CHAPTER 6
Coach Larson took his time and waited patiently for Scott to describe the situation at home. "Come on Scott talk to me. If you refuse than I'll have no choice but to pick up this phone and call your dad. You haven't even explained the fight. Why don't we start there? I want to hear your side of the story and then I'll get Gary's."
Scott was now holding an ice pack on his left swollen eye. He didn't know where to begin and continued to just sit there being deviant. Coach Larson stood up, shook his head and walked over to the phone. "Your dad is going to have to come get you now."
Without thinking Scott just blurted out, "You won't believe me."
The coach stopped and put down the phone. "Why won't I believe you? Are you planning on lying to me?"
"No"
"Go ahead I'm listening. Don't tell me what you think I want to hear but tell me exactly what happened and how you feel."
"I'm not gay."
Coach Larson looked confused. "Ok. Why would I think you were?"
"Not you. Everyone else. Gary asked me to come over to do some homework. While I was there he had his gay cousin and a friend come over. Gary all of a sudden claims he had to go to work and left me alone with them." Scott turned his head as if in shame and looked away.
"What happened when Gary left?"
"It had to have been a set up. Gary set me up."
"Scott you haven't told me what happened."
Scott was getting antsy now. He got up and started pacing the room. The coach looked questionably at him sensing his uneasiness. "It's ok Scott I won't judge you."
He turned with tears in his eyes and looked at his Coach with pity. "They tried to rape me. They grabbed me and had their hands all over me. Shit he was kissing me before I managed to throw him up against the wall. I hit the other guy upside the head and I ran out the door. They said that no body would believe me because the whole school thinks I'm gay anyway." Scott was starting to loose control now and crying harder. "It's starting all over again. First my stepmom sexually abuses me and now this. What did I ever do to deserve this?" Scott backed up against the wall and slowly slid his back down until he was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.
"Shit Scott your stepmother abused you? Is that why you started taking drugs? Why didn't you ever say anything? Scott look at me." Scott raised his head and looked at the coach with bloodshot eyes. "I never knew. Why didn't you tell someone?"
"I was too ashamed. It was just easier to hide behind the drugs."
The coach helped him up off the floor sat him in a chair and called Gary in the room. "Gary, Scott tells me that you set him up to be attacked by your cousin. Do you know that something happened at your house?"
Gary tried to look all innocent. "Gosh no coach. I just went to work and today Scott is blaming me for something that I didn't do."
Scott added in, "Why did you even have me come over if you knew you had to go to work?"
"Like I told you before, I thought that we would be done."
The coach had a funny look on his face. "Gary where do you work?"
"Gary looked flustered, "What? Oh I work at Pizza Hut."
The coach went over to the desk drawer and pulled out a phone book. Gary all of a sudden became worried. "Coach what are you doing?" "I just want to verify that you work where you say you do and if you were scheduled to work last night."
"Ok I lied."
Both Scott and the Coach Larson together said, "What"
"I don't work at Pizza Hut. I left so my cousin could be alone with Scott."
Scott was flying out of his chair now and had his hands wrapped around Gary neck. "You bastard. I knew that you set me up." The Coach pulled Scott off of Gary and held him back. "Take it easy Scott we've nailed him." He made Scott sit down so they could discuss the next step of action.
"Ok, both of you need to be punished for fighting. If I call one parent than I have to call the other. So here is what I'm going to do. I won't call either parents but you both will have in school detention for one week. You will come and sit in my office during your lunch break. Gary I can't condone what you did so you're off the football team. I don't care what you tell your parents but if they come crying to me I'll tell them what you did to Scott. Now get out of here and I better not have to come looking for you during lunch."
Scott stood up to leave but the coach stepped in front of him. "I still want to talk to you. You still never told me what is going on at home. Do I need to call C.P.S.?"
Scott shook his head. "No, I already told them my story but they didn't believe me."
"Is it still going on?"
"No Elaine left my dad for the lawyer. She's not there anymore. Actually my real mom is back and my dad and her are trying to work things out."
"How do you feel about that?"
"I'm ok with that. I never wanted them to split in the first place."
"So where's the problem? You said that if I called your dad that you would run away."
"Well my dad has just made it well known that if I screw up here that he would take action.
"Come on Scott. You're being very vague. What kind of action? Is he abusing you?"
Scott hesitated trying to figure out his thoughts. "It's more complicated than that. You see when I was at Horizon; I fell in love with this girl. Well to make a long story short, she became pregnant and is living at my house. She comes from a family that is having financial problems so she doesn't have anywhere to go. My dad made a deal with me that as long as I stay out of trouble and in school than she could stay there but the minute I screw up he'll make Shelby leave. I love this girl and she is having my baby so if my dad throws her out than I'm going with her."
"Well, that definitely covered the gay issue. Ok I'll keep this quiet but you need to promise me something also."
"What?"
"If you ever need anyone to talk to or if someone has upset you, keep your cool and come talk to me. You have a hard time controlling your temper but I have ways to release that anger without getting you into trouble. Do I have a deal?"
Scott held out his hand to shake and nodded his head. "Ok you'll be having lunch in here for the next week so if you need to talk, I'll be here. By the way, what are you going to tell your dad about the black eye?"
"I don't know. Maybe I walked into a door?"
The coach smiled, "You should be more careful and watch where you're going."
Shelby was having a hard time concentrating in class. She kept thinking about the way Scott had come in her room last night. Finally it was lunchtime and she found a seat at an empty table. Several other girls that were in some of her classes came by and sat down. They introduced themselves and told her a little bit about themselves. Two of the other girls were in the same predicament as Shelby and another was there because she liked to defile authority. This school was kind of like Horizon but the kids went home every afternoon. The girls seemed normal but with problems that were hard to deal with. The two other pregnant girls loved to talk about how low life and jerks boys were. They both were used and dumped upon their pregnancy. They had no reason to trust another male again and thought the best topic of the day was 10 ways to cut a guy down. Shelby just listened and smiled because some of the stuff that they said was true. Finally one of the girls turned to her and asked, "What's your story Shelby? You seemed in another world during English class today."
"Oh I was just thinking about something weird that my boyfriend did last night."
" Oh good tell us. We can add it to our book we're writing called "Boys-the jerks they can be" Everyone laughed.
"Well actually it was rather sweet. I was lying in bed reading my boring English book and he walks in. Without even saying anything, he just comes over and starts hugging me. He held on for like a minute and then just stops. I asked him if he was ok and he was like, yeah can't I hug you for no reason. Then he tells me that he loves me and walks out."
"Is this the guy that got you pregnant?"
"Yeah"
"Does he know that you are pregnant?"
"Of course. He went with me to the doctors the other day and got to hear the baby's hear beat. It was pretty funny because he skipped out of class early and got in trouble because he didn't have a note."
"You mean to tell us that the guy that got you pregnant didn't leave you standing in the dust when you told him?"
"No he loves me and I love him. I'm living at his house because my own family kind of gave up on me."
"Oh my gosh girl. You've found the perfect man. Does he have a twin brother?" Everyone was laughing and this made Shelby feel special.
"Pray tell girl, give us the complete scoop on this prince charming. I didn't think that they existed anywhere." The other girls piped up and seemed interested in what Shelby had to say. Shelby realized that she was probably giving them hope that there was still some decent guy's left in the world. "So when do we get to meet your prince?"
"Well he is the wide receiver on the Westfield football team. You want to go to the game with me on Friday night? I don't really know anyone and I hate always hanging out with his parents. His mom is real nice but I think that his dad is ashamed of me. He talks as if I'm not there all the time."
One girl named Brittany said, " That sounds like fun. I was going to take my younger sister to the game anyway. She's a sophomore and has the hots for some football player. I can't remember his name I think his last name starts with a B. Stacy and her friends are always on the phone saying Scott this and Scott that. It gets pretty boring because she ties up the phone so much."
Shelby started laughing. "Oh my gosh, it's not Scott Barringer is it?"
Brittany says, "Yeah I think that's the name. Does your boyfriend know him really well?"
"That is my boyfriend."
"Are you kidding me. Haha, I can't wait to tell Stacy that her dream guy has a pregnant girlfriend. I've always wanted to burst her bubble because she thinks that she is perfect compared to me."
"Oh please don't say anything. I don't think that Scott wants people to know about me."
"But why not? I thought you said that he loved you?"
"He does but he has a reputation to up hold. I just want him to be the one to tell people not me. This is his town, his school, and his friends. I'm new here so I just want him to handle it in his own way."
"Ok, I'll keep it quiet for now but it sure is going to be fun gloating when the time comes. Do you want to come over after school so that we can work on biology together? I can show you how obnoxious Stacy is."
"Sure as long as I'm at the High School at 5:30 to pick Scott up from practice."
After school was out, Shelby drove Brittany home so she didn't have to ride the bus. They were sitting at the kitchen table when Stacy and a few of her friends came bouncing in. They had all kinds of art supplies that they were laying all over the table.
The poster board that Stacy put on the table was covering Brittany's books. "Stacy do you mind. We're trying to do homework here."
"Sorry. We have to make locker tags for the football players to put on their lockers for tomorrows game."
Amy one of the other girls said, "I get to do Scott's this time. It's my turn."
Shelby snickered and said, "So what's so special about Scott?"
"He's the captain of the football team and he's the best player. He scores most of the touchdowns."
Stacy adds, "Actually it's because he's the cutest one out there. He's got the sexiest blue eyes and great smile."
The other girl laughed, "Actually one black eye and one blue."
Shelby stopped what she was doing and asked, "What do you mean one black eye and one blue."
"Oh man you should have seen it. Scott and this guy named Gary got into a huge fight today. They were really pounding on each other. Scott ended up with this huge black eye. It took Coach Larson to pull Scott off of Gary. They both were hauled down to the principal's office. I'm not sure what happened after that."
Shelby quickly grabbed her books together. "Oh no, I've got to go. This is bad. Why couldn't he control his temper for once." She ran out the door.
Coach Larson took his time and waited patiently for Scott to describe the situation at home. "Come on Scott talk to me. If you refuse than I'll have no choice but to pick up this phone and call your dad. You haven't even explained the fight. Why don't we start there? I want to hear your side of the story and then I'll get Gary's."
Scott was now holding an ice pack on his left swollen eye. He didn't know where to begin and continued to just sit there being deviant. Coach Larson stood up, shook his head and walked over to the phone. "Your dad is going to have to come get you now."
Without thinking Scott just blurted out, "You won't believe me."
The coach stopped and put down the phone. "Why won't I believe you? Are you planning on lying to me?"
"No"
"Go ahead I'm listening. Don't tell me what you think I want to hear but tell me exactly what happened and how you feel."
"I'm not gay."
Coach Larson looked confused. "Ok. Why would I think you were?"
"Not you. Everyone else. Gary asked me to come over to do some homework. While I was there he had his gay cousin and a friend come over. Gary all of a sudden claims he had to go to work and left me alone with them." Scott turned his head as if in shame and looked away.
"What happened when Gary left?"
"It had to have been a set up. Gary set me up."
"Scott you haven't told me what happened."
Scott was getting antsy now. He got up and started pacing the room. The coach looked questionably at him sensing his uneasiness. "It's ok Scott I won't judge you."
He turned with tears in his eyes and looked at his Coach with pity. "They tried to rape me. They grabbed me and had their hands all over me. Shit he was kissing me before I managed to throw him up against the wall. I hit the other guy upside the head and I ran out the door. They said that no body would believe me because the whole school thinks I'm gay anyway." Scott was starting to loose control now and crying harder. "It's starting all over again. First my stepmom sexually abuses me and now this. What did I ever do to deserve this?" Scott backed up against the wall and slowly slid his back down until he was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.
"Shit Scott your stepmother abused you? Is that why you started taking drugs? Why didn't you ever say anything? Scott look at me." Scott raised his head and looked at the coach with bloodshot eyes. "I never knew. Why didn't you tell someone?"
"I was too ashamed. It was just easier to hide behind the drugs."
The coach helped him up off the floor sat him in a chair and called Gary in the room. "Gary, Scott tells me that you set him up to be attacked by your cousin. Do you know that something happened at your house?"
Gary tried to look all innocent. "Gosh no coach. I just went to work and today Scott is blaming me for something that I didn't do."
Scott added in, "Why did you even have me come over if you knew you had to go to work?"
"Like I told you before, I thought that we would be done."
The coach had a funny look on his face. "Gary where do you work?"
"Gary looked flustered, "What? Oh I work at Pizza Hut."
The coach went over to the desk drawer and pulled out a phone book. Gary all of a sudden became worried. "Coach what are you doing?" "I just want to verify that you work where you say you do and if you were scheduled to work last night."
"Ok I lied."
Both Scott and the Coach Larson together said, "What"
"I don't work at Pizza Hut. I left so my cousin could be alone with Scott."
Scott was flying out of his chair now and had his hands wrapped around Gary neck. "You bastard. I knew that you set me up." The Coach pulled Scott off of Gary and held him back. "Take it easy Scott we've nailed him." He made Scott sit down so they could discuss the next step of action.
"Ok, both of you need to be punished for fighting. If I call one parent than I have to call the other. So here is what I'm going to do. I won't call either parents but you both will have in school detention for one week. You will come and sit in my office during your lunch break. Gary I can't condone what you did so you're off the football team. I don't care what you tell your parents but if they come crying to me I'll tell them what you did to Scott. Now get out of here and I better not have to come looking for you during lunch."
Scott stood up to leave but the coach stepped in front of him. "I still want to talk to you. You still never told me what is going on at home. Do I need to call C.P.S.?"
Scott shook his head. "No, I already told them my story but they didn't believe me."
"Is it still going on?"
"No Elaine left my dad for the lawyer. She's not there anymore. Actually my real mom is back and my dad and her are trying to work things out."
"How do you feel about that?"
"I'm ok with that. I never wanted them to split in the first place."
"So where's the problem? You said that if I called your dad that you would run away."
"Well my dad has just made it well known that if I screw up here that he would take action.
"Come on Scott. You're being very vague. What kind of action? Is he abusing you?"
Scott hesitated trying to figure out his thoughts. "It's more complicated than that. You see when I was at Horizon; I fell in love with this girl. Well to make a long story short, she became pregnant and is living at my house. She comes from a family that is having financial problems so she doesn't have anywhere to go. My dad made a deal with me that as long as I stay out of trouble and in school than she could stay there but the minute I screw up he'll make Shelby leave. I love this girl and she is having my baby so if my dad throws her out than I'm going with her."
"Well, that definitely covered the gay issue. Ok I'll keep this quiet but you need to promise me something also."
"What?"
"If you ever need anyone to talk to or if someone has upset you, keep your cool and come talk to me. You have a hard time controlling your temper but I have ways to release that anger without getting you into trouble. Do I have a deal?"
Scott held out his hand to shake and nodded his head. "Ok you'll be having lunch in here for the next week so if you need to talk, I'll be here. By the way, what are you going to tell your dad about the black eye?"
"I don't know. Maybe I walked into a door?"
The coach smiled, "You should be more careful and watch where you're going."
Shelby was having a hard time concentrating in class. She kept thinking about the way Scott had come in her room last night. Finally it was lunchtime and she found a seat at an empty table. Several other girls that were in some of her classes came by and sat down. They introduced themselves and told her a little bit about themselves. Two of the other girls were in the same predicament as Shelby and another was there because she liked to defile authority. This school was kind of like Horizon but the kids went home every afternoon. The girls seemed normal but with problems that were hard to deal with. The two other pregnant girls loved to talk about how low life and jerks boys were. They both were used and dumped upon their pregnancy. They had no reason to trust another male again and thought the best topic of the day was 10 ways to cut a guy down. Shelby just listened and smiled because some of the stuff that they said was true. Finally one of the girls turned to her and asked, "What's your story Shelby? You seemed in another world during English class today."
"Oh I was just thinking about something weird that my boyfriend did last night."
" Oh good tell us. We can add it to our book we're writing called "Boys-the jerks they can be" Everyone laughed.
"Well actually it was rather sweet. I was lying in bed reading my boring English book and he walks in. Without even saying anything, he just comes over and starts hugging me. He held on for like a minute and then just stops. I asked him if he was ok and he was like, yeah can't I hug you for no reason. Then he tells me that he loves me and walks out."
"Is this the guy that got you pregnant?"
"Yeah"
"Does he know that you are pregnant?"
"Of course. He went with me to the doctors the other day and got to hear the baby's hear beat. It was pretty funny because he skipped out of class early and got in trouble because he didn't have a note."
"You mean to tell us that the guy that got you pregnant didn't leave you standing in the dust when you told him?"
"No he loves me and I love him. I'm living at his house because my own family kind of gave up on me."
"Oh my gosh girl. You've found the perfect man. Does he have a twin brother?" Everyone was laughing and this made Shelby feel special.
"Pray tell girl, give us the complete scoop on this prince charming. I didn't think that they existed anywhere." The other girls piped up and seemed interested in what Shelby had to say. Shelby realized that she was probably giving them hope that there was still some decent guy's left in the world. "So when do we get to meet your prince?"
"Well he is the wide receiver on the Westfield football team. You want to go to the game with me on Friday night? I don't really know anyone and I hate always hanging out with his parents. His mom is real nice but I think that his dad is ashamed of me. He talks as if I'm not there all the time."
One girl named Brittany said, " That sounds like fun. I was going to take my younger sister to the game anyway. She's a sophomore and has the hots for some football player. I can't remember his name I think his last name starts with a B. Stacy and her friends are always on the phone saying Scott this and Scott that. It gets pretty boring because she ties up the phone so much."
Shelby started laughing. "Oh my gosh, it's not Scott Barringer is it?"
Brittany says, "Yeah I think that's the name. Does your boyfriend know him really well?"
"That is my boyfriend."
"Are you kidding me. Haha, I can't wait to tell Stacy that her dream guy has a pregnant girlfriend. I've always wanted to burst her bubble because she thinks that she is perfect compared to me."
"Oh please don't say anything. I don't think that Scott wants people to know about me."
"But why not? I thought you said that he loved you?"
"He does but he has a reputation to up hold. I just want him to be the one to tell people not me. This is his town, his school, and his friends. I'm new here so I just want him to handle it in his own way."
"Ok, I'll keep it quiet for now but it sure is going to be fun gloating when the time comes. Do you want to come over after school so that we can work on biology together? I can show you how obnoxious Stacy is."
"Sure as long as I'm at the High School at 5:30 to pick Scott up from practice."
After school was out, Shelby drove Brittany home so she didn't have to ride the bus. They were sitting at the kitchen table when Stacy and a few of her friends came bouncing in. They had all kinds of art supplies that they were laying all over the table.
The poster board that Stacy put on the table was covering Brittany's books. "Stacy do you mind. We're trying to do homework here."
"Sorry. We have to make locker tags for the football players to put on their lockers for tomorrows game."
Amy one of the other girls said, "I get to do Scott's this time. It's my turn."
Shelby snickered and said, "So what's so special about Scott?"
"He's the captain of the football team and he's the best player. He scores most of the touchdowns."
Stacy adds, "Actually it's because he's the cutest one out there. He's got the sexiest blue eyes and great smile."
The other girl laughed, "Actually one black eye and one blue."
Shelby stopped what she was doing and asked, "What do you mean one black eye and one blue."
"Oh man you should have seen it. Scott and this guy named Gary got into a huge fight today. They were really pounding on each other. Scott ended up with this huge black eye. It took Coach Larson to pull Scott off of Gary. They both were hauled down to the principal's office. I'm not sure what happened after that."
Shelby quickly grabbed her books together. "Oh no, I've got to go. This is bad. Why couldn't he control his temper for once." She ran out the door.