn't do anything about it until after the interview. Lisa had a car for the week; her father was in town for a business meeting so she helped me drop off mother's car and went with me to the taping. She was able to get out of practice because she told her coach that she was going to be on air.

We drove up to Mom's house and I noticed that the lights were on in the front of the house, kind of like she was waiting for me. I was just going to drop off the car and leave the keys in the mailbox. I so didn't want to talk to her at that time. Plus, I didn't want Lisa to see Mom and me act like this.

"Lisa I will be right back," I said leaning into the driver's side door. "I don't want to disturb Mom."

"Ok babe, but hurry, you have to be at the studio soon," She said. I put the car in the garage and left the keys on the doorstep to the house. I didn't leave it on the outside step but the inside one. I didn't want to see her, but didn't want Mom to yell at me for being stupid.

"Keith, I want to talk to you," Mom said from the front door as I walked towards Lisa's car.

"I can't, I have an interview right now," I said. I could have stopped for ten minutes but it would have been rude to Lisa to keep her waiting.

"But it's important," Mom said.

"Yeah well so is this," I said.

"Keith," she said painfully as I got into Lisa's car.

"What did Mom say?" Lisa asked as we drove away. I just wanted to get to the studio and forget about Mom for the night.

"That she wanted to talk to me, that's about it," I said. "I'll deal with it tomorrow."

"Oh, ok," Lisa said. WBEV studio's was three or four blocks away from Mom, so we actually were there earlier than I thought we would be. I knew that Lisa wasn't going to be on air unless I asked. And I wanted her to sit next to me during the interview.

"Good to see you Keith," Kerry Lozine said.

"You to, do you mind if Lisa joins me on air?" I asked. "She's a softball player, and their season is starting soon."

"Two for the price of one, not a bad idea," Kerry said. "You might have a future in this business after your playing days."

"Haha, thanks," I said. "Lisa can you come here?"

"Yeah?" She said.

"Kerry wants to put you on air with me," I said.

"Well actually Keith asked me too," Kerry said.

"Aw how sweet," Lisa said. "I don't know why I should go on."

"Because you're an athlete," Kerry said. I guess he didn't know that she was my girlfriend.

"Well, ok I will do it," She said to Kerry.

"The make up girl has to get you guys ready, see you in fifteen," Kerry said.

"Ok," I said.

"Keith, does he know we are dating?" Lisa asked when we walked back to makeup.

"I don't think so," I said while getting powder stuff on my face.

"Today on the Beavers Den Football Player Keith Campbell on the game winning touchdown against Tennessee," Chris Burds said. "And later softball player Lisa Weaver on how the team will rebound from last years final game blow out." The music played and Kerry turned to us.

"Guys welcome to the Beavers Den," Kerry said.

"Thanks," Lisa said.

"Glad to be here," I said.

"Keith how did it feel to throw that touchdown pass?" Kerry said.

"Amazing," I said. Later I would equate it to great sex. "It's always good to win games for the team."

"Chris did Zach know that the ball was coming for him?" Chris said. "It looks like you were looking at him the whole time."

"The play is actually designed for Derrick Toles, but he was covered," I said. "I was looking for him, but Zach was open so I had to get it to him."

"Why?" Kerry followed up.

"You don't want me to run," I said. "It's not pretty." I wanted to say on air that the pass was as pretty as Lisa, but I didn't think she'd like that.

"Hahaha, how was the rush from the Vols?" Kerry asked.

"Their ends were scary, they were fast," I said. "I had to rush my passes because I was more worried about staying alive." Underneath the table I was holding Lisa's hand, for some reason while we were at the station I got insanely horny for her. She was wearing just normal pants and a tee shirt, really nothing too overly sexy.

"Your offensive line had trouble with the defense?" Chris asked.

"Of course, but that's not a knock on them, I have the best front five a freshman qb could want," I said. My tackles were good not great, but they kept defenders off of my back enough. They just needed to sustain their blocks a little longer on deep throws. But we don't throw long that much, so it's understandable.

"You know play instate rival Oregon, have you started to look at the tapes?" Chris said.

"Yes this morning," I said.

"What do you think of them?" Chris said.

"I hate them, those green and yellow freaks," I said. "The team is decent on defense, and their offense can do something's."

"Why do you hate them?" Chris asked.

"I hate their colors, and they have been beating my UCLA Bruins," I said.

"You're a Bruins fan?" Kerry asked.

"I'm from the Los Angeles area, so it's either USC or UCLA," I said. "But I am now 100 a Beavers fan."

"That's good to hear," Kerry said. "You know the last part of our interviews are rapid fire, are you ready?"

"Fire away," I said.

"Bob Newhart?" Kerry said.

"Funny guy, but more of a comedian for my Mother," I said.

"Phoebe Cates?" I said.

"Nice looking, but not as sexy as my girlfriend," I said. Lisa laughed at that one. I don't think she wanted to let on that she was my girlfriend.

"Your girlfriend?" Chris said.

"Hot, sexy, smart, just the perfect girl," I said. I really went over the top with this but I figure that I needed to with her sitting next to me. Lisa appreciated it.

"Orange and Black," Chris said.

"The school colors," I said.

"Coach Firth?" Chris said.

"Very good coach, needs more recognition for what he means to the program." I said.

"Well you are out of the Beavers Den," Chris said. "And next we will talk to Lisa Weaver about the softball team, you are watching channel 9." With that he turned to us and talked to us for a while.

"Your girlfriend must be a good girl for you to gloat that much about her on air," Kerry said.

"She is a real sweetie," I said taking off my microphone cord. "By the way, you're talking to her next."

"Wait, you and Lisa?" Chris asked.

"Yes, since the beginning of the season," she said.

"Do you mind if I bring it up on air?" Chris asked.

"I don't mind," I said.

"Me neither," Lisa said.

"I have some questions here, if I can get to it I will," Chris said. Chris was very good with Lisa; he never got to the questions about our relationship. I was interested in the interview with her, but I don't think there were many people who tuned in to hear about softball. Just not a big sport in my mind, I figured that people followed the big sports.

"So did you like being on TV?" I asked Lisa while we were walking out to the car.

"Wasn't bad," Lisa said. "I liked having to put on makeup." The roads were not that busy and it was late so we were going to coast home.

"Haha, I hate putting on makeup." I said.

"Oh shoot, I don't have my card with me, I can't get into Fletcher," She said.

"Well, you can stay over at my place," I said.

"I dunno, I'm not ready to take it to that level yet," She said.

"Who said anything about sex?" I said. I didn't say it, but you can sure as hell guarantee it, I was thinking about getting her naked.

"You don't mind sharing a bed with me and not having sex?" She asked.

"In a perfect world, no, but you know, I'm not at that point yet," I said. Lie, lie, lie. I'm a guy, if I am not thinking about sports, I am thinking about ways to get it on with a girl.

"So, how are you going to get me in?" Lisa said as we turned the corner to Harris Street. I had ways to get people in, and it wasn't hard, I knew all of the deskies at night.

"Not hard, I can do it," I said.

"Ok, but if I can't get in, I need to know," Lisa said pulling parking lot.

"Oh you will," I said. Man why was being such a prude, she's hot, sexy and I want her.

"Ok," She said. "I think I have my jogging shorts in the back."

"Cool, I don't have to give you my gym shorts," I said as we pulled into Harrison Hall's parking lot.

"Oh icky, hell no," She said with a smile on her face.

"Don't worry my place is cleaned up," I said.

"I'm not," She said. I figured since it was ten, that I could get her in the front door, I would have to take her in the back way. The RA's on shift at nights never locked the back doors; I guess they never figured we could sneak people in. I don't know why they didn't put two and two together, because it was obvious. Guys were always sneaking in their girls.

"Where are we going?" Lisa asked.

"The back door, it's always unlocked," I said.

"Boy they couldn't do that at Fletcher," She said walking around the service entry for the janitor's office. That was a place to sneak in also, but the janitor's office lead right into the main lobby. And I couldn't leave these chances up to the deskies.

"Ah here we go, just go up the stairs three flights," I said opening the backdoor for Lisa.

"This is almost like Mission Impossible trying to get to your bed," Lisa said. That was the sexiest thing that she had said to me. I almost wanted to make out with her right there on the spot.

"Aw that is a sexy saying," I said walking up the stairs. I hated using the stairway, unfortunately because of the situation we had to. I wanted to get her in the sac, if it was just for sleeping, because she looked sleepy.

"I try," She said.

"Oh I know," I said. She was good at pushing that fine line between flirting and normal talk.

"Here we go, here's your room," she said. We opened the door and Mike was sitting in the living room with Willie chatting about something.

"Hey guys, nice interview," Mike said. "How'd you get Lisa in?"

"It's magic," I said smiling. I didn't want to let on, but Mike wasn't stupid, so he probably did know how I did it.

"So she's staying?" Willie asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"Coach calls you're in trouble," Willie said.

"Coach doesn't have to know," I said. "And it's not like we're going to do it, either."

"Ah, she can't get into Fletcher," Mike said.

"Yeah pretty much," Lisa said.

"Oh I forgot, Keith, your mother called," Mike said trying to change the subject.

"Yeah kinda figured she'd call," I said. "Lisa the bathroom is around the corner."

"Ok babe," she said. "I'll be in, in fifteen minutes."

"Ok," I said as she walked into the bathroom.

"I'll deal with Mom in the morning," I said. "Too tired to deal with that."

"Guys, I'm going to go for a walk, got some stuff on my mind," Willie said.

"Ok cool, take your card," Mike said, before Willie walked out the door.

"Something's off about him since you've been gone," Mike said.

"Oh, can you tell?" I said as we walked into my bedroom, so I can change.

"No, but I will figure it out," Mike said. "You crazy children have fun with each other." I hoped that nothing bad was happening with Willie, but what we were experiencing was the tip of the ice burg.

"We will, if it gets too loud in here, tell us," I said jokingly.

"I will, oh scratch that, I will just listen," Mike said leaving. I usually slept without a shirt on, but with Lisa I always slept with a shirt on. Little did I know that this would become a common occurrence in our relationship.

I got into bed anxious to see her come in. I was so excited to get a girl in my bed, ok so it wasn't for sex but it was a start. I figured that this was just a stepping-stone to the enviable. Then again I was thinking like a guy again.

Knock, knock "Are you decent babe?" Lisa asked.

"Just a second," I responded as I jumped into bed.

"I am as decent as I am going to be," I said.

"Here I come," She said. She opened the door, and it was like a ray of sunlight hit me, because she was so stunning. She had her long black hair down, a Beavers Softball tank top and was wearing small purple running shorts, which was showing off her nice hips. I was so awestruck that I could barely function.

"Wow, that's a sight," I said as she got into the bed next to me.

"What?" She said snuggling up to me. Boy was she sending me mixed signals. First she comes to bed all sexy, and then she snuggles up next to me. What does this girl want?

"You look so sexy right now," I said.

"Aw, your nice," She said and gave me a kiss. "Did you set the alarm?"

"Yeah six," I said. "Is that too early for you?"

"Nah, but you might want to set it earlier," She said. "Girls take longer in the shower."

"They do?" I said. Since I really never lived with a woman that was new to me.

"You didn't know that?" She said. "You can put your arm around me, I don't mind." Ok that's cool, the good thing is that she was lying on my right side so I wouldn't hurt my throwing arm.

"Never lived with women," I said. "Mom usually took showers after I left to school." So I set the alarm for five thirty.

"Did she work while you were in school?" Lisa asked.

"She worked late morning and most of the afternoon's at a grocery store in town," I said.

"That had to be nice to have her home, when you got home," She said.

"Especially with Dad not being around as much," I said.

"Did he travel a lot?" She asked.

"No, he was at the bars or with his girl friend," I said.

"So your Dad was a drunk and a womanizer?" She said.

"That's a way to put it," I responded. Man was I getting tired, then again I had a busy day, so that was expected.

"Yawn, I'm getting tired, good night," She said. "Love ya."

"Night babe," I said before kissing her again, this time a good night kiss. I didn't fall asleep for almost a half an hour afterwards because I was watching her sleep. She looked so pleasant sleeping. It was so cool having my girl in my arms. It was a pleasant sight, and made me forget all the problems that I had that weekend.

The alarm clock woke us up at five thirty, and the day was going to be one of my hardest I had, had so far. And it started off with a bang, just the type of bang I wanted.

"Keith, damn your alarm clock is loud," Lisa said. "Damn, I'm lucky I'm a light sleeper."

"I have it because I am such a deep sleeper," I said. She laid her head on my chest the whole night, and barely moved. I felt so good about having spent the night with her.

"I'm going to take a shower," She said. "Can I use your toiletries?"

"Yeah sure, but I don't have any deodorant for you," I said.

"Oh that's ok, I can get by this morning without it," She said walking to the door. The shorts that she was wearing showed off her butt so well as she moved throughout the room, that I got so horny for her again.

"Do you have some in your locker?" I yelled to her from outside the bathroom.

"I think I do," she said getting into the shower. I could picture her pulling her clothes off and getting into the shower. Man, I needed to do something about the over dose of horniness that I have. Maybe there's a pill for it. I don't mind being horny, but at the level that I am, it's worrisome.

"Keith, Willie didn't come home last night," Mike said when he saw me in the living room. That was odd, and scary why would he stay out all night.

"That's weird, I'll call up front," I said.

"Harrison Hall desk," a gravely voiced guy said on the phone.

"Yeah this is Keith Campbell, my roommate didn't come home last night," I said.

"Do you know where he went?" the guy said. If I knew where Willie went, why would I be calling this yahoo?

"I can't find him, so no," I said.

"Well, I will call the RDA on staff, are you going to be around for a while," the guy said.

"I'm getting ready for morning training," I said. "Yeah for about a half an hour."

"Ok we will see if they have seen anything or know what to do," the guy said.

"Alright," I said before hanging up the phone.

"Whom were you talking to?" Mike said.

"Some dude up front, don't know who," I said getting my stuff ready for training. I had to bring a playbook and my cleats. The equipment staff gave us all bags with our names embroidered on them, they were like big brief cases.

"So how was it last night?" Mike asked. "Did you score?"

"Yeah in my dream I scored a touchdown against Oregon," I said.

"Moron, I was talking about with Lisa," Mike said.

"I did she was in bed with me when I dreamt it," I said.

"Keith, you're being a jerk," Mike said. The phone rang and Mike picked it up.

"Yeah, ok well, good," Mike said.

"What was that?" I asked.

"The desk dude said that the best thing to do is to talk to Coach," Mike said.

"Talk to coach about what?" Lisa said walking into the room. She was still wearing the clothes she wore yesterday, but looked good.

"Willie didn't come home last night," Mike said.

"Oh that's not good, do you need me to do anything?" She said.

"I don't know," I said. "I don't know."

"I'm worried," Mike said. Well duh, I could have told you that, because he wouldn't have brought it up if he wasn't.

Chapter 9 – The Fight or Fights

"Keith, you ready to go?" Lisa asked as we walked out the door.

"Yup, just a second," I said. "Mike you coming with us?"

"I'll be at ASC soon," Mike said. "I'm going to look around here for Willie."

"Ok cool," I said walking out with Lisa. The walk was always nice in the morning, because I could wake myself up. I always liked to wake up the senses with a nice walk in the morning. Sometimes that shower in the morning didn't do the trick.

"Hey Keith," Eric said as he walked by me.

"You and I have to talk," I said.

"I can't I'm busy right now," he said.

"Oh you'll make time for me," I said.

"Lisa will you talk to your boyfriend," Eric said.

"I'm staying neutral," She said. "Plus you're wrong anyway." Way to go Lisa.

"Listen, don't be going around and telling other people about my Mom," I said. "Because sooner or later it's getting back to me."

"I don't give a shit if it gets back to you," Eric said. "Your mother is a fox in the sack."

"That's it motherfucker," I said before I snapped. I pushed him to the ground and started punching him.

"You will never ever do that again," I said. I didn't want to go at him too long, though I figured that it would come back to the team anyway.

"You'll regret this Keith," Eric said brushing himself off. "I'll get you."

"Yeah sure whatever dude," I said walking away. I did screw him up badly, blackened one of his eyes, and bruised both cheeks. He probably couldn't do much anyway about me, the football team would take care of that. Plus if he decided to bring charges against me, the cops wouldn't do a thing. Basically, I came to realize I was damn near untouchable.

"That was intense, I wonder if you are going to get into trouble," Lisa said as we walked into the lobby of ASC.

"Probably not, it wasn't my fault," I said.

"But you're the star in the biggest sport in the town," She said.

"Oh well, haven't gotten in trouble yet," I said. "Babe I have to go, catch at lunch?" I wanted to get away from that topic as much as possible. She couldn't understand that it was so easy for me to get off on stuff I have done wrong.

"Sure, what time?" Lisa said.

"Noon, at the Union?" I said. The Union was cool, it had a cafeteria where we could use our meal plans just like it was used at Jake. Really cool, and the food was better, the only problem was that the union was on the other side of campus from the dormitories.

"Yeah babe," She said before giving me a kiss. Now, onto the second of many problems I had on that day.

"Coach, we have a problem," I said when I saw Craig in his office.

"Oh Hi, nice interview last night," He said. "What's the problem?"

"Willie went out for a walk and didn't come home," I said.

"What?" Coach said perking up.

"Willie went out for a walk to clear his mind, about ten last night," I said. I had a feeling that Willie was all right, but couldn't get back into Harrison last night.

"Did you guys call the RA on staff?" Coach asked.

"Yeah we did, they weren't too much of a help," I said. "They said to deal with you."

"That's weird, because they have to by law account for everyone if someone goes missing," he said. Yeah I kind of thought that legally they had to.

"So what do we need to do?" I said.

"Well let's call Ed, he'll know," Craig said. "Ed's been here for years, I'm sure he's dealt with something like this." Ed's office was a couple of doors down from the football office.

"Ed, we have an issue," Craig said.

"What's the issue?" Ed said looking up from his paperwork. Ed was always doing something, if it was planning another game for a team, or helping install something for game, you could bet that Ed was busy.

"Willie Anderson didn't come home last night," Craig said. "His roommates, Mike Williams and Keith Campbell are worried."

"I would be too," Ed said. "Tell you what, I will call my brother, and we will get this figured out."

"What does your brother have to do with this?" I asked stupidly.

"He's the Captain of the Corvallis Police," Ed said.

"Oh, sorry didn't know that," I said.

"Why don't you guys get your morning practice," Ed said. "And I will get you Keith when my brother needs you."

"Ok, but I have class right after this," I said.

"I'll get you out of class," Ed said. Because he was the athletic director, he had a file on each player for every team. It gave him important information, like home numbers, parents, safety needs, and class lists.

"Cool," I said before heading off with Craig. Tuesday's weren't physical practices; they were film study for the last game, and a look ahead for the next game. It wasn't really taxing, but there were some days where I really didn't care about looking at the last game. Sometimes, it was just better if I had a bad half or game to move on. Yes I understood trying to learn from your mistakes, but I didn't like to. Practice this morning wasn't that boring and it really opened my eyes to studying game film. I really needed to study film more if I was going to continue to be successful.

"Keith, have you talked to our resident physiatrist?" Coach Firth said.

"No I haven't," I said. I don't know why he would want me to see a shrink, I wasn't messed up, or so I thought.

"Well, I like to put all our freshmen through Dr. Hall just to see if everything is copasetic," Coach said. "I just don't want to be blindsided, again."

"Again?" I said.

"Yeah, four years ago I signed this great high school receiver," Coach said. "And I did the whole recruiting thing, and he checked out."

"What happened?" I said. Then why didn't he check out Willie then?

"Well he lasted two weeks on campus and went to live in the mountains," Coach said. That's weird, but then again the seventies were a weird time.

"Do you think that's what Willie did?" I said.

"I don't know, I just don't know," He said. "Well, have fun in history class."

"I will," I said.

"If I need you, I'll call the professor," Coach said. Each classroom had a phone in it, so teachers could be easily reached. It was a good safety measure, and it was help for athletes if something bad happened.

Chapter 10 Being Gay isn't bad or is it?

I walked back to campus, worried for Willie, but I was focused on history. We were talking about the wrap up of World War 2 of the affect on Oregon. That was a fun period of me because a lot of my friend's fathers were in the war. It had always interested me because so many things about life as we know it changed forever.

"Keith can you come here for a minute?" Professor Kendall said when I walked into the room.

"Yeah what do you need?" I asked.

"I was very disappointed in your efforts last week," Kendall said. What was he expecting with me? I'm a damn athlete, sometimes these professors expect way too much out of their students. It was like they didn't think that we had lives, or jobs outside of the class.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"You seemed distracted last week," Kendall said. "It was like you had something else on your mind." Well that didn't limit it down; I am guy and an athlete.

"Well I'm an athlete and last week was a big week for me," I said. "There are just some days that I will not be in tuned."

"But school should come first," Kendall said. "I can keep you off the team with a bad grade." Yeah, like the athletic department would allow me to be ineligible. Athletes knew that the athletic department changed their grades if they were top players.

"Yeah like that would happen," I said. "And you don't give me grades, I earn them." Kendall could completely screw me over but in all likely hood Ed would get my grades changed. You just didn't screw over the starting quarterback and get away with it.

"Hey dude, I heard you didn't get on the police report," Eddie said when he saw me in class. I usually ignored him in class because he was always talking or doodling on his desk. I wanted to learn, and I didn't want to screw around.

"Yeah, it was fucked up man," I said. "I was there, I should have been written up."

"But you're the starting qb, you can't get in trouble," Eddie said. "Your damn near invincible."

"I wouldn't say that," I said. "Was it the same for you last year?"

"Oh it was even worse, I had people giving me stuff last year," Eddie said.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"People gave me stuff under the table," Eddie said. "It will happen to you." By then Kendall was talking about the Cairo Conference and General Marshall.

"Like it's not already happening," I said ending the conversation. I didn't want to get into further trouble with Kendall.

Fortunately I was not in class that long because Coach called for me.

"Keith Campbell, you are needed at Allen Sports Complex," Kendall said. "Get the notes from someone."

"I will," I said. I never did get the notes from that lessen, because I just didn't care.

"Lucky shit," Eddie said. "I wonder what the coaches need now."

"It's about Willie," I said picking up my stuff. "He's missing."

"Are you going to leave or disrupt my class more?" Kendall said. Man what did that guy have against me?

"No I'm leaving," I said before walking out the door. I liked the subject but hated the teacher to no end, and he probably figured that out.

It was weird to see campus while people in class, because the campus was very quite. Not many people were walking around on campus; it was like a ghost town. The slackers were out smoking, something that I still don't get, why would you smoke?

"Coach, thanks for calling," I said. "Teacher has something against me."

"Who is it?" Craig asked leaning back from his defensive notebook.

"Collin Kendall," I said.

"Oooh, he hates jocks," Craig said. "For some reason he doesn't like football players, maybe he was beaten up by jocks in school."

"Probably," I said. "So where is Ed's brother?"

"Oh, we are going to meet him at the station," Craig said getting his keys for his car.

"Oh, cool," I said. I'd not seen his car, but I thought that it was illegal for coaches to transport their players anywhere.

"Keith have you found Willie yet?" Jack said as we walked out of the football offices.

"No, but we are going to the police station to file a missing persons report," I said. I was scared about this, I had never been to the police station, and I didn't know what to do. I figured Coach had a lot of experience, so I could feel better about going there.

"If you need anything give me a call," Jack said. "Or stop me on campus."

"Thanks, I will," I said leaving with Coach Firth.

"I'm right around the corner," Coach said. "The parking lot was empty when I came here this morning."

"You don't have your own parking spot?" I said. I thought that all the couches did, at least it seemed that the basketball coach did.

"I did before they repaved the parking lot, I never got around to renewing my faculty parking spot," Craig said coming up to a blue Ford F150, it was kind of a sea green color.

"They just don't give you one retroactively," I said. Just then Lisa walked up behind me and grabbed my right arm.

"Hey babe, where you going?" Lisa asked.

"Well, we are going to file a missing person's report," I said.

"Oh, well I will see you at home," She said. "Do you mind if I stay at your place tonight?"

"Sure no problem," I said sheepishly around Coach.

"Cool, well bye," She said before she gave me a kiss goodbye.

"Your girlfriend is prettier in person, right on," Coach said. "And by the way, I don't care if your shacking up with her, as long as you're not breaking any NCAA rules that's good."

"Good, because I'm not," I said. "Then again who knows, that rule book is so long." It was eight hundred pages my freshman year.

"At least you don't have to look it over every month like I have to," Coach said. "Here's my car." His car was the Ford Truck.

"Oh nice car, I mean truck," I said. "It's a manly auto."

"Yeah, the misses doesn't like it," He said. "It's too big for her." Craig's wife was tiny, like 5'5, and I could see why she didn't like the truck.

"Her car is tiny too," He said as we pulled out of the parking lot. It was not busy, but it was before noon, so most of the drivers wouldn't be here for a while.

"What kind of car does she have," I said. I'd met his wife, but really didn't spend much time with the family.

"1977 Cooper," He said. Campus traffic was very busy, most of it was coming from main campus, where all the school, and class buildings were.

"That's a cool car, I want my Mom to get one," I said.

"While, I can't tell you where to get one, or give you one, I'd say you'd like it," Coach said.

"Yeah stupid NCAA rules," I said.

"They are just looking out for you," Coach said. "And you don't want the program to go on probation."

"I guess so, but at what extent do they have to go," I said as we turned left on New Rochelle Road. New Rochelle Road is the street where all the fraternities and sororities are for the most part; some of them are on main campus.

"What do you mean?" Coach said.

"Well, they restrict damn near everything we do, it's almost like we can't look at something without breaking a rule," I said.

"True, but they want their sports to be completely clean of all wrong doing, in everything," Coach said. "Just be happy that you don't have to recruit." Six years later a big time program would lose their team due to very dirty recruiting.

"Yeah, but I had some experiences with coaches that were sketchy," I said.

"If you just got sketchy, then you came off good then," He said. "I've heard about a lot of weird people offering recruits weird things to come to their school."

"Yeah the seniors on my team from the year before said that they received certain gifts from certain teams," I said as we pulled into the police station.

"Ah the station looks like the one back in Hopeful Hollow," I said.

"You knew the police station?" Coach said as we walked into the main lobby of the police station.

"Yup, remember Dad's a drunk," I said.

"Can I help you?" The older lady at the desk said. She was a rather depressing looking woman, her face looked worn out. She was wearing bland colors, tan and white. A really sad site, you almost felt sorry for her.

"We're here to see Brent McMillan," Coach said.

"Just a minute, I'll ring him," the woman said. "Brent, there are two people here to see you."

"Ok, I'll let them in," the woman said. "You guys can go in, he's the last door at the end."

"Alright thanks," Coach said. We walked down a long hall into a big main room with a lot of desks facing each other. I'd say that there was about thirty cops on duty right now. There were a lot of cops just sitting around shooting the breeze. Brent's office was at the end of the hall, with a big glass door with his name on it. His name was written in big black block letters.

"Brent," Coach said knocking on the door of Brent's office.

"Craig, how you are doing?" Brent said opening up the door.

"Not so good, one of my players has gone missing," Coach said.

"That's not good, yeah Ed said something about that," Brent said. "Oh hey Keith."

"Hey man," I said.

"So who was the last to see him?" Brent asked as we walked into his room.

"Nice chairs, softer than the ones I have in my office," Coach said. "Keith, and Mike were."

"I'll have to talk to Ed about getting you guys new furniture," Brent said. "So Keith what time was that?"

"Well, Lisa was also there," I said. "I'd say it was about ten, he said he was going out for a walk."

"Who's Lisa?" Brent asked while he filled out the missing person's report. As he wrote his picture frames rattled.

"My girlfriend," I said. "Lisa Weaver."

"Go on," Brent said.

"Well, he said around ten o'clock that he wanted to go out for a walk," I said. "Mike, my roommate told him to take his id card to get back into the building."

"Did you talk to your RA?" Brent said. He leaned back in his chair and nearly knocked over some little league trophies off of his back desk.

"Yeah but they were no help," I said. "They said to talk to the coach, and then we came to you."

"What's your RA's name, they are breaking rules," Brent said. "They should be the ones that are more worried about their residents then we are for you." Well he was right, I don't know why they didn't take more of an intuitive to figure out where Willie was.

"UH, ok, coach told me the same thing," I said. "Well the building RDA is Jim Jordan, and I think his brother is my floor RA, Jackson."

"Jim Jordan, has always been very good for our players," Coach said. "He's very strict and watches out for everyone, I don't know what has changed." Coach had to know everyone in charge at Harrison just in case if something happened to his players.

"Well, I will look into it," Brent said. "Do you have a picture or a description of Willie Anderson for the sketch artist?

"Yes I do," I said. "I can describe him to a T." I never understood that saying, but always used it. A (t) is not hard to describe, but apparently that's the point.

"I'll call Melissa," Brent said. "She's our sketch artist."

"Mel, we have two people here that need a sketch from you," Brent said over the phone. "Ok, will do."

"Keith, she's out in the main room," Brent said to me. "She's the big table near the interview room."

"Cool, do you want Coach to come?" I asked.

"No not really, he needs to fill out the biographical information on Willie," Brent said.

"Ok," I said. I walked out into the main room into the sea of people. Most of the cops were young, like in their forties. And that was a surprise to me because I figured that there would be some older people around, but maybe their shift hadn't started yet.

I saw this sexy, tall black woman sitting at a drawing table. I figured it was Melissa, I could have also been wrong too.

"Melissa?" I said.

"Yes?" She said looking up at me.

"I'm the person that needs a sketch done," I said sitting down next to her. The chairs out here were just as nice as in Brent's room.

"Oh your Keith Campbell the star qb here," Melissa said perking up. You could tell that I really excited her. Her face became more relaxed and she was smiling more, I tended to have that effect on women.

"Well, I'm not the star, I just have a good team around me," I said.

"Oh your very good," She said putting her hand on my knee. "So let's see if we can get this sketch taken care of for you."

"Ah, ok," I said. I was very uncomfortable with that at first, but it was nice to be touched by a girl, especially a hot one.

"Well I like to start with the shape of the face," She said.

"Willie's face is round," I said.

"Wait, Willie?" She said.

"Yeah my roomie Willie Anderson, a wide receiver on the team," I said.

"Oh I know what he looks like," She said while beginning to sketch his face "I went to school with his older brother."

"He's got a brother?" I said. "I don't know too much about his family."

"That's because his family isn't all that good," She said. "I dated his brother for a while, and I think he's in jail." Ouch that must have stunk.

"Yeah he said that his mother slept with his high school football coach," I said. She continued to sketch while giving me seductive looks. It was like she was looking at me and trying to get me to make out with her. She was really, really hot. Melissa was a tall African American woman, who looked like she was in amazing shape, and had very nice small eyes. Her lips were just average, but crimson colored, nice, I really liked that color. Well, as long as it was with a color like blue or white.

"Oh yeah, that was my father," She said. "Yeah, well my Dad wasn't a good guy."

"Same here, but my Dad slept with the cheerleading coach at the high school," I said. "For a womanizer he did have good taste in girlfriends."

"That must have been hard, how do you deal with it?" She asked while sketching Willie's eyes. She was right on with her interpretation of his face.

"I still haven't," I said. There were people walking around us, who were very interested in the picture that Melissa was drawing. She was a very good artist.

"Oh that sucks, my father left us after my mother chased him out of the house with a frying pan," She said. "My Mom just snapped, but I don't blame her."

"Yeah, your father had to be scared," I said as she was wrapping up the sketch.

"I'm sure he was," She said. "But I could care less."

"True, that's where I am at with my father," I said before she handed me the sketch.

"Tell you what, I have lunch right now, I want to make your trip out here worth it," She said while putting her hands on my upper legs.

"Sorry, I have a girl friend," I said backing away from her.

"I could make it so she never finds out, and you don't have to ever see me again," She said. "Well unless you lose another roommate."

"I'm fine in the sex department right now," I lied, as much as I wanted her, I just didn't want to mess up with Lisa in town. She'd find out someway, I have faith in her. Lisa knows too many people around here.

"But I could give you the best ride you've ever had," She said.

"Just stop, and give me that sketch," I said before taking away the picture of Willie.

"Fine be that way," She said. "But my offer stands whenever you need some hot loving."

"I should just be going," I said walking back to Brent's office. Melissa came on really strong, and that wasn't a turn on for me. I didn't mind the attention, but how she came to it was wrong.

"So did you get the sketch done?" Brent asked, as he turned away from a conversation with Coach.

"Yeah, and then some," I said sitting down. I just wanted to take this chair with me.

"What do you mean?" Coach asked while eating some black liquorish.

"Melissa was trying to get me have sex with her," I said. "And she wasn't taking no."
"Oh, that's Melissa, she loves football players," Brent said. "Don't read too much into it." Well at least she went after other football players other than me. That was good, but still the fact that she came after me means that women would do just about anything to be around me.

"Oh, that's a good drawing of Willie," Coach said.

"Yeah, well Melissa is a family friend of Willie's," I said.

"That explains how she got the face so right on," Coach said.

"Tell you what, I'll have the department copy off a hundred of these and have them posted around the city," Brent said. "What contact information do you want on it?"

"Put my work and home one on there," Coach said. That was good, and I wasn't going to be around that much anyway, between schooling and football.

"Well, I hate to keep you guys here, when you have so much to do," Brent said.

"Yeah, well we have to get back to campus," Coach said. "Keith has science class right now." I could have missed it; I had no problem in never going to that class again. I could just pass through it, plus the teacher was a football fan. He tended to be really lenient on the athletes.

"Darn, I was hoping not to go back," I said with a smile. I knew that there was no way that Coach would keep me out of two straight classes.

"Brent, I'll see you after the game Saturday," Coach said getting up and moving towards the door.

"Yeah, I'll be at the game with Ed," Brent said as we left. When we walked out Melissa walked past us and she winked at me.

"She did it again," I said. "Does this woman have no shame?"

"Ah, just let her be," Coach said. "She's nothing to you." That was true the only women that mattered in my life right now was Lisa and Mother. Speaking of that I should have called Mom back before Willie's ordeal.

"Yeah but she's annoying," I said while getting into Coach's truck.

"Keith, your new at this playing football in college, the better you are the more the women throw themselves at you," Coach said. "You'd be amazed with what women will do with you when you are famous."

"Really?" I said. "I didn't know that women were that shallow around football players." I always figured that women were nice around players because they were good looking.

"Oh yeah, how do you think I met my first wife?" Coach said. First wife? I thought current wife was only wife, oh well.

"Don't know that you have had more than one wife," I said.

"I've been married a couple of times," Coach said as we turned into campus. "I don't have good luck with women."

"But your wife is a nice woman," I said.

"Yeah she is, that's why I am not going to do anything stupid this time," Coach said. That would be smart of him, since he was a high profile person in the community. Heck if he looks at another woman he would get blasted in the media.

"That's good, I wish my father had been like that," I said. Dad should have treated women a tad bit better.

"That stinks, what do you want me to do if he comes around here?" Coach said while pulling into the ASC parking lot. There were a lot of people who had left campus; almost half of the parking lot was empty. After all it was lunchtime, and many people like to leave campus for any of the nice diners around town.

"Meh, nothing, he'd probably look for Mother first," I said.

"Ok well you better get going to class," He said.

"Yeah you're right, see you at practice," I said before leaving for classes. I walked up to class in a good mood, because at least the people that would be able to take care of Willie's situation would be able to. At least I could move on with my day, and my life. And that's just what I did, science and religion were very boring, to the point where I fell asleep in one of them. Religion class is in Reid Auditorium and it had very comfortable seats. I spent the rest of the that class dreaming of Lisa, I dreamt that we were at a football game and I was called out of the stands to play the game. I didn't know how to play football, and the whole place just laughed at me. To add insult to injury Lisa left with Willie, well at least in my dream, and never saw me again. I swear I had weird dreams.

I walked back to Harrison Hall to get ready for practice. Usually, I just ran in and changed for practice, I was usually out with in fifteen minutes. Fortunately, today I had run back to Harrison, I figured Lisa was done with class and I didn't want her to wait to get in. However when I got there Lisa was there, but Mom called.

"Keith, sorry that you caught Eric and I together," Mom said.

"Oh, Mother I'm not mad that you two are doing it," I said. "I'm happy for you, you deserve it big time."

"But why are you mad?" She asked.

"Because Eric told everyone on campus that you're amazing in bed," I said. "And everyone has been looking at me wrong."

"Oh, he did, well, I guess I am done with that," She stopped. "I mean that guy."

"Sorry to hear that, Mom," I said. "You want to go out to eat with Lisa and I tomorrow after practice?"

"Yeah, sure I'll pick up your guys at like seven?" She said.

"Let me ask her," I said.

"Hey babe, you want to eat with Mother tomorrow at like seven?" I said.

"Yeah, no problem," Lisa said.

"She's fine with it," I said.

"She's there with you?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, she's been staying here," I said.

"Why?" Mom asked.

"Because she wants to," I said. "I gotta go to practice, see you tomorrow."

"Ok, bye," Mom said before hanging up the phone. It was a shame that Eric and Mom were on the outs, but he deserved it, and she deserved someone better. She was just one of those women who had bad luck with men.

"Hey babe, I'll be done at six do you want to meet me at Jackson for dinner?" I said. Jackson was the cafeteria at ASC for athletes, and generally after practice I would eat there.

"Yeah sure what time?" Lisa said as we walked out the door. I handed her the keys just because she had her purse with me, and I wasn't going to need them during practice.

"Seven," I said.

"That's good, I'll meet you there, practice should be up by then," She said as we walked to ASC. It was a good part of the day, evenings in Corvallis was always nice. The weather was generally clear and very temperate. Generally if you wanted to walk with someone that you cared about it was good to do it during the night. It could be very romantic, at least that's what Lisa told me.

"Hey, Keith I heard about Willie, is there anything I can do to help?" Jack said while we getting ready for run through on one of the plays for the Oregon game. We tended to run new plays in the first part of the practice and then old ones at the end.

"Dunno, just dunno," I said. "Maybe look for him when you are walking home."

"I'll do that," Jack said. "Call me if you need anything while we can't find Willie."

"That's nice I will keep that in mind," I said. Jack was always a first rate person, some say that he was a better guy than a player, and that's saying a lot. Jack was a very good player, and his personality may have been better.

This was the practice where the offense clicked for me. I just got into the zone and could run any play the coach gave me without failing. It was one of those things that when the offense snapped for me we could do anything. Well at least in my mind. And Coach always said that's what matters. He says that once a player gets to that moment where they just know the offense or whatever their side of the ball is, their play will improve dramatically. I had been worried that I hadn't pick up that part of the game yet, and was wondering when I would pick that up. However I figured that I would eventually, albeit somewhere down the line come to a point where I would know the offense very well.

"Hey Keith, you want to eat at William's?" Derrick asked.

"Nah man, I'm meeting Lisa for dinner," I said. "I think I have a chance to score tonight."

"Good for you," Mike said. "Do I have to spend the night somewhere else?"

"Nah, you can stay," I said. "We won't be too loud." Probably not, but you never know.

"I want proof that you are doing this chick," Eddie said.

"Why?" I said. "I don't need proof that you're doing Billy Jeane."

"I just don't believe that you two are together," Eddie said.

"Why?" I said.

"I've never seen you two together," Eddie said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said. "You've seen us two together."

"Whatever, I'm just messing with you," Eddie said. Whatever, I mean this guy is a complete loser and needed to not be around the program.

"Sure, whatever," I said before taking a shower. I wanted to smell good, just not for Lisa, but because I didn't like being dirty. I tended to get dirty during practice, even though we played inside.

"Hey have you guys found Willie yet?" Derrick Toles asked me in the shower.

"No, well not that I know of yet," I said showering. "Coach Firth would know."

"Oh, well I'm going out tonight with some friends, I can look if you want," He said as he was leaving the shower area.

"Yeah no problem, wouldn't mind it," I said. "I'd tell coach also." I didn't think that anyone would find him anyway. Willie was either dead or in some other town by now, thou Oregon isn't that populace of a state. I just didn't want to believe that he was gone, but you had to entertain that thought, as bad as it was.

"Hey Keith, how was practice?" Lisa said when she met me outside of the locker room. I took a short shower and got dressed fast. I just wanted to be with her.

"Not too bad babe," I said walking into Jackson Cafeteria. "How was your practice?"

"Meh, it was boring, just worked on hitting," She said while getting her tray for dinner. "I already know how to hit, that's what I'm good at."

"But coaches like to reinforce your skills," I said while dishing out some meatloaf. I loved meatloaf; I never got much of it while at home because Mom didn't know how to make it. I always seem to find it on the menu at the cafeterias around here.

"Yeah true, but it's so mundane," She said. "Have you guys found Willie yet?"

"Not that I know of, but I haven't been home since I saw you," I said. That was obvious and I was the captain of obvious people.

"Well duh," She said smiling at me. "Coach didn't say anything?"

"No Coach was more worried about installing the new offense for the Oregon game," I said giving my card to the lady to pay for dinner. I really didn't pay; it was just a meal plan athletes had. It was one of the perks that athletes got when they were on scholarship.

"Oh, well I think that would be more important," She said sitting down at a table. The tables here at Jackson were nice, they were huge and you could fit a lot of people around it. The chairs were so comfortable that you could fall asleep in them, some have. Our pre game meals are held here, and usually someone just falls asleep after we eat and before we go over to the stadium. ASC and Memorial Stadium are not attached; in fact they are far apart. ASC is on North Campus, and Memorial Stadium is on South Campus. Pretty far away if I say so.

"Yeah it would," I said. "Eddie is creeping me out, he's really focused on us."

"Why?" She asked. I didn't want to say that I had been talking about having sex with her to the guys. That wouldn't be a nice thing to say.

"Well, he was walking around talking about how he would think each of the players girlfriends would be in the sack," I said.

"What?" She said dropping her spoon. "What did he say about me?"

"Because you move your hips well, and since your quiet, you are probably the best of the lot in bed," I said. That was painful for me to say, and I wasn't lying, he did do that, but not today.

"What?" She said. "I'm quiet?"

"Well your not as loud as some of the other girls are," I said trying to finish up my dinner. I just didn't want to continue this. "Anyway, do you have homework tonight?"

"Did it," I said. "Why is he so focused on me?"

"I don't know, but you are prettier than Billy Jeane," I said.

"Aw thanks, I think she's good looking," She said. "Maybe he wants to do me."

"He gets anywhere near you in that capacity, and I will break the other leg," I said. And trust me I would have done it, she meant everything to me.

"Aw that's nice, but I don't want you to get in trouble," She said reaching over and holding my hand.

"For you I'd go to jail," I said. "I love you." I lowered my voice when I said that, I didn't want anyone else hearing that.

"Aw, your such a sweetie, I love you babe," She said while blushing.

"You know it, anything for you," I said finishing up my dinner. "He doesn't deserve a princess like you."
"Aw your so nice to me babe," She said. Her face was so red from blushing right now. "You know I don't like blushing."

"Sorry, but you're so sexy when your blushing," I said. And she did, she looked very sexy with that color red on her face.

"Yeah, I know Dan told me that, but I don't like being embarrassed," She said.

"How am I embarrassing you?" I asked as we cleaned up our table before leaving.

"By saying all these sweet things to me," She said. "Your making me feel so good, that I don't know what to do."

"You are the best," I said as we walked out the door. The weather had turned very cold for an October night.

"Burr it's cold out," She said. "Hold me close, I'm tiny." I didn't want her to be cold, she was so small, well at least to me and I didn't want her cold.

"Come here, my warmth will keep you warm," I said.

"Thanks," She said before kissing me.

"What do you think of Janet?" I said.

"You mean Janet Allen?" Lisa said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Well, she's a good girl, but too much of a flirt," She said. "But she's a sexy woman, at least to me." Oh that was so sexy when she said that. I know that she didn't mean it in a sexual manor, but still to hear your girlfriend say that was sexy. A woman that respects beauty is so sexy to me, because then you don't have to worry about looking at other women around them.

"Why do you ask," She said.

"I was just wondering because Mike thinks that she's sexy, even though he's with a girl from one of his classes," I said.

"He is? I though he wasn't dating anyone," I said.

"Well they aren't serious, and I don't think he's really dating her, just stringing her along," I said. Guys tended to do that, or so I heard. But I was never like that, heck I couldn't even flirt with women. Being with Lisa was a surprise to me because I didn't have to try hard; she just likes me for who I am.

"I can put in a good word for you," She said as we walked up the hill

"How I was in high school will only get me so far," I said as I got more and more tired. "I want to be in the NFL eventually so I have to improve."

"Good goal, but do you think you can get there playing here?" She asked.

"Yeah why do you ask?" I said. Coach Firth could get me to the bigs, he'd done it before.

"Because Oregon State hasn't produced that many quarterbacks," She said looking up at me. Lisa had her head on my chest, right bellow my chin and neck.

"Well that's because they have only had running quarterbacks lately," I said.

"Yawn, I guess so," She said getting tired. "I'm sleepy."

"Me to, good night sweetie," I said before giving her a kiss on the lips. I loved her lips, because they were like little pillows resting on a very sexy face. They were very comfortable to kiss.

"Thanks," She said before falling asleep. I laid there for a half hour just stroking her nice long black hair. Her hair was so nice, and she took good care of it, because it was always clean and smooth. I just loved soft hair.

I eventually fell asleep and had a relaxing night for the first time in a while. While I did sleep well the past couple of nights, for some reason with Lisa laying there with me I felt so good. I knew that she loved me, and I felt the same. Life just felt better with her around, and I wanted to be with her as much as possible.

Once again that stupid alarm scared us, you would think that we would be used to it by now. Or at least I would be, because it's mine.

"Next time I sleep here, I'm bringing my alarm clock," Lisa said.

"Yeah maybe that's a good idea," I said before getting out of bed. "Should throw that thing out."

"Well wait with that, I'm going to stay over here this weekend if you don't mind," She said.

"You could move in with me, and I'd love it," I said.

"Silly, I can't do that," She said. And that was true, but I would like to have her here, trying to get into Fletcher is damn near impossible.

"But the offer is open," I said. "I'll go take my shower first."

"Aw your so nice," She said. "Let me take mine first, I'm longer."

"Ah ok," I said. Once again, I was not good around women, Lisa was the exception to it. I was not a lovey-dovey type of person who shared their feelings. I hated talking like that, but for some reason it flowed out of me while I was dating her.

"So how was last night Keith?" Mike said when I saw him in the main room.

"Not bad, slept," I said. "Oh you wanna know if we did it?"

"Well duh," Mike said. "I don't care if you slept, I want to know how she is."

"Well she sleeps well, and her snoring is vocal," I said.

"You're a smart ass you know that?" Mike said.

"I don't know about my ass being smart, but I know my head is," I said trying to find the new playbook. I never could find that book when I needed it; maybe that's why my mom always told me to put things away once you get them out. Guess I should have listened.

"Keith, I'm done, you wanna take a shower?" She said.

"Nah, it's no use, we are practicing hard this morning," I said. "So I'll just pack some clothes and shower there."

"Ok cool, I'll be ready to go pretty soon," She said. Lisa brought her own towels when she stayed here because she didn't want to use ours. She had big purple towels, which were quiet, possibly the ugliest things around. She was one of those women that could spend so much time getting dressed, because she was one of those girls who would change her clothes many times.

"Babe you're just going to practice, you look fine as it is," I said.

"Keith you never say that to a girl," She said. "Just agree with the girl that she looks fine and you'll keep your manhood." That was so true, or so I learned later on.

"Hehe, ok you look as good as you want to," I said.

"Your improving, but you have a lot to learn," She said throwing a shirt at me.

"I'm not that good with women," I said. "Just ask Mom."

"I know," She said jokingly.

"Hey Mike you wanna walk with us?" I said.

"Yeah, just a second I'll get the playbooks," He said.

"Where the fuck did you put them?" I said. "I was looking all over for them."

"Away," Mike said.

"But where?" I said as we walked to the elevator.

"In my room, that's where I put mine," He said. We walked to ASC and it was quiet rainy and cold out, but Oregon was like that during the fall. Of all the things that I needed to get used to coming to Oregon that was one that I didn't like. Why couldn't it be sunny or warm all the time? I liked that about home.

"Guys, we are going to put in that new series of plays for this week instead of next," Coach Larryson said while we were practicing.

"Coach, who's going to take Willie's place?" Mike asked.

"Colin Colmeus," Coach Lewis blurted in.

"Oh, I like throwing to him," I said.

"Yeah he's got good hands, needs some work on his speed," Will said.

"Guys, I can hear you," Colin said.

"Oh sorry man," Will said. Colin was a decent player for being a walk-on, and you know, I think that he could have played somewhere else on a scholarship. However, because his father played here, he had to come here, though he didn't want to. Those legacy type of situations was one of the reasons why I'm glad that Dad was a terrible football player.

"Colin I said I liked throwing to you," I said.

"Yeah whatever, you're just trying to say that to please coach," Colin said.

"Man what is your problem?" I asked. Why was he all up on me like that? I've barely said three words to him all year, and he acted like this.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing about how great you are, and how you are going to save the program," Colin said. "What about the rest of us?"

"Hey, where is this coming from?" Mike said.

"Yeah, where?" Jack asked.

"Us players who've been here for awhile aren't bad," Colin said.

"I've never said that any of you are bad," I said. Well I told Mother that Eddie stunk last year.

"But the media says that we are," Colin said.

"He's not the media," Jack said. "If you have a problem with the media talk to the coaches, not Keith."

"You're just his friend, screw that, I'm gone," Colin said.

"Sweet Jesus, what's his fucking problem," I said. I never really talked to him, and most of the players at least didn't have a problem on the surface with me being in the forefront of the team as far as media standpoint.

"Colin get back here," Coach Firth said.

"Fine, but I'm not dealing with him," Colin said.

"Colin, your going to deal with Keith, and your going to like it," Coach Firth said.

"But man, if it wasn't for him we'd have more pub on the rest of us," Colin said.

"Guys, break it up, let's finish here," Coach Lewis said.

"He started it," I said. That was one of those comebacks that was so lame that you always had to use it at least once in an argument.

"Ok, everyone killers," Coach Firth said. "You'll not fight, or call each other out, we are a team, keep your bad feelings towards each other to yourself."

"Oh man, thanks Colin," the linemen complained. Guys hated running the killers; it was starting in one end zone and running the field. You had to touch each line, and if someone didn't you had to do it again. I didn't like it, but it wasn't the worst thing that we could do. I understood the meaning of it, and I liked running, but I was an athlete so it wasn't hard.

"We are a team, we stay positive, you might not like each other, but don't air out your dirty laundry," Coach Firth said as we were running.

"Folks, it's a short season, but you guys are together all the time, so you will have issues," Coach Firth said. "But deal with it away from the field."

"Yes coach," the team said. I didn't like some of the players, but I didn't complain about them. Well at least to the team, now I do complain to Lisa, but she's my girl and she is very trust worthy. The rest of the practice was quiet; I don't think anyone wanted to mess with coach anymore.

"So babe how was practice?" Lisa said as she was walking out of the women's locker room. They were lifting weights today. People didn't lift weights as much as then as they do now. But to say that it wasn't around at the time would be very wrong to say.

"Bad, I'll tell you at lunch." I said. "Can't say right now."

"Oh, like that, I understand," She said. She was great to talk to because she saw so many things while helping her father out. I often wondered with her if she wanted to coach, because she was so good at understanding teams. I mean I had played on a lot of teams, but as far as knowing how they worked, didn't have a clue. Then again I didn't have a Dad that coached in anything, well expect beer leagues, and I was too young for that. Plus, Mom would've birthed a bovine if I was around his crowd.

"Yeah, but we did do enough work that we should be good enough for Oregon," I said.

"Oh that game, I might drive up for that one," Lisa said. "I love those rivalry games."

"Cool that would be fun to see you at the game, especially on the road," I said. "Maybe we could go out after the game." It would be a blast to drive back with her, and then if the game was bad I wouldn't have to put up with the team being all depressed.

"Yeah that's a good idea, I might bring Dad to the game," She said. Aw crap, the father was coming, I didn't need to meet him yet. Though Lisa does know my Mom well.

"It would be cool to meet him," I said. "I'd like to pick his brain sometime about offense and the quarterback position." We walked out onto the campus, walking up to the main campus. She had math, and I was heading to history.

"I'll ask him to sit down with you," She said. "He really loves college football." Herman Hill, which was for some reason nowhere near Herman Hall was packed today. It was like this early in the morning most of the campus living people were going to class.

"Did he play at the collegian level?" I said.

"No, he tore up his knee in high school," she said as we passed Barkley Library, it was the science library.

"Oh that sucks," I said.

"Yeah well he said that he wasn't that good anyway," She said. I found out that a lot of lesser talented players ended up being coaches at some level. I was surprised that Dad never coached, because he seemed to know the game well. Maybe he was just too focused on drinking and women.

"What was he when played?" I asked. As much as I knew about her father, there was just so little that I actually did know.

"Quarterback, he was the first qb to throw for ten interceptions in a season in his league," She said as we made it to the Math and Learning Center, she had a difficult math course, math for psychology majors. For some reasons it was a more in-depth and challenging course. However, she uses my help, even though I'm in a lower level course. And that's only because I didn't care about math in high school.

"Damn that stinks," I said. "I'll see you later."

"Ok, see you later," She said before giving me a kiss goodbye.

I had a little further walk to history; it was in the Campbell Academic Center. People gave me crap for having a class in a building that has my name on it. I thought that it was funny, it was the history building, well that and the nursing offices. I didn't get how those two worked together, they were totally different subjects.

I was taking History of World War Two, which was funny that it was being offered at that time. The War had just gotten over with almost twenty-five years before, and I didn't think that they would be doing a study of it yet. Then again it had been over for a while, but I always figured that while there were people still alive that the veterans wouldn't want to relive it. That's just me, but the professor of the class was the son of one of the generals in the European theatre, so he had a lot of eye opening experiences to share with us. He could also bring in people to lecture us on the certain battles; it really drove home the subject to us. I really liked this class.

"Folks calm down, today we have the honor of having one of the great historians on the Battle of Midway," Professor Fred Burns said. Dr. Kevin Burress was from Temple, and he was one of the great Japanese Theatre Historian, I loved the presentation. He had slides, of pictures of the battles and the soldiers there. It was so cool that there were pictures of the actual events, I could sit there and look at that stuff all day.

"I want to leave you guys with a fact that I find interesting," Dr. Burress said. "American submarines spent 31,571 days on patrol in the Pacific, making 4,112 attacks on Japanese controlled merchant ships with 14,748 torpedoes." a lot of days on patrol," Dr. Burress went onto say. "Just imagine what you've done during those days, and see if you could do one thing the whole time."

"I could have sex for that long," Matt Case said.

"Funny," Derrick Toles said. "I don't think I could stand being around my girl that long even if it's just having sex."

"Keith could you and Lisa go for that long?" Matt asked. Now how the hell was I going to answer that? We hadn't done it yet, I could lie, but if it got back to Lisa then what would she say?

"I could double that," I said with a smile and walked off to science class.

"Right, and I'm Santa Clause," Derrick said. Oh he was right, I just didn't want to get into a big discussion about sex, well at least not about Lisa.

Science has always bored me to no end, but I had to take it as a freshman. I wish that they could have not made it a requirement for football players because it was so hard. Chemistry was useless to me; I didn't think that I was going to into the science field. Professor Nevada Miller was a great professor, and if it was another course I would have really loved his class.

It was just one of those classes that I probably should have paid attention to because it would have made my life a tad bit easier. Oh well, I knew no matter how badly I did, I'd pass, Miller didn't give athletes anything lower than a C in his class. He loved sports, apparently he tired to walk on to the basketball team but couldn't make the team. Professor Miller just has always respected how hard it is for athletes to work during the week. But class was always boring, and today wasn't any different.

"Hey Keith, how were your classes?" Mike said coming out of Greenwood Place. Greenwood Place was a building for social studies, and history, though Professor Burns didn't like having courses there. I don't blame him, it was a daft place, and not someplace I liked to be in.

"Sucked, I hated them, well not History," I said as we walked back to ASC. "How were yours?"

"The same," He said. "History of the Peoples of Oregon is so boring."

"Yeah it sounds like it," I said. "I hate that course, I'm in another section."

"My advisor said that I'd like it," Mike said. "Boy was he wrong."

"So have you thought about why Colin is mad at you?" Mike said.

"Hey guys," Jack said as he walked out of the law building. I never understood why he was taking law classes during the football season. That had to be very tough, and the fact that he was never ineligible with all the work he has to do. And that was always impressive.

"No I have not, science class was too hands on today," I said. "Stupid metal test day." I wanted to make things blow up, or as the druggies would say make things go boom.

"Who's the teacher?" Jack asked.

"Nevada," I said. "Professor Miller, I meant."

"Oh, he's a good guy, why are you taking Chemistry as a freshmen?" Jack said.

"My advisor thought that it would be smart to take one hard course every semester," I said as we walked by Robinson Gym. That was the Gym and weight lifting for the non-athlete and athletic staff. It was so much smaller than anything we had, but that figures because they don't need it as much as we need it. A lot of the facility used Robinson, that's if they wanted to be seen.

"Must not be a football fan," Jack said.

"Or a dolt," Mike said. "Some times adults just don't understand." Yeah they didn't, why couldn't adults understand what us college students are going through?

"Anyway, there's a rumor going around that Eddie and Willie have been seen in town," Jack said.

"Wait, what?" I asked with surprise.

"Yeah, one of the guys in my criminal class said that he saw Eddie and Willie together last night."

"That's weird, didn't think that they knew each other," Mike said as we walked down the hill and past the art building where the hippy freaks were smoking.

"Well, Eddie could have gotten to him," I said. "We do have to tell Ed, about this."

"I'm going to see him anyway," Jack said. "He's going to do a recommendation for graduate school." I don't know why he was worried about graduate school, with his talent Jack could play in the pros. But maybe he hadn't gotten the word from the scouts if he was going to make it.

"Maybe I should come in with you," I said. I had nothing to do but to study game stuff, and schoolwork.

"Yeah, I should too," Mike said. "I can tell Professor Smith that I'm doing something with the team."

"Ok, ok, I was going to help you guys," Jack said. "But, you are right, it should be with you guys around."

"Thanks Jack, I was heading that way anyway," I said. "Plus, I should tell Coach Firth, he wants to be kept up to speed." That was an obvious statement, I mean Coach was the head coach and he needed to insure the safety and whereabouts of each of his players. That's not an easy thing to do.

"That's true, but I hope that Willie is ok," Mike said as we walked into the main lobby of ASC.

"I'm sure he is, but he's been acting funny for awhile," I said. Then again Willie was an odd character anyway, so we should have known that he could have skipped town.

"But he's a good guy," Jack said. "Ed we may have found Willie." Ed was sitting at his desk going through a big stack of papers, most of them looked like expense reports. They had a lot of numbers and dollar signs on them.

"Oh really, where?" Ed said.

"Well Gavin Walker, a student in one of my classes says that he saw him at the Big I downtown," Jack said.

"Go on," Ed said.

"Yeah, well Gavin said that he was out getting food for the night and he saw someone that looked like Willie from the photos around," Jack said. "Gavin said that he saw someone looking like Willie with Eddie Keaton."

"Oh really, why didn't he go to the police?" Ed asked.

"He said that he didn't want to mislead the cops," Jack said. "He wasn't sure."

"So, ok, well, I'll call my brother and have him call this Gavin guy," Ed said.

"But I don't have Gavin's number," Jack said.

"I can get it," Ed said. "I have connections." Being part of the faculty he could get anyone's contact information.

"OK good, is Coach Firth still around?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's in the film room cutting some tape that just arrived from Cal," Ed said.

"From Cal?" Mike and I said together.

"Coach Firth's brother in law is the offensive coordinator there," Ed said. "And we got the Oregon tapes from last week from them."

"Oh cool, didn't know he had any relatives in the business," I said.

"Yeah, but his name is Mike Hennessy," Ed said. With that Mike and I walked around the corner to the film room. The film room was amazing for it's time; there was two banks of the new VCR's. I didn't know what they were, but they looked like they were better than anything I would have had. And there was a long fifteen-foot meeting table in the center of the room.

"Coach, can we watch the tape with you?" Mike asked. Mike took a seat at the table closest to the video equipment.

"By all means, I'll just warn you the coaches copy is a little rough," Coach Firth said. "Most of our assistants tape them, and they can't figure out these new camera things."

"Ah yes, why can't the television stations send us their copy?" I asked.

"Because Keith, most games aren't covered as well as we are," Coach Firth said. I was really spoiled I've always seen college football games on television. It really never dawned on me that some teams' weren't covered.

"That sucks, then how do you get tapes?" I asked.

"From coaches and former players," Coach Firth said as he was clicking through some of the first half defensive possessions from Oregon. "Hey you guys, watch this."

"What is it?" Mike asked.

"Watch the linebackers cheat up," Coach said. "They're about the fastest they've had in years."

"I thought their linebackers were all young?" I asked. While I was doing my scouting for the game, I noticed a lot of notes pointed towards a weak linebacking core.

"Yeah, and they are biting on play fakes," Coach said. And sure enough they were cheating up, but that's what all young linebackers do, you just have to hit them fast enough so that they miss the play. But fast ones can recover, and that's annoying. You can't recover as fast from it.

"Damn, that's going to be hard to throw over, look #56 is very tall," I said.

"Meh, Keith you can get the ball over him," Mike said.

"Yeah you can Keith, his arms aren't that big," Coach Firth said. Just then Ed walked in and had something for us.

"Guys, we did find Willie, he's at the station," Ed said.

"Oh really, when did he come in?" Coach Firth said.

"Just minutes ago," Ed said. "Craig, and Keith you guys should go down and talk to him."

"Ok, I've gotta run downtown anyway," Coach Firth said. "Wife wants me to pick up some paint for Matt's room."

"Ah so your at the point where the baby moves out of your room," Ed said. Ed had three children all under eight.

"Yeah, I can't wait to sleep again," Coach Firth said, putting on his jacket.

"Oh you're not going to for along time," Ed said. "At least that's what parents say."

"I'm afraid of that," Coach Firth said as we walked out the door.

"What do you think happened with Willie?" I asked.

"Guessing, it was one of those things, where he got overwhelmed," Coach Firth said.

"Yeah, he just didn't seem to like to be here," I said as we walked out to his truck. "He only liked being around the team."

"Some people don't adapt to college life," Coach Firth said. "I've had half a dozen players in my career not make it to the second semester."

"It's hard being that far away from your family," I said getting into the truck.

"You're lucky that your mother lives in town," Coach said. "Some people aren't as lucky as you, you can go home and relax."

"True, and Mom can come to the games to," I said. I really liked having Mom in town; it kept me on the straight and narrow. Well as far as it could without me messing it up.

"How's she doing?" Coach asked.

"Not bad, though her boyfriend is a real jerk," I said.

"Ah yes, Eric, not one of the best people on campus," Coach said as we turned off of campus and onto the main drag.

"Mom's a sucker for a jerk," I said. "She needs to raise her standards for men."

"What, I didn't think your father was a jerk," Coach said as we drove down the main drag.

"You didn't know him well," I said. Coach only talked to Dad a couple dozen times, and met him twice. Dad could clean himself up really well for a week or two, and then he'd go back to his ways.

"Why?" Coach said. "Did I hit a nerve?"

"Dad was a bad guy," I said.

"What's this was, is he dead?" He said.

"To me he is," I said. While Dad wasn't really dead, I considered him dead.

"Oh that bad, eh?" Coach said as we pulled into the parking lot behind the police station.

"Yeah well, I hope Willie is ok," I said. However, I had a bad feeling that he wasn't.

"Maybe, but we won't know until we talk to him," Coach said walking in. "Hi, I'm here to see Brent McMillan."

"Just a minute Coach Firth, we will get him for you," the sexy receptionist said. "You guys can go in, Keith great game last week."

"Gee thanks, I try to," I said.

"I enjoy watching you play," She said. Anyway, I didn't want to get into another situation like I did before. She was cute, but she wasn't Lisa. We walked down the hall and Brent met us in the hall.

"Guys, thanks for coming, Willie's Grandma is in there," Brent said.

"Oh, she flew in?" Coach Firth asked.

"Yeah when we heard about Willie being missing, I had her flown in," Brent said.

"Oh that's smart," I said. Just then Melissa walked by.

"Hey babe, come back for a piece of me?" She said in an alluring way, almost trying to turn me on. "I'm on a break."

"Mel, go draw that bank robber," Brent said.

"Yes boss," She said. "I'm here all day."

"Sorry about that," Brent said. "She's been coming on thick recently."

"Maybe she needs to get laid," I said out of her earshot.

"Her girlfriend just dumped her, she seems to be liking guys more, or so I've heard," Brent said.

"Oh really?" I said. That perked me up, then again I was being a guy, and guys like girls being with girls.

"Her sister plays on the soccer team," Brent said.

"Who's?" I asked

"Melissa's ex, Jeanie Kerwin," Brent said.

"Oh that's Lisa's roommate, she's a cool girl," I said. We walked into one of the interrogation rooms and saw Willie sitting there with his grandma.

"Hey guys, sorry about jetting on you," Willie said. "But I couldn't take being away from home." That's weird because Willie didn't like his home life.

"Willie, why don't you play out the season and see then," Coach Firth said. "I would hate to lose you."

"I dunno, I am really too far away from my friends," Willie said.

"What about Mike and I?" I asked. Then what were we to him if we weren't friends?

"Well, I don't know you guys well enough," Willie said. "And things are better with long time friends."

"But, you've lived with us for almost half the year," I said.

"Willie are you hiding something?" Brent asked. Yeah he seemed somewhat vague.

"I can't say, I just need to get away from here," Willie said. "It's just not a good place for me to be."

"Why?" Coach Firth asked.

"I just don't like it here, can you guys just leave me alone," Willie said pounding the table.

"What are you not telling us?" Brent said.

"I can't say, and I won't, I'm not safe," Willie said.

"Why won't you just let Willie come home with me?" His grandmother finally spoke up. "Can't you see that he's under some stress right now."

"Because we want to know what's the problem with him," Brent said. "If we know the problem then we can help him."

"I can't say, I'm too scared," Willie said.

"What are you hiding from Willie?" Coach asked. "I'm here to help, we all are."

"I, I, I, just don't want to say it," He said to Coach.

"Why?" I asked.

"Guys, let me talk to him," Brent said. "I'll tell you if we can get anything out of him."

"Ok, Keith let's get something to eat," Coach said. "Do you have money?"

"Yeah, Mom gave me some the other day," I said. Coach couldn't give us money directly, or buy us anything but we knew that he would give us food money. It was one of those things if no one saw and we didn't say anything, we'd be fine.

"What do you want for lunch?" Coach asked.

"Burger," I said. I was a sucker for a good hamburger, I'd do just about anything if someone promised me a hamburger.

"Ah, I forgot that you like hamburgers," Coach said as we walked out of the building. "There's a good burger joint around here."

"Yeah, Brown's Burger's," I said.

"I was actually thinking about Randolph's," He said. "But I'm open to suggestions."

"Well, let's go to Randolph's," I said. "So what do you think is up with Willie?"

"I dunno, but whatever it is, it's something to do with Eddie," Coach said.

"What's Eddie's deal?" I asked as we walked into Randolph's.

"He came from a poor family," Coach said. "Can we have a booth please?"

"Yes," The greeter at the door of Randolph's said. "By the window?"

"Yes please," Coach said. "Eddie I thought was a good guy, but he just has changed since he came to college."

"What do you mean?" I said. You mean he was a nice guy at one time, that's rich. He's always been a prick to me, and people around me.

"Eddie came here looking to escape his past and start a new life," Coach said.

The waitress came up to us, and butted in. "Are you talking about Eddie Keaton?" She said.

"Yes, why?" Coach said.

"Well, I'm his cousin, Dedra Deverioux," She said. "And don't let him fool you, he's a prick."

"I don't know him well enough to say," I said. She looked like she would be his cousin, and she was ugly too. Basically she had a mean looking face, and severe features. Then again he was an ugly guy too.

"Ok Dedra, we want two hamburgers," Coach said. "At least I want one."

"Yups, I do to," I said. "And a soda please."

"I'll have some water," Coach said.

"Ok, two burgers, how do you want them done?" she asked.

"Medium rare," both of us said.

"I'll be back with that," Dedra said. "And I have news about Eddie for you guys."

"Ok," Coach said. "I wonder if she's know that we are part of the team?" Well Coach was a little more than part of the team.

"Probably she does, I mean you're pretty well known around here," I said.

"That just goes with the job," Coach said, while we waited for our drinks. The soda jerk came out with our stuff. Now the guy wasn't a jerk, that's just what the position title is at the restaurant.

"That's got to be hard," I said. "I mean not being able to go out without being mobbed."

"Ah, no I don't get mobbed," He said. "I do get noticed, but I've been here for 10 years." And Corvallis is a small town too.

"Anyway, I think Willie hasn't looked good for awhile," I said. "At least since the San Diego State game."

"You think or you know?" Coach said. "Big difference."

"I know, he was just looking very tired, or sick," I said. "It's like he'd go out and stay out at night, without us knowing."

"He seemed kind of sluggish last week," Coach said while sipping on his water. "Well, maybe not sluggish, maybe not all there."

"Then again, he's not been all there for awhile," I said. Yeah I just didn't like how Willie acted, he was a good guy, but there was a void there. He seemed to be vacant most of the time.

"Maybe, I just don't want to pressure him so much," Coach said as Dedra came back to our table with our stuff.

"Two burgers, do you guys want any condiments?" Dedra said.

"Yeah mustard," I said.

"Mustard on a burger?" Coach asked. "Are you nuts?"

"Do you have to ask?" I joked.

"I'll have catsup," Coach said. "I mean Ketchup."

"Whatever, I'll bring them back for you guys," Dedra said walking away to the kitchen again.

"Why do you put mustard on your burger?" Coach asked.

"Just always have," I said. "Maybe it's a California, or Hopefully Hollow thing."

"That's just weird, but maybe I'm just not as open minded," Coach said. Dedra came back with the condiments and sat down with us.

"Well, Eddie has always been a jerk," She said. "Billy Jeane is only with him because he's trying to hide his secret." What? Why was she so interested in dirtying he's name? And why did she think that we care?

"This burger is good," Coach said. "Dedra why are you so interested in telling us about Eddie?"

"Because I freaking hate him," she said. "He's done nothing to help our family."

"Why?" I asked. "What did he do?"

"It's not what he did, it's who he does," Dedra said.

"Oh, wait, what?" I said. I had an idea what she was saying, but I wasn't too sure.

"Guys, Eddie's not straight," Dedra said. "He prefers to have intimate encounters with men." Ok, I wasn't expecting that, but it was around the same line that I was thinking. I figured that she was saying that Eddie liked to have sex with little children.

"And this matters to us?" Coach said. "He's not the first homosexual person I have had."

"But that might explain some things for you guys," Dedra said. "Anyway, I have to go back to work." She just got up and left. That was a random conversation, but it did open up some channels for us to think about the whole situation about Willie.

"I can see why she brought it up," I said in between bites of my burger, which was very good.

"Why?" Coach said while eating his fries.

"Because I have wondered if Willie was gay for a bit," I said. He did say that Lisa was a hottie, but that was obvious. Just then Lisa and Sophie walked in, we were in a booth close to the street so they could see into us.

"Keith we've been looking for you," Lisa said. "I called your Mom a couple hours ago and I haven't heard back from her."

"She might be away," I responded trying to finish up my lunch. I had a feeling that it was one of those things that I was going to have to get up and leave to finish.

"But weren't we going to meet her for dinner tonight?" Sophie asked. Sophie seemed to come along on a lot of our dates. It was cool, Mike came with her a lot too, but Mike had study hall that night.

"Yeah, we are, can you guys wait just a second," I said. "Here's twenty bucks Coach for lunch."

"That's more than the burger is going to be," Coach said.

"I know, but there's the tip in there somewhere," I responded. I never could figure out the tips, I just always gave five dollars. Maybe once again this was one of those things that I could blame my lack of a father figure.

"Oh ok, hope that your mother is fine," Coach said. "I'll call you if anything big happens with Willie."

"What happened to Willie?" Lisa asked.

"The police found him, he's alive," Coach said.

"Cool, I was worried," Lisa said.

"Yeah so was I," Sophie said. She was standing there next to Lisa just staring at the dinner specials on the sign outside. Sophie could have just looked at the menu, but apparently she wasn't too interested.

"He looks good," I said. "Anyway, do you want to run over to Mom's?"

"I was just thinking that," Lisa said. "How'd you know?"

"I can read your mind," I said. "And your thinking Keith Campbell is the sexiest man alive."

"Well I know that," Lisa said.

"See you later Coach," I said. I hoped Mom was good, but you know women, they flip out at anything. Mom was probably fine, she wasn't house bound anyway.

"Bye, and I will update you tonight," Coach said.

"Lisa when was the last time you talked to Mom?" I said as we walked out the door.

"This morning I called my mom," She said getting her hairbrush out of her purse.

"Smart ass," I said.

"Nah, I got a nice ass," She said sarcastically.

"You two want a room?" Sophie said as we got into Lisa's car.

"Nah, we will get one later," I said.

"Oh don't be too sure," Lisa said sinking into the driver's seat of her car.

"Sometimes I wonder if you guys are truly meant for each other," Sophie said. "I mean, you guys should get married, you two seem so good for each other." Woho, slow down girl, I'm in love with Lisa but I'm not going to marry her yet. Unless something big happens to me, or she just gets more and more attractive to me.

"I'm not thinking that far ahead yet," I said.

"Me neither, I'm still too young to get married," Lisa said. "But I wouldn't mind being engaged." There's a shot across the bow to me.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said. "I'm sure Mom is safe, she has work today, that's probably why you've not heard back from her."

"I thought that she didn't work on Wednesday's?" Lisa asked as we turned the corner into the University district of Corvallis. It was a direct shot to her house from here.

"She works everyday," I said. I started to have that sinking feeling in my stomach that something bad had happened, as we got closer to Mom's house.

"Hey S, do you see the front door open like I do?" I asked.

"Yeah," She said.

"What's the problem with that?" Lisa asked.

"Mom never leaves the door open," I said. "We were robbed in Hopeful Hollow, and after that she never would leave the door open." We pulled up into the driveway, and the house just seemed off to me.

"That's not good, Keith what do you want us to do?" Lisa asked as we sat in the car.

"Come in the front door with me," I said. I wanted to make sure that they were safe, if anything bad was going to happen to them if there was going to be anything bad.

"Ok," both girls said as we got out of the car. I was worried about Mom more and more now, because the lights weren't on. She always kept a light on somewhere in the house.

"This isn't good," I said, as we got closer to the front door.

"What, what?" Sophie said in an exciting scared way. A scared look came over both of their faces when I said that.

"The lights aren't on, Mom always has one on," I said. I walked in the front of the house, and it just seemed off. The house seemed like something bad had happened, because it just felt eerie. I had watched a lot of murder mysteries and right now I was feeling the same feeling.

"That's not good, I'm behind you," Lisa said. "S, stay close, anything happens, I want to know where you are."

"Mom?" I asked when I walked into the foyer of our house. I could see that there was a light on somewhere upstairs.

"Mrs. Campbell, you there?" Lisa asked.

"She won't respond to that, she dropped Dad's name after the divorce," I said.

"What does she go by then?" Lisa asked.

"Miss Robin Matthews," I said. "Mom??????"

"Keith, I'm in my room," Mom said in a very painful small weak voice. She sounded bad.

"Mom, Sophie and Lisa are with me, we're worried about you," I said walking to her room.

"I'm well, I don't want to talk about it," She said still sounding weak and scared. We walked to her room and I could tell that she had torn her clothes off.

"Mom what happened?" I asked when I walked into her bedroom. The room looked like there had been a big struggle, things were knocked over.

"Miss Matthews if I may say something, you don't look like you're in good shape," Lisa said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Mom said. "Can't you guys just go to school."

"Ok, we will, have it your way, but I'm worried mother," I said as I walked out the door.

"You're just going to leave your mother like that?" She said to me. "She needs your help."

"I know that, but she's not willing to be helped," I said. And you really can't force anyone to do something they don't want. Now, maybe parents can force their children to do things, but I can't force Mom to do things she doesn't want.

"Keith, I'll talk to her, woman to woman," Lisa said. "Maybe I can get some stuff out of her."

"Ok babe, anything would be a big help," I said. Lisa was such a great girl; she didn't have to help Mom. I wasn't going to leave Mom, I just wasn't going to sit there and wait for her to talk.

"Sophie you might want to stay also, a couple of girls might help Miss Matthews come out of her shell," She said. I wasn't too keen on that; maybe having two people who Mom really doesn't know well might scare her more.

"Actually, Lisa that might overwhelm Mom, I'll take Sophie downstairs, and we'll get some homework done," I said.

"Yeah that's smart," Lisa said. "Jade, your books are in the trunk."

"Ok thanks," Sophie walking down the stairs to get her books.

"Babe, be gentle with Mom," I said walking downstairs with Jade. The rest of the house looked like Mom hadn't cleaned it. There wasn't anything too disturbing around the house that I looked at. I never would go in the living room because Mom only used that room for special events.

"Nice house, it must have been fun growing up here," Sophie said.

"I'm not from here," I said. "Mom moved here after the divorce." I thought Lisa had told her everything about me. Maybe I was under estimating women, I figured they told everything about their boyfriends to their friends.

"I didn't know that, you seemed to know a lot about the area," Sophie said.

"Did Dean Rhodes give out the sheet for the paper?" I asked when we sat down at the kitchen table. When I left class, he told me to get the information from someone, and sine she was in his class later on I hoped she would have it.

"It's a fucking doozy," Sophie said. "I don't know why he thinks his class should be the hardest one on campus."

"Because he's a prick," I said. "He's just one of those over educated people who thinks that he's the greatest thing."

"Yeah, here it is," Sophie said handing me the sheet. "I don't know which question I'm going to do yet."

"Lemme look at it," I said. "I might be able to pick an easy one out." The class was fun because I liked it, but I should have taken the other section. I didn't understand why for a math class we had to do a paper. It was a MATH CLASS FOR GODS SAKE!

"Good luck, for a smart guy, he does pick the weirdest questions," Sophie said. She was still sitting there looking through the book trying to find anything worth it for the paper. We sat there for like a half hour trying to figure out the homework, and the paper to no avail. However, Lisa came downstairs with news.

"Well, I got bad news Keith," Lisa said. "Your Mom was rapped last night."

"What????" I screamed. "No, not her."

"Yes Keith, she knows who did it to her," Lisa said. "So what I'm going to do because she told me is call the cops."

"Aw babe, you don't have to," I said still stunned about mom.

"I want to, Keith, when something bad happens to you, it hurts me," Lisa said. She walked up to the kitchen table next to me.

"Thanks," I said reaching over and giving her a kiss. "Here's Police Chief Brent McMillan's direct line."

"Oh, ok, I was just going to call the main number," Lisa said. "But this is good."

"He's the one that closed the Willie case, so maybe he would help us out here," I said. Plus I'm sure he'd know who could help Mom get through it, though at the college we had a very good psychology department.

"Dr. Hall, could help her," Lisa said walking over to the phone in the family room. That's one thing about the house that I didn't get, that is the builders placement of the phone jacks.

"Who is that?" I asked not seeing that she had already picked up the phone.

"Lisa's psychology professor," Sophie spoke up, while still doing her math homework.

"Yes, I'll, I mean we will be here," Lisa said. "Yes, tell Coach Firth."

"Coach Firth???" Sophie asked. "Why does he have to know?"

"Because he has to know," I said. "And he's with Brent anyway."

"Sorry, didn't know," Sophie said. "Mae wouldn't care."

"All coaches care, or have to by law," I said. "So Lisa what did Mom say to you?"

"Mom said that she was having a quiet night at home when she heard the door open downstairs," Lisa said sitting down across the table from me.

"Ok, that might have been Eric," I said. Little shit said that he'd get me back.

"Yeah that's who she thought it would be," Lisa said. "But she says she was dragged upstairs from the living room by a guy taller than her with a sky mask on."

"Oh that's bad," Sophie said. "I've had nightmares about that sorta thing happening to me."

"Damn, why did someone have to come after my mom?" I said. "She's already had a bad couple of years anyway."

"All women have nightmares of getting raped," Lisa said. "Even I do."

"I'd never let you get raped babe," I said.

"That's sweet but you might not be able to stop one," She said. "Yeah well anyway, this person raped your mother in her bed, and left saying that your son did this too you."

"Ah nuts, now it could be anyone," I said. "When did it happen?"

"Two days ago," Lisa said. "And it can't be you, because one that's growdy, and two you were in bed with me."

"Ah so you two were," Sophie said smiling at Lisa in a tell me more type of way.

"No," I said.

"No," She said.

"Boy you two really need to just get it over with," Sophie said. "I mean Mike and I have already."

"Yeah we know, we heard ya," Lisa said. "Anyway Mom said that she has just been sitting there like that after words, because she was afraid he was going to come back and kill her." Now it's getting scarier, why would anyone want to kill my mother?

"What?" I said in a startled mannor.

"Yeah she was afraid that he was going to finish her off," Lisa said. "But I told her, that I wouldn't allow anyone to harm her again." Lisa was being so good to me that day, but that was her.

"Aw that's so nice, you're such a sweetie Lisa," I said. "I don't know what I'd do with out you."

"You two are just so great together," Sophie said. "I'm jealous of you two, I really am, it seems like you two have a great relationship."

"I think so, Lisa's a good girl for me," I said. We had that connection that so many people didn't have at that age. Most of my friends were just in relationships for the sex.

"Aw thanks, yeah you're very good for me right now too," she said. "Your really the first boyfriend I've had who I can trust completely." That was about the nicest thing a woman had ever said to me.

"You two are a true testament that true love isn't lost among our college students," Jade said. Now where the hell did she come up with that?

"Where'd you read that one?" I asked. That was one of those things that you didn't expect from a college student. She probably read that in one of those trash women's magazines. Those are the types of magazines that end up breaking up relationships because they tried to paint a picture of perfect relationships. Or more importantly they'd tell you how bad your relationship was.

"No it's true," Sophie said. "Plus Girl Inc said so."

"Ah, I knew there was a reason why you were reading that junk," Lisa said.

"I can't believe that Mom was raped," I said. It took awhile to get over the shock, but once I did, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"By all looks of it, well from what I could see she was," Lisa said. "Sorry about that."

"Lisa, you don't have anything to worry about," I said. "You didn't know, or do it."

"I know but, I'm sorry that had to happen to Mom," Lisa said. "She's a cool woman."

"Yeah, rape shouldn't happen," I said. "If you have to rape a woman to get sex, then you need serious help." Rape wasn't funny to me at the time, and would never be. I couldn't understand why anyone would do it. And why to my mother?

"That's being too easy on it," Lisa said. "Guys don't know the meaning of no."

"What no doesn't me yes?" I said smiling, she knew what I meant.

"Smart ass, guys want sex all the time," Sophie said.

"Oh so girls don't?" I said. "Oh come on, you know it like I do women led on guys."

"Not all the time," Lisa stepped in. "I have lead a guy on, but I've not been raped either."

"Sure you don't lead guys on," I said. "Why have you crawled into bed with me?"

"Because I love you, and I want to share that time with you," Lisa said.

"Ok, I'm sure," I said. "You know let's drop this, I'm still shocked."

"Yeah sure," Lisa said. Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Jade can you get that?" I said. "No wait screw it, I'll get it." I didn't want someone that wasn't involved with it, or me to have to answer the door.

"Hello?" I said when I answered the front door.

"Keith Campbell?" a detective said when I answered the door. He was all, about my size and old. I'd say that he was in his fifties.

"Yeah?" I said.

"I'm Detective Matthew Davidson," he said. "I was called in to help investigate a rape here."

"Ah yes, just upstairs," I said. "Lisa you wanna come with us?
"Who's Lisa?" Detective Davidson said.

"My girlfriend, and the person that my Mom told about the rape," I said.

"Yeah I'm coming," Lisa said making her way to the front of the house.

"Lisa Weaver?" Detective Davidson asked. "I know your Mom from high school."

"Oh cool, but my mom went to high school in Washington State," She said as we walked up the stairs.

"This is my partner, Detective Paul Douglas," Davidson said. Douglas was much smaller and much younger than Davidson.

"Hi, Mom's in the front room," Lisa said.

"So what happen here?" Detective Douglas asked.

"Mom was raped two nights ago," I said going for the door to Mom's room. "Mom two detectives are here."

"I don't want to talk," Mom said from the room. "He said he'd come back and finish me off if I told the police."

"Mrs. Campbell, we can help you catch him," Detective Davidson said.

"I don't want any help, I'm fine," She said.

"She goes by Miss Matthews now," Lisa said.

"But is she your Mom, Keith?" Detective Douglas asked. "I just find it weird that you two have different last names." What's so different about that? Was he that shallow?

"It's not weird, she took back her maiden name, when the divorce went through," I said.

"You two we will take it from here," Detective Davidson said. "Even thought it's better to have someone that the victim knows with us, I'd like to talk to her."

"What about me?" Detective Douglas said.

"Of course you, you nimrod," Detective Davidson said, with a mad look on his face. You could tell that Douglas was new to the squad and that he didn't use his brain that much. I couldn't figure out why a new guy was doing a sex crime inquiry.

"We will come down if we need you," Detective Davidson said.

"I don't want any help can't you guys figure that out," Mom said from her room.

"Well, since she doesn't want any help, I'm going to try," Detective Davidson said. "I can only get out what a victim will give out."

"True, but I want Mom better," I said.

"We all do," Lisa said reaching for my hand. She was being so great that day, Lisa really cared about me, and I loved her for it.

We walked down the stairs and tried to get away from all of this, that was going on. I was so mad that Mom didn't want to get help for what happened, then again being a man, I have no idea why she wouldn't want some help.

"So what are they going to do?" Sophie asked looking up from her homework.

"Not much, Mom doesn't want help," I said sitting back down in front of my work. "And they can only do as much as she'll allow them too."

"That's bad, if I was abused, I sure as hell would be asking for help," Sophie said.

"Yeah so would I," Lisa said. "But since I don't know about the stress and the pain that Mom is going through, I can't say."

"But why would you not want help?" I asked. Maybe being a guy, I couldn't understand what women go through when they have sex.

"Maybe she's too embarrassed to tell anyone," Lisa said. "Maybe she only feels that she wants to be known as straight and pure."

"Then again all women want to be known as pure," Sophie said. "I don't want everyone to know about my sex life."

"That's true, but if someone hurts you, don't you want to get help?" I asked. If in the small chance that it actually happened, I would ask for help if I was abused.

"Well I wouldn't but I can see why Mom is not," Lisa said. "Anyway babe, I'm going to call my teacher and say I can't come to class."

"You don't have to do that," I said.

"I have to I want to be with you during this," Lisa said. Aw, she didn't have to do that, that was too nice.

"You don't have to do that babe," I said. "I can skip, Coach will get me out."

"But I want to," She said. "And I'm going to." Lisa picked up the phone and called into her Psychology teacher.

"Yeah Dr. Hall, I'm not coming to class," She said.

"My boyfriends' mother is having a bad time, so I'm going to stay here and help them." She said. Lisa was trying to make sure that her Professor would believe her.

"Well ok, I'll make that up too," She said hanging up the phone.

"Aw babe come here," I said. "You're being so great."

"No problem I'd do anything for you," She said walking toward me. And she never gave me any reason to not believe her.

"Well I hope Mom decides to use their help," I said. Mom always was very stubborn, maybe some of that rubbed off on me.

"Yeah, but as much as I want to help her, I have to get to class," Sophie said.

"You want me to drive you up?" Lisa asked.

"Nah, the bus comes by here anyway," Sophie said.

"Well I'll see you at home," Lisa said. "I'll stay here if things go late."

"Oh you don't have to stay here," I said. I was so touched that she stayed with me; Mom would probably be taken down to the hospital at some time.

"I want to," She said.

"Well folks I will see you guys later," Sophie yelled when walking out the front door.

"Did you bring any homework with you?" I asked after Sophie left. I should have brought my playbook with me but I probably wouldn't have paid too much attention to it.

"Yeah, but I can put it off for a while," She said sitting down on the couch near the television.

"Anything due?" I asked stupidly.

"All of it is," She said. "Homework always has a due date."

"Well yeah," I said. "But I meant like today or tomorrow."

"Nah, got most of the stuff done for the early part of the week done," She said. I joined her on the couch. She laid down in my arms on my chest.

"Oh that was smart, I should have gotten most of mine done," I said stroking her hair; her hair was so soft because it felt like cotton. She kept good care of her hair, I could tell that she liked looking good. Then again all women like to look good, but there was just something about Lisa and her looks.

"I'll do your work for you," She said. "It can't be too bad."

"Meh, it's ok none of it's due tomorrow anyway," I said. "But thanks sweetie."

"I just want to lay here and comfort you," She said. "This is very painful."

"Thanks babe, I'm tired anyway," I said. "You've been so good to me, this must be scary to you."

"It is, very scary to me," She said. "Then again my cousin got raped so it does hit home." Wow, I didn't know that, but I didn't know too much about the rest of her family.

"Wow, sorry to hear about that," I said.

"It was rough on our family," She said. "Especially sine the rapist was my boyfriend at the time." Dear god she's had some bad boyfriends.

"Oh wow, sorry to hear about that," I said.

"Yeah well you're the first sane, safe boyfriend of mine," She said. That's sad, that she hadn't been with good guys, she's a good girl.

Chapter 11 – Dad Comes back, Keith get's engaged.

The detectives were at the house most of the day. The medics came and brought Mom to the hospital about six pm. I had to run off to practice after words so Lisa stayed with Mom at the hospital. The detectives didn't want Lisa to go with Mom but I told them to allow her to stand in for me. They also had to report the crime to the papers, which meant the UP. That was the United Press, it was a national press service, and papers could pick up what news they wanted. I had them put my name in the story saying whom Mom was considering the last name difference.

I walked into the practice field at ASC really not into it, but wanting to practice. However, Coach Larryson and Coach Firth had found out about Mom and tried to talk me out of being at practice.

"Keith, you can skip practice, the team won't mind," Coach Firth said.

"Coach, Lisa's with Mom," I said. "I want to be with the team." I needed to practice for the game. We go full pads and contact at the night practices. I needed to get hit, and hit hard a couple times, to get me into the follow of the offense.

"We don't mind you skipping out," Coach Larryson said. "You know the offense, and the players, we can give you more reps tomorrow."

"Coaches, I appreciate you looking out for me, but Mom would want me to practice," I said. Mom was more worried about me than her own self most of the time, but she was being a mother.

"Ok, but if it gets to be too much for you, you can jet," Coach Firth said. I really was glad that he was looking out for my mother.

"That won't happen," I said. "Well unless Lisa comes with some news from the hospital." I didn't think that Lisa would drop by practice during the session, because she didn't want to bug me during practice.

"Well if I see her come in, I'll excuse you for the practice," Coach Firth said.

"Thanks Coach," I said before running off to the offensive line. I was a little distracted during practice, but was happy to be with the team. I told Derrick to hit me harder in practice than he usually did. When things got bad it was great to be with the guys. It made me feel like I belonged to something and was meaningful in life.

"Keith, run that again, your not getting it," Coach Larryson said right before Lisa walked in, looking very distraught.

"Check that, Walter run offense, Keith, Lisa's here," Coach Firth said. "You're going double time tomorrow, Keith." I sure as hell expected that.

"Yes Coach," I said walking over to Lisa.

"Babe, I have bad news," She said. As if I needed more bad news.

"What is Mom getting worse?" I asked.

"No, she's pregnant," She said.

"What?" I said. That's not good, now I don't know how they would handle it, but that was bad.

"Yep, I'm sorry to say that babe," She said. "They're going to get rid of it."

"Oh that's harsh, how is Mom dealing with it," I asked.

"She's the one that said get rid of it," Lisa said. "She didn't want to have the child of some person that raped her." I don't blame her, as much as I wanted to have a brother or sister, that's not the way that I would have wanted it. However, I would have supported her if she had decided to have it.

"I don't blame her," I said. "Where's Mom?"

"They're holding her for the night just to make sure she's good," Lisa said. "They will bring her home in the morning."

"Why?" I asked walking back to the locker room.

"Because the rape kit, and getting rid of the fetus took a lot out of her," Lisa said while outside the football locker room.

"Sweetie, I'm going to get changed," I said. "Can you wait like ten minutes?"

"Yeah, no problem," She said. I thought while getting dressed, that it would help Mom if Lisa and I met her when she came home. That would make Mom happy. I could bug out of classes and practice in the morning. It was important that I'd be there for her, school and football wasn't as important.

I got cleaned up and ran out too see Lisa. "Hey darling, I have a thought, let's stay at Mom's tonight, so we can be there in the morning for her." I said.

"Yeah that's a good idea, let's run by Fletcher so I can get stuff," She said..

"That's cool, well can they let me in to see your place?" I said. We'd been together for two months and I hadn't seen her place yet.

"Maybe, I'll see," She said being sly. "It's not picked up or clean." She laughed while we walked up the hill to the dormitories.

"Oh come on, women being messy?" I said jokingly. "Who would have thought of that?"

"You're cute when you're funny," She said. We walked up the hill in the dark, ASC wasn't too far from Fletcher so it was pointless to drive up.

"I'm cute?" I said. "I'm hot, sexy, handsome, and cute, cool!"

"You're everything to me," She said. Man she was such a great girl that day, and was making me feeling so good to me.

"You always say nice things to me," I said. There were other couples walking about talking, and holding hands. It was weird being a Tuesday how many couples were out.

"I try to, I'm just not a romantic type," She said. Lisa was very guarded with her feelings, it almost felt like someone close to her had hurt her. She always seemed to want to express her feelings for me, but would stop at, I love you.

"Me neither, but guys aren't," I said as we walked up to the front door of Fletcher. It looked like the night guards were on duty, so no seeing her place again.

"Keith, I'll run up for clothes and books fast," She said. "Stupid guards came on early today."

"Take your time, it's nice out here," I said.

"I'll be only fifteen minutes," She said. "Everything's easy to find anyway." She ran into the building. Fortunately there were benches outside of every dorm, so I could just sit there and let everything just soak in.

I couldn't figure out who would want to rape Mom. Would someone have done it, to get at me? Anyone who knew me, knew that Mom was the only family I still had. Rape is so bad, and the only two people that could have done it was Eric and Eddie. That was just my opinion. Maybe Willie knew something, and that's why he wasn't talking.

"Hey Keith, how's it going?" Coach Larryson said sitting down next to me.

"Meh, other than Mom, not bad," I said.

"So why you sitting here?" Coach asked.

"Waiting for Lisa, she's getting stuff, we're going to stay at Mom's tonight," I said.

"Oh that's good, we are having a full practice in the morning," Coach Larryson said.

"Thanks, what are you doing here?" I asked. It seemed odd to me that Ed, who was nearly forty was sitting by a girls dorm.

"Mae is here talking to some of her players, and figured I'd just sit here," Coach said.

"Yeah well you can't go in," I said. "Dat's why I'm out here." That's weird, our coaches didn't stop by our rooms.

"Well, technically I can," Coach said. "But that's only if one of you are there."

"Lisa wanted me to come up, but stupid guards," I said.

"Probably for the better anyway," Coach Larryson said. "It's not like, you've haven't seen her all day."

"True, and not like I'm going to see her all night anyway," I said. Just then Lisa and Mae walked out of Fletcher.

"Oh, Keith, sorry to hear about your mother," Mae said. "If there's anything I can do to help, just call me."

"Thanks, I don't know what to think right now," I said. "But I'll keep that in mind."

"Lisa where's your car?" Mae asked.

"ASC," Lisa said. "Keith and I walked up."

"We're parked near by, you want a ride down?" Coach Larryson said.

"Nah, we're just going to walk," Lisa said. "Do you mind walking back Keith?"

"It's ok, but thanks anyway Coach," I said. I didn't like Ed's car anyway, it was always messy and smelly. You'd think that with a coaching contract at a big time school he'd have enough money to replace the junker. Apparently not.

As we walked away I told Lisa why I didn't want the ride from Coach Larryson.

"Oh really?" She said. "I figured that coaches would have good cars."

"Yeah well, maybe Coach Larryson is one of those people who doesn't like to spend money," I said. "Some guys like to keep their money for a rainy day."

"My Mom's like that," Lisa said.

"Dad was like that before he started drinking when I was in high school," I said. "Then he couldn't spend his money fast enough."

"So did Dad leave you guys money?" Lisa asked. "Or is that stepping over the line?"

"I don't see a line," I said. "No, Mom has money from her family that she had in her name."

"Oh how'd she do that?" Lisa asked as we walked down the stairs leading to ASC.

"She had it under her maiden name, and Dad didn't want to get at it," I said. That was a surprise to me, because Dad took everything else from Mom.

"But why?" Lisa asked.

"Don't know, never asked," I said. "Mom also has been working odd jobs here and there over the years."

"That's good, I've always wanted to be the Mother who stays at home with her children," Lisa said. Lisa seemed that way to me, though a lot of the women who I knew wanted to work and have a family.

"Mom was like that when I was in elementary school," I said as we walked up to Lisa's car. Now the parking lot was empty and the lights at ASC were out for the night.

"My mother was like that too," She said. "I just find it so reassuring that you can be home with your children." Campus was also empty, except for a few people jogging. Campus late at night was so fun because you could walk anywhere and not be bothered. Many times when I was on campus, someone would stop me to congratulate me or give me the business about a game.

"That's a way to put it," I said. "When I was in elementary school I had to rely on Mom more, since Dad wasn't there."

"But you said he didn't leave until last year," She asked as we winded our way through the campus. Lisa took the long way to Mom's, and it was relaxing.

"He did leave last year, but more or less he's been gone for years," I said.

"That's sad, sorry to hear about that honey," She said. "I wasn't close to my Dad, but I respected him."

"Respected him?" I asked.

"Yeah I loved watching him coach, and I respected the way he treated his players," She said. "But he was never around, and wanted to have a son."

"Mom wanted to have a daughter, but I guess I'm a good consolation prize," I said. Lisa made the right onto Mom's street and everything still seemed eerie to me.

"You are a great consolation prize," She said. "Man, it seems so weird coming back here, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course Mom would like to see me when she gets back from the hospital," I said as we pulled into Mom's driveway. "Let's put it in the garage for the night."

"Ok cool," Lisa said. I walked in the garage extra door and opened it for her. "Do you think that Mom will mind?"

"Nah, after all you've done for her now, she'd be offended if you didn't," I said. "Don't hit anything."

"I won't smart ass," Lisa said. "I can drive." She pulled in and hit my bag of footballs, just to be a jerk.

"Well at least you didn't pop any of them," I said looking them over with her.

"Oh well, it's not like you can't get another one, or twenty," She said smiling. "You know I didn't hit them on purpose right?"

"Dunno, you are a woman driver," I said jokingly when walking into the house.

"Not that again," She said. "What does Mom have in the fridge?"

"Food," I said.

"That's a given," She said. "You know you're no help?"

"Yeah I've heard that," I said. "There should be some meat in the refrigerator."

"What are you feeling like having tonight?" She asked.

"How about chicken?" I asked. "Mom should have some tomatoes and some basil sauce in there."

"Ah so you want me to do Chicken in tomato basil sauce?" She asked.

"Yeah do you know how to do it?" I asked. It was one of Mom's main meals she made while I grew up, I just assumed everyone new it.

"I can brown chicken so that's the easy part," She said. "The sauce should be a snap too."

"Ah, no sweat for you," I said. "I'm going to turn on the TV, and see what's on." It was strange I was never watching TV at that time, so I had no clue what was on. You would have thought that someone my age would have known what was on. Not me, TV never really interested me.

"The Gus' should be on, I think," She said. The selection for shows and channels was very bad, we only had three channels, ABC, CBS, and NBC. If something important nationally happened, your night was cooked.

"Oh, I haven't heard of that," I said.

"It's a new show I heard about from Janet, it sounded pretty good," Lisa said from the kitchen. "I think it's about a family learning the ropes of life after having triplets."

"Dear god, that would be very hard," I said.

"I'd think so," Lisa said. Since we got home late there really wasn't anything on but the nightly news. The national networks had their half hour news on, and it was all boring, mostly about how the war was going on in Africa.

"Hey honey, can you help me with dinner?" Lisa asked from the kitchen. "I can't lift the pan."

"What one you using?" I said as I was coming into the kitchen.

"The big black frying pan," She said.

"Oh that bloody thing, that weights a ton," I said. "Even Mom hates that one, don't know why she moved it here."

"Yeah me and my big muscles can't move it either," She said laughing.

"Aw that sucks," I said. From the kitchen I heard on WBEV, "And we have reports just in that Robin Matthews the mother of Keith Campbell, the starting quarterback at Oregon State has been raped."

"Did you just hear that too?" Lisa said.

"Yeah, I'll go turn it up," I said running into the family room.

"We are getting reports that say, on the evening of Monday October 12, Robin Matthews was raped by a guy saying that her son is responsible of this," The news lady said.

"Damit, this isn't going to be fun now," I said.

"Sweetie, we can through it," She said. "I'm here, and I can help you get the media back on your side, if it turns bad."

"Thanks, that means a lot, but I don't know what you can do," I said coming back into the kitchen. "I should call Coach too."

"Yeah you should, but I don't know what he could do," She said serving the dinner.

"Well, since he's the coach, he can silence the media if it gets bad," I said. "Mmmm, this is good, you're a good cook sweetie."

"True, but I just want to help," She said.

"Thanks, you've been so great today," I said. She was so great, that was the day I realized that I had to marry her.

"I'm so hurt that someone hurt you and your family," She said, while eating.

"Lisa, your so cool, will you marry me?" I said. I meant it too.

"Aw, your sweet, I just don't know, I'm young, but I love you to death," She said. "Give me a minute to think?"

"Yeah sure, take your time," I said. I was scared that she'd go away and think about turning me down.

"I'm going to go use the bathroom," She said. "I'll be back." I sat there so nervous, I had had a bad day, and probably wasn't being rational. I wanted to be with her, and I'm sure she hadn't thought about it, but it seemed so right for me.

Maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but I so felt that she was great help to me. Plus, I didn't want to let her go. It wasn't like we were going to get married soon, I just wanted to make sure she's there when we do get married.

"Well, I'm very flattered that you want to marry me," She said. "And I love you dearly." I was so scared at this point.

"Thanks, I really do," I said.

"Keith, yes, yes I will marry you," She said. Ok that stunned me, I didn't picture her as a marrying type, I figured she would say, let's just see where this relationship goes.

"Oh wow, thanks, wow," I said. "So how does Lisa Campbell sound to you?"

"Nice," She said as the phone interrupted her. "I'm going to take it, while we are engaged." That was so cool, she didn't have to do that.

"I'll get it," I said. "Hello?"

"Yeah, ok, whenever, let's make sure everything is fine with her first," I said.

"Ok, well then we can wait until then," I said. "Goodbye."

"What was that?" Lisa said clearing the table.

"The hospital," I said. "They're not going to release Mom in the morning, she's going to be released at night."

"Oh that stinks," She said. "I'll meet you upstairs, I got something for you." Oh, I wondered what that was, but I had a suspicion in a way what it was.

"Nah, it isn't, I can go to early practice," I said. "I like sexy surprises.".

"Then you'll like this one," She said. "Go into your room, I'll meet you there."

"Oh, this is starting out like so many movies I've seen," I said.

"I don't do porno's," She yelled from the stairs.

"Dang it," I said back jokingly. I don't remember running any faster than I did that day to get somewhere. I must have sprinted to that bedroom, I didn't know what to expect, so I just got into my running shorts, and football jersey that I had left there.

She came into the room wearing a slinky bathing suit type of thing, it was a two peace. Lisa did this sexy dance around my bed that was amazing, she just kept moving around the bed wiggling her hips and jiggling her breasts. It really worked I was so hot for her, I just wanted to be with her. Fortunately, when I graduated one of my smart friends gave all his friends at his graduation party a pack of like twenty condoms. So before I came into the room I put one on.

"Oh Lisa, I so want to have sex with you right now," I said. She got up on the bed straddled me and started kissing me on my lips. She worked down my body to my stomach. We went at it for an hour, I so loved that woman.

Because we were so far away from ASC I had to get up earlier, like five o'clock just to make it to practice. Even thought I wasn't expected there, I figured it would be good for the game if I showed up for the second set of play review.

"Well that was good last night," She said kissing me after the alarm clock rang. "For my first time, I'll never forget that." Aw come on, I'm not that good, I know it but that was nice.

"Thanks, but sex with love is better," I said shutting off the alarm clock, this one wasn't as loud as the one I had at the apartment.

"Oh really?" She asked getting up out of bed. She looked so good wearing those skimpy clothes. I just wanted to take them off of her again, damn I loved her so much.

"Yeah, my ex in high school begged me to have sex with her," I said walking into the bathroom. "She was relentless, so I did her, felt nothing."

Taking that shower all I could think about was Mom, I wanted to make sure that she was safe, but she would want me to worry about the game coming up. And how would I tell her that Lisa and I were engaged? Man so many things on my mind, I didn't need anything bad to happen to me next.

Lisa drove me to ASC, for practice, she had one of her few off days for the softball team. Walking into ASC I couldn't see what was going to happen to me next, but I didn't need to see it.

Usually on Thursday morning practices I met with Coach Firth first, to see if there was anything he had noticed about my practicing over the week. It didn't matter to me if it was good or bad I just wanted to keep improving.

"Keith, I'm in here," Coach Firth said apparently he new I was coming. I rounded the corner and saw Dad sitting there with Coach.

"Oh hell no," I said.

"Keith, this guy says that he's your father," Coach Firth said.

"That's because I am," Dad said.

"Yeah, that worthless pile of skin is my father," I said. "I don't want anything to do with you."

"But Keith," Dad said.

"No," I said. "I'm going through hell right now, Mom was raped, I have the media after me, and I have a game to take care of. I don't need you."

"Keith I'm here to help," Dad said.

"You never help anyone but yourself," I said. "Mom and I left Hopeful Hollow because of you."

"I'm changing my life," Dad said.

"I've heard that before," I said. "We are not going to deal with you anymore Dad."

"Well if that's the way you want it," Dad said getting up for the door.

"And I know the only reason why you're here is that you want to ride the coattails of me," I said. "Because I did something you've never done, play good football." That must have really burned him up because he left the room.

"Wow, I didn't know that it was that hard with your father," Coach Firth said.

"Sorry that you had to hear about that," I said. "But I want nothing to do with him."

"So what's this about being engaged?" Coach Firth said.

"Lisa and I got engaged last night, she just seems to be the one for me," I said.

"But aren't you guys rushing into this?" He said shuffling through some papers. "You are young, and an athlete, there are many women out there."

"Yeah true, but Lisa makes me feel so good," I said. "Plus she's been so good around Mom during this time."

"I just don't want you to miss out on life," Coach said as we got up and left the room.

"I'm young, I've got a lot to live for, I just want Lisa with me," I said. Walking into the film room.

"So do you think your ready for the game?" Coach said.

"As of now, yes, but give me another practice, and I'll be sure," I said. The film room was already full. Apparently I had shown up late, oh well.

"Guys, we've had another good week of practice, I have never had a better group of players," Coach said. The rest of the practice was spent in the film room going over the Oregon film again, and plotting out what we would do against each defense. Most people hated these practices because they were so boring to them. For some reason I liked being there, because the coach would show us what we did right and we could see the improvement.

"Keith, Lisa's on the phone, she sounds distressed," Coach Larryson said from his office as I walked by after practice.

"What's up babe?" I said.

"Some guy is sitting in the living room saying that he's your father and says that he wants to be here when Mom comes home," She said. She sounded like she was in the guest bedroom.

"It's him, shit, I can't believe he's at home, fuck I'll take care of it." I said. "He touches you, I'm going to beat him senseless, oh wait he's senseless."

"Coach, is Ed in?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm right here," Coach Larryson said.

"I didn't mean you, I meant Ed McMillan," I said.

"Yeah he's in, just a sec, I'll run in and get him," Coach Larryson said.

""It's him, shit, I can't believe he's at home, fuck I'll take care of it." I said. "He touches you, I'm going to beat him senseless, oh wait he's senseless."

"Coach, is Ed in?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm right here," Coach Larryson said.

"I didn't mean you, I meant Ed McMillan," I said.

"Yeah he's in, just a sec, I'll run in and get him," Coach Larryson said.

"Tell him Dad is stalking my fiancée and have his brother get my father out of the house," I said.

"Fiancée?" Coach Larryson asked.

"Yeah you're a little behind the times, Lisa and are engaged," I said. "Can you get Ed please, I'm worried." I wasn't sure what Dad was doing at Mom's, and I didn't know what Dad would do to Lisa, but I didn't want him around her.

"I'm going," He said. I just sat there with Coach Firth, I really didn't want to go to Math class again, but I had to, plus we would have English class later too, and I could see Lisa again.

"Keith, you called for me?" Ed said walking into Coach Larryson's office.

"Yeah Dad is back," I said.

"What Dad?" He asked.

"Mine, and he's at my Mom's house and it's freaking out Lisa," I said.

"Ok, I'll call Brent to take care of your Dad, he'll know what to do," Ed said. "But why is Lisa there?"

"We spent the night at Mom's, just didn't want to go back to Harrison," I said. "Plus my bed at home is a lot more comfortable than at Harrison." It was also bigger, but I didn't want to go that far and say that.

"Brent, Ed, we have a problem at Keith's place again," Ed said on the phone to his brother. "Yeah, Keith's father is back, and he's bugging Lisa Weaver."

"Ok good, well I'll have him call you after class," Ed said before hanging up the phone.

"What did he say?" I asked. I really had to leave for class, but my Math Teacher was cool with me skipping class every now and then. Plus, I had the homework sheets for the next two weeks, so I could've turned in the work later.

"Well, he has said that the Detectives canvassed the neighborhood, and think that they may have found someone who knows what happened," Ed said.

"Oh that's good," I said. "I'll talk to them tonight before Mom comes home."

"When's she coming home?" Ed said.

"Tonight sometime," I said.

"Well keep me informed," Ed said before leaving.

"Yeah Keith, keep us all informed," Coach Firth said.

"I will, gotta run to class," I said. I didn't want to miss practice that afternoon, but it might have been necessary to do. Mom wouldn't like me being home from practice, but she'd understand. Walking to class I was so out of it that day, I couldn't tell you who was on campus.

"Hey Keith, sorry to hear about your Mom," Dr. Bill Karl said when I got to math class that day.

"Yeah it's rough right now," I said.

"Tell you what, I'll just pass you through this week, and you won't have to worry about this work we are doing this week." Oh, so tempting to me, I mean come on, I was an athlete and I didn't like school that was fun. I could've skipped out of English too, Professor Ron would do that for me.

"Aw hell, you don't tell coach I'm not here," I said.

"He won't know," Dr. Karl said. The team wouldn't know either, I was the only player in the class. Wouldn't be the first time I was skipped out of class, but a part of me didn't like it. I kind of felt like I was cheating myself out of learning something, but I didn't like class anyway.

"Ok cool," I said before leaving. Instead of running to English class I just skipped and took another quarterback practice with Coach Larryson.

The rest of the week leading up to the rivalry game was hectic. Mom came home and was all right after staying away from work for a couple of days. Coach Firth got tickets for Mom and Lisa for the Oregon game, which was at Oregon. The Media was all over the department to get a hold of me but Coach Firth shut down the program to all media. I really felt that it was a good week as far as getting ready for the game.

Going to Eugene was very boring, and would have been worse if it was a long drive, but it was only a couple of hours. The scenery was so boring, plus I forgot to bring my book, so I was bored. Plus the game was a noon start so we had to be there by nine. Fortunately coach had the Athletic department provide breakfast for us.

I was so ready to escape Corvallis, the media and the campus was so annoying me. Mom was doing much better, and that was good. Coach and his family also checked in on Mom on and off during the week. I was really impressed with how the athletic department rallied around Mom. Heck even Larissa sent her flowers, and I didn't think Larissa didn't like me.

"Keith, how ready do you think you are?" Mike asked when we got out of the bus at the stadium. The stadium was on the edge of the city, so we didn't have to go into that vile place. I still hated Oregon for everything that they were, but then again I was supposed to, since I went to the rival school.

"Good enough to get by," I said. "I figure if you guys can play out of your minds, I can use you guys as a crutch."

"Ah so you're going to rely on us more than yourself," Jack said walking in behind us.

"Kinda have to, with my week," I said. I could always get my mind focused on the game, but with the investigation, Dad, and the engagement life was pretty hectic for me. I still hadn't gotten a ring for Lisa, but Mom said that she had a nice one she's been waiting for me to use for my engagement. She says it was her mother's engagement ring, it was a small diamond, that really sparkled in the light. It wasn't anything too big, but it would show how much I care about her.

"Keith, you ready?" Coach Larryson asked walking into the locker room. "They are very fast."

"Yeah they look it on the tape," I said getting my uniform on. Before the game I'd just go through warm-ups in my playing pants and a tee shirt. Lisa had gotten me an Oregon State Beavers Softball Tee-shirt for my warm ups.

"But are you ready?" Coach said.

"As ready as I'm going to be," I said. "I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's what I got."

"Well after this past week, I don't blame you," He said. "I'm going to put you through a hard pregame practice."

"I'd hope so Coach," I said. "With my week, I didn't get enough stuff in for the game."

"You should be fine, these green freaks are not that good," Jack said. I'd never heard him talk that way about anyone.

"You don't like them Jack," I said.

"Well when they beat us last year, my Mom said that it was the worst game I had ever had," Jack said. "I didn't think so, but she kept telling me that."

"Wow that's rough Jack," I said. "Mom's my toughest critic, but she doesn't tell me that I had a bad game." Lisa was becoming a critic too, but she would tell me what to improve on. She was good at it, I tended to be more critical on myself than anyone else was.

"That's just Mom, been like that her whole life," Jack said as we walked out to the field.

"Keith, look Luke McCain is playing today, he's going to punish you," Mike said. Luke McCain was the toughest linebacker out there, and he just happened to be a Duck. I had heard stories about how hard of a hitter he was, Jack separated his shoulder last year when he played them.

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to playing against him, hopefully the line can handle him," I said.

"That's what I thought last year," Jack said. "Thank god some of them have matured this year."

"Guys, around me now," Coach Larryson said. Coach Firth also was there, it looked like he was supervising us. "Hey, it looks like Luke is healthy, but we are going to bring Derrick over from the defense to block in the backfield."

Chapter 12 – Keith has more Issues, the Team loses

The pregame practice was very hard, the Coaches drilled us endlessly, and it hurt. I tweaked my hamstring on a roll out flair pass. I planted my right leg to throw, and my leg felt like it gave out. I could walk on it, and cut on it, the leg was just sore.

"Keith you going to be good?" Coach Larryson asked before the offense went out on the field for the first time.

"I can cut, and set up for a pass, that's all I need," I said. "If you need my mobility you're pretty much screwed." Then again they were screwed with my mobility anyway.

"Well if we do, I'll move Mike over," Coach Larryson said.

"Mike has never played QB," I said.

"True, but we don't need him to throw, and we don't have any other runners behind you," Coach Firth butted in.

"So what do you wanna run first?" I asked. I never could read coaches mind, he never stuck with the same gameplan from week to week.

"The new play, let's see if they scouted from last week," Coach Firth said. "Mark Mc Barth, is a lazy coach, dunno how he got here."

"Ah some rivalry between you two?" I asked.

"There is no way he should be a head coach at this level," Coach Firth said.

"What did he do to you?" I asked. We were in a television timeout, and those tended to go long.

"He's my ex-wife's husband," Coach Firth said.

"Oh," I said before running out to the field. All I could think about running out to the huddle was how ugly those uniforms were that they were wearing.

"Ok just, Earnestine 87 blaster right," I said. "On three, and Jack get my back if this thing breaks down, I'm option pitching it to you."

"No prob, don't want you running it will scare the children," He said. As soon as I got the snap, McCain was in the backfield from his middle linebacker spot. I had to dump the ball off to Jack out of the backfield. Fortunately, Jack had good hands, so I could rely on him.

"Shit, does someone wanna pick up McCain?" I asked the line when we came back to the huddle.

"Dude we're doing the best we can," Matt Case said.

"Well try harder, shit, I don't want to go to the hospital again this week," I said. Mike ran back with the play.

"Ok folks, Left Country 98 blaster 32," Mike said. "On what Keith?"

"Two," I said. I so didn't want to get hit hard, I wanted to play, and beat them.

We got up to the line and McCain had moved again, now he was over the right tackle. It was like this guy knew our formations before we went out there, that was eerie. Then again he was the best linebacker in the west, and some said that he was the best in the country. The rest of the half we couldn't get anything started, and I played very poorly.

"Ok guys, do you want to play the Civil War like this?" Coach Firth said in the locker room at half time. That was the first time he had called the game that, apparently the fans of the game gave it that moniker years back and it stuck.

"No," We all yelled.

"Well here's what we do, obviously we can't pass against them again this year, so Jack, be prepared," Coach Firth said.

"Like last year, pass on every third down?" Jack asked.

"Nah, because they are timing Keith's throws, I might have to change that too," Coach Firth said.

"Yeah, I see them jumping on his pump fake," Ed said. Dang it, why was that the first thing the defenders jumped on? When I pump faked they wouldn't go where the fake was.

"Damit that always happens to me," I said.

"Well moron, don't pump as hard," Matt Englund said.

"Like your any better Matt," I shot back. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to say, but I was very mad.

"Guys, don't vent your anger on each other," Coach Firth said. "Keith, your pump is too hard, take some strength off of it." How's that possible, if you want me to throw hard, how am I to not pump as hard?

"You guys, just go out there and play your hardest, and we will win," Coach Larryson said. We ran out and you would've thought that coach could have fired us up better, but the coaches weren't good motivational speakers. So we were pretty much flat after halftime, then again if you need your coach to get you pumped for a game then you're lost. And most of the time we were lost players.

Fortunately for us on offense the defense was out first, so we could sit back and take it in. I could rest my hamstring, and it really hurt, I didn't want to come out of the game. Then on the first snap of the second half for the offense, I stepped into a rush by the defensive line and McCain hit me so hard that my legs buckled. It was a textbook, legal hit, but I was so sore.

"Holy shit, that hurts, fucking hell," I screamed. "Get the coaches here, where's my fiancée?"

"Coach, get here, Keith is injured," Jack said bending down. "Get Lisa and Miss Matthews also."

"Keith, what hurts?" Jack asked.

"My fucking right leg, shit, think I broke the mother fucker," I said.

"Hey man, didn't mean to hurt you," Luke McCain said while standing next to Jack.

"Luke, I know, but that was a hell of a hit," I said. "Where the fuck is coach?"

"I'm right here," Coach Firth said. "What hurts?"

"My right leg, shit, it hurts," I said. I could feel the throbbing all the way up my right side. Damn that hurt. "I can barely move it."

"Doc, can we get him to the training room?" Coach Firth asked.

"Yeah, but we have to take him to the hospital," the trainer said.

"You want Lisa and your Mom to ride along?" Coach Firth said.

"Of course," I said. Why wouldn't I want them? They came because of me, and they'd be worried if they didn't come with me.

"Ok, wheel him out, folks," the trainer said, after the put me on the stretcher. They wheeled me off the field and half of the crowd booed me, that wasn't too surprising.

"Hey Will, beat them for me," I said going by Will on the sideline. Just then Lisa and Mom joined me on the cart to the locker room.

"Keith, what's wrong?" Mom asked. She'd never seen me get injured in a game, sure I had been nicked up, but nothing bad.

"Mom, my right legs hurts," I said. "I tweaked my hamstring in pre game, and McCain must have hit it hard enough to really hurt it."

"Sweetie, can you move it?" Lisa chimed in. I could see in her deep beautiful hazel, green tinted eyes that she was worried about me.

"Yeah a little, don't think it's broken anymore," I said as we got to the training room.

"Ok guys, let's see how Keith's leg is responding," The trainer said. "Might not have to send him to the hospital." That was a relief, I hated going to hospitals.

"Responding?" Lisa asked.

"We haven't really moved him since getting him off of the field, if he can put some weight on it," the trainer said. I was in so much pain that I forgot the trainer's name.

"I'm sure I can put some weight on it," I said. "But why did you take me off the field?"

"Because you were on the ground saying that you broke your leg," the trainer said. "Just wanted to make sure." I limped into the training room with help from the trainer and Lisa. She was being such a big help, I was so happy that I was engaged to her.

"Oh I'm good, I'm just not used to being injured," I said.

"Any major leg injures?" the trainer said.

"Nope, no injures," I said. I had just said that I was not used to being injured, what did he think I meant?

"Any leg problems in the family?" The trainer asked now working over my leg as I laid on my stomach on the trainers table.

"Well, my ex-husband shattered his right leg in college," Mom said.

"Nah, I mean like diseases," He said. He was working over my leg, and seeing if the muscles were all still attached. He just seemed like he wasn't listening to us, but maybe he was too interested in my leg. I did have sexy legs.

"Nah, nothing we are a healthy family," Mom said.

"How does that feel Keith?" the trainer said while rubbing my upper leg.

"Hurts like hell, but I can feel the muscle," I said. Of course I could fell the muscle, it was throbbing but I knew what he meant.

"Well everything seems like it's all there," the trainer said. You probably strained your hamstring."

"But he hit me, I didn't tweak it there," I said.

"Sometimes you can get hit hard enough to strain a muscle," he said. "You should be able to practice all week just stay off of it for the weekend."

"But I want to finish watching the game," I said.

"No problem, we have the game on the televisions in the locker rooms," he said.

"Can we go in there with him?" Lisa asked. She'd been silent for awhile, probably just taking in, the moment.

"You should be able to until the game ends," the trainer said. "But they don't like women being in the locker rooms." Well of course they don't, or locker rooms would be unisex.

"Guys, it's right around the corner," the trainer said. "The television in the coach's office get's cable."

"Thanks man," I said limping off with Mom and Lisa. I hated being hurt, I hated being away from the team. It really hurt not being there with them, I loved being a part of the team regardless of what we were doing. It was like a little part of me died every time I wasn't apart of the team.

"Keith, you need our help?" Lisa asked watching me limp behind her.

"Nah, it just hurts a little, I can deal with it," I said. Of course I hurt more than I was letting on, but being a football player I couldn't show how injured I was unless it was really bad.

"Ok well I am here if you need it," Lisa said. We walked into the locker room, it was only a few feet away from the training room. The locker room was so boring, it basically had lockers and a training station, the walls were white, the floor was black. The Ducks definitely didn't want to spend too much on their opponents.

"Man, this is a locker room?" Mom said. "I expected much more."

"This is Eugene, you shouldn't expect too much," I said. "Here's the coaches room, damn Coach Firth messed up the desk here."

"Why is he messy?" Mom asked.

"Yeah very, what channel is the game on?" Lisa asked.

"I think channel three," I said. The chairs were even uncomfortable in the coach's room. I really began to think that they didn't want the opponents to be comfortable at all.

"Too bad we can't watch this back in Corvallis," Mom said.

"If we were at home I wouldn't be playing, and I hate not playing," I said. "And I would be a pain."

"Aren't you normally a pain?" Lisa said. "Man they aren't doing any better out there without you."

"Kinda figured as much, we were having huge issues on the line blocking them," I said. "Will isn't much of an athlete so he's pretty much a deer in headlights out there."

"Why didn't Coach recruiting any other quarterbacks?" Mom asked.

"Well, I'm just guess but I don't think he thought that he'd need me to start the year," I said. That still doesn't make any sense, it would have been smarter for him to sign two quarterbacks.

"But, wouldn't it be smart of him to have recruited two just in case," Mom said. As she got that out of her mother the Ducks scored another touchdown and you could feel the stadium shaking from all the cheering.

"We don't know who else coach recruited and lost," I said. "Man, it sucks losing to the Ducks, I mean their stadium is so bad that it shakes when they cheer."

"I think it's actually pretty cool," Lisa said. We were getting beat 34-10 without the extra point. It just wasn't one of our good days as a program.

"Oh, so you a Duck?" I asked sarcastically.

"You know what I mean, I just think that Memorial Stadium would rock too," She said.

"Probably does, never been in the stands for a game that packed," I said.

"The first game it did a bit," Mom said. "Maybe it was because they were happy to see you come in." I doubt that, but it was nice for Mom to say that to me.

"Nah, I think it was for the band," Lisa said. Just then you could hear a chorus of boos, while Jack walked into the endzone for a touchdown.

"Woohoo, Jack just got in for a touch, that's good," I said. "He needed that, come on get 100 boy."

"What's he up to now?" Lisa said, switching chairs to be closer to me.

"I think he's at like ninety, they've been running him hard since I came out," I said.

"Yeah I'd expect that he was going to get the ball," Mom said. "Will just doesn't have the arm that you do."

"Mom, I have the strongest arm in the conference," I said. Well that's at least what the papers said when I committed here.

"We knew that Keith," Mom said. "Are the Ducks that good or are we that bad?"

"I think it's somewhere in between," I said. "The Ducks aren't as good as they are looking right now, we are just having a bad game." Just then the final gun sounded so I had to get Lisa and Mom out of the locker room fast.

"You want us to take you home?" Mom said.

"Lemme talk to coach, I'm sure he won't mind," I said. Coach probably wouldn't mind that much because I'm injured, he'd want me to be comfortable.

"Ok, we will be in the gift shop for a bit, you might still find us there," Lisa said.

"Well, I will find you anyway, I shouldn't be long," I said while getting them out of the locker room.

"Sweet jesus we got our asses handed to us," Matt Case said walking into the locker room. "Sorry about getting you injured."

"Not your fault man, Luke is too fucking fast," I said. "I should be find, just strained a muscle."

"Yeah, but I should have blocked the little motherfucker," Matt said.

"Hey how's the leg?" Coach Firth asked when he finally made it over to our group.

"Hurts like hell, and the trainer said I should keep off of it this weekend," I said. "I want to push it so I can get a full week of practice in for Washington State."

"Don't push it too hard man," Coach Firth said. "I don't want to have two gimpy quarterbacks." You know it was funny I had forgotten about Eddie pretty much, with all of the business in my life that had been happening.

"Well, I should be good, I heal fast," I said. At least I hoped so, I really did need more practice.

"Just don't push it," Coach Firth said.

"I won't," I said, thought I was lying, I was never good at that.

"Keith, you do need a full week of practice, but we should be able to beat Wazzu without you fully ready," Coach Larryson said.

"But?" I said.

"But I don't want you to push it either, I might just keep you out of active practice on Monday just in case," Coach Larryson said.

"Oh man, I want to practice," I said in a whining way. "I like getting hit."

"Then why were you whinnnig?" Lester Hanyes our right tackle said. He was a loner and kept to himself even while playing so for him to pipe up means he must have been really bugged.

"Because it was their whole line coming over ours," I said. It didn't make any sense to me, but that's all I could get out.

"Hey folks, he was just getting hit hard and all the time, that will wear into a qb every time," Coach Firth said. The guys were changing around us, and just looked like all they wanted to do was go home and sleep. I didn't blame them. I just wanted a good book, and to snuggle with Lisa. That would be a good night for me.

"Coach would you might if I rode back to Corvallis with Mom and Lisa?" I said packing up my stuff. I had changed out of my stuff while watching the game.

"Yeah no problem," Coach Firth said. "It would be easier for your leg if you ride with them, you can stretch out better."

"Good thanks," I said getting my bag ready to go.

"Just make sure you call me when you get home," Coach Firth said.

"Where?" I said. "I meant where do you want me to call you?"

"I'll be at the office for the balance of the day," Coach Firth said.

"Ok, good, thanks," I said before leaving. I walked out with my bag, I figured if I wasn't going to be riding with them, I would be smarter for me to take them with me.

"Hey Keith they have to go with us," Matt Englund said. "I'll make sure they get back to your locker."

"Cool, thanks E," I said. After our blow up during the Tennessee game we hadn't had another run in. He was a cool guy, just a little too high strung.

"Yeah no problem man," He said. "Get that hammy better, I don't want to have to play next week."

"I will, but take some snaps just in case," I said walking down the hall.

"I will man," Matt said. Mom and Lisa were waiting there for me when I came out, they must have been there for like a half hour before I got out.

"So they let you leave with us?" Lisa said, she looked so good standing there.

"Yeah they did, Coach Firth wants me to stay off of my leg until Tuesday," I said. "Though I want to practice on Monday."

"Oh I forgot to tell you, Brent McMillian called today," Mom said. "He wants to talk to you about Willie."

"Hmm that's weird, Willie left school a week ago," I said as Lisa helped me getting into the car.

"Dunno what he wanted but he said get back to him this weekend at his place," Mom said. Lisa sat next to me while we drove home, I guess she was worried about me and my leg. I propped up my leg on the passenger front seat. As much as I hated Mom's car, I loved the back seat, it was so big and so comfortable, that if you sat there long enough you would fall asleep.

"I'm curious why he'd leave so fast, come back, and then leave," Lisa said.

"Willie was just a weird guy, I never could get a handle on him," I said.

"Didn't you say he came from a bad upbringing?" Mom said from the front seat.

"Well he didn't have a great life, but who knows with him," I said. After all the stuff he had done, leaving us abruptly and coming back, to leave us again, I doubted pretty much everything he had said to us.

"Yeah well after all he has done, I wouldn't believe him either," Lisa said.

"I don't trust many people other than you and my family," I said. "The coaches well that's just a given, you have to trust authority figures."

"Aw thanks sweetie," Lisa said. The drive back this time was a lot more pleasant and less crowed. I felt naturally better being with Lisa and Mom when I was down, than I was with the team. I liked being with the team but sometimes they were annoying. But I always liked being around women more, my mom said that was because I was a guy. I just felt that life was better when women were around.

"Keith what do you want for dinner?" Mom said as we got off of the interstate towards Corvallis. I didn't know what I wanted just as long as it wasn't cafeteria food.

"As long as it's food I'm not picky tonight," I said.

"Ok, well I will feed you water, and air," Mom said turning onto Main Street.

"Thanks, I know you mean well," I said. "I just don't want cafeteria food right now."

"Well you've really not been eating at Jake that much this week," Lisa said as we turned the corner onto Mom's street.

"True, but I just don't like the cook or whoever is making the food on the weekends, that person just doesn't cook well," I said. I didn't like cafeteria food, I'd just gotten used to it while I was at school.

"The cooks there are terrible to begin with," Lisa said. "The ones at ASC are pretty damn good."

"They have to hire and cook for a mass amount of people, no cook can make great food in large amounts," Mom said pulling into the garage at home. Lisa had basically moved in on weekends, so it was like a big happy family now.

"True, I just don't think that they do as good of a job as they could," I said.

"They do their best babe," Lisa said while walking into the family room with us. "Miss Matthews do you want me to help you with dinner?"

"Nah, it's no problem, I'll just make something quick," Mom said.

"I'm here if you need it," Lisa said. "Honey, you need any help?"

"Yeah, could you turn the tv to WBEV, I want to see what they are saying about the game," I said. Lozine had arrived at the game right after the team, and I was wondering about the report he was going to file for the game.

"No problem, they were at the game?" She said.

"Lozine was," I said. "He's probably going to rip us a new one."

"Why?" Mom asked from the kitchen. "Isn't he always nice to you guys?"

"Nah, he's gotten sour on us, which is weird, Coach Firth really doesn't like him much," I said. "I think he regrets giving Lozine access to the players." Kerry Lozine hadn't been to bad to me, but to be far I haven't had a bad season to point.

"Oh, I didn't know," Lisa said. "He's been good to you, at least while I've been around." Which was the whole time I was on campus, but I won't split that hair with her.

"Yeah true, but he doesn't want to piss off the so-called "savior" of the program," I said. I hated that moniker, "savior" that the media had placed on me, don't know where it came from, but I wished it had never been said about me.

"Why do they call you that?" Lisa said.

"Because I'm the most highly recruited player in the past five years for the team," I said.

"Wasn't Jack a highly recruited player?" Mom asked just as the report came on.

"Once again the Beavers go to Eugene and play poorly, how many more games in the Civil War does Coach Craig Firth have to lose before AD Ed McMillian cuts his fat?" Lozine said.

"Oh hell, that's not good," I said.

"Keith Campbell was carted off the field in the second half with a pulled hamstring, it is not known how long he'll be out," Lozine went on to say.

"Well, I'll be back by Washington State," I said.

"Coach Ed Larryson will not comment on what he's going to do about the offense if Keith can't go," Lozine said. "We would either see Will Clark or Matt Enguland if Keith isn't allowed to go."

"Of course Ed's not going to talk to you," I said. "Your ripping us."

"He's being really harsh, are you going to go back on his show?" Lisa said. She was sitting with me on the couch on my lap, with her head on my chest, while I was holding her.

"Probably not, then again I've been on twice already," I said. "There's better players, though with this report, I don't think that Mr. McMillian will allow anymore players on that show."

"Yeah well Coach MacWilliams might not allow us on it now," She said.

"Coach Larryson probably will advise her not too," I said. "But then again Mr. McMillian will probably warn all the coaches about the negative press, if they aren't already in tune to it."

"Hey Keith, what do you want to drink for dinner?" Mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Something of the liquid variety," I said.

"Smart ass," Lisa said.

"Don't you mean nice ass?" I said back to her.

"You two are annoying you know?" Mom said. "Fine you will get water." That was fine with me, I loved water, I could drink water all day, and I'd love it. If I had to chose a drink most of the time I had water, yes it didn't have the most refreshing taste, but it felt good and tasted good.

"Why do you think that we are engaged?" I said. "We suit each other well."

"You two are a cute couple," Mom said. "My ex and I were cute in the beginning but then his real personality showed."

"So you did love your ex?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, we were high school sweethearts," Mom said. "But for some reason after we got married and had Keith he changed." Yeah Mom had told me that they had me right after they were married and then Dad completely changed after word.

"Oh sorry to hear that," Lisa said picking a seat nearest to the door. "Do I have to worry about Keith changing?"

"No, Keith is nothing like his father," Mom said. She had set the table in the kitchen for dinner while preparing the food. "He's more like my father."

"I'm like Grandpa Matthews?" I asked sitting down to dinner. I'd never met either Grandpa, because by the time I was born Grandpa Matthews was dead, and Grandpa Campbell was too mentally gone to remember me.

"You are, but he was more of a math lover than you are," She said.

"I hate that subject," I said. Dinner was good, and it felt good to be away from the team for a while, knowing how mad they were it would be good to be away from them. I just didn't like being around people who were pissy, and after a loss it was really bad around ASC.

"Keith you going to have trouble getting up the stairs?" Mom asked when Lisa and I went to bed.

"Nah, thanks Mom, I'm just going to limp up the stairs, I should be good," I said. "Plus the arm rail is a good crutch."

"Good good, do you need Lisa's help?" Mom asked.

"Nah I'll crush her," I said. "By the way Mom, do mind if we sleep together tonight?"

"No, I'm your mother," She said jokingly. "You two are engaged, you should be in the same bed, just no sex please." Damn well there goes that idea.

"Ahaha, mom you know what I meant," I said. "Cool, thanks Mom."

"Thanks, I was worried too," Lisa said. "I'll keep him in line."

"Your already becoming a good wife," Mom said.

"Hehe, I've got a while to go," She said.

"Mom don't be giving her any tips yet, I don't want to scare her away," I said as I turned to go up the stairs. I figured that even with my bad leg I could get up the stairs anyway.

"Nah, if she's not scared away now, you'll never scare her," Mom said.

"Oh hush," I said. That's what I loved about my Mom is that we could say things like that to each other and it was just a joke.

"Nah, Miss Matthews, he's got me hooked," Lisa said.

"Yeah he's like his father, be careful," Mom said.

"We will," I said as Lisa and I walked up the stairs. Boy I was so wrong to think that I could walk up the stairs myself, it really hurt to walk. And it really didn't help that Lisa was so small so using her as a crutch didn't work. I just used the wall, which was something that Mom always hated. Considering the circumstances then, I don't think that she'd mind.

"Hey babe, do you want me to prop up your leg for you?" Lisa said when she got me into my room.

"Nah, it's ok, just don't roll over on it," I said.

"Ok, I won't lay on your right," Lisa said. She never really did, and I like the right side of the bed anyway.

"Just be careful," I said. She laid down next to me, in one of my old football jersey's. I just loved it when she did that, it looked so cool that way, almost like a dress.

"I'm always careful with you," She said.

"I know it's just that I'm scared with this leg, it freaking hurts," I said while stroking her hair. For some reason I always loved women's hair, maybe it was because most women's hair was so soft. Hers was so great and I loved it, and I kind of think she new that too.

"I'd be scared too if I had just messed up my leg," She said laying there.

"I'll be fine I hope, I just don't want to ruin the rest of the season," I said. I wanted to finish out the season, I figured if we won three more games we would make it to the post season. I just wanted to help the team to their best record any way possible.

"Don't rush it, I don't want to see you hurt," Lisa said. She was so sweet to me, sometimes I wonder why I hadn't met her sooner in my life.

"Aw thanks sweetie, you are the world to me," I said. I was such a big softie around her, it was amazing, normally I wasn't this bad. Well it wasn't bad, it was just not me.

"Aw thanks," She said before kissing me. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Good night Mrs. Campbell," I said.

"MMM, like the sound of that," She said falling asleep. It was nice, I fell asleep right after her, but kept waking up because my hamstring kept throbbing. That's the one thing I hated about being injured, was the pain. If you could be injured without the pain, it wouldn't be so bad, but then it wouldn't be an injury. See the things that kept me up at night as a college student?

Lisa got up before I did, and she woke me up with her coca butter body lotion she had just put on in the shower. Damn that smelled so good, so intoxicating. Why do women do that? They smell so good and are so soft, that just drives guys crazy.

"Hey, Lisa," I said waking up. Boy that hamstring was tight that day.

"How's the leg Keith?" She said getting her clothes on, she was more comfortable now that we were engaged getting changed in front of me. More women should do that, in fact watching women change was always sexy to me.

"Still hurts, but I should get downstairs," I said trying to get up. I didn't want to stay in my bed all day, unless Lisa stayed with me.

"Take it slow babe," She said. "Coaches and the trainer want you off your feet all weekend," Lisa said.

"That's only one day, and I have practice in the morning," I said. Still I really didn't want to miss class.

"I'll get Coach Firth to excuse you from morning practice," She said. I was happy that she was looking out for me right now, but I really did want to practice.

"But babe, I do want to be at practice," I said.

"Not in this current state," She said.

"But babe, I want too," I said. Wow our first fight, that was kind of lame actually.

"I won't let you, I'll get Mom to tell sign something to get you out of practice," She said.

"But hun, you know football is everything," I said. Yeah I know it was a stupid fight, but I wanted to practice on Monday.

"I know that but I don't want you to be permantely hurt, you have a future to look forward too," Lisa said.

"Yeah I always have, but I want to be there," I said.

"Well you're not going, and that's final," She said. Wow she could really put the foot to the floor when she needed to.

"Yes, well then I guess I'm not going," I said. "Can you help me down the stairs?"

"Yes, sorry about laying down the law, but I don't want you to practice tomorrow," Lisa said.

"Babe no worries, it's not the end of the world and you were probably right anyway," I said. Try getting a guy to say that his girl friend/fiancée is right in a fight, because guys always think that they are right.

"Wait you just said that I'm right?" Lisa said helping me into the foyer.

"Nah, said might be," I said smiling. "Guys are always right." After I said that my Mom walked into the family room. I'm sure she'd love our fight upstairs, or more like our heated discussion.

"Heh, there's an urban myth, guys aren't always right," Mom said.

"Oh come on if it wasn't for men, women wouldn't be alive," I said. That was the one thing from religion class that I had remembered.

"That's what the bible wants you to think," Mom said. Mom was never overly religious, she did go to mass, but it wasn't anything big in her life.

"So the bible lies?" I said from the family room. Lisa had helped me to the main couch and went in to help Mom.

"No, that's blasphemy," Mom said from the kitchen. "It was written by men."

"Ah so the downfall of society is men's fault?" I said. I knew Mom was just joking around here, but the easy way out of many arguments to is to blame someone.

"YES!" Both Mom and Lisa said jokingly. "We are making eggs and bacon, is that cool with you?"

"Sure, I'd help but I'm not going to move," I said.

"Nope, I'm not going to let you," Lisa said from the kitchen.

"So you are going to wait on me hand and foot?" I asked. I doubted it, but Lisa was full of surprises and I'd love to be waited on by her.

"In your dreams babe," She said.

"Ok then I'm going to be sleeping," I said.

"Funny, very funny," Lisa said. Though she would be a really sexy waitress, that's just not something she would do.

"Keith, do you want me to call back Sgt. McMillian?" Mom asked. In our family we didn't mind yelling between rooms, we were all blessed with really loud voices.

"Sure, but he's probably not going to be in today," I said. Thank god it was a Sunday, I could sit and watch football. I was smart, I got all my homework done for Monday in study hall. Weekends weren't made for homework, that's a week day job.

"He gave you his home phone number right?" Mom said while setting the table.

"No, but it's not hard to find," I said. Mom had gotten the paper and left the sports page out for me. I can't remember a day in my life that I didn't at least read the sports section.

"You think the Sergeant of the town would have his number listed?" Lisa asked.

"No probably not, but Ed would know," I said. There was a lot of articles on how the team was doing and my leg injury. They weren't as negative as the television media was about the team, but they could have been nicer.

"I can call Ed's off today if you want me too?" Mom said.

"We can leave them alone today, it's not like they don't know where I live, and my current situation," I said. Plus I really didn't want to deal with the Willie situation today, I needed to relax, not get wound up.

"Well anyway, Keith, breakfast is ready," Mom said. I hopped over to the table, it wasn't that far, and I didn't want to burden Lisa.

"Babe, I would have helped you over to the table," Lisa said. She saw me hobbling over to the table.

"It's ok, I didn't want to burden you," I said getting to the table. Boy that walk or whatever you would call it hurt, I should have asked for help.

"That's ok I could have helped you," She said putting the breakfast on the table for us. Lisa was a real help for the family now that she was hanging around us more. It was a help for Mom to have another woman around the house.

"Keith, you're not supposed to hobble around," Mom said while sitting down. "Do we have to nail you to the couch?"

"You could strap me down, I'm still going to move around," I said. Breakfast was great, nothing like after a bad game, having a good meal. Sometimes after a game, I'd have a meal even if I wasn't hungry, it seemed like it was a good way to unwind from the game.

"Keith, what are you going to do about the sports cast last night?" Lisa asked referring to the WBEV negative report on the team.

"I can't do anything unless I'm asked," I said. "Thought I'm going to not speak to them again."

"That might be the smartest thing to do," Mom said. Yeah it was, but I didn't know what the company line was, Coach Firth and Ed held all the cards when it came to the media. As much as I could do to not talk to the media, they could tell me to talk to them.

"Thought Coach Firth might have other ideas," I said. One of the big differences with football back then was that pre game shows for the pro's didn't start early in the morning. There was a pre game show, but it was only an hour before kickoff.

"Like what?" Lisa said sitting down next to me. "What game are you going to watch today?"

"The Seahawks are on, hopefully they will win today, they need it," I said. They'd lost their three last games, and if they wanted to make the playoffs they needed to start winning again.

"Oh, ok, I'm partial to the Raiders," Lisa said.

"Your from around here, why are you a Raiders fan?" I said. Mom was in the kitchen doing the dishes, most mornings when I was at her place I did them for her.

"Because my Dad grew up in Oakland and if I wanted to watch football their games where the only ones I got to watch," Lisa said. "Oh I mean while I was living in Oakland."

"Wait you lived in California?" I asked. As much as I knew about her there was so much apparently that I didn't know.

"Yeah I was born in Oakland," She said. "We moved when I was ten, but I clearly remember the football games."

"Oh that's cool, why'd you guys move?" I asked.

"Dad got a job at a better high school here in the state," She said.

"Oh cool, did your Dad always coach football?" I asked.

"Yeah, though he does help out on the track teams," She said.

"Oh cool," I said. Most of the day Lisa and I sat there and watched the Seahawks. It was a boring game, not high scoring and poorly played. Sometimes I liked watching these games so I could see what not to do. It's not that I thought I was better, it's just I could see what they were doing wrong.

The phone rang after the Seahawks lost, and sure enough it was Coach Firth.

"Hey Coach," I said when Mom brought the phone over to me. We had a very long power cord on our family room phone. It was a help, we could move it to any place.

"Keith, how's the leg doing?" Coach said.

"Oh it still hurts, but I want to practice," I said.

"No you are not," Both Mom and Lisa screamed.

"Oh you're not practicing until Wednesday," Coach Firth said.

"But can I come to practice?" I said. Since I'd never been held out of practice on an injury, I really didn't know how to act.

"I don't want you there in the start of the week," Coach Firth said. "But show up on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings."

"What are you going to do about the sports cast last night?" I asked.

"Oh that, well until I talk to Ed, I'm not talking to them," Coach Firth said. "They have a right to say what they want, but that was a little over the edge." Yeah that's true, I just didn't want to do anything unless I checked.

"Ok so if anyone calls me here, you don't want me to talk to them?" I said.

"If anyone calls you at your house at any time, call the police, that's harassment," Coach Firth said. "People need to know that to talk to you officially you need to go through the athletic department."

"Ohhh, ok no one has, I'm just worried that people will start calling here," I said.

"Is your mother's number listed?" Coach Firth asked.

"Yeah it is, but since Mom's name is different from mine, it's hard to trace," I said.

"Smart, my ex wife is still living in town and she still gets prank calls at their place," Coach Firth said.

"But didn't you say she moved out of your house?" I asked. Mom and Lisa were out in the backyard playing in the garden. I didn't know that Lisa liked gardens but maybe I hadn't asked.

"She did, it's not hard to find that I've been divorced," Coach Firth said. "It's in my biography."

"So have you looked at the game tape yet?" I asked. I didn't want to talk about his life, I was more concerned with the game, not that he was boring.

"Yeah well, it's not the best game tape I've ever seen," Coach Firth said. "It's probably one of the worst games I've ever been apart of."

"Sorry I couldn't help, are you going to do a fact sheet on this one for us?" I said. Coach usually did a fact sheet of our strengths and weaknesses during the game. It was a real help for me because I could study what the whole offense was doing instead of me. Then I could make the changes to effect the team the best.

"I'm doing a complete fact sheet for the whole team, well everyone who played," Coach Firth said.

"Oh wow, you need any help with that?" I asked. As much as I wanted to play in the NFL I also wanted to coach too. SO I was always willing to be there to help the team.

"Nah, I've got some graduate assistant going through some of it," Coach Firth said. "Plus Coach Larryson is here, and you know how bad he is when the offense is bad." Oh yeah, Coach Larryson wasn't fun when anything on the offense went bad. But that's part of his job, he doesn't want his work to look bad.

"Well you know where to get ahold of me while I'm gimped," I said. "I'm going to be staying here for a bit."

"That would be smart, considering the leg," Coach said. "Well I'll let you go."

"Thanks Coach," I said before hanging up. It was good that I was not going to practice in the morning anyway because I could sleep in, hopefully.

"So how was Coach?" Mom asked.

"He's really upset about everything right now, but he's going to let Ed deal with the problems with the media," I said.

"Ed?" Mom responded.

"Oh sorry, Ed McMillian," I said. "Oh, I should have gotten Brent's number from Ed." Being blonde I tended to forget things, or was it that I was just forgetting things anyway? Dunno.

"You should have, but we can call information if we really want to get ahold of him," Mom said.

"Nah, I'm sure if it's urgent he'll call us," I said. And I shouldn't worry because Brent would have called Coach if he couldn't find me and it wasn't important.

"True, and I'm not letting you leave here until class tomorrow, it's better to say at home," Mom said. I'd seriously thought about moving back in with Mom now.

"But Mom, there are stairs here and I have class in the morning," I said. I could have skipped class, it was only English, and Lisa would have taken notes.

"Your not going to class I don't want you to be injured anymore than you already are," Mom said. Ok she was going overboard, but then again she had been around to see Dad's leg injury so she was being safe.

"Mom, your being a little too wound up on this," I said. "I just tweaked my hamstring, that's all I'll be fine in the morning."

"But I want to make sure you don't end up like your father," Mom said.

"Mom, I tweaked my hammy, Dad snapped his leg," I said. The story and description my father gave it was the most brutal injury I'd ever heard of.

"But if you don't take care of it you will be permantely injured," Mom said.

"It's just a hammy mother," I said. "Many players have had a hammy injury."

"But many of them haven't had the Mother's loving care," She said. By then, Lisa had come in from the garden. She spent a lot of time out there, I didn't peg her as a woman who liked to garden.

"Can we drop it please?" I asked. "Hey babe, apparently no one is letting move from here tomorrow, can you get my English notes?"

"Yeah sure, Prof. Ron will have already known for sure about your leg," Lisa said.

"That so didn't make sense, but I will say thanks," I said. "Can someone help me upstairs, I want to look at my playbook in my room."

"Why do you want to go up there," Lisa said. "Why don't I bring it to you?"

"Nah, I want to be up there," I said. I just didn't want to say in the same place, if I was going to be forced to stay home, I would have to change rooms every once and a while.

"Ok, just a minute, Miss Matthews, I'll take Keith up," Lisa said. "Then do you want me to move that flower pot for you?"

"Lisa make sure Keith is fine, that flower pot doesn't have to move anytime soon," Mom said. It was nice how concerned Mom was about my leg, but she was being a little too smothering. But she was just being a mother, so I shouldn't expect anything less.

Chapter 12 – Season Ends, Keith Moves

The start of the week was really boring, since I was only allowed to stand on the sidelines and watch. Will and Matt were doing well in practice in my place and I felt confident if I had to miss the game that I could. The Washington State tapes we received were a big help, the Cougars looked awful, and unorganized. Our offense was really clicking so we could lay a big whooping on their defense.

"Keith, what would you think if we held you out of the game this week?" Coach Firth asked me on the way back to his offense after Wednesday morning practice.

"Well you're the coach, I have to go with what you say," I said limping along. The leg really didn't hurt, I was just a tad bit sore still.

"But would you have a problem if Will started?" Coach asked.

"Of course not, he looks crisp and he could torch the Cougars," I said. "Plus it could help him develop more if he spot starts for me." Of course, I really wanted to play, but the Cougars were so bad that it was pointless for me to risk the injury.

"Yeah true, I just wanted to make sure you were good with it," Coach Firth said.

"I have no problem with anything you do so that's cool, I know my role," I said. I wanted to sit there and study the films with Coach. Lisa had been a real help with the homework for classes. I had finished most of it, and the academic support staff of the athletic department really helped getting me the notes too. They were going to help me through the end of school on Wednesday so I really didn't have to go to class.

"Keith, you still not able to attend class?" Coach asked.

"Well I can attend but Ed McMillian has kept me away until tomorrow just to make sure," I said.

"Oh yeah I forgot I told him to keep you from moving too much this week," Coach said. "I need to write important stuff down more."

"I'm the same way, if the playbook wasn't written I'd be screwed for new plays," I said.

"Speaking of playbook, would you mind sitting here, and writing down the defense you see the Cougars playing," Coach asked.

"Yeah sure, " I said after he gave me the tape, the keys to the film room and a pad of paper.

"Be as detailed as possible," Coach said. "If you need anything or get confused yell, Coach Larryson is around."

"Ok coach," I said. This was some of the best stuff we did as players was look at film. We could see what the other person would do to defend us. And that was so gratifying to me because life couldn't get any better than someone trying to stop you from doing what you do.

I really wanted to be a coach somewhere down the line, just being around the players was so much fun. The strategy behind why things work is amazing to me, I sometimes just sit there with the playbook and marvel at the stuff that we can do. People had to design plays to STOP US, and that made me feel so good.

Boy was Washington State terrible, they couldn't design a defense to defend anything. There were so many draw plays run against them, that it made them look like they hadn't had the coaching to learn how to defend it. Though I had heard that their campus was very hard to recruit too. But recruiting and coaching can only get you so far, or so I had heard.

"So how's the tape?" Coach Larryson said walking into the film room.

"The quality is good, the team is horrible," I said. "I could get out there right now and put up 340 yards and four touchdowns."

"I wouldn't go that far, Coach Shilling lost his defensive line to graduation so they look worse then they really are."

"But their defensive backs seem to bite on the curl routes, look," I said pointing out number 36 getting beat by a slower WR.

"That's a complicated route for the defensive back to figure out," Coach Larryson said.

"It is?" I said. I wondered why something so easy for the offense was so damn hard for the defense.

"Yeah think about it the WR, has a defined route that starts out straight and curls, that would mess with any young defensive back," Coach Larryson said.

"True, but it's so easy for the WR," I said.

"All the major routes for the WR are easy, nothing really changes from high school," Coach Larryson said.

"Really the hardest offensive position is QB," I said. Though I was biased.

"We haven't even given you the whole playbook yet, just wait," Coach Larryson said.

"Oh so it's going to be harder?" I asked. That's just what I needed, harder plays.

"You have no idea, but your smart, it won't take you long to figure it out," Coach Larryson said.

"Jee thanks, when am I going to get the full playbook?" I asked. This was so scary to me, I thought I'd mastered the offense, but apparently not.

"This off season," Ed said. "Their defensive coordinator left for Maryland after last year, so they are adjusting to a new team approach." That would stink to lose a coordinator, thought I'd be happy if Ed went on somewhere for a better job.

"Are you going to be around," I asked. The tape was so boring, but I could talk while diagramming the defenses, they were running basic packages.

"Today yes," Coach Larryson said.

"No I mean next year?" I asked again.

"I plan too, unless I'm offered a head job somewhere, though that's not likely," Coach Larryson said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well because I'm out here on the west coast, and Oregon State isn't well known," Coach Larryson said.

"But you could be, being scouted by teams right now," I said. If he did leave, I would have entertained the idea of transferring out to be with him. He was a good coach, and he was a good person to me.

"Every coach at some level is being looked at by another organization," Coach Larryson said. "But the job here isn't high profile, so the best I could do is another coordinator job at another school."

I spent the rest of the hour just sitting there making sure I had diagramed everything about the defense. It was strange, when it came to football I would work so hard at something, but everything else, half way. It wasn't that I was lazy, I just didn't care about anything other than football, well Lisa I loved. Maybe it was that I'd always considered football the most important thing in my life. It wasn't like I didn't do great work, it's just the quality wasn't as good as it should be.

"Coach ?" I said out in the hallway when I was finished with the diagramming.

"Yes, who are you looking for?" Coach Lucas said out of his office. Well I wasn't looking for him, but since he was the assistant offensive coordinator, he was good enough.

"Coach Firth, but apparently he's gone home or somewhere," I said hobbling into one of the conference rooms. Since Lewis was an assistant to an assistant he didn't have his own office. That kind of stunk for him, he had to constantly move his stuff around.

"Well, I diagramed the defense for Coach," I said.

"Why did he have you do that?" Coach Lewis said.

"Because I was there," I said. I had no clue why Coach Lewis didn't like me, though Eddie had said that Coach Lewis was a jerk.

"Well I've been here all day," Coach Lewis said.

"Anyway man, I'll put them on Coach's desk," I said.

"Ok, I'll probably see them anyway," Coach Lewis said. I'd hope that he'd see the coaches, though with Coach Lewis I wouldn't be surprised that he'd miss the coaches.

I decided that I was going to run up to class today anyway. Yes, I know it was going against everything the team wanted me to do, but it was boring not being in school. Up until college, I'd never thought I'd say that about school, but somehow I began to like school. Maybe it was that I was maturing, who knows. Plus there were enough bus's around for me to get up to campus.

"Hey Keith, how's the leg?" Eddie asked on the bus up to campus. I hadn't seen him in so long.

"It's better than it should be, I'm fine," I said. "The coaches are just being a little too careful with me."

"Yeah that's one of the good things with Coach Firth is that he'll baby his players," Eddie said. "He wants each player to be completely healthy."

"There's a point in all of it where it gets annoying, I'd rather be playing then be treated with kid gloves," I said.

"He's just being a good coach," Eddie said. "Anyway, I'm going to help Will get ready for this week." That's funny because he's not helped me whatsoever, but maybe he didn't view Will as a threat to him.

"Oh cool so you're going to make it to practice today?" I said getting off the bus with Eddie. Eddie wasn't a complete jerk, he had his rare moment's where he was actually a pretty good guy.

"Hopefully after rehab today," Eddie said as we walked into Science class.

"Keith what are you doing here?" Nevada Miller said.

"I decided to come to class," I said. I knew all my teachers had gotten the notice that I'd not be allowed to be in school for most of the week. Most of them should've thought that I'd be there, because I wasn't going to sit at home waiting for something to happen.

"But man we are doing a lot of work today," Nevada said. "I can figure out how to get the points to you, it's not an important thing for the test." That was a relief for the test, but Chemistry was a boring and hard course. As much as I wanted to take the easy way out, it would be better for me at that time to do the work.

"Ok, well I'm here, I'll go do something," I said.

"Well, don't strain yourself, we need you for Washington State," Nevada said.

"I'm not playing against Washington State," I said. "They are so bad that Will is going to start and I'm going to take a week off to rest the leg."

"Oh that's smart, well you can stay if you want," Nevada said. I decided to leave and see Professor Ron about homework.

The rest of the week was boring, I was just getting back my mobility on the field, but coach kept me out of contact drills. I hated that, but Coach was the final say in everything so I had to put up with it. Lisa and Mom were starting to look for wedding dresses. Since Lisa's family lived far away, Mom took care of a lot of the preparations for the wedding. Mr. Weaver had decided that he didn't want to deal with the preparations until he had to write a check. It was a weird set up, but as long as the wedding was good for Lisa, I was cool.

Saturday before the game was hard, since I knew I wasn't playing, I slept well. Normally I couldn't sleep before a game. I still had to get to Memorial Stadium at the normal time, but I didn't have to suit up.

"Sweetie, you going to be at the game?" I asked Lisa before getting out of the car.

"I might, Mom and I still have some shopping to do, but we'll try to show up," Lisa said. "It's not the same with you not playing."

"Yeah it is, well I hope I see you guys, if not, I'll have Mike run me home after the game," I said giving her a kiss before getting out of the car.

"Alright, hope you guys win," Lisa said. Normally I'd go to the training room for taping before going out, but since I didn't need anything it was strange.

"Keith, can you help me with something?" Coach Larryson asked.

"Yeah what's up?" I yelled back entering the locker room. Ours was so empty then that I could echo my voice, it was kind of eerie.

"I need you to help me warming up the team," Coach Larryson said.

"Oh no prob, I was going to do that anyway," I said. Utter lie, but coach didn't have to know that.

"Good, can you warm up Matt and Erick?" Coach Larryson said.

"Yeah, I'll be out just a second," I said. I ran into see Mike, hadn't seen him since the injury that much.

"Hey dude, anything come for me at the apartment?" I said.

"Yeah your billon dollar check came, but they needed you to sign for it," Mike said. "But since you weren't there, I had them give it to Eddie."

"Jack ass," I said, of course he was joking, I rarely got any mail. Thank god, because in high school I was getting so much. All those recruiting letters were annoying, flattering but annoying

"Hey Keith you got a second?" Coach Firth asked. Of course I did, I wasn't playing.

"Yeah, whatcha need Coach?" I asked.

"I need you to be the blocker for the play calling, since apparently this is on Corvallis TV," Coach said.

"Yeah I'm big enough to do it," I said. "But, why me?"

"Because you are the first player I saw," Coach Firth said. Well at least with him you could say that Coach was honest, and had some weird reasons for things.

"Ok, well that's at least a reason," I said. "But Coach Larryson needs me outside to warm up the QB's."

"No problem, you could be a help then too, because you can get Will used it," Coach Firth said. "Plus I don't need you until game time."

"Oh cool, you want me to dress anyway just in case?" I asked.

"Yeah why don't you, just in case, I mean it's not like we will need you ," Coach Firth said.

"Ok good, I can get ready fast," I said. I don't know what that had to do with anything. I figured that Coach wouldn't mind if I pressed him more about playing. It wasn't like Coach was going to put me in, but considering what else he had, I was better on one leg than some of my backups were.

"Ok see you out there," Coach Firth said walking into the coaches room. I bet he was annoyed that I kept pushing to play all week, but a leader has to be there for the team no matter what.

"Hey you are suiting up?" Matt Englund said when I ran out to help them warm up.

"Yeah, Coach Firth finally said yes, maybe it was to get me off of his back," I said.

"Good too see you dressed man," Mike said.

"Man, you've not seen me naked, only Lisa get's that honour," I said smiling.

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean," Mike said.

"Ok guys, enough messing around, Will, you are going to mimic Keith in drills," Coach Larryson said. "Well don't follow his limping around."

"Guys, Arizona series on one," Coach Larryson said. It felt good to limp around on a field for a bit. I had practiced with the team but they didn't let me run anything to bad. Basically I was relegated to simple plays and a couple snaps.

"Keith, lighten up, we don't need you to re-injure your hammy," Coach Firth said. "Plus I need you." I never liked talking it easy in football, it's one of those things that had been drilled into my head from the beginning.

"Ok coach," I said running off. The first half was boring but Will was doing well, and that was good. However I so wanted to get in there. We ended up leading at half by twenty so I was happy for Will. He could have played at another school but decided to stay after I came in.

"Guys that was a great half, keep up the good work," Coach Firth said. "I'm going to start pulling people in the second half so some of the freshmen can play." Coach never would pull his veterans unless it was a blow out, and we'd never had one of them until that point.

"We need to get the ball to the TE's more," Coach Larryson butted in. "They are able to run free, a hit here and there and they'll back off."

"Ok team, we can do it, and we will, just keep the intensity up some more." Coach Firth said. We went over the game plan for the second half, I didn't pay as much attention as I should have, just in case if I got in.

The second half started out well, and we put up more touchdowns. Jack was looking good, so he was pulled for one of the freshmen who'd only played on special teams. Eric Gettsey was quiet guy, and I think he lived out in the freshman dorms because he was a walk on. He was a good guy, just never around. There were some rumors that he was gay, but we didn't really know for sure.

Then deep into the fourth quarter Coach Larryson told me to start warming up. That confused me, I didn't think that they were going to play me at all.

"But why, don't you want to hold me out?" I said.

"Because it's good for you to get some of the rust off," He said. "Plus with ASU coming in, you'll need to be ready."

"Oh ok, is Coach Firth cool with it?" I asked. I was sure he is, and I didn't like doubting the coach but I wasn't sure why. Coach was being so careful with me before. Could he be uneasy with his other options at quarterback? Matt wasn't a bad player he just was not the worlds best, he could've played somewhere. Then again his father played here so I guessed it was more of a fact that he was forced to go here.

"Coach are you sure you want me in?" I asked Coach Firth.

"Yeah of course, you are the best option we have," Coach said. "I don't want you running anything too bad, just run some simple plays." That didn't seem all that bad, plus if the line kept the defense off of me, I'd have no issues. Then again, they couldn't stop the common cold, so I could be cooked.

"Hey man, is it true they are sending you in?" Mike asked coming off for special teams.

"Yeah I guess I'm in, in a couple of plays," I said. "I'm ready, just scared the line won't block well."

"Well you have the second team going in, so that should be a worry," Mike said.

"Keith get in," Coach Larryson said. I ran out there, and the stadium erupted. When that happens, all players feed off of it. I can't describe how that felt, because there aren't names for that feeling. I relished it, thought I expect that all players did.

"Ok guys, remember me?" I asked the line in a joking way.

"Yes, smart ass," They said back.

"Ok good just checking," I said back. "Ok Eric you ready for your first carry?"

"Yeah man, I'm sick of this blocking," He said. All freshmen are like that, they hate blocking and want to get all the spotlight. I can see why, blocking has to be awful. That's why I was a quarterback, just a tad bit easier.

"Ok, Tulane series folks, X8 32 blast, Honda Left, on nothing, go on center snap," I said.

That series wasn't bad, I ended up throwing a touchdown to Mike Toles, Derrick's little brother. It was good to be out there, though the leg was feeling a little sore when I came off of the field. That should have been expected, I mean all that movement for the first time in a week was a little hard on my leg. I should have told coach that it was giving me trouble, because he might have pulled me.

The next series was awful, I could barely move, and then the worst happened. On a designed pass play to the right, my blind side wasn't protected and I was blindsided. That hit hurt so much, I could feel the tendons in my leg snap as I went down. It was the most excruciating pain I'd ever felt. I thought that the hamstring pull was the worst thing I'd felt but this was something else. It felt like someone took the muscle off of my lower leg, more like they'd ripped it off slowly almost trying to hurt me a lot.

"Oh damit, this is one of those times, I wish I hadn't thought hard today," Coach Firth said running with the trainer. Yeah his bright idea may have just ended my career.