Hope you all had a great Holiday!

Chapter 14

Penhall darted from his class to the communal phone booth to meet Hanson following class. He waited three minutes for the officer before deciding that he would pick up the phone and make the call on his own. He hoped the missing officer would turn up shortly.

"Hello." The voice was warm and friendly, Aunt Angie.

"Hello Aunt Angie, is Dennis there?" Penhall asked.

"Yes, but, he just took a pain killer about thirty minutes ago and fell asleep about ten minutes before you called. Do you want me to wake him?" She asked.

Doug wanted badly to talk to Booker himself and be sure that the injured officer was doing ok. He also knew that the injured man had struggled to sleep the night before. Dennis was a tough man, but a big baby when it came to getting attention. "Nah, just let him sleep. I will check in again after practice."

"Ok, well, you have a good practice and I will talk to you when you get home sweetie."

"Yes ma'am. I'll talk to you then. Doug answered courteously and hung up the phone.

She was so warm and friendly. A mother, almost, to him. If only his father hadn't married her. Maybe he wouldn't have drunk himself to death. Maybe she would have been the glue that salvaged the relationship he had lost with his younger brother Joey. Maybe he…

"Tom… what the hell!" Tom Hanson walked slowly down the hallway holding onto the wall with one hand, holding his head in the other. Doug broke into a quick sprint to his injured partner. Doug was at his side in no time with an arm around his shoulder. He quickly sat Tom down on the bench next to the cafeteria. "Hanson… what happened he asked in hushed tones."

Tom looked mutely up at his friend. His lip was split in two places. A slight discolored bruise coming up by his mouth. "Doug… my head hurts…" Tom answered slowly.

"Yeah, mine would too… who did this!" Doug demanded.

"Who do you think? Tom answered as his partner wiped the dried blood form his partners lip causing him to flinch.

Doug shook his head and then looked back at Tom. "Darren?"

"That was quick. The bastard thinks he runs this school. He told me he wasn't done with me. He hit me and ran."

Doug was feeling a storm of anger welling up from his feet and exploding through his body. "Tom… what happened."

"He tripped me in the hallway; he and his followers drug me into a hallway I have never been in before. He knocked the wind out of me, told me he wasn't finished and then slapped the shit out of me. I just don't understand how he gets away with this all the time." Hanson exploded.

"I don't know buddy, but I'm starting to worry about him. He's laying a pretty good case against him. Assaulting an officer…"

"Doug, we can't prove he did anything. We have NO case unless we get a confession out of him or someone else. We can't nail him for assaulting an officer, that's not what we're here for. We have to get a statement from one of the injured students and none of them are talking. If you can figure out how to get that, I'm all ears."

"Tom, we will get what we need…"

"Doug, I all but accused him of beating Kirk half to death… he didn't even flinch."

"You did what?" Doug looked inquisitively at his partner. No… he would not have done that. That was signing his own death warrant. Then again, it was a good tactic for getting a confession out of someone. Just not smart for Tom…

"He called me a dumb s.o.b. and… I… told him he was the dumb s.o.b. for attacking Kirk and Dennis for a position on the stupid football team."

"Oh GOD Hanson… you may have opened yourself up for…"

"For what Penhall… another ass kicking… I think I can take care of myself. In the mean time, how's Booker?"

"He's asleep… Angie gave him a pain pill and he's sleeping." Doug answered the injured officer, not appreciating the change of subject.

"Hello Miller boys… class, NOW!" Doug and Tom both looked over to see the raised eyebrow of the school principal standing ten foot from them. She had her arms across her midsection and was watching the boys as they both jumped to their feet. Hanson looked at Penhall who patted his slighter partner on the back.

"Hey, tell me all about her after school ok. I'll see you later. Tell Aunt Angie I'll be a little late getting home. With the first game tomorrow, practice may go on a little later." Penhall interjected quickly. Hanson looked back at his partner, not wanting to go to band class since his head was pounding and he had a busted lip that was still throbbing. He nodded at Penhall and turned heading in the direction of the band room.

"Mr. Miller, are we going to win tomorrow…"

Hanson shook his head at the question Mrs. Woodruff had asked Dennis. Modern day Gladiators he thought to himself.

--

Hanson slipped into practice and sat down paying careful attention not to make eye contact with Lexi. She caught his eye with her perfect form fitting jeans and tight shirt. She winked at the officer who looked down at his music again and tried to concentrate on the notes in front of him. He had a section of music where he and three others play on the sidelines. It was sort of "solo" for those in the group. He was not sure how he could walk in the door one day and be handed a "solo" part the next. In fact Tom felt he was a little rust since he had not been able to practice as much as he would have liked to. His job life seemed to take over and he was starting to hate that.

As quickly as it began, the end of day bell rang and Tom ran, in hopes of avoiding confrontation with the ox's girlfriend.

"Tom Miller, can I see you after class?" Miss. H caught him at the doorway.

Crap! "Sure." Tom scurried to put his instrument away and turned around to look at the perfect blue eyes.

"Tom… is everything ok… you were late." Lexi took her job as drum major a little too seriously.

"Yeah, I was calling to check up on my brother Dennis." Tom answered trying to dodge the unwitting object of evil in his life.

"I heard. Darren said it was really scary. He thought that your brother had real potential to be a great quarter back." She said with genuine concern in her eyes.

"Really." Tom responded sarcastically.

"Yeah, he was really concerned for him. I hope that Dennis is ok. You know he was a little creped out; it was rough on him when Kirk was beaten. They were really great friends. He's taking this whole situation really badly. He visits Kirk's family when ever he can. He's a really good man."

Tom could not believe his ears. Was she really that naïve? Could she not tell he was a lying to her?

"Lexi, who was the band student that was beaten?" Tom asked.

"Shorty… I mean Josh Malone. He moved about a month ago. He was burned with cigarettes. Nobody knows who did it. In fact we were all scared for a long time. We thought whoever did this was going to take out another." Lexi said.

"Lexi!" Darren's icy voice tore through the room. Tom jumped and looked over at the man standing in the doorway.

"Baby… hey." Lexi smiled and walked over to her boyfriend. Tom stood in the band room and waited for the two to exit the doorway. Lexi moved in for a hug and Tom caught the icy daggers from Darren's glare. He then turned and guided Lexi George down the hallway to her locker. Hanson walked out of the room and across the hallway to the music department offices.

"You wanted to see me?" He said sticking his head through the doorway.

"Yes." Miss Harner smiled rising from her desk. "Your uniform and your shoes. You are not quite ready for the full show, but, you will do the quartet from the sidelines. You are a good saxophonist." She complimented. "Try not to be late to my class anymore either."

Hanson looked down at the uniform. Purple, yellow and white… what a combination of colors. He was sure he hadn't seen anything that hideous since Jenco's bell bottoms and Fuller's afro. His name was written on a white label and attached to a plastic bag.

"Keep it in here and hang it in the next room." Miss Harner said with a smile. "I will see you tomorrow at 5:30 on the dot. We warm up and march down to the field as a group."

Hanson shoved the uniform as neatly as possible into the bag and hung it up in the uniform room. He walked into the band room and gathered his instrument and books. One more day of practice, I can't believe I'll be in a band uniform again… Ugg!

Thanks for reading and reviewing. I tried to tie up a few loose ends here before some major you know what goes down!Please tell me what you think! As always, thank you for all your time reading and reviewing and I look forward to more! Have a great day!