The League

by Thatcher Heldring

  For the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid of Spencer Randle. In fact, I wondered if I had gone too far by calling him a flabby Moron. Was it right for me to talk like that to Spencer just because he had talked that way to me? But I knew the difference right away. I would never, ever say what I just said to someone who couldn’t fight back. That was what separated me from Spencer.

  The Idiots won the game that day when Aaron intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown. Even better, I finally left the field understanding why it was called the League of Pain. My side ached where Aaron had hit me and there was a gash on my knee from where I’d landed. It felt great.

  I was walking past a pile of shirts and shoes when a football landed in the brush not far from me.

  Someone behind me whistled. “Parker, little help?”

  I turned around to see José pointing at the football. Not thinking much about it, I picked up the ball and tossed it back.

  José caught the ball and tucked it under one arm. “Thanks!” he shouted.

  Aaron appeared at my side. “Did you just throw that ball to José?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Because that was like thirty yards and you were practically flat-footed.”

  “Is thirty yards good?”

  “I guess your practice in the backyard is actually paying off.”

  “Maybe I should play quarterback,” I said as a joke.

  “Don’t make me laugh,” Aaron said.

  We walked down the narrow path, passing through the deep shade of the forest. Somewhere nearby a woodpecker hammered into the bark of a pine tree, probably looking for lunch.

  “I’m hungry,” I said as we hopped over a log that had fallen across the trail. “Living a lie is tough.”

  “Tell me about it. But that’s the price you pay for freedom. I mean, if you did what Mom and Dad wanted, you’d be up at the golf course right now listening to some doofus tell you how to hold a club.”

  “Yeah, but at least I’d get lunch.”

  “You want lunch?” Aaron asked me as we came out of the woods. “I’ll get you lunch.”

  Aaron led me down the side streets and through a few alleys until we arrived at the back door of Corner Pizza. He knocked twice. A minute later, the door opened and his friend Will, wearing an apron covered with sauce stains, let us in. Will had a shaggy beard and thick earrings that had carved large holes in his earlobes.

  Aaron and I followed Will into the empty restaurant. “We don’t open until three, so you guys have the place to yourselves for a couple of hours.” He handed Aaron a bucket of tokens. “Here, go crazy. I’ll bring a pizza out in a minute.”

  “Thanks, man,” Aaron said.

  “How come he’s doing this?” I asked. “Did you save his life or something?”

  Aaron shook his head. “He’s just doing it because he can. I mean, why not, right?”

  “Yeah, but he could get in trouble.”

  “So could you, but you’re here.”

  I couldn’t deny that. I was eating pizza without paying for it after a football game my parents didn’t know about when I should have been at the golf club with Francis. But I was only doing what I had seen Brian Braun and Aaron do, and nothing really bad ever seemed to happen to them. It made me wonder why they should get to have all the fun while everyone else had to follow the rules. It didn’t seem fair. Besides, Will was giving us the pizza and the tokens. It’s not like we were stealing them.

  Plus, it was already working. Aaron was even treating me like a real person. If I had to break a few rules to make that happen, it was worth it to me.

  It wasn’t long before Will reappeared with a large cheese pizza and two sodas. The three of us tore into our slices like piranhas.

  “So you’re still doing the football thing?” Will asked Aaron, brushing cheese from his chin.

  “Me and him both are,” Aaron replied.

  “Really?” Will said with a look of surprise. “I mean, no offense, little man, but I can’t picture you playing football.”

  “He plays bigger than he looks,” Aaron said, before adding, “when he’s not falling down on purpose in the middle of a play.”

  “Hey,” I said. “I only did that once.”

  Aaron laughed. “Relax, Wyatt. I’m just giving you a hard time. If you’re going to hang in the League of Pain you better get used to it.”

  “Yeah, man,” Will said, nodding. “It’s like, a sign of respect, right?”

  “You could say that,” Aaron said, reaching for another slice.

  I savored every bite of that pizza. I was living the good life now. I was doing what I wanted to do and nobody could stop me. I was even eating lunch for free, with Aaron, who usually treated me like something caught in his teeth.

  That afternoon, after I changed back into my golf clothes in the bathroom at the pizza place, I timed it so I got home five minutes after Dad and Kate—exactly how much longer it would take to bike from the golf course than drive. I’d thought of everything.

  “Wyatt,” said Dad, flipping through the mail. “How was golf camp today?”

  “Great,” I said, hopping off my bike. “I got a ball to the green with a six-iron.”

  Dad tossed a stack of envelopes and coupons into the recycle bin. “How are those shoes working out?”

  “Not too bad.”

  Dad fixed his eyes on me. “I was looking for you when I picked up Kate. I saw Francis at the driving range but I didn’t see you.”

  We were standing on the front stoop now.

  “Who was he with?” I asked, hoping I sounded nice and casual.

  “Young guy with blond hair and a red golf shirt. I figured he was your coach.”

  Shaking my head, I said, “Ah, nope. Our coach has dark hair and glasses. I don’t know who that was.”

  “Where were you?” Dad asked, unlocking the door. He didn’t sound suspicious, but I didn’t know how long I could keep thinking on my feet.

  “Bathroom,” I said quickly. “Too much lemonade at lunch.”

  Laughing, Dad said, “If I keep missing you at the course, I’m going to start thinking you’re off doing something else.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “See you later, Dad,” I said on Friday morning, doing a quick lap around the driveway to get my bike in gear.

  “Actually, I’ll be out late tonight, pal,” Dad said, sitting behind the wheel of his car. He started to roll up his window, then stopped. “Hey, why don’t we play nine with Jim and Francis tomorrow?”

  “Um, okay,” I said, failing to come up with an excuse fast enough. “Sounds fun.”

  “Great,” Dad said, giving me a thumbs-up. “I can’t wait to see how you’ve improved.”

  “See you at golf camp!” Kate shouted from the backseat.

  I showed up to the fifth game ready to play football. I wasn’t afraid of Spencer Randle. I wasn’t afraid of getting tackled. I just wanted to help the Idiots win.

  Since José never gave me the ball on offense, I concentrated on defense. My job was to stick with Julian. But he was a rookie like me, so he didn’t get a lot of action either.

  Until game five.

  About halfway through the game that day, Herc finally called a play for Julian.

  Right before the snap I could tell something was up, because Julian kept looking over his shoulder at Herc. I took a step back so Julian couldn’t get a jump on me. After the snap, Julian took off up the right sideline. I figured there was no way Herc would throw deep to a rookie, so when Julian made a move to the inside, I turned to follow him. Except Julian didn’t actually go inside. He hit the accelerator and kept going. I’d bitten on the head fake and couldn’t do anything but run after him. That was what I was doing when Herc hit him in stride for a long touchdown.

  José put his arm around me after the play. “The next time he makes a move like that, jam him.”

  “Jam him?”

  “Yeah, get in his way. Slow him down. Knock him
off his route.”

  “Isn’t that against the rules?”

  “Man, this isn’t the NFL. As long as you don’t push a receiver down and sit on him, you can do whatever you want.”

  The next time we were on defense, I lined up across from Julian as usual. This was the same Julian I’d always been too scared to stand up to, even when he tied my shoes together or filled my batting helmet with dirt. Now I was about to jam him. It felt like revenge. “Ready to get burned, Parker?” Julian asked me.

  “You couldn’t burn me with a blowtorch,” I said, playing farther off the line as Herc took the snap. Julian burst forward, ready to start his route, but I was already in motion and had the momentum. I didn’t just jam him. I popped him with everything I had, shoulders first, right into the high part of his chest. Payback for years of treating me like I wasn’t even a person.

  Julian bounced backward and landed on the ground in a sitting position. He wasn’t hurt, but a look of shock crossed his face.

  “Are you crazy, Parker?” he said. “You can’t hit me like that. I don’t even have the ball.”

  “You’re not gonna get the ball either if you keep falling down.”

  Julian stood up and got in my face. He was still three inches taller than me, but I didn’t back away. “So that’s how it is now?” he said.

  Some of the other players were gathered around me and Julian, ready for one of us to take the first swing. I said, “This is the League of Pain, not the League of Please Don’t Hit Me. If you don’t like it, find another sport.”

  I heard a few oohs from the other guys. I had never heard anyone say ooh about anything I said.

  “I know what it’s called,” Julian replied after a moment. “I’m not stupid.”

  “No, you’re a Moron.”

  A few people laughed. Julian blinked, looking almost embarrassed. Good, I thought. Now he would know how it felt to be put down in front of other people. I wasn’t about to go into the bully business myself, but if giving Julian a hard time made him think twice about doing it to someone else, it was worth it.

  Herc didn’t throw to Julian for the rest of that possession. The Morons ended up punting and we got the ball back deep in our own territory.

  “Get ready,” Julian said, glancing across the line of scrimmage. “What goes around comes around.”

  José called out the play as my toes danced in my shoes. I was about to get so open he’d have to throw to me. All because Julian wanted to hit me.

  When the play started, Julian and I ran straight toward each other. But at the moment I expected him to hit me, I dropped to the ground and rolled right underneath him. When I popped back to my feet, Julian was six steps behind me. I waved my arms at José. Without hesitating, he fired the ball to me as I crossed the field from right to left. I caught the pass in stride and turned upfield. By that time the rest of the defense knew I had the football and they came after me like a swarm of bees. I thought about getting out of bounds to avoid the contact, but up ahead, I could see the end zone. It was so close, I had to go for it. So I turned back inside, barely slowing down. The defense had been coming so fast, they couldn’t change directions. The only thing between me and the end zone was twenty yards of dirt and rocks. I crossed the goal line and dropped the football. It was my first touchdown in the League of Pain.

  I hope it won’t be my last, I thought as I took my time heading down the trail that led away from the field.

  “Hey, Parker!” I heard someone yell while I was riding my bike slowly through the part of the park that was mostly thick forest.

  After stopping to turn and look, I saw Spencer Randle huffing and puffing up the path. I almost laughed thinking that a month ago the sight of Spencer coming up behind me in the middle of a dark forest would have been my worst nightmare. Now I was actually glad to have somebody to walk with.

  “What’s up,” I said, hopping off my bike.

  “Sweet touchdown today,” Spencer replied between heavy breaths. “I didn’t know you could move like that.”

  “I’ve had a lot of practice running away from people who are bigger than me.”

  Spencer looked at me like he was going to respond, but he just nodded and frowned. I had a feeling that was as close as I would ever get to an apology from him.

  We walked together until we got to the park entrance, where we split and went our own ways. I rode off alone, wondering if that was Spencer in a rare friendly mood, or if that was Spencer trying to be my friend.

  After dinner, I told Evan all about my touchdown.

  “Stand there,” I said, pointing to a spot about ten feet away from me. “That’s where Julian was. When I start running, come toward me.”

  “Got it,” Evan said.

  We acted it out in slow motion. I showed her how I made Julian miss me. “Then I was wide open. I mean wiiiiide open. José, he’s the QB, hit me and I just went … boom … supersonic. The next thing I knew I was in the end zone.”

  “Your talent would be wasted on the golf course,” she said. “Imagine if your parents had made you do that. I mean, nothing against golf, but this is way cooler.”

  Evan gave me a high five. We held hands in midair. It wasn’t like holding hands in a movie theater, but it was close, and I liked it. I wondered if she did too.

  “You want to know what happened at the pool today?” she said after we had unlocked hands.

  “What?” In all the excitement, I’d forgotten about Evan’s job at the pool. With Brian Braun.

  “Well, there’s a good thing and a bad thing. Which one do you want to hear first?”

  “The good thing,” I said, sitting down on the grass to listen to Evan’s news.

  “I saved someone’s life!” she shouted.

  “Get out of here.”

  “Okay, to be honest, I can’t say for one hundred percent sure he would have died, but if I hadn’t seen the kid sinking and told the lifeguard, and if the lifeguard hadn’t jumped in the pool, that kid could have gone to the bottom.”

  “With the fishes,” I said.

  “With the fishes,” Evan replied.

  “Did you get a medal or anything?”

  “I’m not in it for the glory, Wyatt,” she said with a smile. “I was just doing my job. Aren’t you proud of me?”

  I was proud of Evan. She was the coolest person I knew. “I’m bursting with pride,” I told her. “You’re an American hero.”

  “Probably,” Evan said.

  “So what’s the bad thing?”

  Evan shook her head slowly. “I don’t want to say. It’s too sad.”

  “Sadder than someone almost drowning?”

  “Sadder than someone actually drowning.”

  I looked at Evan. “What, does Brian Braun have a girlfriend or something?”

  Her eyes seemed to pop out of her head. “Who told you that?”

  “Who told me what?”

  “That Brian has a girlfriend!”

  “Wait, I was right? I was just kidding.”

  Evan toppled to the ground and lay flat on her back. “Well, it’s not funny. I’m totally wrecked. You should have seen them sharing a milk shake at the snack stand. He didn’t even pay for it.”

  Man, did that guy pay for anything? I couldn’t decide if Brian Braun was my rival or my hero.

  “Why are you smiling?” Evan asked me.

  “I’m not smiling.”

  “Yes you are. I can see your teeth. What’s up? I’m dying of a broken heart here and you’re enjoying it. I thought you were my friend.”

  “Maybe I think the good thing is more good than the bad thing is bad.”

  Evan propped herself up on her elbows. “You might be right. I saved someone’s life. That’s a way bigger deal. Starting tomorrow, I’m over Brian.”

  I liked the sound of that.

  Neither of us said anything for a while. Eventually, Evan sighed, rising to her feet, and said good night. I stood up too, feeling the aches in my side and legs. Looking
at my body more closely, I saw a bruise on my calf and a few small cuts on my knees. It all came with a little bit of pain, but it was definitely worth it.

  Mom was looking for me when I came into the kitchen, blinking from the bright light. “Phone for you, Wyatt,” she said. “It’s Francis.”

  I wished I could tell Mom to take a message, but that would raise too many questions. I knew I had to take the call, even though I didn’t really have anything to say. Francis thought I was lying low this summer, so I couldn’t tell him about football. He’d never get it.

  “Okay,” I said, taking the phone from her. “Francis, what’s up?”

  “Five words,” said Francis. “I. E. Two. Three. D.”

  “You what too?”

  “No,” Francis corrected me before repeating himself, more slowly this time. “I … E … Two … Three … D. Invasion Earth Two in three-D!”

  “Oh yeah. I know. It’s out now. What about it?”

  “We’re going tomorrow.”

  “Who is?”

  “Us. Me and you. After golf.”

  Francis did a lot of things that bugged me. Telling me that I was going to do something with him instead of asking me might have been at the top of the list. It wasn’t cool when my parents did it and it definitely wasn’t cool when he did it. Still, I knew I had to keep him happy since he was keeping a big secret for me.

  “Sure,” I told him. “I’m in.”

  “Sweet,” Francis said. “Golf and a movie. Could be the perfect day.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Gripping a golf club with sweaty hands was not easy, but I couldn’t calm my nerves. Not while Francis was standing five feet away chatting with my dad. One wrong word from him and my life as I knew it would be finished. I tried to focus on the ball at my feet, but I couldn’t help listening.

  “So, Alan,” I heard Francis ask Dad. “How’s your portfolio looking?”

  Jim was off in the woods, looking for a ball he’d shanked off the tee.

  “Not bad, Francis,” said Dad, like it was totally normal for one of my friends to ask him about his portfolio. “Market’s been up, so that’s good for everyone. Why do you ask?”