DIDSCLAIMER: As usual, RTT is not mine. It never was mine, and it never will be mine. Second of all, I forgot to say that "Just My Imagination" ain't mine either. Everybody knows Ryan Hurst isn't mine. And everybody knows, I wish he was. I love that guy. And he is SO HOT! "Man to Man" is not mine either, but it is SUCH a cool song. It, like "What I Really Meant to Say," did not exist in 1971. My dad's band does it and...WOW! It probably belongs to Gary Allan. Who is a cool dude. My dad met him! And I didn't. AHHH! It sucks when your padre gets lucky and you don't! I also do not own the term, "full offensive bench warmer." I got it from the recent remake of the movie "Brian's Song." I thought it was cute, so I put it in here. The thing about Ronnie not being able to smile because of a split lip was taken from an injury a friend of mine received in the middle of a "Worm War" with his twin brother. The phrase "slap your ugly mug" belongs to my aunt. But then again, you really didn't need to know that, did you? I know that the real Lew Lastick wasn't a military kid, but this is based more on the movie.

MY NOTES: Hope y'all will give the story "Then You Came Along" a little r/r. Sona's talking about dropping it, so give her a little incentive! And I'm not exactly sure if you would call Ray a rapist. I think he just doesn't pay attention when a chica says, "NO!" And I don't think he was that good looking either, but I guess somebody does. (Probably the same people who don't think Ryan Hurst is HOT!) And besides, Rachel would have done pretty much anything to get back at Ronnie. Even though it wasn't Ronnie's fault... And Grace, not if I have Ryan's children first. :-) I'm not exactly sure what to do about Julie. I don't want to just drop her. I might write an alternate ending, or I might hook her up with somebody else. (Any suggestions would be appreciated.) Jamaican Sunshine and Shannon, y'all have been my most faithful reviewers thus far, so muchos gracias to you two! And here goes chapter 5...

Chapter 5: Man to Man: Part 1

Monday morning, Ronnie walked into school, and Petey Jones made record time getting over to his friend. "Hey, Sunshine!" Petey called, "We better talk, man."

Ronnie looked very confused. "Man, Ray's spreading a bunch of crap about you and Rachel," Petey said.

"What kind of crap, Petey?"

"He says that she was...uh... about to go all the way with him. And he says you couldn't take it, so you pulled her out of the car and beat him up."

Ronnie rolled his eyes and muttered a few words that not even Petey had heard him say before. He would've already been running toward the senior hall if not for Petey's hand on his shoulder. "I wish Gerry could've kicked him out of the school and not just off the team," he said.

"No kidding, man..." Petey replied. "Don't pull some dangerous crap, though, Sunshine. He ain't worth it."

"No. But Rachel is."

"I don't know... Sunshine, just let somebody know before you do anything. Me. Or Bertier. Or Julius. Or all of us."

"Petey, I'll take care of myself," Ronnie said, anger flashing in his blue eyes.

Petey grabbed Ronnie's arm. "Listen to me, man." Ronnie looked at his friend, who then continued. "You probably could take Ray on your own, man. But the guy's got friends. Why, I don't know. But he does have friends. And you can't fight five or six guys on your own. Well, you could, but you couldn't win."

"I feel like I could right now."

"Well, Sunshine, love's like being drunk, or high or something. You feel like you can do alot of things you can't do."

Ronnie laughed in spite of himself, "Nice line, Petey. I'll have to use that with Rachel sometime. But anyway... I'll do what I've gotta do, Petey. that's all there is to it. If I think I'll need backup, I'll get Bertier, or Julius, or you. But preferably Bertier. 'Cause I don't want this to become a big race battle, too. This is about Ray and me and Rachel. Not black and white."

"Don't get yourself hurt, Sunshine. Promise me you won't act like a fool."

"I can't promise anything, Petey. See you after class."

The tall quarterback headed to class.

He sat in his desk with Julie behind him and Rachel in front. "Hey, Sunshine," Julie said softly from behind him.

"Hi, Jules. What's up?"

"Not much."

"Is...uh... is Gerry peed at me?" he asked.

"What for?" she asked.

"Because we broke up," Ronnie replied. The last thing he needed was for Bertier to be mad at him.

"Ronnie, to break up, you have to be dating. And we went to Homecoming together, which is one date, whice doesn't qualify for a actual dating relationship. And besides, Gerry knows you. He knows you're not a jerk. You wouldn't just dump somebody to be mean."

"But, I didn't dump you, Jules."

"I know. We didn't go out anymore because we're not right for each other. I know that, I was just say..." The teacher's voice cut her off.

SeƱora McLamb began by reviewing the Spanish pronunciation of the letter r, and Ronnie was busily scribbling a note to Rachel in his large, messy script.

Hey Rache,

Ray's spreading a bunch of BS about us. Don't worry though. I'll deal with him later.

Ronnie

Rachel had had it with Ray. But she didn't want Ronnie to get hurt for her. Again. She wished Ray would get kicked out of TC. And if he'd leave Alexandria, that'd be the icing on the cake.

Rachel was upset when lunch hour rolled around. Unfortunately, their class and Ray's ate together. And Rachel didn't trust Ronnie not to start something.

Ronnie walked into the cafeteria with Rachel. Gerry and Julie waved them over to their table. Ronnie slid in in front of Gerry, and Rachel was across from Julie. Petey came over and sat on Ronnie's other side. Julie and Rachel were the only girls at the Titans' table. Julius was at Gerry's side, and Emma, who had apparently had another spat with Gerry was sitting at the table where Ray and his friends and their girlfriends usually sat. Ronnie knew Gerry was mad, but he was just glad that the anger wasn't directed at him.

Jerry "Rev" Harris was on Julie's other side. Lewie Lastik was beside Rev. Derrick Martin was on Lewie's other side, then Blue Stanton.

On Ronnie's side of the table, Alan Bosley was beside Rachel, then Jerry Buck, followed by Kurt Greene, then Frankie Glascoe.

Gerry, as usual, passed his milk to Julius. Ronnie snickered. He leaned over to Rachel and said, "I think Gerry here is proof that you can grow up to be a big strong boy without drinking your milk."

Rachel laughed. Gerry looked across the table. "God, Rachel! What happened to you?"

Rev sent Gerry a dirty look down the table, and Gerry said, "Sorry, Rev. What I meant was, 'Gee golly gosh, what happened to you?'" The team laughed at Gerry's silly "Leave it to Beaver" style voice. Even Rev couldn't help laughing. He knew that Gerry was just joking.

"What?" Rachel asked. "Oh, my eye."

"Yeah. It looks painful."

"Yeah. It's pretty sore. But you should've seen the other guy."

Gerry gave her a classic Bertier cock-sided smile. "Yeah. But really, what happened?"

"Oh, come on Gerry. Don't tell me you haven't heard the rumors."

Gerry shook his head. "I don't listen to rumors. Never have."

"I'll tell you about it later."

Blue laughed. "Looks like whatever happened to Rachel happened to Sunshine, too."

Ronnie smiled, but it really hurt his split upper lip. It was healing, but it still really hurt when he smiled, or opened his mouth to bite something like a hot dog. It had split itself open again several times. "Yeah, pretty much," Ronnie replied. "Only I didn't get kissed before I got hurt."

"I think you've had enough kisses for one lifetime, fruitcake," Gerry said with a grin.

Ronnie laughed. "Yeah. Try telling that to my mom."

"Well, at least he's not a CaliFORNian," Petey said, in his normal obnoxious fashion.

"I'm a Californian, just not a CaliFORNian..." Ronnie said.

About that time, Ray walked into the cafeteria. Ronnie stood up and tossed his napkin on the table beside his tray, saying, "If you'll excuse me, I've got some business to attend to."

Petey saw Ronnie's angry gaze resting on Ray, and grabbed the tall blonde boy's arm. "Well, we won't excuse you, Sunshine."

"Don't mess with me, Petey. I'm not in the mood for any bull."

Gerry looked across the table. He had never seen that look on Ronnie's face before, but he was smart enough to know what it meant. "Let me know if you need a hand, Sunshine," the big teenager said.

"Yeah, OK," Ronnie replied absently. His mind was already across the room fighting with Ray.

He walked over to Ray and his friends.

Ray turned around to face Ronnie. "What do you want, hippie boy?"

"I want you to quit spreading this bull about Rachel. She slapped your ugly mug for tryin' stuff with her," Ronnie said, loud enough for Ray's friends to hear.

"Shut up, fruitcake. You don't know what you're talking about. Some of that dope you're smokin' must be getting to your brain. You just couldn't stand the thoughts of her being with me."

"No, Budds. Don't tell the story 'til you get it straight. You took her to the 'Hill' and tried to pull some crap. She didn't like it. So I had to kick your butt on her behalf. And your arrogant pride won't admit that there might be some girls in this world who aren't just waiting to go all the way with your sorry behind."

"Get over it, Bass. I got better things to do."

Ronnie knew how to push Ray's buttons. And how to turn people against him.

"And I further know," he said, cooly, "that you are the one who put that shiner on Rachel's eye."

Gasps and whispers began circulating through the room. Rachel's face began to burn as she felt the eyes in the room turning to her. She wished she could melt away. Into thin air.

"Why don't you tell the true story, Ray?" Ronnie asked, pulling himself up to his full height. Which was considerably taller than Ray.

"I'm not scared of some little hippie fruitcake from California," Ray retorted.

"Don't make me tell the whole story, Ray," Ronnie said. "Because I talked to a few girls that you might know. And they gave me some information that you might not want the world to know. At least not if you want to hold on to any shreds of a reputation you MIGHT have left."

Ray ran in Ronnie's direction and drew back his arm to hit him. "You better keep your mouth shut!"

Gerry looked around and noticed that there were only three teachers in the cafeteria. The others had gone to the teacher's lounge. He rolled his eyes wondering where Coach Boone was when you needed him. He wondered if the two male teachers in the cafeteria wanted to see the "hippie" get his butt kicked by Ray. He stood up, and went to stand behind Ronnie.

Ronnie looked at Ray defiantly and said, "I dare you, Budds. Go ahead. Hit me."

One of the teachers, a small young woman, came over to them. "Boys, there will be no fighting in the building or on the grounds of this school. If you must fight, take it off school property."

Ronnie and Ray didn't take their eyes off of each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Gerry, however, turned to look at the teacher. He admired the small woman's courage. She was obviously afraid, even her hands were shaking. But at least she'd done something. Which was more than he could say for the other teachers in the room.

"Mr. Bass, Mr. Budds, please return to your tables. Mr. Bertier, if you were planning on getting involved, there will be nothing for you to get involved in. Please return to your table."

"Yes, ma'am," Gerry replied, grabbing Ronnie's arm. "Come on, Sunshine."

"Gerry..." Ronnie began.

"Sunshine, come on," Gerry repeated, trying to keep his friend calm.

Ronnie turned around and followed Gerry back to the table.

They sat down and tried to eat, but Ronnie couldn't. First of all, the food was bad, but more importantly, because his stomach was in knots.

He looked up at Gerry. "Thanks, man."

"No problem, Sunshine. We're Titans. That's just the way it is."

"Ronnie," Rachel said, "don't worry about it. It's not worth fighting about."

"Yeah, it is. I'll deal with Ray later."

"Ronnie, don't..."

"We'll talk about it later, Rache," he said.

"OK." She wished Ronnie wouldn't try to be a hero.

He decided to change the subject. "Have you met the guys yet, Rache?"

"No. I've met a few of them, but..." she shrugged, "not many."

"Well, uh..." Ronnie began, "I'll just start with Julius and go around the table." He pointed at Big Julius. "That Julius Campbell. He's one multi-talented guy. He can play tight end, split end, or strong side linebacker."

Rachel laughed and put on her fake, ditzy voice. "Oh, my gosh! There's a football position called split end? I thought that was just something bad that happened to people's hair."

Everybody laughed at what Rachel considered a corny joke.

"Then, you know Gerry and Julie Bertier," Ronnie continued. "That's Jerry Harris, but we call him Rev. And if he hadn't gotten a broken wrist, I'd still be playing 'full offensive bench warmer.'"

"Hi, Rachel," Rev said with a smile.

Then Ronnie pointed to a stocky white boy, and said, "That's Lew Lastik. He's a military brat like us. He came from Bayonne. Offensive lineman and momma joker extrordinaire."

Lewie laughed.

Ronnie indicated a black boy, and said, "That's Derrick Martin, backup fullback. And he, Blue, and Lewie are a dangerous combination of soul power and momma jokes."

Derrick nodded in agreement with Ronnie. "Right on, Sunshine."

"And that is Blue Stanton. His real name's Darryl, but nobody calls him that."

"And when he says nobody, he means NOBODY!" Blue said.

"That's Frankie Glascoe across from Blue. He's a tailback, but he can play both ways. Then next to him is Kurt Greene, nose tackle. Then there's Jerry Buck, and he plays guard. Then Alan Bosley, who you know from history class. Then here's Petey. Who you already know."

"Hey, sweetie-pie," Petey said, a goofy grin on his goofy face.

"Come on, Petey," Derrick said from across the table. "Can't you ever meet just one girl without hittin' on her?"

Gerry laughed, "Yeah, man!"

Petey grinned, "Never have been able to. Guess I'm just cursed with good looks and charm."

Blue smiled, "Well, at least we know he didn't get it from his momma," he said, turning to Petey. Derrick nodded his assent.

"That ain't funny, y'all!" Petey said.

Julus looked down the table at Blue. "Yeah, man. I heard Petey's momma's armpits were so hairy and stinky, she got an A+ in school for NOT raisin' her hand."

Petey was getting peed off. Ronnie sprung to his friend's defense. "Well, the only reason her armpits were hairy was because she had to share the razor with Julius's momma and Blue's momma. And between Julius's momma's back hair, and Blue's momma's arm hair, the razor was so stopped up that Petey's momma couldn't use it."

Blue laughed. "Well, man, at least my momma HAS hair. Sunshine's momma had to borrow some of his."

Ronnie couldn't help laughing even though the joke was directed at his momma.

"Hey, everybody, quit picking on Sunshine's momma. I like her," Lewie said. "She makes me look so slim and fine."

"Hey," Ronnie said. "At least my momma didn't go to the prom with her cousin."

"Yeah," Lewie said. "Her own COUSIN wouldn't even be caught dead at the prom with her."

By this time, most of the people at the table were red-faced and out of breath from laughter. Gerry leaned over to Julie and whispered, "I'm just glad they left MY momma alone this time."

Blue laughed. "Well, I guess Lastick here has proven himself momma joke king once again."

Ronnie laughed. Rachel looked up at him, tears rolling down her face from laughter. "Well, you are a lively bunch of guys."

Gerry smiled. "This ain't nothin'. You haven't seen us in the locker room getting warmed up for games. It can get out of hand sometimes." He shot a meaningful look Ronnie's way. "'Course, sometimes we ain't even gettin' ready for a game. Sometimes all it takes for us to get out of hand is somebody callin' somebody a fruitcake."

Ronnie laughed. "You're never gonna let that die, are you Bertier?"

"Never in a million years," the tall linebacker replied.

"Why would he let it die?" Petey asked. "That one deserves to haunt you to the grave!"

Ronnie shook his head. The bell rang, telling them that lunch was over. The team cleared their table, and headed out. "On to the evil man..." said Petey, who was going to Coach Boone's history class.

Ronnie shook his head. Boone was just as tough in history class as he was on the field. Except for the fact that he didn't make the students run laps. But Ronnie guessed that it wasn't because they didn't want to. It was most likely because there was nowhere to run.

As he Ronnie headed for the exit, he felt Gerry give him a friendly slap on the back. "Be careful, man."

"I'll try."

As the team left the cafeteria, Ray walked just close enough to Ronnie to say in a harsh voice, "I'll deal with you later, Bass."

Ronnie turned to look at the shorter teen. "Look forward to it, Ray."

Then he turned away from Ray and just kept walking.