Junior Year Box Set

“I hope it’s okay, but we hired Lily to help us with you. She already knew all about you and seems to have good instincts about your promotion,” he said.

“You know, that sounds great to me. Lily’s been a big help.”

He then went into detail about his plans and preparations for when I was in LA for my movie release. He’d been in touch with Kendal, and they were arranging both auditions and appearances. This was all part of the package, and I resigned myself to letting them do their job and just put on a happy face.

When Frank hung up, I started to realize what I’d done when I hired him. The media circus was about to begin. It took me back to my uncle’s warning. It was too late to change my mind now.

◊◊◊ Wednesday October 21

After football practice, Brook and I were to meet with some people from Range Sports. We were told that one of the folks we would see was in charge of safety and wanted to assess our skill level as skydivers before their insurance would sign off on the shoot.

I arrived at school and was dressed to work out when Wolf stopped me. He had a panicked expression on his face.

“I have to show you something,” he said when we were alone.

I didn’t expect him to drop his shorts and show me his dick.

“Dude, I don’t swing that way,” I told him half-seriously.

Wolf didn’t even smirk, so he was really worried about something. I looked closer and saw a milky-looking liquid on the tip. My mouth fell open as I made the connection.

“Tell me it doesn’t burn when you pee,” I said.

He looked away from me. Shit!

“Come on,” I ordered.

I took him to the trainers’ office and found Jill and Becky with their feet up on their desks and cups of coffee in their hands. They looked at us, and I smiled.

“You both will thank me later,” I said, which confused them. “Show them your package.”

Wolf made a move to bolt, but I grabbed his arm.

“Listen, dumbass. If one of them sees it, they’ll both want to see it. Trust me, this is your best option to lessen the embarrassment,” I said.

“Yeah, show us your penis,” Jill said with a big smile.

Wolf took a deep breath and dropped his shorts. Both women had big smiles on their faces, and then it dawned on Becky what the problem was. She got up to take a closer look. When she started to reach for it, I stopped her.

“Gloves,” was all I had to say for both of them to become concerned.

“When was the last time you had unprotected sex?” Jill asked.

“Monday.”

This got worse and worse. That meant Wolf had slept with April since he got home. Then I thought about my other teammates with girlfriends: Jim and Piper, Alan and Stacy, Tim and possibly Tracy. The last one made my blood run cold. The last thing she needed was to catch an STI after everything she’d gone through. Jake was currently single. I wasn’t sure if Brandon was dating anyone. I cringed when I thought of Kendal. She would kill me if they’d hooked up and he’d caught the clap on one of my recruiting trips.

“Who was that with?” Jill asked.

“I think I caught it on Saturday. I didn’t start showing symptoms until last night. I don’t think we need to worry about me being contagious before that,” Wolf reasoned.

“I hate to break it to you, but you don’t have to show any signs to pass on an STI. You might very well have passed it on right after you contracted it,” Becky explained.

Then the two trainers turned and stared at me.

“I was a good boy,” I said, raising my hands to ward them off of me.

“Drop your shorts,” Jill said to me in a stern voice.

They wouldn’t believe me, so I did. I made sure Becky had on new gloves before she examined me. While she did that, Jill took Wolf aside, and they discussed who all might be involved. Becky sent me back to PE to lift. When I got out of my shower, Mr. Hasting was in the locker room talking to Coach Diamond. It was a relief that for once I wasn’t in the middle of it.

◊◊◊

By lunchtime, everyone involved in Clare’s train was missing, as were Stacy, April, and Piper. I was relieved to see Tracy. The rumors flew, but none of them had guessed what was going on. Of course, everyone was certain I knew what had happened. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that the boys were all the ones who’d gone with me on recruiting trips. What confounded everyone was why Stacy, April, and Piper were missing too. Better yet, why was I still here.

I assumed they had all been taken to be tested and treated. I doubted anyone would figure out that that was what had happened.

Then I thought about the three girls. Alan had survived hickey-gate. I doubted Stacy would be as forgiving if he gave her an STI. I wondered if they called your parents for something like this. I was in my test-prep class when my mom stormed in. That answered my question. I just got up and followed her out of the school. When Mom had me in the car, she started in.

“I received an interesting call.”

“I hope they told you I wasn’t involved,” I said.

“They did, but I thought we might just get you tested anyways.”