ETHAN THE BASKETBALL STAR
It was too late to speak to Ethan. For now, at least. The coach was in the locker room with the team, and all phones were off. In fact, by the time Sarah was able to get to the gymnasium, all the good seats to the game were taken. Most of the high school had turned out, and most of the telescoping bleachers in the gym were full. The stage overlooking the gym had been cleared and turned into an additional seating area. This was taken by teachers and several parents . . . Sarah recognized Ross Morgan talking excitedly to Mr. Hicks. And Mr. Hicks was just as full of school spirit, wearing a team jersey over his trademark suit.
"No wonder Ethan has mixed feelings about this!" said Sarah.
Sarah knew enough that if Ethan was truly one of the stars . . . or the star . . . of the team, the cheer he was about to receive was going to be deafening. This was as different from Ethan's wrestling debut in front of the skeptical student body two years before as day was from night.
Wherever there was space along the walls beyond the court, there were chairs placed. Where they weren't any seats, the Grade 9 freshmen, the newbs, the thirteen and fourteen year olds, were sitting at the side of the gym waiting to cheer on their team. For all the world, in that crowd, they reminded Sarah of kindergarten students. It was hard to think she had ever been that young!
Sarah observed the school mascot, the Whitechapel Devil, and wondered who had replaced Rory in the school costume. While Ethan (normal or in this altered reality) would be humiliated to jump around in the silly mascot's outfit, she knew Rory would have looked out on the large crowd with childish enthusiasm and irrepressible school spirit.
Sarah was less than pleased to find Trixie making a beeline from the other cheerleaders to in her direction. Since, as Sarah reflected, Trixie hadn't technically done anything wrong, Sarah flashed a fake smile at someone who she supposed was now an acquaintance of her . . . if not a friend.
"Oh!" said Trixie, bouncing over as Sarah entered the gym, "I thought you weren't coming. So I gave your seat to one of our friends. There's still space in back."
"What seat?" asked Sarah.
"What seat!" said Trixie, who seemed insulted by the question. Trixie put her hands to her sides and stuck up her chin. "You know Morgan always gets me to save you a seat down at the front of the bleachers . . . whenever you want one. You always come to Ethan's games at the last minute . . . when you come at all that it! Of course, I'm always here and early too!"
"Why?" Sarah joked. "Hoping to see the boys play shirts and skins?"
"For your information the guys wear different coloured pinnies" said Trixie. "And when we're allowed here during practice, we're here not to look but to cheer them on!"
"Believe it or not Trixie" said Sarah coldly, "I don't like to come early just to see you wave your arms and yell."
Trixie placed her hands on her hips.
"You never had any respect for cheerleading!" said Trixie huffily. "Or for the team! Well, try and wave for Morgan. Oh, and for your information, I do cartwheels too."
"That will get the boys' attention at least" thought Sarah cattily. "Hicks could at least make her wear a larger uniform."
"I suppose it's Ethan to us" Sarah, "And now it's Morgan to his friends on the team?"
"Of course" said Trixie. "In what world have you been living in!"
"The real one" muttered Sarah.
"I'd ask what Ethan sees in her, but it's obvious" said Erica sarcastically, when she finally joined Sarah at the top of the bleachers in the far corner of the gym, that is to say one of the few spots left. "There isn't a boy in the place that doesn't have his eyes glued to her. She is definitely stacked, as the guys say."
Sarah was notably restless watching Trixie wave her pom-poms and doing her cheer. Unlike Stephanie's elaborate and evil soul-stealing pentagram-model cheer, this reminded Sarah of jumping-jacks.
Trixie sang:
Our team is DY-NO-MOS!
WHITECHAPEL –WHITECHAPEL –GO – GO –GO!
OUR TEAM IS DY-NO-MAY!
We're Really Gonna Win TO-DAY
LOUDER –LOUDER – WHITECHAPEL – WHITECHAPEL – GO – GO-GO!
"Trixies doesn't have much of a future as a composer" observed Sarah caustically
"Die-No-Mos" muttered Erica sarcastically. "I wonder if she even realizes that the guys don't care about her cheer but only want to see her jiggle in her miniskirt and blouse."
"At least she's not trying to steal souls" said Sarah. "I wonder what's with Ethan, though? I know that look. It's his crazy jealous looks. The guy beside him, No. 3, punching his arm, looks like he's telling Ethan to cool off. Ethan used to hate those punches. He thought it was crazy!
"And Ethan was such a wimp he thought they hurt" Erica added, lowering her voice. "You're forgetting Sarah, Ethan's really just a werewolf in human form. Not just a guy who turns into a wolf once a month and is normal the rest of the time. Look at him."
"He looks okay" said Sarah.
"For a werewolf" said Erica. "From his slightly-pointed ears to his oversized feet, he's built to turn into a monster as quickly and efficiently as possible. Oh, and No. 3, the buddy-punch guy, is his bro Hodges."
"Ethan mentioned him" Sarah said thoughtfully. "I wonder why Ethan look angry. I know why. Ethan always had that jealous streak, and now every boy in the school is staring at his bimbo girlfriend. I guess now Ethan really is crazy jealous."
"Oh, it's worse than that" said Erica. "The human part of him is proud of dating the head cheerleader. The dog part doesn't want any rivals eyeing his mate."
Poor Ethan obviously laughed at something Hodges said, and grinned. He returned Hodge's punch.
"Hodges probably reminded Ethan that all the guys were jealous . . . and that Trixie was his" said Sarah snappishly. "I don't have to know how to read lips to guess that. It's what the original Benny would have said. What else can go wrong . . . ."
"About that" said Erica reluctantly, "you know that no Lucifractor means that the Vampire Council's survived. But the Breath of Death really has them scraping the bottom . . . ."
Sarah listen avidly to Erica's half-whispered description.
"We really didn't need any more enemies right now" said Sarah sarcastically. "We're trying to defeat what's probably one of the most powerful demons there are, now we have yet another powerful and centuries old vampire to worry about."
"Luckily Coquette has a really short attention span" said Erica. "She's enraged with that tattooed lady across the street, and maybe Rory's ex-dog, and she already half-forgot me right now."
"That's Tempus Mercator Daemonium" Sarah observed. "He even goes out of his way to destroy a dog's life. But that's not important. We'd better take precautions for vampires now. If they're in a killing mood, they love to swoop down at night on their victim."
"Here's a few heads of garlic for starters" said Erica, passing it over. "Just carry some around, and if you're really worried, swallow a clove when you go out at night. You'll be surprised how quickly it seeps into the blood.
"Thanks."
"Well, I doubt you'll need it."
"Why?"
"Oh, everybody know that the date method of getting your blood is the most fun" said Erica casually. "I'm betting that when she's not glamouring that's what Coquette uses."
"What's the date method?" asked Sarah.
"Date your meal, and then . . . in fangs we trust" said Erica nostalgically.
"And your date's dead or has fangs himself" said Sarah with deadly sarcasm.
"No" said Erica. "I knew how exactly to get my meal and leave my victim's life and humanity intact. You know that! Remember, Anastasia forced us all to go hunting in pairs last year . . . in the real world."
"Yes, I know that" Sarah admitted. "But for the first year, I was afraid you were leaving a trail of dead bodies or vampires in your wake."
"Except when I felt like it" said Erica with a sardonic grin, so much so that Sarah didn't know if Erica was now joking or not. "And, just in case you're wondering . . . Rory was a mistake.
"Were you trying to get a drink or drain him?" asked Sarah, curious in spite of herself.
"Does it matter now?" said Erica airily, with a shrug. "But mostly, I kept the fact you can feed without turning to myself just to put fear into the heart of the geeks. I remember how they looked at me when I told them I picked up a snack at the pool party when they were mutant crocodile hunting. Even Rory, who should have known better."
"I wonder if Rory's also dead" said Sarah. "He's out of town and doesn't have Krypto."
"Never mind him" said Erica. "I haven't told you yet about me . . . ."
Sarah couldn't account for Erica's sudden disappearance from records and memory either. What did that have to do with Ethan's being kept under the late Benny Weir's accidental werewolf spell?
The unsolved mystery was one of the reasons Sarah and Erica's conversation slowly died out as they watched the game. The other reason was that not only was the noise of the crowd keeping their conversation confidential, but it eventually became next to impossible to hear one another in the din.
The Whitechapel Devils were playing the Erie Shores Fighting Catfish. Erie Shores was a rural high school almost an hour's drive south of Whitechapel located along the shore of, naturally enough, Lake Erie. The Catfish were the favoured team, which was natural as they were the only ones who should have been in the game in the first place.
Ethan, contrary to what Erica said earlier, was the Team Captain of the Basketball Team. He was, after all, in Grade 11 now and the best player by far. That, Sarah and Erica knew as in real life the Whitechapel Boys' Basketball team hadn't even come close to meeting the Sharks. And the difference was Ethan.
The captains shook hands at the start, Erie Shores placing forward a thin red-headed boy who was exactly Ethan's new height. While Ethan initially offered his hand respectfully, the Erie Shores boy tried to show off with a bone crusher handshake. Ethan's grin turned forced. There was a vicious look in his eye. Ethan returned the bone crusher in kind.
The girls could see Ethan swallow hard.
"He did that last year" observed Erica, speaking almost directly into Sarah's ear. "He's swallowing down a growl."
"Ethan does have good control for a werewolf. And Erie Shores Man had it coming . . . as Benny might say" observed Sarah as she turned so she'd be a few inches from Erica's left ear.
"Maybe they should forget the basketball and have an arm-wrestling contest" said Erica. "Redhead and freckles aren't my type."
The red-headed boy left for the bench nursing his hand and arm. The cheering of the Whitechapel crowd was deafening over Ethan's victory in this display of bad sportsmanship.
"Hey-hey-hey!" objected Mr. G, who was once again the referee.
But whatever else he said was drowned by the cheering crowd.
"You'd think this was a hockey game" said Erica.
"Except in hockey the players shake hands postgame or post-series" said Sarah. "It was the dog in him. Otherwise he wouldn't look embarrassed."
Ethan had a guilty, almost hangdog expression as he went to the centre of the court. But after the opening tip, Ethan's eyes were firmly on the ball as the game began.
Ethan's main move was a slam dunk. This was unsurprisingly, as he was, after all, the centre. But, he was a very old school centre, making few three-point shots. In no way could Ethan be called a perimeter player. Ethan could play defence, and steal the ball behind the other team; with an unsettling light in his eyes as he caught the ball. Then, a few dribbles down, Ethan jumped up and slammed the ball down in and through the basket. And that helped Ethan put the Whitechapel Devils into the lead.
Still, the other team was better overall, so Whitechapel only held onto a small lead of 27-24 at the end of the first period.
"Our Team is Dyno-may" sang Trixie and the other cheerleaders . . . .
While Ethan scored a few three-pointers, his main contribution was slam dunks.
"I never knew werewolves and slam dunks went together" said Erica sarcastically.
The score was 56-45 by halftime. This was usually a ten minute break marked by the teams heading to one of the two boys' dressing rooms for a strategy session with their respective coaches. Owing to the championship occasion, the break was drawn out to twenty minutes for a genuine "half-time show."
The keystone of the show: the crowd was entertained, or not, by Trixie's hit cheer Our Team is Dyno-May.
"I'm really going to throw up today!" sang Erica sardonically.
The high school crowd did cheer at the end, and audible over all the rest,
"GO ETHAN!" shouted Ross and Samantha Morgan. "GO ETHAN"
Ross Morgan actually stood up "GO TEAM MORGAN!"
"That's humiliating" Erica observed.
"Jocks can shrug off embarrassing parents" said Sarah, who shrugged herself. "Besides, if you're really into sports, who else is going to drive you to your games and practices . . . at least until you get your license. If you're really cool, you just have to accept parents will be embarrassing sometimes. I might be able to catch Ethan in the hallway."
"I'll go with you" said Erica. "But we'd better get our seats back."
"I'll keep it for you" volunteered a girl sitting beside Erica.
"You'd better" said Erica. "You look like a newb!"
Reaching Ethan was more easily said than done. After navigating through a crush of stretching and talking teens, Sarah found herself in the hallway leading from the gym to the gym teacher's office and the boys' locker rooms.
Here the two basketball coaches were having an unprofessional argument of their own. Whitechapel's new coach was a dark man with a buzz cut and a red ball cap. Erie Shores had a blonde man with a buzz cut and a blue ball cap. Somehow, this made them look identical. They would have been shouting at each other an inch apart, had not Mr. G with peace sign, whistle and referee stripes stood between him.
"No phones, no girlfriends until after the game" said the new gym coach, crossing his arms and looking at Sarah.
"You can't go in here, Sarah" said Mr. G, looking at the coach. "Definitely no girls in the boys locker rooms . . . period."
"Who are they?" asked the Erie Shores coach.
"Ethan Morgan's second string girlfriend . . . and I don't recognize the blonde!"
"I don't like that kind of talk" interjected Mr. G. "I don't think . . . ."
"EXCUSE ME?" interrupted Sarah. "Second string girlfriend?"
"After Trixie" explained the coach.
"The head cheerleader?"
"Yup!"
"I'm not second string anything!" said Sarah acerbically.
"They're just friends" Erica put in forcefully, giving Sarah a significant glance. "Do you think a girl can be friends with a guy?"
"Okay, okay" said the coach. "Sorry! Platonic friends, girl power, whatever. Now, about that handshake, Morgan had every right to . . . .
"What are you doing here?" asked Mr. G.
"We're just waiting here to catch Ethan" said Sarah.
"Well, I know you're friends. You can wait in the office" said Mr. G. "If you feel like it, you can even watch the game from the office. Take it as a little reward, Sarah, for being chair of the Yearbook Committee.
"I don't think it's what I'd call a VIP suite" observed Erica, "But it's a good place to wait for Ethan. Or even sit out the rest of the game."
"It's not a good place to see the game when the bleachers are pulled out" said Sarah skeptically.
The gym office had two tinted windows looking out on the gym, but the view of the floor was obscured by the crowd of teenagers and the bleachers. There were two doors in. One into the hallway leading to the boys' locker rooms. The room had the spell of cigarette smoke overlaid with air freshener, and an ashtray on the coach's desk showing that he wasn't following the No Smoking law.
"Hicks was always oblivious" remarked Erica. "I can't believe he doesn't smell the smoke in here."
"The gym coach smoking on school property is probably the least of Whitechapel's problems" Sarah said. "You know, even with his chauvinism, his setting a bad example, breaking the no-smoking law, he's probably the least worst boy's coach since I was here. Except maybe Mr. G., but then his hippy, easy-going philosophy is great in class but doesn't translate well into the gym!"
Then there was another door leading to the hall to the girls' locker rooms, and that's where Trixie walked in.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Trixie, Erica. Erica, Trixie" deadpanned Sarah.
Erica crossed her arms, and looked at Trixie with a deeply amused expression.
"So you're Ethan's girlfriend?" said Erica. "That's . . . interesting."
"Yes" said Trixie, who realized there was something odd about Erica's tone of voice. "Ooh! I get it, you're also jealous!"
Erica burst into laughter.
However strict the new Whitechapel coach was the team, he hadn't had much to say to Ethan. At least given the fact that Ethan was almost grinning as he left the locker room. He was with a couple other members of the team.
One was Hodges, naturally; the other was a tall sandy brown-haired teen that Erica recognized as the "rich kid" who'd be throwing the kegger Friday, Barton Skyler.
Trixie, it so turned out, liked to eavesdrop, so she literally put her ear to the door to the hallway. She shushed Sarah and Erica.
Erica, for a moment, thought she's take this angrily. But instead, she found this funny.
"It's not as if you'll get much of a word in right now" said Erica, as she sat in one of the office chairs.
Sarah could just pick up what Ethan was saying, as he loitered about for a few moments looking eagerly around the crowded stands. She supposed he was looking for Trixie. It wasn't Ross and Samantha, who Ethan had cursorily waved at the start of the game and were now spending half-time at the back of the stage talking with a group of proud parents and teachers.
"We're really gonna do it" said Ethan to Hodges. "They played their best first half. It's all downhill from here, we're really going to kick their . . . ."
"Classic move, nearly breaking Sullivan's hand" joked Hodges.
Ethan shrugged.
"I wouldn't have done it. Sullivan was stupid enough to let me sprain his right wrist at the start; if nothing else it'll give us the win. But men, I always thought that basketball should be more of a contact sport. I mean, guys, basketball's okay; we should legally be able to rough up the dude and steal the ball. Hockey . . . and football . . . those are team sports.
"Because Ethan can rough up the players with the ball now" said Sarah sarcastically.
"Relax" whispered Erica. "Since when are you the manager of this Ethan's personality. He's a werewolf, a vicious hell hound in human form, fighting comes naturally to him. No matter how nice he tries to be. Besides, you know it's the game."
"I thought Sarah would be watching . . . she wasn't feeling well so I guess she packed up early" Ethan remarked to his friends with some disappointment.
"Oh, what does he care about you, Sarah?" said Trixie exasperatedly. "Ethan has me. He just has to have all his friends around him. It's so silly; like a compulsion with him."
"Says the girl behind Our team is dy-no-may" remarked Erica in a low voice.
"You should like that about Ethan" said Sarah. "He's always been loyal to his friends. He hates to be alone."
"Did you hear something?" asked Ethan. "Like Sarah?"
"Dude, you have Trixie" said Hodges. "What is it about you and Sarah?"
"I just hear the geeks in the marching band coming into the gym" said Skyler.
Ethan's tone changed to irritation. "Oh, perfect. Look. Instead of the their cheerleaders, Erie Shores brought their marching band. I've gotta get out of here."
"What's your problem, Morgan?" Skyler said. "We could beat up those losers with one hand tied behind their back. Even if they tried to brain us with their tubas."
Skyler was met by a moment of silence. He was obviously the type of athlete who was also a bully. Hodges and Werewolf Ethan were not . . . or usually not, outside the confines of sport.
"It's mental, having a marching band playing in the gym" said Ethan at last. "I don't want my ears blasted out."
"I swear dude" laughed Hodges, "the way you look, and the way you dodge loud noises, sometimes I swear you're part dog."
"No he isn't!" said Trixie loyally.
"Funny, man" Ethan replied sardonically, although the growl was again seeping into his voice. "But I came out here to have a smoke, not to be deafened by the band. Coach lets me use his office. Especially during games so I too waste time leaving school property."
Ethan rather hurriedly opened the gym office door, followed by Hodges and Skyler.
Trixie, even more hurriedly retired a few steps away as the boys walked in.
The three teen players walked in practically in unison; they each wore a letterman jacket over a jersey and shorts; they each had a pack of brand-name cigarettes at their disposal with a (required in Canada) large picture of a cancerous lung or some other health risk; and a red lighter.
The scene was so funny both Sarah and Erica burst into laughter.
"Have a cigarette?" asked Trixie loudly, bringing out a pack of her own.
"Hey . . . Trixie" said Ethan in an amorous tone. "Loved your cheer!"
Ethan lifted her up, turned her around, and went in to kiss her. Sarah had read about and seen boyfriends do things like that in the movies and on television. Jesse could do it easy.
Sarah found out she didn't like it at all when Ethan did it with Trixie; the real Ethan was still a lanky teenage guy who would be afraid to lift her up because he might look stupid if he didn't manage it like in the movies! Or even drop her! She missed Ethan how he was supposed to be.
As Sarah tried not to look, Ethan seemed to lean his head in to kiss Trixie the same way he did when Sarah and Ethan shared a kiss. All in all, Sarah found the whole thing was a nauseating display.
"Oh, I didn't know you were here?" said Skyler to Sarah.
Sarah vaguely knew Skyler; and that's about how much she wanted to know him.
"Uh-huh!"
"See me play?" asked Hodges randily of Erica. "I'm the best perimeter shot on the team."
Erica's reply was interrupted by the Erie Shores marching band broke into a hearty rendition of their speciality; for some bizarre reason it was the Theme from Star Wars.
For a second, Ethan's involuntarily wiggled his left ear to listen in, although he was still kissing Trixie, but it was only a second.
"Owwwwwww" winced Ethan, letting go of Trixie and putting his hands to his ears. His voice showed signs of changing over into a howl, but Ethan quickly cut that off through the simple expediency of clamping his teeth shut and swallowing.
"Nice control, Ethan" Sarah whispered, as much to herself as to Ethan.
"It is loud, even in here" said Trixie. "What are those Erie Shore losers thinking anyway, playing that . . . that . . . space music. What kind of song it that?"
"I heard it somewhere" said Skyler.
"It's from that movie series Star Wars" explained Hodges jollily, who had inadvertently blew a mouthful of smoke into Erica's face, as he had started a cigarette. "Ethan used to like that crap as a kid. Right, bro!"
"Yeah right" said Skyler.
"Really!" said Trixie. "Ethan told me. Those silly robots and funny green swords they had? He liked them."
"Uh-huh" said Ethan. "I did, I just grew out of that . . . geek stuff."
Sarah and Erica looked at Ethan in surprise at this extraordinary bit of hypocrisy.
In a moment, Sarah met Ethan's eyes. She could tell, that at this moment, Ethan felt very alone in the midst of his friends. Having to deal with his werewolf hearing and, to add insult to injury, the annoyance of everyone mocking his once favourite movie series. And his joining in the mockery.
"Hey, Sarah!" said Ethan, suddenly lightening up although still holding his hands over his ears. "I didn't see you in the stands."
"We had a place in the back" said Sarah.
"Because they were late" sneered Trixie.
Ethan looked around Sarah, and then spotted Erica.
"That's Erica" said Hodges. "She's new and . . . ."
The colour in Ethan's face drained away. This time he couldn't suppress the growl from deep in his throat nor the final danger warning, the hair on his head bristling.