Junior Year Box Set

When Eastside got the football, it became apparent that Wolf made a huge difference on the defensive side. Coach Zoon let him play defense all night. I was a little jealous because he was in the Eastside backfield all game. They finally triple-teamed him, and that let Johan loose. I cringed when Johan sacked their quarterback. I was impressed the poor kid even knew where the huddle was after that play. Mike also played a heck of a game, and he and Yuri were all over the field making plays.

On offense, I handed off to Ty. He consistently ripped off runs of eight or more yards. When we figured out they couldn’t stop him, we slowed the game down and used all of the clock between plays. At halftime, we were up 21–0. We had them three-to-one in time of possession. They just couldn’t get it going.

In the second half, when Ty started to rip off runs of fifteen to twenty yards, we pulled him and played other running backs. My half brother Phil even got a few runs. Coach Zoon didn’t want to give up the shutout, so the first-string defense played the whole game. We ended up winning 35–0. After the opening play, I had only thrown the ball four times when we found ourselves in third and long. It was quite a difference from the week before.

◊◊◊

Waiting for me after the game was Cassidy. Somehow Coach Hope was right behind me. He gave me a look and then went back into the locker room. Message received!

“Are you sure we should be doing this? Your dad didn’t seem very happy about us going out,” I asked Cassidy.

“You won fair and square. Daddy’s a man of his word,” she said, which didn’t really answer my question.

Cassidy wanted to go to Monical’s since that was where the team was headed. We ended up parking across the street in the bank’s parking lot. Monical’s had the biggest line I’d ever seen there after a game. It looked like half the football stadium had shown up. Yuri was at the door and motioned for us to come in.

“We have the banquet room,” he told us.

I felt bad for all the people in line. It would be half the night before they got in. I went to the counter and caught the eye of the assistant manager who always hooked up my brother because she had a crush on him.

“You guys ready for more appetizers?” she asked.

“I don’t know, haven’t been back there yet. What I wanted to do is feed the people in line,” I said and handed her $300. “Could you make a variety of pizzas and serve each of them a slice and give them a soda?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Tell them it’s from the football team as a thank-you for their support tonight.”

Cassidy looked up at me and smiled as she took my hand. We made our way to the back. I found Ty and gave him a big hug.

“You killed it tonight!” I exclaimed.

I then went searching for Wolf. He had half the team around him as he told them some joke or story.

“Holidays are all designed to lighten your wallet. My dad says that as you get older, it gets worse. I have to agree. You work hard for your money, and yet women expect you to buy them stuff on all the holidays,” Wolf said.

Cassidy looked like she was about to jump in, so I grabbed her arm and shook my head. She gave me a look that you never wanted to see on her face. Cassidy was one of the few women who could make you pay for being a ‘stupid boy,’ but I wanted to see where this was going.

“What about Easter? That’s a religious holiday.” Yuri asked.

Wolf dropped his head and shook it in disbelief. He was about to educate Yuri.

“Have you not heard of an Easter Dress? How many times do you think a woman wears it? If you don’t know, I’ll tell you: once! Of course, it comes with the hat, the purse, and let’s not forget the shoes. You also have all the decorations, Easter eggs, and the big meal. On top of that, they make you go to church!

“Then there are the holidays like Presidents’ Day. Sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? It’s a day off work, and the kids are out of school. What could be so bad? The bad part is it’s a long weekend! If you somehow get out of spending it with your in-laws, then it’s a family weekend. You’d think it would just be an extra day to kick back and rest, but my dad says it doesn’t work out that way,” Wolf said.

“What about Father’s Day?” Johan asked. “Isn’t that all about the guy?”

“David, have we failed them? Surely they’re being taught these things,” Wolf complained.

I was willing to play the straight man. I edged a little away from Cassidy as I poured gasoline on the fire.

“I know. I guess it’s left to us to educate them. After you tell them about Father’s Day, explain why men have to make 20 percent more than women.”

There was a downside to dating Cassidy: if she wanted to plant her elbow in your ribs, there wasn’t much you could do about it.