Tuesday was another rough day of school, but if misery really loves company, Tami had some. Between classes, Eric walked with his head down in the halls, and people were whispering about the sacks and fumbles and incomplete passes as he hurried by. Once, a guy from the wrestling team shouted, "Hey, butter fingers! You almost lost us State!" Eric stopped, stood still in the hallway, and turned slowly to look him in the eye, but then he walked on without saying or doing anything.

Lunch was a special challenge, because Tami used to sit with Mo. Some of the other football players would join them, but it was only Mo she had wanted to be with. On Monday, she had skipped lunch. Today, she searched the cafeteria for someone else to sit with. Kimberley had a different lunch period, or she would have sought her out. As she scanned the tables, her eyes eventually fell on Jack and Eric, who were sitting at the end of a half empty table across from each other.

Jack was laughing at something Eric had said when she approached and asked quietly if they would mind her joining them. They both stood up, like she was a lady and this was some fancy restaurant, and that made her heart just a little lighter. They settled back onto the bench when she sat down.

Jack kept shooting her wary and sympathetic looks.

"You didn't get cast out from your table did you?" she asked Eric.

"I always eat with just Jack," he said.

"You guys don't eat with one of the football enclaves?" There were three groups of football players that sat together during B lunch in different parts of the cafeteria. Each consisted of about six or seven players and their girlfriends.

"Enclaves?" Jack asked. He chuckled and shook his head. "No. I guess we're our own enclave."

Eric's face twitched with a smile that was sarcastic, weary, and amused all at once. "Welcome to the enclave," he said.

[*]

Tami continued to have a hard time at school in the days that immediately followed the death of her relationship with Mo. English class was especially difficult. Fortunately, the teacher had already separated Mo and Tami's seats earlier in the year, putting Mo in the front and Tami in the back, because they were talking and flirting with each other too much in class.

During their 15 minute break, when she hung out with Kimberley, Tami told her friend she was never dating again.

"Don't say that. You know that's not true," Kimberley replied.

"Well I'm never dating a football player again," she insisted. "I should have listened to my father. They're the worst offenders."

"Honey, Jack's a football player. Eric's a football player."

"Well, there are exceptions to every rule, I guess," Tami conceded. Then she smiled and teased, "So when do you start catechism classes?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "I'm not converting for Jack."

"He's already asked you to prom." It was only December, and the event was still four months away.

"Yeah, but not to the altar."

Tami laughed. The days were like that. Tears and then laugher, pain and then levity, pushing through…healing.

Lunch time with Jack and Eric helped. They were fun to sit with. They ribbed each other constantly, and Tami saw Eric smile often. She wasn't used to seeing this lighter side of him, and she liked it. What most surprised her was that he could be a bit of goofball. He had a gentle and somewhat cheesy sense of humor. Today, he was stealing Jack's fries every time Jack wasn't looking, and they were half gone before the wide receiver noticed.

"What on earth, Taylor?" Jack asked.

"It was Tami." Eric jerked a thumb in her direction.

"Yeah, right," Jack muttered.

"Seriously, man. I'm watching my figure." Eric rubbed his stomach.

Tami heard Mo's loud laugh from three tables over. What an obnoxious laugh he had. Why had she never noticed that before? She looked over and saw him with his crew of players. "Why don't I ever see Mo with Anita?" she asked. "I mean, we're officially over. He can bring it out in the open now."

"He doesn't want to date Anita," Jack said. "Anita's not the kind of girl you take home to your mother."

Almost as if he sensed they were talking about him, Mo stood up from his table and meandered over. "Hey, Tami," he said. "How's it hanging?"

"Not over Anita's Nesbith's mouth," she said.

Jack swallowed a snort and looked down at the table.

Mo shook his head. "Can we just put that behind us and be friends?"

"No," Tami said. "I don't make friends with people who lie to me."

Mo sighed. He looked at Eric. "Lunching with my girlfriend now are you?"

"I am not your girlfriend anymore, Mo," Tami told him.

"All part of your long-term plan, huh?" Mo asked him. "To steal her from me."

Eric was gripping his plastic fork so tightly it snapped in his hand.

"Mo, that is ridiculous," Tami said. "Eric and I have never been more than friends. We will never be more than friends. So you can leave him alone and go on back to your table now."

Eric shifted on the cafeteria bench. He looked upset, and Tami assumed he was upset by Mo's baseless accusations.

Mo pointed a finger at Eric. "Tami may be done with me, but the code still applies."

Eric dropped the broken fork to the table. "What code?"

"We don't date each other's ex-girlfriends," Mo insisted.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked. "That's not a part of any code. Johnny's dating Tony's ex."

"Yeah, and he got a penalty for it, too," Mo said. He pointed from his eyes to Eric's eyes. "I'm watching you, Taylor."

"Well you can watch from over there!" Tami pointed to his table.

Mo seemed like he was going to leave, but then he turned back. "Hey, Eric, did you hear about my scholarship offer?" he asked. "Houston. Full ride. They were really impressed by my performance at State."

"Swell," Eric told him.

"It is swell." Mo insisted. "Super swell."

"Swellicious," Jack said, and then put a hand over his mouth to hide his snickering.

Mo glared at him. "See y'all around," he told them, and finally walked back to his own table.

Jack stopped snickering, looked at Eric, and said, "At least the season is over and you only have one class with him."

"Houston," Eric muttered.

Jack shook his head. "Don't let it bother you, man! I mean, you're going to A&M! That's a way better team."

"Not any more. When they saw how badly I played at State, they rescinded their offer."

"They can't do that!" Tami shouted, and heads turned in their direction. Mo, who had just sat down again, bent forward over the table to investigate.

The three of them were silent long enough that everyone returned to their own business. When they had, Tami whispered, "What?"

"It was never official," Eric said. "They were just talking to me. The official offer was supposed to come this week. But now they think I'm a loose cannon. They say I can try out for the team, as a walk-on, and I'll probably make it, but they aren't gambling any scholarship money on me."

"I'm so sorry." Tami felt responsible, and she wished she could turn back the clock and not have walked across the parking lot, not have said the things she said, not have allowed Eric to see her in that broken state. "What are you going to do?"

"TMU is still offering me a full scholarship."

Tami shook her head. "T what?"

"Texas Methodist University. It's a private school near Austin. They're Division II."

Division II? That was small potatoes for a player of Eric's stature. Even Mo was playing for a Division I team now. "Eric, I'm so sorry. I know I distracted you before that game, and I'm so - "

"- It's not your fault!" he insisted. "And maybe it's a blessing in disguise."

"How so?" Jack asked. He was one of the three seniors on the team to receive a scholarship to a Division I college himself - Oklahoma State. "I bet your dad's pissed off."

"He is, but I'm not. TMU actually has coaching-related classes. It's a concentration you can take, like a minor almost. And I'll probably be one of the better players on that team. I'll get a good amount of field time, and I'm going to have the time of my life playing. At A&M, hell, they've already got a great quarterback who's only a sophomore. I'd just be on the bench the first two years. Honestly, TMU's a great match for me."

"Is it a good school?" Tami asked. "Academically?"

"Yeah. Top tier."

"Oh. So I probably wouldn't get in then."

"You might," Eric said. "What were your SATs?"

"Above average, but nothing exceptional. And my GPA, even as well as I've done the last two years …" She shook her head.

Jack stood with his tray and nodded to them. "I gotta get going," he said. "I need to see a man about a dog."

Eric nodded back to him, and then returned his attention to Tami. "Yeah, but if they see it was just one year that wrecked you, and you get good recommendations, and you write a good essay…."

"That's not how college admissions work," she said. "If I could change it, I would. If I were a dean of admissions, it would be more about the individuals than the numbers. But I'm not."

"Have you decided what you want to do?"

She shrugged. "I think I might want to major in psychology. Or counseling, if the school I go to has that program."

"Follow in your father's footsteps?"

"Maybe," she said, "though minus the pastoring a church part. I think I'll double in education. Or maybe administration."

Mo's laugh drifted to their table. Tami glanced in his direction, and then down at the table.

"You okay?" Eric asked. "You doing okay?"

"No," she admitted.

"Did you, uh…get the results of… uh… that test?"

"I'm clean, no thanks to Mo."

His jaw tightened. "I want to punch him in the face."

"Please refrain."

"Why? You want to do it first?" he asked.

"I don't want you to lose your scholarship over some character clause. And I really need to forgive him."

"But not reconcile, right?"

"No. There's no way we're ever dating again."

"Good." Eric nodded.

"There's no way I'm dating anyone for the rest of the year."

"Aw, don't say that," Eric insisted. "Nah, don't say that."

"I'm saying it. Mark my word. Write it down right now. Tami Hayes will not date anyone for the rest of her senior year."

"What about prom in April?"

"I'll go by myself. Or with a group of girlfriends."

"You could go with me," he suggested. "And Jack," he said quickly. "And Kimberley. We're you're friends."

"You said you didn't want to spend a bunch of money and go to the prom with some girl you're not serious about." His lips parted, but before he could reply, she continued, "You'll most likely have a girlfriend by then anyway."

The bell rang, and Tami grabbed her tray.