Personal Note: Well, here's chapter two. Hope you like it and let me know if you do. :)
Chapter Two: You Kissed My Brother!
"So," Julius said as he pulled his shoulder pads over his head, "why don't you tell me the real reason you don't want Kel liking ol' Sunshine?"
Gerry quickly turned to face him, "I don't know what you're talking about." His eyes traveled over to where Sunshine was lacing up his football pants.
"Sure, man." Julius laughed, "Look, I know that it ain't got nothing to do with him kissing you at camp, cause you know just as well as everybody that he was just messin' with you. So, I ask again, what is your problem with Sunshine?"
Gerry watched Sunshine push his way out of the locker room carrying his shoulder pads. As soon as he was out, he turned back to Julius. "All right, you want to know why I don't want Kel to start liking Sunshine too much? I'll tell you why. When were on our way to the locker room, Sunshine was a little ways ahead of us."
"Yeah?" Julius said, not quite sure where this was going.
"Did you happen to notice how every single girl he passed stared at him, then started giggling and whispering to each other?" Gerry said.
Julius was still confused, "So?"
"So," Gerry explained, "if every single girl wants a piece of Sunshine, I don't want my baby sister to get her heart set on him and then have it broken if he chooses another girl, or five other girls."
Julius laughed and, shaking his head, stood up. "Come on, man. We gotta hit the field for practice."
"I'm serious, Jules," Gerry said, following his friend out of the locker room, "from what I saw, he could end up with half the school before the year is out!"
"He is so cute." One girl cooed.
Her friend giggled, "Look at his arms."
"I love his hair." A third girl added.
Sunshine stood in the courtyard of the school Tuesday morning, practicing his tai chi. Each move was smooth, fluent, and graceful. He performed every transition with ease, making it all look so effortless. Few people would have guessed how much discipline it all took, the amount of concentration.
"Looks like you have a fan club." He heard Kelly say from behind him.
Ronnie turned and looked at her, "Huh?" He asked. Kelly smiled and gestured toward a second floor window. Ronnie looked up to see about five girls standing with their noses pushed up against the glass, staring at him. He laughed and turned back to Kelly, "What can I say?"
"I don't know, Sunshine." She said, an inquisitive smirk crossing her lips, "What can you say?"
Ronnie felt himself stop breathing when he heard the nickname. He braced his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky and let out a sigh, before looking back to her and laughing without any real humor in his voice. "Right now, I don't know if anything I say would be very wise."
Kelly smiled, "So, you're a football player? You couldn;t have mentioned that to me yesterday when we were talking?"
"It didn't come up." Sunshine said, not sure if he was lying or not.
Kelly crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby tree, "So, the fact that I'm the team captain's sister had nothing to do with it?"
Sunshine furrowed his brow, "Maybe a very small, tiny bit." He held up his thumb and forefinger for emphasis.
"Uh-huh." Kelly said triumphantly, nodding her head, "You know, Sunshine, cute nickname by the way, you could have told me. I mean, just because my brother is you teammate doesn't mean that we can't be friends." Even as she said the word 'friends' she felt her stomach tighten.
"Okay," Sunshine laughed, his blond hair falling in front of his eyes as he nodded his head, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. So, we're cool now?"
"Well, there is one more thing." Kelly said.
"And what is that?" Sunshine asked.
Kelly straightened away from the three and asked, "Did you really kiss my brother?"
Sunshine couldn't control the burst of laughter that erupted from his throat. His shoulders shook violently as he struggled to get it under control. "He told you about that, huh?"
"So, it's true?" She exclaimed, "You kissed my brother!"
"Calm down," Sunshine said, still laughing. "Did he tell you the whole story?" Kelly shook her head. "Well, when I first got to camp, my hair was a lot longer than it is now, he called me a fruitcake. So, in the locker room the next day, I had to play with him a little, so, I told him that he was what I wanted and kissed him. I'm sure he forgot to mention that when he came after me for it, I knocked his ass on the ground. Everybody understood that it was just a gag for the whole fruitcake thing, but, the looks on their faces at the time, especially Gerry's, it was great."
"I can't believe you did that!" Kelly laughed, "Oh, my God. I would have paid to see that. And you're still on speaking terms with him?"
"Yeah, after camp I made sure that we were still cool and he said yeah."
"Wow." Kelly said, "He's such a dork."
They both turned and started walking toward the school together, carrying on conversation as they went. "So, how did you get Sunshine?"
"That would be Petey's doing..." Sunshine said and told her that story.
On Thursday, Sunshine waited outside of Kelly's class for her. When she emerged, he swept her immediately to the side of the hallway to talk to her. "Are you coming to the game tomorrow night?" He asked, "It's our first one."
"Like I have a choice! Do you remember who my brother is?" She laughed, "No, seriously though, I'm a huge football fan. Of course I'll be there. Think you'll play?"
"Don't know. It's doubtful though. I'm just the backup Q B."
"Oh," Kelly cooed in a baby voice and tasseled his hair, "is little Sunshine feeling sorry for himself?"
"Now you're gonna get it." Sunshine responded.
"Oh, am I? Who's gonna give it to me? You?" Kelly said just before she took off running down the hall.
Without a word, Sunshine took off in a dead sprint after her.
The first game ended with the Titans winning, of course. Ronnie didn't get to play, but Kelly thought he looked damn fine sitting on the bench. She waited for him outside the lock room. Gerry and Julius came out first.
"Hey, Kel!" Gerry called and ran up to her. He caught her in a bear hug and spun her around. "So, what did you think of your big brother?" He asked when he finally set her back on her feet.
"I think," Kelly said, trying not to laugh, "you played like a wimp." Gerry feigned a hurt expression. "Just kidding, you big oaf. You did great!"
"I know." Gerry said, looking all too pleased with himself.
"Now, now, now," Julius interrupted, "let's take a moment to discuss the real star of the game."
"Yeah," a voice came from somewhere behind them. They turned to see Petey walking toward them, carrying a football in his hand, "me!" He strutted over to them and took Kelly's hand and placed a firm kiss on it. "Gentlemen, isn't someone going to introduce me to this pretty woman?"
Gerry and Julius shared a look. "Sure," Julius said, "Petey Jones, meet Kelly Bertier."
"My sister." Gerry added sternly.
As soon as the words left Gerry's mouth, Petey released Kelly's hand. "As I was saying," he struggled, "pretty woman. Way out of my league pretty. I shouldn't even be allowed to look at her she's so pretty."
Julius burst into a fit of laughter along with Gerry and Kelly. "Don't worry, Petey. He isn't gonna kill you for talking to me." Kelly said.
"Hey, guys, look," Gerry said, "there's Alan. He looks down. Let's go see if we can help at all. Kel, wait here and you can go out and celebrate with us, kay?"
Kelly nodded and the three guys went to cheer their downcast teammate. They hadn't been gone thirty seconds when Ray Budds was at her side.
"Hey, Kelly." He said, "Wow, you sure grew up over the summer."
"Yes," Kelly replied jokingly, "no longer the gangly, awkward fifteen year old, but the sophisticated, mature sixteen year old."
Ray laughed along with her. "You look great. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. You should come out and party with us tonight."
"Well," Kelly said, "I'll be around with Gerry. Maybe we'll see out in town."
"Why don't you come with me, now? We'll meet up with Gerry later." Ray offered.
"Nah." Kelly said, "You go ahead, I'll see you later. I want to wait and say hi to Sunshine."
Kelly didn't quite understand the look that passed over Ray's face, but in an instant it was back to the bright happy look that was there before. As soon as Sunshine emerged from the locker room, his eyes locked onto where Kelly stood talking to Ray. Her face was bright and smiling and Sunshine felt a harsh stab of jealousy deep in the pit of his stomach. He quickened his pace to get to them. All he caught was the last exchange in their conversation.
"Okay. I'll see you out in town, then." Ray said.
"Yeah." Kelly added.
Ray turned away from her, making eye contact with Sunshine for a brief second, then walked off toward the parking lot.
"Kelly?" Sunshine said, getting her attention.
Kelly turned to him, "Hey!" She exclaimed, "Congratulations on your first win!"
"What congratulations for me? I didn't do anything but sit on the bench." Sunshine laughed. "I know, but you did it so well." Kelly laughed, and then threw herself into his arms.
Gerry turned just in time to see Sunshine wrapping his arms around his little sister. Julius turned and saw the same thing and knew immediately what was going on in his friend's head.
"Man, calm down." He said, putting his hand on Gerry's shoulder. "They're just friends. Friends hug."
"I just don't want her getting hurt." Gerry said.
"I know." Julius said, "But, like I said, they're just friends."
Sunshine and Kelly separated and started walking toward the other guys. They were halfway there when Kelly leapt onto Sunshine's back for a piggyback ride. Sunshine locked his arms under her legs as they joined the group.
"So, how are we partying tonight?" He asked, casting a quick nervous glance at Gerry.
Gerry looked to Julius, who signaled for him to calm down, before rejoining the conversation. He just didn't understand. There was a group of three or four girls on either side of them, and every single one of them had thrown a dirty look in Kelly's direction as soon as she started talking to Sunshine. It was a lose lose situation. Gerry just didn't see a happy ending in this for his baby sister.