Junior Year Box Set

At lunch, the guys wanted to talk about our trip to Atlanta to watch the Alabama vs. Georgia game. For Ty and Alan, this would be their first time flying. We would spend the night in Atlanta and then drive to Athens in the morning. It was only about an hour and a half away. I couldn’t resist booking rooms at the Ritz-Carlton. Every time I stayed at one of their hotels it had been a perfect experience, and I’d recommend them to anyone who wanted to splurge on themselves. It was my treat because I had talked them into flying out right after the game tonight instead of traveling all day tomorrow.

Early in the week, Tim told us he wouldn’t be able to make the game because of his knee, so I got the guys together and asked them whom they wanted to bring with us. They told me that because I was paying for the hotel on Friday night, I got to pick. I decided to bring my half brother Phil. I figured it would be a good bonding experience and really hadn’t spent a lot of time with him since Dad had told me he was my half brother. I was surprised when his mom said ‘no.’ I couldn’t really blame her, because there would be no adult supervision on a college campus. Phil admitted to me that he got himself grounded when he complained too much.

My next choice was Jake. Everyone liked him, and he had made a positive contribution to the team. I’d thought about bringing Johan but was a little skittish about his religious aspect and the potential that what might happen would conflict with his beliefs. The other choice would have been Bryan or Brock, but I only had one ticket. How could I pick one twin over the other? The no-brainer would have been Mike, if we based it on performance, but I didn’t really feel like spending a weekend with him.

My afternoon tests were easy. American History was just memorization. AP Physics might have been hard, but I called Suzanne, and she helped me study. Finally, World Geography was about capital cities. Thankfully it was multiple choice, so you could at least eliminate a couple. Why I would need to know the capital of Yemen was beyond me, but somehow, I remembered it ended with a weird ’a, so it wasn’t hard to pick Sana’a.

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Lakeview was our opponent tonight; they had lost their first three games. The problem with a game like this was it was hard to get excited about playing them. It wasn’t that they’d lost three games, it was that they had lost them by sizable margins. I felt very confident we would win this one easily. The only worry was the weather. The news forecasted showers on and off through Saturday. When I pulled into the school parking lot, it was just starting to rain. I put on my raincoat, grabbed my duffle bag, and went to the locker room to put it away.

I arrived early as usual so I could eat beforehand. I jogged over to the hospitality tent and found it full. Lakeview had gotten here early as well, and Mrs. Sullivan was being a good host and feeding the opposing team. It seemed that college recruiters and reporters were a bunch of wimps and didn’t want to get wet. I was happy no one recognized me with my raincoat hood up except Mrs. Sullivan.

She pointed to a table, and I walked over and sat down. She brought over two of my favorite dishes to eat: catfish, and ham and beans with cornbread. She joined me, and I got us glasses of iced tea. It was a nice change from the typical grilled food.

“This is new,” I said.

“We got a new food distributor, and he showed us some other options. We spent a little extra for the catfish, but the ham and beans are cheap and filling. The Lakeview kids hit it hard, but the recruiters wanted the standard fare of brats and hamburgers.”

We had a nice meal until Jeff saw us and sat down.

“Can’t you see that I was having dinner with my lady?” I teased him.

“Now that would be a story. I bet Mr. Sullivan would have something to say about it,” Jeff said.

“He might be okay if it were David,” Mrs. Sullivan said with a cheeky grin.

“Can I quote you on that?” Jeff asked.

“Of course you can.”

I shook my head ‘no’ because who knew what Jeff might do. She took my plate and hers and left Jeff and me alone. He was busy showing me pictures of his newest grandson when Brandon showed up.

“I got us a party bus for the weekend,” Brandon blurted out.

“Maybe we should talk about this later,” I suggested.

“I’d love to hear about this,” Jeff offered as he got his phone out to record our conversation.

“Not happening,” I said and gave Brandon a hard stare.

“Next you’ll be telling about the cocaine and hookers,” Jeff said, and we both looked confused. “A reporter in Michigan was sent to a convenience store to do a story about the Lotto being at $500 million. She was live, and randomly asked a guy what he would do if he won it. He said he’d spend it on cocaine and hookers. Turns out he’s married, with three kids under the age of five at home. It was lucky for him that his wife had a sense of humor. So, tell me what you need a party bus for.”