The Touchdown

by Bishop, K. M.

  I couldn’t do that. I had to keep my head on straight. I was better than that. It was just that when it came to Ro, I couldn’t see straight sometimes. I cared about her so much that the thought of anything happening to her filled me with rage and I flew off the handle.

  “Where you been lately, man?” Jacob asked as he sided up beside me in the locker room.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You haven’t been hanging out. You bail right after the home games, and you just seem like a ghost floating around. Is everything alright?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, just some personal stuff going on.”

  “I hear that. Look, we all know about the sex tape and some of the other weird stuff going on. It’s on the internet, but we didn’t want to say anything. It just reminds us of what cretins those bastards are.”

  “Right. Thanks,” I said.

  “Whenever. We got your back.”

  “I know,” I said. “It means a lot to me. Thanks.”

  I slapped him a high five and I finished getting dressed. It was nice to have such good friends around me. Without their support, I wasn’t sure what would be happening with me. I’d have gone totally off the rails long before, or I would have been pummeled in that confrontation at Purdue. Yet another silly thing I did without fully thinking of the ramifications. We’d all been punished for it, but we didn’t care. That was how strong our brotherhood was. We were a united front. We would not bow down from anyone, even our own stupid coach.

  “A bunch of us are heading over to Louie’s to have some beers. It’s half-price wing night. Want to come?”

  I looked up at Jacob. He had that eager anticipation in his face that he typically did when he was asking me to hang out. It was hilarious, like a cartoon dog or something. That’s what it always reminded me of.

  “Sure,” I said. “Why not?”

  It sounded like a fun time to bond with my friends. I had been neglecting hanging out with them lately. I had a ton of studying to catch up on, but I decided to ignore that obligation and spend time with my friends goofing off. Besides beer and wings was the best combination on the planet. How could any man be expected to resist?

  I finished getting dressed and joined the fellas as we left the field house together. The night was getting slightly chilly and I could definitely feel that winter was on the way. Fall was already in full swing, but as was typical I liked to pretend that summer stretched until December and wear a t shirt with no jacket out of basic principle. It was my way of giving the middle finger to nature.

  “So, are we all piling into my car?” I asked.

  “What car? It’s two blocks,” Jacob said.

  I laughed. “Are you going to be sober enough to walk back?”

  He chuckled and slapped me on the back. “That is an excellent point.”

  “That’s why I’m here. I’ve got all the best ideas.”

  We started heading towards the parking lot where my car was parked. There were six of us going. It was going to be a fun night. And I needed it. I hadn’t taken a night to go goof off with the guys in a while. It would be good for me and help me get my head off all the garbage swimming around in it.

  But this was not to be.

  I noticed something was wrong almost immediately.

  Standing in front of us about a hundred feet from the field house was a group of guys all wearing Purdue varsity jackets. I stopped instantly to assess the situation. This was definitely not good. It was serious. We wondered how long it would take for them to commit some type of payback and here it was. This was going to be a big fight. I quickly started to get into the fight mode in my mind.

  “What the hell…?” Jacob said.

  “I guess they didn’t get enough last time,” Roger added.

  “It will be even more fun this time,” Joey chimed in.

  The guys were all gathered around me now. We were slightly outnumbered, but it didn’t matter. We were going to take them apart.

  Standing in the front of the Purdue squad was Jack and Keith—my two favorite people to punch.

  “Did you get lost?” I asked. “You’re a little bit far from your side of the state.”

  Jack laughed. “Funny, but you seem to lose your way over to our side almost every other day. Like last night, for instance.”

  I shrugged. “No, I was here. I spent the evening watching Antiques Roadshow and sipping tea. Just a nice, quiet evening.”

  My guys laughed in support. Jack’s face went white with rage. He was so angry. It was hilarious. I hated that bastard so much. It would feel good to run my fist through his face again.

  “That’s cute,” Jack said. “Well, there is a certain young lady who has a few bumps and bruises. Says she was attacked by you and some slut.”

  The anger surged through me. I wanted with every fiber of my being to charge him and lay him out good. How dare he say that about Ro. This moron was going to pay hard.

  “I hate to break it to you,” I said. “But it sounds like that girl is a bit daffy. She must be hallucinating. It was probably you or Keith—whoever’s turn it was with her last night. Or do you tag team that shit?”

  “Will you still be cracking jokes with no teeth?” Keith growled.

  “Does your girl still blow without any? Sounds like someone did you a favor.”

  Jacob burst out laughing and then it was on.

  Jack and Keith both charged straight at me. I wasn’t sure which one to hit first. Either way I was going to get punched by the other one. Then Joey stepped in and tackled Keith to the ground. My fist found Jack’s chin and he stumbled back.

  The fray was on. All of us were fighting tooth and nail. This was an even worse brawl than the first one had been. But we were on our home turf and we knew what to expect from these clumsy degenerates. I tackled Jack to the ground and began pummeling him with punches. He was trying to fight back, doing his best to get me in a headlock, but I was able to twist out of it and punch him squarely in the chin. I saw the butterflies floating in front of his eyes as he slumped to the ground dazed as could be.

  I was finished with him. That’s when Keith’s big meaty fist came flying at me. He connected hard on my jaw. The force of the blow staggered me to the ground. I felt dazed for a moment and tried to regain my composure. But he was already throwing more punches at me. I ducked and moved hard to avoid the blows. He was slow and lumbering. And I knew that once he was gassed out I would take him out.

  I sidestepped his punch but then something hit me from behind. I saw nothing for a moment. Everything turned black and then I fell to the ground. It took me a moment but I heard someone yelling “We got to get out of here! Cops!”

  Then I heard the scurrying of footsteps.

  Then I heard the sounds of sirens. How did the cops get here so fast? This was crazy. I felt the entire world around me spinning. I tried to open my eyes but the pain echoed through my head then making me feel dizzy. I wondered if I’d just received yet another concussion. Whoever hit me had done a good number of whacking me in the back of the head.

  I struggled to get to my feet. I needed to move. I was confused and had no idea what had just happened. I had to fight. I had to help my friends. This was all my fault. I’d gotten them into this mess and now I was just going to lie there like a fish and bail on them? No. I couldn’t do that.

  I found the strength to stand. And once I did I opened my eyes.

  I could not believe what I was seeing in front of me. There were several cops all pointing their guns at me. “Freeze! Drop it!”

  Drop it? Drop what?

  It was then that I glanced down and saw the bloody knife in my hand and the wounded man wearing Purdue jacket lying at my feet.

  No… no… where did this knife come from? I didn’t have a knife. I sure as hell didn’t stab anyone. No… I had to think… what kind of trouble was I in here? Surely, the cops didn’t think that I had anything to do with this.

  But it was obvious that they did. They were ord
ering me to drop the weapon.

  I did so quickly. My mind was racing. My pulse was flying. I could feel the pounding in my temples. I felt sick all over, like I was going to just roll over in a dead faint. This couldn’t be happening. Someone had framed me. But who? It couldn’t have been someone on my team. No…it had to be theirs… But they would do that? They would stab a member of their own team just to frame me? What kind of people were we really dealing with here?

  I was very scared. For the first time in my life I was in a quagmire I had no way to get out of.

  I dropped the weapon.

  “Now drop to your knees and put your hands on top of your head. Then clasp your fingers together.”

  I did as I was told slowly. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements here. Looking around, I could see the other guys also on the ground waiting to be handcuffed.

  I didn’t know what to do. Everything happened in slow motion it seemed. As I sat there on my knees, my fingers clasped together on top of my head, I was handcuffed and read my rights before being placed in the back of a police car and escorted to jail.

  One thing I knew from talking with my father growing up was that I was not to say anything at all to anyone without a lawyer present. That was something my uncle had taught me. He was a criminal defense lawyer. He told me that no matter what, you lawyer up immediately and say nothing. It doesn’t matter if you are completely innocent and there is no logical way they can prove that you aren’t. Get your lawyer up right away.

  I took that to heart. As the cops took me in and then down to the station to ask me some questions. I didn’t answer a thing. I called my parents using my one phone call and they contacted my uncle Trevor, the lawyer.

  I knew I would be freed soon. I wasn’t that worried about me. I didn’t do this. They would prove the knife wasn’t mine. They would prove that I had no motive to stab this guy whom I didn’t actually even know. And with that many people around watching, surely someone saw who actually did stab this guy, Gerald Andrews.

  It wasn’t me.

  But the fear would not stay silent in my head.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ro

  I jumped in my car dropping everything immediately and drove to Bobby’s aid. The moment I heard the news from his mother calling me, I rushed to Bobby’s aid. I felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my ribcage and all of the air had been sucked out of my body. I knew that this was very serious. They were trying to pin an attempted murder on Bobby. Gerald was going to be ok. Luckily the knife hadn’t gone too deeply and it had hit his side where it did not do any damage to any major organs.

  But it was still a very serious charge that could flush Bobby’s entire life down the drain. The varsity team from my school had gone there to start this fight and one of them at least had planned this. They’d gone there with the idea in mind to hurt one of their own to frame an enemy. This thing had gone way too far.

  It had to stop.

  And to think I’d been feeling good and gloating at cheer practice earlier that day. When I got to the locker room, I saw Dawn sporting nice shiner from where I’d decked her. My hand still hurt. Luckily I was wearing gloves and it did not leave any bruises or scrapes on my knuckles. I was happy to see that. Because the way she was babbling about her attack and pointing fingers at me the second I walked in, that would have given her some credibility. But mostly everyone (except her little clique of cronies of course) thought she was totally crazy and just lashing out without any proof of anything. But then again, no one would have blamed me if I had done it, what with all the horrible things this evil woman had done to me. I was entitled to a little bit of revenge.

  But I was done with that game. This thing was getting way out of hand. Someone had almost been killed. And now the man I loved was being framed for it. There was no doubt in my mind that Bobby was innocent. I knew him. I hadn’t actually known him that long, but I had a feeling in my gut that I was one with him. We were together and we were a united item that would never fall apart. I believed him as surely as I took my next breath. He was not a murderer. No, someone had framed him. And they’d planned it all out this way.

  I had just arrived in town when Bobby called me on the phone. I couldn’t believe I was talking to him, hearing his voice. He sounded ok. He didn’t sound sad or even hurt. I had to go to him.

  “I’m on my way to the jail,” I said. “How are you calling me on your cell?”

  “I’m out.”

  “What?” I had to pull the car over to listen to this.

  “Yeah. I got lucky. Jamie Adams, a sports reporter for the paper, was snapping pictures of the practice and a few of us leaving the locker room when the brawl broke out. She videoed the whole thing. Clearly on the video, we can see Keith stabbing Gerald and putting the knife in my hand. They let me go.”

  I cried. Tears began to pour out of my eyes. I couldn’t help it. I’d been so scared the whole trip, terrified that the love of my life was going to go to prison for twenty-five years for attempted murder that he had not committed. I was almost in shock. I could hardly breathe. I hated for Bobby to hear me bawling this way, but I was losing control, letting the pain out of me that had been pent up for so long.

  “Baby, it’s alright. I’m fine. I’m back in my room. Let me come and meet you somewhere.”

  I said ok to Bobby’s request. I needed to be near him. I had to hold him, kiss him, and remind him that I loved him. This was all I’d ever wanted in my life. And now this whole nightmare was crashing down.

  Bobby met me at a sandwich shop not far from campus. I wanted to see him somewhere fairly quiet. I needed to be with him. I cared literally about nothing else on the planet at that moment.

  When I saw him striding towards me, I couldn’t help but leap out of my seat and run towards him to give him a big hug. He scooped me up in his arms and hoisted me up in the air, holding me close to his tall frame.

  “I was so scared,” I said. “How did this happen?”

  We sat down and ordered a few sandwiches and some coffees. Bobby calmly told me the whole story. Luckily, Jamie had been there recording everything. Otherwise, he would have had to prove his innocence in court.

  “So, what happens now?” I asked.

  “Well, my uncle seems to think that Keith is definitely going to jail, probably prison and he will be there for quite a while. All of those guys are probably going to be in legal troubles for a bit.”

  I shook my head. “What about you guys? I’m sure they all said you attacked them first at their campus.”

  Bobby shrugged. “They can’t prove it now. It was a stupid mistake, but no one really got hurt by what we did. And we had a good reason to do it. But this… all of this was orchestrated by Keith and by Jack. Dawn put Keith up to it. But of course I imagine she will leave him to face the music all by his lonesome. That is the kind of person they are.”

  I nodded. “Right. She has to go down, too. That witch needs to have some real repercussions in store for her, right?”

  Bobby nodded. “I agree. Hopefully, the cops can pick her up on something, too. After all, Keith knows all the things she has done. You never know if he might be ready to cut a deal of some sort.”

  I laughed. “That would be perfect if he rolled over on her. Hopefully, he isn’t stupid enough to think she will be waiting for him when he gets out of prison.”

  “So, do you think all of this is over?” Bobby asked me. “With something of this magnitude coming out into the open, Keith going to jail, and hopefully Dawn getting punished along with him… do you think this mess is going to be over?”

  I smiled. “Yes. Or at least, I want to believe that. I really want to think that this could be done, that we could get on with our lives and just live the way we want without anyone else trying to tell us it’s wrong over some stupid school rivalry. Maybe this can be an example of how messed up something like this can really get.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. But with things like thi
s, things that involve so many people and their prejudices, we can never really predict how it will go down.”

  I knew he was right. But I wanted to believe it. I had to believe that something good could come out of all this. Maybe we could put the school rivalry to bed and realize how silly it was to take a silly sports feud and take it to such an extreme.

  “I hear some scouts are coming to the next game,” Bobby said. “I’m very nervous. According to the coach, they’ve been watching me. I just have to keep my fingers crossed.”

  I smiled. “Good luck. I know you will do great. Don’t let it make you nervous. They already like what they see. If you play the way you do, then it will be enough. If you start second guessing yourself though, then there will be a problem and you will get too much inside your own head.”

  “How did you get so smart?”

  “I have good genetics,” I teased.

  Bobby looked me over approvingly. “I’d second that.”

  I blushed with his flirtations. He was always such a charmer. “I also know what it’s like to work hard in an athletic capacity and to worry about a bad performance and how it will be judged. Plus you feel like you are constantly worried about how you stack up to other players. I’ve been there. I know all of that.”

  “Right. Yet another of the many reasons I love you and we are so in sync with each other. You and I know each other inside and out.”

  “Right.”

  When we left the diner, I was feeling very optimistic for the first time in a long time. It was late now, almost midnight. Bobby kissed me and held me in his arms.

  “I love you so much,” he said.

  “I love you, too.”

  We stayed like that for several minutes, neither one of us wanting to let go of the other one. I thought about staying the night with Bobby, but Jacob was going to be there. It was late, Bobby was still banged up a bit from the fight (luckily he did not aggravate the concussion again) and I needed to get up early the next day for some classes. I was thankful that the game that week was going to be at home. I did not feel like rushing to get out of class and then hurrying to get on the plane for travelling to the game. I hated away games so much.