Chapter Five
Trouble with Wilson
I sighed as I walked around in the hallways, waiting for class to start. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, probably stress related, but whatever the reason I was tired. I leaned against the wall and yawned just as Raven walked by me and continued going the other way.
"Hey, Raven!" I smiled as she turned around and saw me. But to my surprise, she didn't say anything and continued walking away like I was a stranger. I stood there looking after her, trying to figure out what just happened when the bell rang. Figuring I could talk with her later, I went to English.
Ms. Prez handed out the quiz and like always, stopped at my desk to test me alone. "Jason, you know the drill."
"Number One: What is Odysseus trying to do in 'The Odyssey'?"
"Return to his homeland of Ithaca."I answered, knowing it was right considering I knew a lot about Greek history. Ms. Prez nodded and smiled.
"Number Two: What are the names of the two main characters in 'Of Mice and Men'?"
"I..don't know." I admitted.
She eyed me, then continued. "Lastly, The Scarlet Letter is..."
"M?"
"Wrong. You only got one out of three this time, Jason. I'm expecting more next time."
After English ended, I went on to my next class, which I took with Raven. I went in and saw her sitting at her desk, staring off into space. I quickly grabbed the seat beside her.
"Hey," I turned to her. "Is everything okay?You seemed kind of upset earlier.."
She didn't move for a few seconds then she finally turned to me with a hurt expression on her face. "Did you tell people that you slept over at my house on Saturday?"
I blinked in surprise at the question. "What?Of course not!Where did you hear that?"
"I overheard Taylor gossiping about it with her friends.."
"I swear, I never said that... Someone must have made it up."
She sighed and looked down. "I believe you.. But it doesn't matter. The rumor's still out there, and everyone is still pointing and whispering."
"Raven..,"I took her hand in mine. "Who cares what people think?Isn't that the whole point of being goth?Rejecting society's norms?So dumb people are spreading dumb rumors. Who cares?"
"You're... You're right. I shouldn't care what they think. I should be totally fine with it,"She looked up at me. "But I'm not, okay?And maybe that means I'm not the best goth out there, but it does bother me!I've been a goth at this school for two years, Jason... Sure, it hasn't been easy, but for the most part, the people who I didn't want to deal with left me alone... And now I go on one date with you and suddenly the whole school can't shut up about me?"
I felt my heart drop as I saw just how much it bothered her. "Raven... It's just one dumb rumor.."
"It's not though!"She snapped. "Everywhere I go I see other girls pointing, staring... And if that weren't enough, my friends are starting to give me grief and distance themselves from me!I've told them you're not a typical jock, but they just don't listen..."
"So that's it?"I frowned. "You don't want to see me because your friends don't want you dating a football player?"
"I... I just need some space to figure this out, okay?"She had the same hurt expression on as she picked up her books and moved to another desk on the other side of the room.
"Raven... Are you breaking up with me?"I felt heartbroken.
She didn't answer me. Which only worsened my mood. I sat through the rest of the class glancing over at Raven and trying to think of what to do. Unfortunately, class ended before I could and Raven disappeared into the crowded hallway.
After school, I stopped by the gym though I really didn't feel like working out, but the team was counting on me to stay fit. I walked into the weight room and Chuck greeted me from his bench.
"Hey, Jason!Here to test your strength?"He grinned.
"I dunno, Chuck... I'm having kind of a bad day.." I said as I dropped onto one of the benches across from him.
"Girl trouble, eh?I can read it on your face," He smiled a bit. "Lift some weights, bro. Nothing takes away the pain of a woman like a little male bonding!"
"Well..."I sighed and grinned slightly. "I guess so."
"Take a look at this!"I turned to see Zach on the far side of the room with a few other guys and a golden dumbbell on the floor. "My dad just bought me a gold-plated dumbbell. Want to test it out?"
"That looks kind of heavy..."I comment as me and Chuck get up and walk over. "... And pointlessly expensive."
"Don't worry. If you dent it, Dad can always buy me a new one." Zach grinned.
I sighed and thought I didn't want to, I tried to lift the dumbbell. Unfortunately, my strength failed me and I ended up dropping it to the floor. This earned me a scowl from Zach.
"Man... It's all dirty from being on the floor now. Throw it away."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "But... It's... You know... Gold."
"It's just gold-plated. Get it out of my sight." Zach said, waving his hand in frustration.
As the guys moved the dumbbell to another room, I decided to slip out and drive home. I wasn't in the mood for dinner, so I just went straight to bed. I needed to do something about this whole situation and soon.
The next day, school flew by fast and before I knew it, I was walking to my car after football practice. I fumble for my keys in my pocket and looked up to see three guys standing around in the parking lot. I hadn't seen them around school, so I didn't know who they were. As I got closer, one of them stepped towards me. He had slick blonde hair and dark sun glasses on.
"Well, here's one of them now."
"He's kind of small for a football player, isn't he?"Said one of the other guys, he was tall, black and had a buzzcut.
"I guess they'll take anyone at this school," The first one retorted. "He wouldn't have even made it through tryouts at Wilson."
I frowned at the name. "Wilson High?I guess you guys are from their team."
"You're pretty quick."The third guy, with tan skin and a bowl cut, spoke.
"So did you just come to start some trouble?"I scowled.
"Maybe we did," The first one mocked. "What are you going to do about it?"
"It's not what I'm going to do. It's what you are going to do. I think the three of you should leave." I stepped forward and came face to face with him, scowling.
"Why don't you try to make us?" He scoffed.
The third guy laughed. "I bet this kid's all talk. No way he could handle a real right."
It was then that I spotted Adam walking around the corner and he stopped when he saw us. He looked at them, then he looked at me and quickly walked over.
"These guys giving you trouble?"He asked, cracking his knuckles and frowning at the Wilson kids.
"Nothing I can't handle." I replied.
"Heh. I like your attitude, meat."Adam grinned slightly. "But on this team we look out for each other. So I've got your back."
"Oh..Thanks. But these guys don't look all the tough."I laughed.
The first one scowled. "Is that so?"
He stepped towards me with his fist raised, but Adam stepped in between us. "Maybe you didn't understand me, Alexei. This guy's with me!"Adam growled, naming the guy.
"Yeah... Well, there's three of us... And only two of you. You've never been good at math, but even you can figure that one out."Alexei retorted.
"I could probably take you three punks on by myself!"Adam shot back.
"Okay, Adam. Let's see if you can back up all that talk."
Alexei threw his fist at Adam, but he dodged it and tackled Alexei directly into the black kid and sent all three of them to the ground. The third kid came right for me with his fist poised, but I quickly met him halfway, which caught him off guard and slammed a punch into his stomach. He fell to the ground and held his stomach in pain. With him out of the way, I quickly ran over to the scrimmage going on and pulled the black kid off of the other two.
"Thanks for the help... Not that I needed it." Adam said.
The black kid tried to shove me from behind, but I sidestepped and then shoulder-checked him and watched him stumble backwards to regain his balance. Then, out of nowhere, the calvary arrived. Chuck, Bryce and couple of other guys from the team ran up to the fight.
"What's going on here?"Bryce scowled.
"Wilson High's starting trouble, that's what." Chuck frowned.
The Wilson kids backed away, knowing they were outnumbered.
"I think we're done here,"Alexei said. "We've made our point."
The three of them turned and walked away, leaving us to tend to our bruises. I rubbed my neck and faced Adam.
"So... Uh... Thanks for helping me out back there."
"Don't thank me," He frowned. "This doesn't change anything between us, meat. But when it comes to Wilson High... Well, let's just say I've got a grudge against them. Besides, I'm not about to let you risk an injury when we've got a game to play on Friday. We need every man we can get out there."
"Oh.. Right."I had forgotten about the game.
After the commotion died down, everyone dispered. On my way home, I stopped by the gym and lifted some weights with Jacob for a few hours before I finally went home. I was exhausted from the day and bypassed dinner, falling asleep on my bed within seconds.
Friday
Friday finally rolled around and it was time for our second game. I met up with Howard and we made our way to the football field and then to the locker rooms. Along the way, I spotted Kay and Kel running up to us.
"Hey!We brought you something!"They handed Howard a black wallet. "We didn't like how that man with the whistle yelled at you last week... So we stole it!"
Howard's mouth dropped. "The... The man with the whistle?You stole Coach's wallet?" He scowled at his sisters. "Kay!Kel!Seriously, you can't do stuff like this!From now on, I'm forbidding you from coming to any more of my football games!"
"You can't stop us from coming to your games!You're just a big meanie!"Kel cried before she and Kay ran off.
"Oh, man...," Howard sighed. "This is bad. I guess I'd better tell Coach I 'found' his wallet.."
We entered the locker room and Howard goes up to the coach. I watched as he returned the wallet, Coach glared at him suspiciously. "I've had enough of your troublemaking, Howard... One more stunt like this, and you're off the team!Now, go get ready to play!We've got a team to beat!"
The team got suited up and then we followed Coach out onto the field. Before we started, he gave us a pre-game talk.
"Now listen up guys. Don't underestimate this team. Their defense is a mess, but they play offense like seasoned pros."
"Don't worry, Coach. We'll take care of them." Adam assured him.
Let the games begin. The teams filed onto the field and took positions. Once the whistle blew, it started. The game lasted about an hour and in the end, their offense wasn't up to par with ours. We won with a score of 21-14. We jogged off the field and back to our sidelines.
"Good work out there, Jason!"Chuck grinned as he patted me on the back.
"Not bad, meat... Not bad. "Adam said as he walked past.
After the game, I walked back into the locker room and saw Adam and Bryce going over some plays from the game.
"You see what happened?This play right here won us the game." Adam said, pointing to it in the book.
"Right. All that practice paid off." Bryce agreed.
"Man, Adam and Bryce are at it already?"Chuck said as he walked in behind me. "We've barely been off the field for five minutes."
Howard chuckled. "I guess those two never quit talking about football."
"Yeah... I guess it's kind of like Bryce is Adam's replacement for.."Chuck caught himself before saying anything more.
"For who?"I asked.
"Uh, never mind. Forget I said anything." He quickly said and left to gather his things. I shook my head and gathered my things as well, wondering what he meant by that.
Saturday
Without much to do, I was sitting at home watching some TV when my phone went off.
"Hello?"I answered it.
"Jason!It's me!,"It was Howard on the other end. "You gotta get down to the theatre to check out the school play!"
"No offence dude, but that's not really my scene."
"Come on, I really need your help. Elliana said she'd be looking for me at the play tonight. And she even invited me to the cast party after the play. If I'm going to have a chance with her, I'm going to need a wingman to help me out. Look, I know you're with that goth girl, but some of us are still in the market for girlfriends."
"Actually... I don't think Raven and I are together anymore." I said, remembering what she had said in class.
"Huh?Oh. Sorry, man... But that means you definitely need to get down here. There are a ton of girls in this play. You're bound to find someone you like. And Lisa's going to be there. The two of you really seemed to hit it off. I think you've totally got a shot at dating her if you play your cards right tonight."
"Wait a second," I sighed. "Howard, I don't know if I'm ready to start dating someone else..."
"What kind of a friend would I be if I let you wallow in your own self-pity all night?I'm telling you, coming to this place is just what you need."
"Well," I thought about it for a second and decided to help him out. What are friends for? "All right, I'll be there."
"Great!You better hurry up and get down here before it starts."
"On my way."
I hang up and grab my keys. It only took a few minutes to reach the school and once I got there, I met Howard at the play.
"You're just in time. The show's about to start. Where should we sit?"
"Down in front I guess." I shrug.
We got two spots in the very front. Howard grinned. "Awesome!We'll really be able to see the girls up close this way!And Elliana will definitely be able to tell that I showed up."
A few minutes later, the play starts and the girl's come out on stage. It was a miracle that I managed to stay awake through the entire three hours the play went on for, but somehow, I did it. After the last of the people filed off stage and the audience began exiting, I looked at Howard.
"Now what?"
"Two words. Cast. Party." He grinned. "It's at Lisa's place."
We headed outside and jumped in my car. A few minutes later, we drove up to a tall building downtown and parked. I stared straight up it as we walked to the front door. "Whoa... Lisa lives in this high-rise?"
"Dude," Howard patted my shoulder. "Lisa lives on the top floor!"
We quickly found the elevator and rode it all the way to the top. The penthouse we entered was insane. It was almost like a miniature mansion, with a dining room that looked like a five star restraunt. As we stepped into the room, Lisa and Elliana appeared from the crowd.
"Howard!There you are!"Elliana smiled.
"See you later, Jason,"Howard grinned. "Elliana promised she'd show me Lisa's rooftop swimming pool!"
The two quickly run off, leaving me and Lisa alone.
"Fancy seeing you here, Jason." She smiled. "I saw you in the audience... How'd you like the play?"
"Oh... The play... Wow... I laughed... I cried... I changed for the better as a person."I grinned.
"Oh really?So what did you like best about it?"
"The acting of course."
Lisa winked at me. "I don't mind a little flattery... But don't go overboard."
"Who said I was talking about you?"I inquire, raising an eyebrow.
She looked hurt when I said that, but I just grinned. "Just kidding. You were amazing."
"Hehe. You're actually kind of funny, Jason..."Lisa smiled. "Anyway, I should probably make sure the other guests aren't stealing my mom's jewellery or something.."
"Cool... I'll see you later, Lisa."
She seemed disappointed when I didn't offer to go with her, but I wasn't just wasn't interested in her like that. As she left, Howard came walking up behind me.
"Umm... I think the people here are about to start playing theatre games. That's my cue to leave."
"I'm right there with you. Let's go."I then noticed something different about him.. "But... Wait!Is that a hickey on your neck?"
Howard grinned. "Heh.. Elliana was just showing me how to do some 'Brazilian kissing'."
"Nice work, man!I knew I liked that country." I grinned as we got into the elevator and headed home.
End of Chapter Five