Chapter 4: Practice Imperfect
RING! The bell went off letting the students and the faculty know it was the end of another school day. Jeremiah had been waiting nervously for that sound because he felt like a caged rat due to the police presence being there all day. He didn't even stop at his locker despite carrying several books. All he could think about was making it out of the building.
He rounded the corner to the main hallway towards the exit, but fate intervened when suddenly he heard the most beautiful voice calling out to him.
"Jeremiah!" Valerie called out- trying to get his attention. "Jeremiah! Hold up!" She pleaded, causing him to slow his pace and allowing her to catch up to him.
"Hey. I just wanted to see how you was doing." She said while trying to catch her breath. "You sorta stormed off during our conversation earlier this morning. I wasn't sure if it was something I said."
"No. It wasn't anything you said." Jeremiah replied. "I guess I'm just sick of Tommy receiving so much love and respect from all the students. What has he ever done for anyone else in his life?"
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked.
"Well, he told everyone he saved that woman yesterday. Does that really sound like something he would actually do? He has the whole school sucking up to him. Hell- you are his girlfriend. What do you see in him?" He eagerly wanted to know.
Valerie giggled. "You shouldn't be jealous of Tommy. He is just a meathead jock, although he does throw a football pretty damn well. His daddy is rich and all the other jocks hang out with him because they want to be as popular as he is. I'm going out with him because I am the head cheerleader and he's the popular Quarterback- I guess that's how it's supposed to be in high school. It won't be like this forever." She explained.
"I know, I know, but he's such an-"
"ASS!" She finished his sentence. "I know he can seem like a terrible guy, but you don't know him like I do. He only acts that way because he thinks he has to keep up with appearances. I mean… His dad is rich, but his dad loves money so much that he would rather send Tommy to a crappy public school like Central instead of paying to send him to a great private prep school. And… I know Tommy wears all the coolest designer clothes, but his daddy doesn't buy those for him either. He actually has to work for his dad in order to make money."
"What type of work would that be?" Jeremiah asked.
"He picks up packages and brings them back to his father. Sometimes he delivers packages for him as well." She replied.
"Why does Tommy have to do that for him? Why not just use a courier?" He asked.
"Because his dad doesn't trust anyone. He barely trusts his own son. I heard his dad tell him once that he is lucky he knows how to throw a football because if it wasn't for that he would be useless."
"Wow! I guess I didn't realize his father was such a dick like that." Jeremiah said.
"Yeah, but don't get me wrong… He still is a meathead jock." She giggled. "Just not as bad as you might have thought he was."
"Okay. Well, thanks for letting me know." He said while turning to start heading back towards the exit doors.
"Wait!" She piped up causing Jeremiah to pause again.
"If you ever need to talk to someone, I am always here." She said while pulling a pen out of her purse. "Here, give me your hand."
Jeremiah held his hand out and allowed her to write her cell phone number in his palm causing him to blush. "You know, I could have just let you type your number into my cell phone." He playfully suggested.
"Yeah. I guess you can say I'm a little bit old fashioned." She answered back. "Plus, I heard about the hit you put on Tommy yesterday at the end of practice. Several players have been talking about it today. They said you hit him so hard that his body left an indent in the ground. I'll be at cheer practice in a little bit. We have a big game to prepare for tomorrow against the Bludhaven Bulldogs. Will I see you out on the field later?"
"Um…" Jeremiah had no desire to go to practice. In fact, he had purposely left his football uniform at his mom's house. "I…"
Before needing to produce a bold-faced lie, fate intervened once again when the head coach of the varsity football team suddenly showed up and interrupted the two of them. "Hey! Jarod! I can't wait to see you out on the practice field today! You can show us some more of your stuff, big hitter!"
"Um… My name is Jeremiah… And about practice…."
Valerie and the coach both stood there waiting for him to finish his sentence.
"About practice… I... I... I guess I will see you in the locker room, Coach." Jeremiah finished dejectedly.
However, Jeremiah already had another great idea for how he could get out of practice. After he made it to the locker room, he opened up his gym locker and yelled out- "What the hell! Where is my uniform?!"
The coach heard the commotion and went to see what Jeremiah was yelling about. "What seems to be the problem, Jarod?"
"Um… It's Jeremiah… and my uniform is missing. Someone must have stolen it."
"Don't you usually carry your gear home with you?" The coach asked.
"Usually, but not yesterday." Jeremiah replied. "Yesterday I had somewhere important to be, so I left my stuff here."
"Oh! I know what we could do! Tommy isn't going to be at practice! You can use his gear!" The coach declared.
"Oh… Sure… Great." He agreed reluctantly.
As Jeremiah walked out onto the practice field, he wasn't feeling as determined to make tackles the same way he did yesterday, but then, he saw Valerie practicing with the cheer-squad- she even made eye contact with him and gave him a smile. Suddenly, he felt the desire to hit people again. However, it did feel weird to him walking out onto the varsity practice field instead of the JV's.
Moments later, after the huddles broke up, Jeremiah weaved back and forth in the backfield like a tiger stalking its prey- and when the ball was hiked, he pounced, planting the QB into the ground the same way he did to Tommy.
"Yay! Jeremiah!" Valerie cheered, giving Jeremiah a confidence boost.
The very next play, Jeremiah weaved back and forth again. This time, instead of rushing the QB, he faked as if he was blitzing him, then dropped back into coverage and intercepted the pass.
"Oh man! He's on fire!" The coach yelled. "We might have a chance at beating the Bulldogs after all!" Again, giving Jeremiah another positive burst of self-esteem.
"You thought that was cool- wait until this next play." Jeremiah thought to himself.
Jeremiah was more than happy to continue showing off his skills after breaking from the huddle. However, before the ball could be snapped, the two police officers that were at the school earlier, pulled up to the practice field in their police car.
"Shit!" Jeremiah thought to himself. "I can't be showing off and making awesome plays. I don't want those officers to think that I was somehow capable of taking out the two gang members in the alleyway yesterday."
Then, he looked over at Valerie. "Lord! Why do you have to put me in these situations?"
"HIKE!" The QB yelled out.
Jeremiah half heartedly rushed towards the QB. Even at partial speed, he nearly made it to the QB before the ball was thrown.
"Come on! You're faster than that! You could have got him! Let's run the play again!" The coach insisted.
All eyes were on Jeremiah after he broke from the huddle. Even the two police officers were waiting for the play to get over with.
"HIKE!"
Jeremiah ran towards the QB, but all he could think about were the two officers watching the play. Because of Jeremiah's lack of concentration, he didn't see the Tight End flanking from his left side.
BAM!
Jeremiah was planted into the ground. Everyone on the field cringed when they saw the hit. Even the two officers could barely look. Valerie also had to look away.
"That's for the cheap elbow uppercut you pulled on me yesterday!" The Tight End vengefully blurted out.
Jeremiah felt dizzy. He had never been hit that hard before in his entire life. After finally getting off the ground, he limped over to the sideline and sat down on a bench.
The two police officers then interrupted the practice. "Okay! I'm going to need everyone to stop what they are doing!" One of them barked out an order.
"What can I do for you?" The coach asked.
"We need everyone to take off their helmets and shoulder-pads and put them on the ground in front of us!" They replied.
The coach had no idea why they wanted the team to do that, but he instructed his players to do what the police officers were asking them to do. Jeremiah knew what they were looking for. They wanted to see if they could find the burn mark on the crown of the helmet where the bullet had ricocheted off of it, and they also wanted to see if they could find a set of shoulder-pads with a stab hole in them.
After studying the helmets and the shoulder-pads for a few minutes, the police officers weren't finding what they were looking for. They were just about to give up on the investigation and walk back to their police car, until-
"What the HELL Coach?! Why are you letting Jeremiah wear my uniform?! Tommy yelled out while storming onto the practice field with a freshly busted lip.
"Don't get all butt-hurt, Tommy! I didn't think you were going to be attending practice today, and since Jarod's uniform was stolen from his locker, I figured he could wear yours for the day!" The coach replied.
The two police officers turned back around. "Wait a second! You are telling me that this kid isn't wearing his own uniform?" One officer said while looking over at Jeremiah.
"Yeah, didn't you hear me? I just said it was stolen!" The coach repeated. "Someone must have taken it after he left practice yesterday.
The police officers then walked up to Jeremiah. "Is that true, kid? Your football uniform was stolen? I thought your teacher told us that your first day back to school was today. Now the coach is saying you were here yesterday. Which one is it?" He asked while putting his hand on his gun holster to look more intimidating.
"I did show up towards the end of practice yesterday only to blow off some steam." Jeremiah nervously responded.
"Where did you go after practice?" They inquired.
"Home… I went home." Jeremiah replied.
"Which way is home?"
"That way." Jeremiah said, pointing his finger in the opposite direction of Wayne Dojo.
"Are you sure you weren't in the area of Pearl and Phillips?" The officer asked while gripping the butt of his gun tighter.
"Nope… I just went home. That's all."
The other officer spoke up. "Come on! Let's go! This kid couldn't have taken down those two yesterday! Biff and Marty were way tougher than him. Didn't you see how he just got laid out on the practice field?"
"Biff and Marty? Do you know them?" Jeremiah asked.
"Know them? You mean, KNEW them?" The officer retorted. "Apparently they decided to take a walk off the roof of GothCorp this morning… And no… we didn't know them. We were the ones who showed up to the crime scene in the alleyway after the anonymous caller got a hold of us." He added. "Now, do you have any other stupid questions for us… because we have things we gotta do?"
"No sir." Jeremiah replied.
"I didn't think so." The officer declared as they began walking back to their police car. "You let us know if that missing uniform of yours ever shows up!" They demanded as they got in their car and drove off.
Suddenly, things were starting to add up for Jeremiah. First, those same two cops were at the hospital on the night that the robber of the bowling alley died. Then they arrested his father for the murder. Now they were suddenly at the school asking questions. Plus, it appeared as if they knew the two thugs in the alleyway. He was starting to think that maybe those two cops were on the Satan's Serpents payroll. Then he remembered how the cop that shot his father showed up at the school and talked to the two officers before they drove off with Tommy.
"The newspaper said there was an anonymous eyewitness, but I'm willing to bet there was no eyewitness. I bet the two street thugs called these two dirty cops to let them know that the microchip was still missing, and then the cops made out the report so that they could open up an investigation. Slick."
"Oh my God! All three of them are working for the Serpent gang!" He thought to himself. "The cop that showed up to the bowling alley and shot my dad wasn't afraid of him at all- he was supposed to be the lookout for the robber, and when my dad got the drop on the crook, the officer came in and shot my dad because he didn't want it to look like he wasn't doing his job." Jeremiah thought while heading for the locker room. "And, if all three of them are working together, that means my father could be in some sort of danger. I better pay him a visit and warn him."
