“If you listen to Dare, I’m some sort of avenging angel. I can go kick his butt if you want,” I offered.
“No. You’ve reached your limit on hurting boys this week. I’ll take care of it,” Cassidy said.
“There he is,” Dare supplied helpfully.
The three of us looked at Don as he walked into the school. He saw us and turned white. Don impressed me when he used his sister as a human shield while he hustled inside. She looked every bit as impressed as I was. I suspected that we would be dealing with the aftershocks from last night for some time.
◊◊◊
Joey and Cassidy sent me to lift with Tim and Wolf during PE because the training staff was busy evaluating my little brother’s injuries from last night. I’d caught a glimpse, and Mike had done a number on him. The only difference from what I’d done to Mike was that Phil didn’t look to have any serious cuts or a broken nose, though he did have a split lip.
My friends had already begun lifting when I came into the weight room. They both gave me a wary look.
“Joey told me to rotate in with you today,” I said to explain my presence.
“We’re doing upper body today,” Tim said.
I just nodded.
Everyone in the weight room remained quiet as we worked out. It took about ten minutes for me to notice the silence. Typically, when there was a bunch of high school guys lifting, there would be constant banter going on.
Wolf was doing bench presses with Tim spotting when Don appeared at my side.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” he asked.
I glanced over, and he looked like he was afraid I planned to kick his butt or something.
“Sure,” I said, and let him lead me into the hall.
“Is Cassidy really angry enough to beat me up?” Don asked.
“Well, I offered to do it for her,” I said with a straight face, and he noticeably flinched, “but she told me she would take care of it herself.”
“I messed up. I should never have left Cassidy at the restaurant without paying,” he admitted. “It’s just that I got frustrated. I wanted last night to be just the two of us, and once again, we were on a double date.”
“Did you ever try to talk to Coach Hope about that?” I asked.
Don looked at me like I’d told him one of Wolf’s jokes that made no sense.
“He would never agree to that.”
“Then why are you bitching about something that’s never going to change? That’s part of the deal if you date Cassidy.”
Don knew the score, and I thought he’d finally come to grips with it. I wasn’t about to let him in on the fact that I’d asked Coach Hope and gotten her out of the double-date rule.
“I might have made a big mistake. Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?” he asked.
I shrugged. No way did I want to be in the middle of this. I imagined that Cassidy would forgive him, but they would never date again. Don’s best course of action would be to apologize and move on.
“Are we okay?” he asked.
“Just because you dated Cassidy and broke up with her doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends and teammates. Now, if you do something to hurt her, that will be a whole different story,” I warned him.
“Thanks,” he said, and left me in the hall to collect my thoughts.
When I walked back into the weight room, I noticed the conversations had started again. They must have wanted to see what would happen between Don and me. Wolf and Tim, on the other hand, remained focused on working out. That was probably for the best, since I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about them right now. I had a little too much of my mom in me and feared I would say something I’d regret if they set me off somehow.
I spotted Yuri and Roc buddied-up on one of the weight machines and strolled over. They looked up at me expectantly.
“Did either of you or your dates take any pictures of Phil or Jill last night?”
Roc nodded slowly and pulled out his phone to show me.
My anger rose again when I saw the pictures of Phil’s battered face. Only the thought that Mike now looked every bit as bad kept me from punching a wall.
“Send copies to me, store the originals in a safe place, and don’t spread them around. Tell your girlfriends to do the same. I’m betting there will be some fallout from what I did to rectify the situation. Being in the public eye sucks sometimes,” I shared.
They both nodded their agreement.
“I’m sorry it got out of hand,” Yuri said to remind me of his promise to look out for Jill.
“Yeah, Luke’s friends kicked us out,” Roc explained.
“Did they …?” Yuri asked.
“No. They didn’t touch her, but I suspect they may have slipped her something.”
“Really?” Roc asked.
I just nodded.
“That sucks. If I’d known …” Yuri started and trailed off.
“You did the right thing by calling me. It all turned out okay,” I assured him.
I knew the guilt that the ‘What if?’ game started in your head if you let it. The two of them were no match for Luke, Mike, and Luke’s football teammates. They would have ended up like my brother, with their butts beat. They also had to worry about their dates. With that in mind, Yuri had made the right choice.
“Hey,” I said. “Thanks for being Phil’s friend. You two were there when he needed you.”
◊◊◊
