Junior Year Box Set

“That kind of worries me, but I think I might enjoy the experience,” she said as I looked into the backyard. Duke and Precious were missing.

“Hey, I’ve got to go. Duke was supposed to be in the backyard, but he took off. I’ll see you after you’re done with practice,” I said.

“Text me when you find him.”

“Will do,” I said and hung up.

I called my dog, but there was no trace of either Duke or Precious. I walked up and down our alley and then got worried. Duke had never left the yard before, let alone gone missing. I needed to tell Brit her cat was missing, too.

Brit and I covered the neighborhood to try and find our furry friends. I mean, how far could they have gotten? I finally got in my car and made a larger circuit. That was how I spent my day. Toward four o’clock I started to really worry. I stopped at the local vets and animal shelters to see if they’d been found. Then Brit sent me a text to come home.

I was never so happy to see Duke and Precious. They were filthy dirty and smelled to high heaven, but seemed to be alright. I refused to take Duke into the house. He wasn’t happy when he got a hose bath in the backyard. I got the worst of it off and then took him to my apartment, put him in the shower, and got him the rest of the way clean. Duke was okay with showers, but he loved being towel-dried.

Duke seemed to stay just a little closer to me once he got home. I wished the two escapees could talk. I was sure there was a story there.

◊◊◊

Pam showed up shortly after I got Duke squared away. He must have had a full day because he crept slowly to his crate and fell asleep. I ordered Chinese for the two of us since I didn’t feel like cooking.

“This whole situation with Mike is messed up,” Pam said to let me know what was on her mind.

Earlier this summer, we had asked two players to leave the team because they wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. We let another two skate even though the girl was drunk and, in my opinion, wasn’t able to give consent. The two that had quit the team were still working out with Cassidy. Both hoped to rejoin us next year. Was Mike guilty of taking advantage of Mona if she never said ‘no’? When he sent me the text, it made him a jerk and a former friend, but did he deserve to lose his spot on the football team?

Pam was here because she wanted to protect her fellow cheerleader. I was here because of my role as captain of the football team. I was friends with most of the cheerleaders, so were we really two different teams? I hoped not.

“Mona and her parents had Mike and his parents over last night. The discussion got heated, and her dad is talking about not letting her be a cheerleader anymore.”

I just nodded. What father would want his daughter to go through something like this? I was a little disappointed that instead of trying to work this out, he would circle the wagons and bury his head in the sand. I would also bet his wife hid his shotgun because it sounded like Mike survived the night.

“Look, Mr. Wingman is going to puff up and tell her she can’t do this or that. He might even get away with it. There’s nothing you or I can do to fix this. Sure, we could storm over there and tell him how wrong he is, but … he … is … her … father. Mr. Wingman is going to do everything he can to protect his baby girl.”

“What about Mike? What are we going to do about him?” Pam asked.

“I wish I knew. If I found him in a dark alley alone right now, he very well might not make it out,” I said, getting angry again, but then took a moment to calm down. “I can see how Mike could have pushed her into having sex and Mona being too drunk to object. Was it against her will? I’m hoping so, but the truth of the matter is she didn’t object. What I have a real problem with is how Mike disrespected her when he sent the text to me. Did he send it to anyone else?”

“Not that anyone’s admitting to. Do you still have it? Can I see it?”

“No, my brother advised me to delete it because she’s underage. I can’t risk something like that,” I said.

“I hadn’t really thought about that. So, what’re we going to do?”

What was I going to do? The last thing any of us needed was for this to create a rift in the team. We had experienced that last year, and that had been a disaster. We ended up losing most of the seniors and juniors. I had looked forward to this season because I loved the game and saw a clear path for us to repeat as State Champs. Mike, in one moment, had taken a lot of the joy out of it. Someone who I thought was my friend had deliberately hurt me.