by Bruce Ingram
My face was hurting so bad from where he hit me, and already I could feel my left eye going shut. I had hoped to go bow hunting that afternoon behind Elly’s house; her dad had again given me permission to hunt there. But with my eye the way it was, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to shoot straight enough to kill a deer. I had been looking forward to going hunting for so long because with fall here, the lawn mowing business is finally slowing down and I actually have time to have some fun in the evenings.
I went to lie in my bed and then I decided that I just couldn’t take it anymore, that I wasn’t going to live like this anymore. While Dad was still outside, I packed all my camouflage clothes for deer hunting and my fishing lures and flies and fold-up fly rod in my hunting day pack. I wasn’t leaving that stuff behind no matter what because I was going to run away to Granddaddy’s house as soon as Dad went to work around 8:30.
When Dad finally left for work, I wrote a note saying that I was going to live at Granddaddy’s house and left it on the kitchen table. Then I got my pack and got on my bike and took off. I knocked on Granddaddy’s door around 9:15 and when he opened it, I started crying and blurted out everything that had been happening with Dad and his drinking and hitting me, and I even told him about Mia and me and that her family had come from Mexico and he knew how dad felt about Mexicans. Granddaddy looked so sad and then he told me that “Of course, you can live here, Luke.”
Then he told me something that I didn’t know about.
“Do you ever wonder why you don’t have a grandmother?” he asked. “It’s because she left me many years ago because of my drinking. Your father can’t hold his liquor and I couldn’t either. Luke, promise me you’ll never start drinking.”
I promised him that I wouldn’t, and I meant it. After all, I had promised Mom years ago that I never would. Anyway, why would I want to be like Dad in any possible way.
Then, Granddaddy asked me about my grades in school and what was Mia like. I told him I had my best ever report card the first nine weeks. I made an A in English and Yearbook, a B in World History II and Ecology, a high C in Phys Ed because of the stupid health stuff, a D in Spanish, and an F in Geometry. The grade in Spanish really bothered Mia (I told Granddaddy all about her and how smart she is) so we’ve been working more on Spanish than Geometry during her tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I told him that Mia said I can make a C in Spanish the next nine weeks, and I think I can. I didn’t tell him that probably 90 percent of the kids in Geometry fail--the whole class is a circus with students misbehaving and texting or listening to music (some of them don’t even bother to put in their ear buds) the whole period.
Granddaddy then said something that caused me to get the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long, long time. “I’ll change the locks so that your dad can’t ever get into my house, and tomorrow night while your dad’s at work, we’ll go get the rest of your things.” He paused for a little while and added the best part, “Oh, by the way. If I were you, I’d hang onto Mia. She sounds like a keeper.”
I think I finally have a home again.
Chapter Eighteen: Elly
About two weeks before Homecoming, Jonathan asked me out for it, and I said yes. The way he did wasn’t very romantic. He just sent me a text saying, “Hey, ya wanna go to Hoco with me???” I mean, really, three questions marks and not calling me in person—that’s not very mature. But I do sort of like him and we have been talking and I have been worrying that no other guy would ask me out this whole year. I know I should have more self-confidence than that, and I have been feeling better about my appearance.
I’ve lost 12 pounds now since I started my diet, and Mom and I started working out at our family’s club. My hair is about three inches longer, too, since I started letting it grow out, and—this was pretty daring for me - but since I’ve gone down a dress size, Mom and I went shopping and we bought two skirts that show just a hint of my knees. I don’t feel my legs are so chubby any more. I guess I don’t look half bad.
Mom and I went shopping for Homecoming, and we bought this gorgeous dress. We decided to go with a hi-low dress that has a sleeveless lacy top, a sweetheart neckline, and a floral print flare skirt. Mom wanted me to wear my hair up, but that’s what I would have done in the past when my hair was shorter, so I wanted to wear it down. Besides, Paige and Mary both told me to wear it down because Jonathan would like it better that way, and I needed to “show off those longer locks” as Mary said.
When Jonathan picked me up, he gave me a beautiful wrist corsage, which I felt was very sweet of him. Then Jonathan took me out to dinner at this really nice steak and seafood restaurant. He ordered a ribeye steak, and I got the grilled seafood platter because I figured it wouldn’t have many calories. When it came time for dessert, I told Jonathan that I was stuffed (even thought I wasn’t) and he said that was fine, but he would go ahead and get some cheesecake. I liked the fact that he didn’t hound me to eat more like Paul always did, and I told Jonathan that I would enjoy watching him eat his cheesecake.
The food and atmosphere at the restaurant were very nice, and I told that to Jonathan several times as a way of making conversation, but, well, the whole dinner was boring. He just didn’t talk much, because I don’t think he is… very bright. I mean, I asked him about his grades (I only have him in Spanish II, of course) and he said that he had a C in everything and he said he was fine with that. Most of his classes were just the general ones, not like the honors classes he should be taking if he wants to prepare for college. I asked him what he wanted to do after he finished high school, and he simply said, “Something will turn up.” I mean, he’s a junior, and he’s not even thinking about his future. Boys are so immature—when do they start to grow up?
It was the same thing when we went to Homecoming. He was attentive to me; he didn’t flirt with other girls, he asked me if I wanted something to drink or eat and offered to go get it…those sorts of things, which were all fine. But I can’t remember if we ever talked about anything, because, well, we didn’t. Overall, being with Jonathan was just a different kind of boring than being with Paul except when Jonathan kissed me goodnight, it was clear that he had shaved that day. On my 1 to 10 man scale, I would rate Paul as a 3 and Jonathan a 5, better make that a 4. But let me give things a while and see if they get better.
I want a relationship like Mia and Luke have. Every time I see them together they are talking the entire time, especially before class in English and all during Yearbook and when they are walking down the hall. The other day I asked Mia what they talked about all the time, and she said things like current events and school and what their jobs were that week and what did the other one want to go do for their weekly Saturday date and what their futures would be like, “Those sorts of things,” she said. I know I’ve said this before, but sometimes I get so jealous of her and Luke, because I know now that Luke really liked me a lot before Mia came along. But Caleb, by far, is still the boy I want most to notice me.
And he has been lately since I’ve lost weight and let my hair grow out. Last Tuesday in Ecology class right after Ms. Bradley had stopped teaching for the day, I saw Caleb get up and go to the trashcan and he stopped at my desk on his way back to his. He told me I “had been looking differently lately” and did I enjoy the church dinner the other night; he couldn’t be there because of football practice, of course, and getting ready for the “big game.” Had I been at the game and seen the three touchdowns he threw? We must have had a conversation for two whole minutes and it was almost as if he were flirting with me (I can only hope) and it was awesome.
Then Caleb left me and poked Luke (who for some weird reason was dressed in his hunting clothes) in the back pretty hard and said, “Hey, camo boy, ya going hunting during lunchtime?” Then Caleb made some remark about how guys like Luke gave the school a bad reputation. I saw Luke’s eyes “flash” and his expression harden but he didn’t say anything and then just looked away. I next looked at Mia, who like always, was sitting ne
xt to Luke, and I could see this look of fury come across her face. I had never seen her look that way, but she didn’t say anything either.
At lunch, I asked Mia why was Luke wearing his hunting clothes to school, and she said, “Luke ran away from home last night because his dad’s been hitting him, that’s all he has to wear right now.” I knew that Luke’s mom had died recently, but I didn’t realize that things were that bad for him. Why was Caleb being so judgmental about how Luke looked, that was wrong of him. Then I realized something else… that Caleb had been bullying Luke in Ecology class and whether or not he knew about Luke’s home situation, he shouldn’t have been treating Luke like that… no way.
Chapter Nineteen: Marcus
I almost didn’t get to take Kylee to Homecoming, but things could have been a lot worse. I guess, looking back, I could have been messed up really bad. Friday night’s football game was huge for us. We came in with a record of 3-3, and if we were going to have any chance to make the playoffs, we had to beat Springwood that night. Caleb and me are finally totally clicking and on the first drive of the night, I caught four passes for 33 yards. The last 12 of those were on a fade route into the end zone. Caleb laid the ball into me just perfectly, and the crowd was screaming like crazy when we went up 6-0. Then Coach Dell shocked everyone, including our offense, and told us to stay on the field—he said we were going for a two-point conversion instead of just an extra point. Coach called for me to give one fake at the line and then go for a quick slant over the middle. It worked perfectly and all of a sudden, we’re up 8-0. I mean the crowd is just exploding because the local paper had predicted we would lose to Springwood. On Homecoming weekend? On our home field? I don’t think so!
In the second quarter, Springwood started to come back and even went ahead by 10-8. But right before the half, we went into our two-minute drill. I think Springwood was expecting Caleb to air it out to me because they were double covering me with a corner and safety on every play. But, instead, Coach Dell started calling all these dump it off plays. Caleb kept hitting Joshua for, like, seven or eight yards for four straight plays. Last year, I would’ve been angry that I wasn’t getting the ball and my big brother was, but I thought I could see what Coach was trying to do—he was trying to make sure that I was going to be eventually left alone with just one defensive back covering me. And I can’t be covered one on one—no way, no how.
All of a sudden, we were on Springwood’s 40, and there’s 25 seconds left. We come to the line of scrimmage, and sure enough, I come up to the line with just one corner on me and Caleb calls an audible. The back tries to jam me at the line, but I’m by him and down the right side in a flash. Caleb hits me at the 30 and I’m into the end zone like two seconds later—totally untouched - and after the extra point, we’re up 15-10 at the half.
And really after that, I don’t remember much what happened. Springwood got the ball to start the half and it was a good three and out stand by our defense. When we got the ball, there was a holding call on Paul on second down, which eventually turned into a third and 15 situation—and an obvious passing down. I had double coverage with a corner and safety and I just couldn’t break free of them, and Caleb tried to squeeze the ball in to me. I must have gotten absolutely creamed by the both of them because the last thing I remember was leaping for the ball and getting hammered from both sides.
When I came to, I saw a doctor and a team trainer looking over me, and I was in the locker room. They told me I had experienced a very mild concussion and that I was through for the night. I felt okay and said I was ready to go back in, but the doctor just smiled and said, “No way.”
The next thing I knew, Dad was in the locker room, and he and the doctor and trainer talked and they decided that I should spend the night at the hospital, just as a precaution. I was a little groggy, and I didn’t find out until the next morning that we had lost 20 to 15. It’s going to be really hard to make the playoffs now, and that was when I was really hoping to show my stuff for college scouts.
The good news was that I did get to go to Homecoming the next night. Kylee and I double dated with Joshua and Jordan. It was the first time that I can ever remember Jordan being nice to me. She didn’t glower at me all night—not even once. We had a really nice dinner; I don’t remember what I had but it was good. Kylee and I only danced maybe two or three times all night, but we did sit and talk a lot and actually that was kind of nice. She told me that she made the All-A honor roll, and I’ve got to confess that I was pretty happy to say that I had made the A-B roll the first nine weeks. She talked about wanting to run her own business or do something with a human service agency, and she talked a lot about how those type jobs would be very satisfying. I’ve been actually listening to her, and I can tell she appreciates that.
I had to go back to the doctor on Sunday and Monday, and on Tuesday, both the doctor, our trainer, and my parents decided that it would be best if I sat out this coming Friday’s game. That means I will already have missed three of the first seven games of the season. But there was nothing I could do about it. Even Kylee told me that sitting out was the best thing for me, and she said I could root the team on from the bench, and she would be waiting for me after the game—that maybe we could get a bite to eat with Joshua and Jordan. I really appreciate how Kylee has been acting toward me, and I’ll be ready for that next game in two weeks.
Chapter Twenty: Mia
I was so shocked the other day when Leigh and I were named as the two sophomores on the Homecoming court. Leigh, I can understand, she’s absolutely beautiful, she does well in school, and she’s a cheerleader and very popular. But, honestly, I’ve never even thought about something like that happening to me. I really never have cared about those types of things; they just seem so unimportant and temporary compared to the things I really want out of life. Still, it was an honor that the students in my grade would vote for me.
My family and I were at dinner on the Monday night before Homecoming, and I finally decided I had better let Poppa and Mama know about the nomination because he was going to have to escort me onto the field at halftime Friday night. Poppa said he was really proud of me and said he knew a guy in our neighborhood, Henrique (he’s a junior) that would be just perfect for me, and then went on and on about how he was friends with Henrique’s poppa and he could set things up with the man and Henrique for the Saturday night dance. Mama interrupted him and said, “Mia can choose her own boyfriends, she doesn’t need our help.”
Then Isabella and Emma both started giggling, and Mama and I glared at them and they stopped laughing. I’ve told them over and over that they are not to tell Poppa about Luke and me, and Mama has warned them they will be punished if they do. Mama said I should have let her know earlier about my nomination and I replied that I knew that, but I was worried about not having anything that nice to wear, and I didn’t want them to waste money on buying something for me just for Friday night. I added that I wasn’t going to the dance Saturday night.
It’s true, I’m not. Luke and I talked about whether to go or not, and I would so much like to be seen with him in front of the other students. I know everybody knows we’re a couple. But Luke said he didn’t have the right kinds of clothes and he’s never danced before, and I could tell that he felt so awkward about the whole thing. It’s true, he doesn’t have anything to wear that’s nice enough.
Finally, we decided what we would do on Saturday night. We’ve never been out at night together, so Luke suggested that we ride our bikes to the local Dairy Queen and instead of having just an ice cream cone like we did one time when we were ninth graders, we would both order a milkshake and he would pay for both of them. And we could sit and talk for a long time and be together and drink our milkshakes very slowly “to make the evening last,” he said.
What he said was so loving and sweet, and I told him that would be perfect. On Friday night, Poppa dressed up with the coat and tie that he wears to mass on Sundays, and I was proud to have him escort me o
ut onto the field. Mama made time to make a new blouse for me; she must have stayed up late for several nights to sew it in secret. I teared up when I found out what she had done, and I told her how much I loved her and appreciated her for everything she does for us. Mama said she was proud of me and was glad that Luke and I were together, but the time was still not right for us to let Poppa know about our relationship. I fear that the time will never be right, but I’m not going to worry about that now.
We went home right after the ceremony, Poppa had to go to bed and get some sleep because he had to get up at 5 the next morning to go to his Saturday janitor’s job at the hospital, and Mama and my sisters and I had to clean the house and chicken run before Luke and I went off to do our Saturday jobs. I wasn’t interested in the football game anyway. What Elly has been telling me about football games is true; what’s the point of them kicking and throwing that ball all over the place? I brought my World History II book and research notes to the game and worked on the paper I have to do on the Bubonic Plague in Europe during the 1400s and 1500s. It’s really fascinating reading.
Saturday night with Luke was so wonderful. He told me I looked as beautiful at night as I did during the day, and we just sat for an hour at the Dairy Queen, talking and holding hands. I’m so glad that Luke is not living with his father anymore, and I can tell that he is more relaxed. I know I won’t see any more bruises on his face. It would just tear me up inside when I would see them. I was scared for him.