Harold's Jacket

Sophomore Year - April

The guys were in place. Patty was on her way to get Rhonda. The plan was going well. Harold needed everything to be perfect.

His clothes were nice and perfectly ironed by his mom. He had his letterman jacket on, proving he was on the football team and everything. Popular girls always went out with football players, it was what happened in all the movies.

His timing was good too. Every time he had seen Rhonda in the last few months, she had smiled at him. That was a good sign.

Patty had the later lunch period since they were the same age but she hadn't been held back as many years as Harold had. She told him where he should set up so that as many people as possible could be there to see. He knew Rhonda loved being the center of attention.

She and Patty led them down the hall. A bunch of other popular girls were with her. That was even better, Rhonda would be get all the attention around the most-popular girls. She'd love that. Nothing could go wrong.

The guys launched into the backup vocals of the classic song "Go With Me Rhonda" by The Shore Men. "Go with me Rhonda. Go- Go with me Rhonda."

Harold belted out the verses as best he could, his voice cracking a few times. He sang as loudly as he could walking around her and pointing at Rhonda as much as possible. Finally, on the last verse, he dropped to one knee and offered her a bouquet of flowers Stinky had slipped him mid-song. "So, will you be my girlfriend?"

"No," Rhonda said flatly. "Are you done?"

"What?" Harold got back to his feet. "I did all this for you."

"So?" Rhonda put her hands on her hips. "If I went out with every guy who embarrassed himself in front of me, I may as well go out with every guy in school."

"But... this is me." It wasn't supposed to go this way, she was supposed to take his hand in that classy way she did everything and drive off with him. "Y- You said-"

"Oh my god," one of the other girls said. "Rhonda, do you know this boy?"

Rhonda rolled her eyes. "Of course not. You know how it is, Mary. Random guys who don't even know you have deluded themselves into thinking they can make some grand romantic gesture and that you'll be so overwhelmed with passion, you'll give yourself to them right then and there." She sighed. "I recall it happened to you twice last week."

The other girl smirked. "Of course." She and the other popular girls looked at him with contempt.

Harold didn't care about any of that. He only cared about what Rhonda thought. And she didn't seem to like it. Maybe he should have done it in secret, she had always kept their relationship a secret.

Rhonda slipped past him and found Patty. Her lip was quivering for some reason and her hands were balled into fists.

Rhonda put a hand on Patty's shoulder and lead her away from him. She turned her head over her shoulder one last time. "You need to think about other people's feelings, Harold."

She walked away, everyone walked away. People said things he didn't really hear. Harold was left standing there, alone.

He found Patty again, at her locker after school.

"I don't get it, Patty. What happened?"

She looked at him for all of a second before turning away "I need to get to..." Patty stormed off clutching her bag to her chest.

Harold groaned and trudged out of school to his car.

He had opened the door when a familiar voice called out. "Hey Harold,"

"Hey Arnold," Harold sighed. "So I guess you saw all that, huh."

Arnold leaned against Harold's car next to him. "Yeah, pretty brutal."

"Now even Patty won't talk to me."

"That's because she wanted to go out with you-"

"But, I don't even like Patty like that."

"And Rhonda doesn't like you like that."

"But she used to! And I did everything she told me to do." Harold groaned. "I quit my job, I worked really hard at football, and I got nice clothes. And for what? Just so she could reject me like that!?"

"No." It sounded like Arnold was asking a question to the universe. "No," he said more confidently. "You can't think about it that way. You're a great guy, so you move on to someone else."

"But I did all this for her." Harold's head pounded. "How am I supposed to get her back now?"

"You don't get her back. If she doesn't want to be with you, you move on."

Harold groaned. "Arnold! You're giving me a headache!"

Arnold nodded his head. "Think about it, Harold. It's the only thing that makes sense." He finally went away, taking all of his confusing words with him.

Harold knew what he had to do. He drove to the butcher's shop without stopping to get something to eat. His apron was still in his trunk. He tied it around himself and went into the shop.

The bell on the door frame rang at his arrival. Everything was right where it was supposed to be. Mr. Green was behind the counter cutting pork chops. There was only one customer in the store and they were looking at the beef cutlets.

Harold took a deep breath. "Mr. Green, I'm ready to come back to work."

Mr. Green looked up at him through his glasses, then back down and shook his head. "Harold, I'm not letting you come back to work for me."

"What!?" Harold has his apron on an everything.

"Harold, you need to understand. You made your choice. You chose football."

"But I said I'd come back once the season was over."

"When did it end? December? And what month is it now? April?"

Harold groaned. "I've been working so hard for so long. I needed a break!"

A man stepped out from the back room started laying strips of seasoned meat into a section of the display.

"Thanks Raul."

"Who's that?"

Mr. Green rested the knife on the cutting block and stepped up to the counter. "I need someone I can count on. This is your problem, Harold. You need to learn to dedicate yourself to something and stick with it."

Harold got on his knees and begged. "I'll work full time! I'll quit school! I'll do anything!"

Mr. Green sighed. "No." He went back to cutting the chops.

Harold groaned, giving up. It wasn't fair. No one let him do anything. He walked out the door to the bell ringing again.

Without anywhere else to go, Harold went home. Cupcake meowed at him when he got back to his room. At least he wanted Harold around. Not like everyone else.

He took off his letter jacket. There was a big block 'H' on it. His number was on the sleeve with a little football patch under it.

He went to all the practices, he worked really hard, and coaches still never let him start. They barely even let him play. Then they gave him the jacket. He wasn't proud of it anymore.

No wonder Rhonda rejected him, he didn't get the chance to do anything.

Some of the kids at school talked about how Helga had left home, and she was a lot younger than him. Harold could do it too. Except he wasn't going back to school. The coaches didn't want him, Mr. Green didn't want him, even Patty didn't want him. Arnold was right, he needed to move on.

Cupcake meowed, looking up at him. His fur was soft and warm. He purred at Harold petting him.

Harold picked him up and held him for the last time.

He didn't say good-bye to his parents. There was no way his mom would let him leave even though he was 19. She would say stuff like he's abandoning his mother. And his dad would tell him it's a bad idea. He'd ask what Harold was going to eat and where he would live and tell him he had to finish high school if he was going to make something of himself. They wanted him to stay at home forever.

He left them a note and promised to call soon.

Harold packed up his car with all his most-important stuff, unsure how far it was going to be able to take him. But he wasn't coming back.