Chapter Nine
Homecoming Week
"Okay, Jason... I hope you're in for an intense day!"Ms Prez smiled as she walked over to my desk. "For your final, you'll answer four questions here... Then move on to both of your other classes. For each final, get four questions right for an 'A', 3 for a 'B', 2 for a 'C', 1 for a 'D' and none for an 'F'. Good luck... You'll need it."
I took a deep breath and braced myself.
"What is Jane Eyre's occupation?"
"Um..."I thought for a few moments before giving up. "... A ballerina?"
Ms. Prez frowned. "That's incorrect. Next question: Who wrote 'The Great Gatsby'?"
I knew this one. "F. Scott Fitzgerald."
"Correct. Which one of these is a character in the 'Canterbury' series?"
"The butler...?"I wasn't so sure on this one.
"Incorrect. What is Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' classified as?"
"A... tragedy?"
"Wrong. You go one out of four, Jason." Ms. Prez shook her head.
Time for my math final. Mr. Russell sat in the seat in front of me and began.
"99 + 98 + 97 = ?"
"294" I said.
"Correct. Roughly how many centimeters are in an inch?"
"3. 68?"
"Wrong, Jason. 111 + 167 = ?"
"278"
"Correct. 60 – 17 = ?"
"43"
"Very good. You got three out of four correct... That means you got four out of eight correct on your finals so far... Good luck on your next test, Jason."
I sat down at History for the next stage of my finals.
"Okay, Jason, here we go." Mrs. Swovelin said.
"What is the title of Luo Guanzhong's historical novel about China?"
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
"Correct. Maximilien Robespierre was an influential figure in..."
"The French Revolution."
"Correct. Which of these cities was founded by Peter The Great?"
"St. Petersburg."
"That is correct. The Russian city of St. Petersburg was at one time called..."
"Lenzinburg."
"That is absolutely correct... So you got four out of four correct. Excellent work, Jason."Mrs. Swovelin smiled.
"I passed finals... Woo hoo!I'm getting that new car!"I grinned as I ran up and hugged her tightly.
She frowned. "Jason!Let go of me!"
"Sorry." I apologized, realizing I had gotten ahead of myself.
Tuesday rolled up and instead of lunch, everyone was at a huge pep rally in the school gym to pump up the students for Friday's homecoming game. As everyone sat down and got comfortable on the bleachers, Coach grabbed a mic and walked to the center of the gym.
"... There are those who say a lizard can never beat a badger." He started. "Well, that may be true in nature... But it's completely false in high school football! This Friday, we're going to show Wilson High that sometimes the little guy can triumph!"
"We're with you, Coach!"Jacob cheered.
"I don't care about football,"Hector grinned. "But I sure hate Wilson High. Go Lizards!"
"Were I a wizard, I would cast a 'buff' spell on the team, granting them each + 2 vigor!"Spud said.
"Go Lizards!"I saw Raven cheer from the bleachers and grinned.
The next few minutes was spent by people shouting their own thoughts and opinions. I never realized what a big deal this game was to everyone, not just the football team. Even the kids who never went to the games wanted us to win this thing. I really hoped we could pull off a win.
The next day after practice, as we headed to the locker room, Amanda and a few other cheerleaders came running up to us.
"Help!Someone's taken Lyle the lizard!"She cried.
"Who?"I lifted an eyebrow, not sure what she was talking about.
"Our school mascot!He's an adorable little lizard!We always take him to the homecoming game for good luck!And someone stole him right out of his cage last night!"
Chuck scowled. "It's got to be Wilson High."
"Can't those guys just play football?"Bryce frowned and shook his head. "Why do they have to pull these immature stunts?"
"Yeah. These pranks are stupid." Howard said.
"But... You'll help us, won't you?"Amanda pleaded. "You have to rescue Lyle before they bake him into a lizard pie!"
"Don't worry. We'll take care of Wilson High." Adam assured.
Out of nowhere, Spud appeared and crossed his arms while shaking his head. "I don't know, gentlemen... It could be a trap!Perhaps they're trying to lure you in, only to cast a splash-damage spell!... Or so they can call the cops."
"Wilson High isn't going to mess with us and get away with it." I told Spud, frowning.
Amanda clapped her hands exictedly. "I knew I could count on you guys!"
"All right, guys. I think our best shot of getting Lyle back is to grab their mascot, Barry the Badger."Chuck said.
"Ugh. Do we really need to stoop to their level?"Bryce sighed.
Adam shrugged. "Sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire."
"They're probably keeping Barry somewhere in the school,"Chuck continued. "We'll have to do a little breaking and entering tonight at Wilson High.."
Later that night, I met Chuck, Adam, Zach and Howard outside of Wilson High.
"All right, let's do this."Chuck said.
"How are we going to get in?"I asked.
"Easy,"Zach grinned. "I paid the janitor two-hundred bucks to leave one of the doors unlocked."
"Nice. Let's head in then."
We turn and only managed to take a couple of steps before Adam tackled us all to the ground.
"What's wrong with you?"I scowled, looking back at him.
He pointed to the underhang of the roof, where a security camera was pointing at the same door we were about to enter. "You better hope they didn't get a good look at our faces..."
"Let's just get Barry and get out of here." Chuck whispered.
"Word from the janitor is that they keep their badger in the school science lab." Zach informed us.
Making sure to cover our faces, we opened the door and walked in. It took a few minutes to find the lab in the dark, but once we finally located it, we snuck in. From the light coming in from out the windows, we could see quite a few different animals in cages on counters and desks. Adam pointed to the far side, where a badger sat in it's cage as if waiting for us.
"Grab him, Jason!"Howard mouthed and nudged me.
I quickly went to the cage and opened it, sliding my hand in. Very slowly, I went to pet Barry and he didn't seem to mind. "Uh... Good badger. Nice badger." Taking a deep breath, I quickly picked him up and let out the breath when he didn't claw my face off. Putting him into an empty box beside the cage, I carried him back over to the guys.
"Good work, meat. Now let's get out of here."Adam said and we quickly fled the room.
"All right," Chuck said as we stood in the parking lot of the school. "I'll make some calls... We'll arrange for a trade off at dawn."
"Dawn?"I questioned.
"Trust me... You don''t want the teachers to catch us doing this. If they know we broke into Wilson, we'd get in serious trouble."
Agreeing, we all headed home to get some sleep.
At the appointed time early the next morning, we met the guys from Wilson High on the football field.
"Hey. You the one who called?" Alexei asked as they walked up.
"Yeah, that's us. You got the lizard?" Howard asked in return.
"I don't know. Have you got the badger?"
Howard showed him the box he was holding. "What does it look like?"
Alexei held up a paper bag from behind his back.
"I'm sure you won't mind if my friend inspects the lizard." Howard motioned for me to go.
I walked up, scowled at Alexei and looked into the bag. Sure enough, there was a lizard in there and I couldn't see anything wrong with him either. "He looks okay. Let's make the trade."
As Howard walked forward to hand over Barry, he gave him a little pinch and then handed him to the Wilson kids. He didn't seem to like it, as we heard a low growling sound coming from him.
"Hey Barry. Hey calm down, okay?We're friends. Friends!Ow, ow , ow!"Alexei tried to calm him down, but to no avail. Barry turned bark into bite and began clawing at the boy's hands and arms.
We grinned and left, leaving them to their fun.
Later on at lunch that same day, I walked into the cafeteria with Lyle in my hands. When Amanda saw me, and then him, she sprang to her feet and ran over.
"You did it!Lylee!"She took the lizard and hugged him, then smiled at me. "Thank you!You're my hero!"
"It was a team effort. Everyone helped out." I motioned to Adam beside me.
"Well, you guys are the best!" Amanda gave us both hugs and then ran off with Lyle.
"I'm just glad that's over... The last thing we need is trouble right before the big game." Adam sighed.
The next day at football practice, Me and Howard headed to the field and found the team crowded around Chuck and Bryce by the benches.
"What's going on?"I asked as we walked up.
"Adam got called to Principal Shapiro's office." Chuck said, frowning. "I guess someone from Wilson High called in a report that he was vandalizing their school last night."
"A security camera got a lucky shot of his face..."Bryce scowled.
"What?"Howard went wide-eyed.
"But I heard he didn't give any of us up.."Chuck rubbed the back of his neck. "And without any of our faces, they can't bring us in. So now Adam is suspended from playing football for the rest of the year for not cooperating."
We talked about it for a few more minutes before Coach called us to start.
A little while later, I got in my car and drove out of the parking lot after practice ended. I had the smooth sounds of the famous rap superstar GangstaBot playing on my radio, speakers blaring. As I headed down the street, I spotted someone walking on the side walk and saw that it was Adam as I got closer. I pulled over a few yards ahead of him and got out.
"Hey, Adam!"
"Oh. Hey, meat."He said as he walked over. "I guess you heard the news."
"Yeah.. Not giving anyone up was really big of you."
"Hey, it was either me or the team."
"But... I don't know what we're going to do without you, Adam."I sighed.
He smiled slightly. "The team will be fine. I know I'm leaving the guys in good hands. You've come a long way. I know you can lead the team to a win."
"Oh... Thanks."
"Just don't let me down, meat."
I grinned. "I won't... Hey, do you want a ride home?"
"It's okay. I always walk." He shrugged.
"Come on. It's getting late. "I insisted. "I know my car looks like it's falling apart, but it hasn't exploded yet this year."
"Well... Okay."
We climbed in and when I turned the radio back on, Adam seemed surprised.
"Hey, I didn't know you listened to GangstaBot." He said as we pulled away and began driving.
"Yeah, for sure. "I smiled. "Mostly when I'm driving. Just on the radio though. I don't have the CD."
Adam was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "This was my little bro's favorite album..."
"You think about him a lot?"I hesitantly asked.
"Yeah, all the time, I guess."
"I'm sorry..."
"Yeah... You know, you're a good guy. I know I've been kind of a jerk sometimes.." He admitted.
"That's okay."
"No, it's not. I shouldn't be taking my problems out on you. My brother wouldn't have wanted that... He was always so nice to everyone."
"Hey,"I punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, okay?"
"Looks like we're here." Adam said as we pulled up in front of his house. "Thanks for the ride."
"I'll see you around. Let me know if I can drive you again sometime."I offered.
"Thanks... But maybe it's time for me to start driving again." He smiled.
"Maybe."
"See you later, Jason."
He got out and disappeared inside his house. I sat in my car for a few minutes, just listening to GangstaBot before I turned off the radio and headed home. I thought some silence might do me some good right now.
Friday night. It was the moment everyone had been waiting for and it was here. It was time for the homecoming game against Wilson High. As me, Howard and Jacob walked towards the locker room together, we spotted the Wilson High team warming up on the field... But they seemed to be having problems.
"Hey!Someone tied a huge knot in my shoelaces!"Alexei whined.
"Hey, this water tastes like soap!"The tall black guy shouted, spitting out the liquid in his mouth.
"Dude, did you put a unicorn sticker on your helmet?"
We had to hide our laughter as we walked by. "I never thought I'd be happy to see the twins' practical jokes paying off!"Howard grinned.
"Heh... I guess they just needed the right targets!"Jacob snickered.
Once in the locker room with the rest of the team, we took our seats as Coach took center stage and prepared his speech.
"Well, Lizards, it's been a heck of a season. And for anyone with a sense of history, you know it's been 12 years since our school has won that many games... But those other games were just the warm-up. Beating the Badgers is the main event. I know we're playing a man down... And it's all because of Wilson High. Are you going to let them get away with that?"He shouted.
"No, Coach, no!"The team shouted in union.
"I didn't think so. Hands together, boys. Victory on three."
We all put our hands together. "One, two, three... Victory!"
Then, we were on our way out to the field. The crowd in the stands went wild as we ran out, cheering and hooting louder than I thought possible. The cheerleaders were just finishing up some excersises to warm the crowd up and they cheered as well as they passed us on their way to the sidelines. I grinned at our everyone was so worked up, praying this game turned out well. I soon found out, we were practically playing for our lives. Wilson High might have had rotten people, but they sure did know how to pick football players. We were neck and neck for most of the game, a stalemate on our first touchdown. It soon dwindled down to the last three seconds left and we were still about forty yards away from the end zone. We lined up and once Jacob threw the ball back to me, I searched the field for an open man. Howard was already near the end zone and was the only one open, so mustering an impossible amount of strength into my right arm, I let the ball fly. I had never thrown anything so hard in my entire life. The buzzard sounded, but the ball was already en route and meant if we got it, it'd count. I saw Howard strain to run fast enough to meet the ball as it flew over his head, and then the miracle happened. He reached the endzone and dove for the ball, snatching it just before it hit the ground, and crashed to the ground.
The crowd went even more wild then earlier as the score changed from 7-7, to 14-7. We had won. Howard got up and thrusted the ball into the air, grinning like a madman. Chuck threw his helmet off and jumped into the air.
"Hah!We did it!"
The team came together and began knocking helmets with Howard, cheering for him.
"Looks like they just couldn't keep up with us!"He grinned.
"So you got a few lucky throws..."Alexei scowled as he stood nearby. "What's the big deal?"
"The better team won, Alexei. Take your team and get out of here." Adam said as he walked up.
The Wilson High team left with their heads hung in shame and that caused us to celebrate even more. As we did, Bryce turned to me and smiled big.
"Good work, Jason. You really stepped up tonight."
"Thanks." I grinned.
Coach came running up laughing. "Ha ha!Did you see the Badgers' coach?I've never seen a grown man cry like that!Victory is mine!Mine!"
"Uhh... It seems like he's kind of flipping out, don't you think?"Howard commented as we watched the man start to do a dance in the middle of the field.
"Aww. He seems happy. Let him be." I shrugged.
"Mom?"We saw Coach had gotten on his cell phone. "I know it's late to call... But guess what?We won!"
I simply shook my head and grinned. Tonight seemed to be starting off great so far, and I wondered how long this winning feeling would last.
End of Chapter Nine
