Senior Year Box Set

“It’s just drone stuff. You know how Dare is when he gets talking about that.”

“Yes, he becomes obsessed,” she said and then turned to me. “Are you okay?”

“Bruised, but fine. Dare’s drones really did come through for us. We couldn’t have done it without him.”

“You should tell him that.”

“He already thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. I don’t need him getting a hero complex on top of that,” I sagely advised.

“Then I’ll tell him,” Chrissy said with a little irritation in her voice.

“I’m sure he would rather hear it from you,” I said as I gave her a little eyebrow waggle. “Maybe he deserves another hickey.”

“And here I thought you were a nice boy.”

I gave her an evil grin and headed into the school.

◊◊◊

I wandered in to PE and showed Becky and Jill my chest. They immediately invoked their trainers’ authority over me and declared I wasn’t allowed to practice or play baseball until they said so. Becky then dunked me into an ice bath, followed by Jill committing evil acts on my bruises. If it wasn’t for her applying the analgesic cream, I might have complained.

Becky directed me to report to her after school, and we would repeat the process. Knowing I had that to look forward to took all the fun out of the rest of the day.

◊◊◊

When I turned my phone back on at lunch, I found it had blown up. I scrolled through the missed calls and text messages with urgent requests to call and picked Lexi to call first. Most of the others were from Frank and my mom. The one from Sheriff Cochran concerned me a bit.. At least Lexi wouldn’t chew me out and would tell me what was going on.

“You called?”

“One of your local news stations has video of your ‘heroic rescue,’ and the news has been picked up nationally. Be on the lookout for at least a few paparazzi making the trek to Lincoln to get some pictures,” Lexi shared.

Great! This was all I needed.

“Any negative press?”

Lexi responded that one broadcaster was playing up that Bill’s jail time was drug-related and speculated that I might have been involved somehow.

“Don’t worry about it, overmuch,” she said. “Frank and Ms. Dixon are on it, and that outlet is well known for being a gossip rag, anyway. Just be aware that some enterprising reporters might show up on your doorstep.”

I asked her to call my parents and Fritz with the news. Then, shaking my head, I proceeded to go about the rest of my day. There but for the grace of God, and Fritz’s paranoia, went I.

I hurried to the lunchroom, grabbed one of the sack lunches, and headed off to track down Moose. I found him eating lunch with Coach Hope in the teacher’s lounge.

“Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but I need to talk to you both.”

“The trainers said you’re sidelined for the foreseeable future. I’m not even allowed to let you practice,” Moose complained.

“I was afraid of that. Did the trainers say how long they expect I’ll be out?” I asked.

“At the least, you will miss both Tuesday’s and Thursday’s games. As I recall, you planned to leave for LA this weekend, so you’ll miss Saturday’s game, too,” Moose said.

“Why are you going to LA?” Coach Hope asked.

“I’m up for the MTV Award for Best Kisser. Believe it or not, I have talents in areas other than sports,” I shared.

I’d intentionally changed the award’s name from ‘Kiss’ to ‘Kisser’ to tweak Coach Hope.

“And you let your daughter be alone with him,” Moose poked at Coach Hope.

“My daughter can take care of herself. I worry about all the other daughters out there.”

I could see this wasn’t going to end well, so I skipped out on their bonding session.

My next task was to call the Oklahoma coaching staff. They’d seen the news that I’d been shot. I wasn’t surprised when they requested I send copies of my medical records and asked for permission to talk to our training staff. One of the requirements for an offer was you had to be physically able to perform. This prevented players from taking scholarships after they’d suffered a career-ending injury. I promised to get them what they wanted.

◊◊◊

Manaia picked Cassidy and me up, and we drove home. Cassidy said she wanted to go to the dojo, but I reminded her I was still hurting from being shot. She called me a wimp, but I wasn’t about to fall for that.

“It feels weird being home so early,” I admitted when I found the house empty.

I’d just entered the kitchen when I felt a blinding pain in my shoulder and found myself on my knees. Cassidy put her lips near my ear.

“What were you thinking, not taking security with you Sunday?”

Manaia walked to the refrigerator and grabbed himself a soda.

“Do you have anything that isn’t diet?” he asked, like it was no big deal for me to be on the floor like this.

Mom had removed all the ‘real’ soda from the house when Dad had his heart problems.

“Check the pantry. David hides a twelve pack of Mountain Dew next to the door,” Cassidy said.

“Do you want one?”

“Sure,” Cassidy answered and turned her attention back to me. “What were you thinking?”

“That I was going to help Tracy and Tami get the lake house ready for Senior Skip Day.”