Allowing her to date didn’t mean I couldn’t torment her about it. To her credit, she didn’t even flinch.
“I’m sure your mom doesn’t care who I date,” Peggy scoffed.
“Give Chuck his information,” I said.
“Why?” Peggy said, starting to get irritated.
“In case something comes up, and we can’t get hold of you,” Mom said to save me from having to explain that I planned to have this bozo checked out.
If he was a dog-hater, I couldn’t risk him being around the house.
I was surprised when Peggy gave Chuck her date’s info. Mom said that if Peggy put the boys to bed before she left, Mom would watch them. I gave my boys kisses, and Chuck and I left to pick up Brook. She’d warned her mom that we would be honking today since I couldn’t yet walk well. Chuck and I looked at each other when Ava came out the back door.
“This is on Brook,” I said. “She was supposed to tell her.”
“If she starts hitting you, I’ll break it up,” Chuck offered.
At least today, he had remembered what his job was. Half the time, he was useless.
Ava got in the back seat with me.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I told her all that had happened and that I was okay. Brook came out, and Ava told me to get better and then walked back to the house.
“What did my mom want?”
“She was just checking on me. I think she’s starting to like me.”
Chuck snorted at my bold statement; I chose to ignore him. I caught Brook up on the press conference and police interview. Evidently, she’d already talked to Halle and was just confirming things.
We drove through at the pharmacy, picked up my prescription, and then made it to school in time for first period.
◊◊◊
During PE, Mr. Hasting, our head trainer, made an appearance so that he could check on my condition. I told him what my doctors in LA said, and he agreed. He wanted me to have an ice bath during PE and then one during practice. The whole right side of my body was black and blue. The swelling in my elbow had continued to go down, much to my relief. That was the injury that still scared me.
This time, I didn’t fall for giving up my pain meds. I think my exact words were: “You can have my pain pills when you can pry them from my cold, dead hands.” Jill poked me in the ribs, and my hand fell open.
Wolf found me when I was finished with the trainers.
“You missed it last night.”
“Why, what happened?”
“Coach Hope announced that you’d been hurt in a car accident and might not play the rest of the year. Poor Trent didn’t know if he should be happy or afraid. Then he decided that it was an elaborate joke. We had to show him the video of the car accident,” Wolf shared.
“What did he do when you did that?”
“It gets better. Coach Hope reminded him that we’re playing Beverly this week, probably the best defense we’ll face … and … it’s Homecoming. I think he had a nervous breakdown. It didn’t help when Coach Mason went old-school and called him a wuss.
“Coach Hope had to take Trent to his office to calm him down. We are so screwed this week. Your brother might have to play quarterback if Trent can’t pull it together. During the summer, Trent was sure he would beat you out, and then reality set in. I think he figured out that he’ll probably throw ten interceptions this week,” Wolf said.
“I doubt they’ll let him pass unless they have to,” I predicted.
“If we’re going to have any chance, you need to talk to him and somehow get him fixed.”
“Why me?” I asked.
“Because you’re the one who broke him.”
I said something inappropriate, but Wolf stuck to his guns.
Wolf was a smart guy. The team needed me to help my backup get his act together.
◊◊◊
Dare decided it was his job to push me around in my wheelchair. I was impressed when he stood up to Brook, who told him it was her prerogative as my girlfriend. He looked at his shoes the whole time, but he didn’t budge.
“Dare’s my guy for this job,” I announced, and for once, he looked up and smiled.
We were making progress. Next, he would be as bad as Cassidy and start to talk my ears off.
◊◊◊
For football practice, I tottered straight to the training room to get my ice-bath treatment. I’ll be honest, I felt the old depression start to set in that I’d experienced both in middle school, and when I’d gone to my uncle’s farm for the summer. For someone who thought he was indestructible, this was an unwanted wake-up call. If my arm and elbow hadn’t hurt so much, I might have been okay. My mind kept going in circles, wondering if I would ever throw a football again, or even better, whether I would be able to use my arm to dress myself.
I knew what the doctor had said, that it was just soft tissue that was injured, but having my arm in a sling scared me. It scared me enough that I’d resisted the urge to begin rehab like I was used to doing. I’d been told that I needed to let everything heal before I started to stretch and work out. If I doubted my doctor, all I had to do was move too quickly or breathe deeply.
