four
#1 at the Box Office:The Game
Sebastian Swift
“You walking home?” Robert asks as we head out of the locker room after football practice into the pouring rain.
“The rain didn’t stop our new coach from running us into the ground,” I point out. We take off jogging to the parking lot under the umbrella Ms. Beech gave me on our way out of school earlier. Apparently she thinks I’m so sweet I’ll melt like sugar in the rain—and she didn’t realize Coach Carr would still hold practice in a monsoon.
“Yeah, I’m gonna have trouble calling that guy Coach,” Robert agrees. “It just doesn’t fit right.”
“Our old coach is the one you should have trouble addressing with respect,” Maddox says, joining us with a few of the guys.
“I got nothing but respect for him,” Tommy says. “Banging his daughter’s best friend on the sly? I’d buy his ass a beer if I ran into him in town.”
“Except you can’t buy a beer in this town,” I remind him.
“Dry counties can suck my balls,” he says, grabbing himself. “I’ll take him to Ridgedale for a beer.”
“Your ass isn’t even old enough to buy beer,” Billy points out.
“Fuck you,” Tommy says. “My dad’s a cop. I can do whatever I want.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Maddox rumbles.
“You think he was really nailing Scarlet’s friend?” I ask, though I already know the answer.
“Hell, yeah,” Tommy says. “I’d do her too. Well, maybe not now, but I would have before Coach railed her. I think Billy nabbed her V-card.”
“Hell, yeah, I did,” Billy crows, a swagger in his step. “Wonder if Coach knows he got my sloppy seconds.”
“Dude, she’s like half his age, he don’t care,” I say.
“He probably cares now that he got fired,” Maddox says.
“Nah,” Tommy says. “I bet it was worth it to nail a seventeen-year-old.”
“Legal in Arkansas,” Robert says.
“I hope he can’t get hired anywhere else,” Maddox grumbles, kicking a piece of gravel across the wet pavement in the lot. “Fucking piece of shit. This is our senior year, and we have to start all over with a new coach.”
“Coach Carr’s got credentials,” I admit. “Maybe he won’t be so bad. He’s a hard-ass, but maybe it’ll get us a few more Ws.”
“Maybe,” Maddox concedes before turning and hurrying off to the shitty old El Camino he shares with his brother.
“Come on,” Robert says to me. “You got books and shit. I’ll swing by your place on the way home.”
“Your sister gonna be riding with us?”
“No,” he says, scowling at me.
I give him an apologetic grin. “Just checking.”
When we reach Robert’s Lamborghini, I hurry to jump in without letting the downpour ruin the seats.
“This is the sweetest fucking ride,” I say, trying not to pop a boner just being in a car this nice. The inside smells like a real leather wallet packed with nothing but hundreds. “I’ll never get used to riding with you.”
“She’s my baby,” Robert says, patting the dash fondly.
“Thanks for the lift.”
Mel took the bus, and I wouldn’t have minded walking in the rain, but I’m not turning down a ride in a fucking Lamborghini. I’ve ridden with him enough times that it shouldn’t impress me anymore, but it still does. It purrs like a kitten as Robert pulls out of the parking lot.
“Can’t have our star sidelined with pneumonia,” he says, mocking something Ms. Beech said when she handed over her umbrella, choosing to walk in the rain rather than let me do it.
“Nothing’s going to keep me off the field on Friday,” I assure him. “Scouts are coming to check me out again.”
“Good thing my sister’s gotten your grade up in English.”
“Yeah,” I say, glancing at him. “She’s a good tutor.”
We’ve been meeting for two weeks now, and somehow we’ve managed not to kill each other. Whenever the urge arises, I just aim it at her boyfriend, who’s taken to tutoring his partner at the table beside ours, probably making sure I’m not putting the moves on his girl.
I don’t blame him. I’d do the same thing if I were him. She’s way out of his league.
Robert watches me from the corner of his eye. “Just make sure you know that’s all she is. Your tutor. Nothing more.”
“Dude, I know,” I assure him. “Do you give that Chad kid this much shit?”
“He knows what’s up,” Robert says. “But I’m not worried about him.”
“Hey,” I protest. “I’m your friend. Why you gotta talk shit on me?”
“Yeah, you’re my friend,” he agrees. “Which is how I know the rumors are true. The way you treat chicks is your business—as long as it’s not my sister.”
“Don’t even worry about it,” I say. “She’s got a boyfriend.”
“Like that’s ever stopped your ass,” Robert says. “I know you don’t respect that as a reason not to go after a girl. So I’m just warning you. That’s not the girl for you.”
“I know,” I grit out. “Drop it.”
“Alright, alright,” he says. “Just want to add a friendly reminder that my dad’s a lawyer first, though.”
“What, are you going to get a restraining order on my dick?” I ask, annoyed by his badgering me.
“Not if you keep it 500 yards from my sister,” he says, gliding to a stop at the curb outside my house.
I flip him off and duck out of the car, wondering if the reason he’s so adamant about me staying away from Vivienne is because he thinks I’m not good enough for her. Looking at my shabby, brick ranch-style on our piss poor block of Davis Street, I can’t blame the guy.
Still. Part of me wants to do it just to prove him wrong. His sister is fine as hell, but that’s not why I’ve started to look at her as more than an annoying little geek girl. He’s only made me want her more the longer he goes on about how I can’t have her. I’ve never met a challenge I didn’t want to take. And this one… I’d take my sweet time winning that game.
I shake the thoughts away, dropping the weight of school worries and picking up the one of home worries at the door. Inside, I find Mel on the couch, a bowl of macaroni and cheese in her lap. The little ones are lying on pillows on the floor. All three of them stare glassy eyed at the TV. I head into my room and kick off my shoes, then dump my wet football clothes in the washer. I pause to listen for the shower running, since I don’t want to freeze Mom out by stealing the hot water. Over the drumming of the rain on the roof, I can just make out the sound of the water running in her bathroom… And the unmistakable sound of sobbing.
I leave the washer and head back to the living room. “Hey, Mel. What’s up with Mom?”
“I don’t know,” she says, giving me a look like I’m asking her to wash my jock strap instead of know what’s going on with her own mother.
I head into the kitchen and check the mac and cheese pan, but it’s empty. I give it a quick scrub and put it back on. By the time Mom joins me in the kitchen, I’ve got dinner going.
“Everything okay?” I ask, watching her pour herself a steaming mug of coffee from the pot.
“Yeah,” she says, glancing at the living room. The others are all engrossed in finding out if the guy on Maury is the father.
“I heard you in the shower,” I say, keeping my voice low. “Mom, what’s going on? Let me help.”
Mom lowers her voice too. “I got written up at work last night.”
“Again?” I demand. “What happened?”
She sighs. “The car stalled on my way in again.”
“Damn it.” I rake a hand through my hair. “I need to get a fucking job.”
“You can’t do that,” she says, her shoulders sagging in defeat. “But maybe we can take just a little gift from one of the boosters. They’ve offered so much. Maybe one of them could pay to have the car serviced.”
“Fuck,” I say, leaning back on the counter and dropping my head back. “I won’t be able to play college ball if anyone finds out. And without that scholarship…”
I don’t have to finish. Without a scholarship, I won’t be going to college at all. I’ll probably end up working at the same gas station Mom does.
“Then don’t risk it,” Mom says. “We’ll figure something out.”
“That’s your third write-up,” I point out. “If you lose that job, even if you find another one a week later…”
“Then how am I going to feed the kids,” Mom finishes, her lips tight. “I know, hon. I’ll just have to… I don’t know. Do Bernard a favor so he doesn’t fire me if it happens again.”
“No,” I say flatly. “Fuck no. You’re not whoring yourself out for a job that pays six bucks an hour.”
“Sebastian,” Mom scolds. “I didn’t say anything about whoring myself out. I could just take him up on his offer to take me out. He’s asked me about ten times now.”
I toss the cans from the cream of mushroom soup and the package from the chicken, then bring the skillet with chicken and rice to the table. “Listen, William from the team works at a garage. I’ll have him look at it tomorrow. Maybe it’s something cheap like the spark plugs.”
“And if it’s something more?” she asks, taking a drink of her black coffee and staring at me with bloodshot, hopeless eyes that break my fucking heart. “What if it’s the transmission?”
I’m supposed to be the man of the house now. I should be able to figure this shit out, to take care of her and the younger kids. I haven’t been a kid since Dad left when I was twelve. That’s why Mom shares her burdens with me, so she doesn’t have to carry them alone.
“Then we’ll figure it out,” I echo, scooping food onto her plate. “Like we always do. I’ll come up with the money. I’ll get Donny to hook me up with a job that pays under the table, like last time. It’ll be okay, Mom. I’ll make sure of it.”
I squeeze her hand before going to the couch, where I switch off the TV to a chorus of groans. “Mom’s about to leave for work,” I say. “Come have dinner with her before she leaves. It’s the only time you’ll get to see her today.”
When she’s gone, I call William about looking at the car, then get the kids tucked in, then argue with Mel about her homework for an hour. Deane sneaks out of bed and falls while climbing on the counter to get a glass from the cabinet, so I fix up his scrapes and clean up the mess. Later, when I’m already in bed and half asleep, I remember I never did the final draft of my paper that Vivienne’s been helping me with.
She’s going to be pissed that I get a bad grade after all the work she put in. She’s going to think I’m some lazy slacker who couldn’t be bothered to put as much effort into his own work as she does. Somehow, that bothers me more than getting a shitty grade.