Chapter 12

Mason

 

        At the football game, I had to warm up on the side lines just in case I had to replace the quarterback.  It was pretty unlikely they’d put me in the game, so it was hard to take seriously.  I mean, sometimes, if the team was slaughtering the other team---They’d put in the backup quarterback just to save the regular one, but even that was unlikely today.

        Assistant Coach Daniels was assigned to keep me loose and ready in case I had to go in.  He was an older guy, mustache and glasses.  He reminded me of those old school football coaches I had seen on ESPN.

        “How do you feel, kid?  Huh?  Good?”

        “Yeah, I’m okay,” I said.

        “Okay?  We need better than okay, Mason,” said Coach Miller.  “Can you feel the vibe this stadium is giving off?  We’re gonna win.  You’re on a winning team!”

        “Yeah,” I acknowledged with a slight shrug.  “These guys aren’t very good that they put us up against.  Teagan is going to destroy them.”

        “True,” said Miller.  “If Teagan makes it to the fourth quarter.  You never know, kid.  That’s why you have to be ready.  You read all the plays?  Got ‘em memorized?”

        “Most of them, I think,” I said.

        “You think?  Mason, listen to me.  You gotta psyche yourself up, buddy.  If you have to go in there, you have to be a tiger!  Raaauuur!  Roar with me, son!  Rauur!”

        “Raaaauuur,” I roared quietly.

        “Don’t half-ass it!  Roar, kid!  Roar!  Raaauuuur!”

        “Raaauuuur!” I repeated, louder this time.

        “That’s it!  Okay, now you should throw a few passes into the net, get really good and limber, okay?”

        “Shouldn’t I watch the game?” I asked.

        “You’ll find out the score later,” he assured me.  “Now get loosened up.”

        Daniels was a good guy and he lightened my mood.  I figured in two or three games, I’d be ready to do this.  But then, the unthinkable happened.

A few weeks ago, when our backup quarterback was in and got injured, he was running a play where he did a play fake, ran into the endzone and caught a pass from one of the other players.  He got clobbered by a big linebacker and broke his collarbone. Amazingly, coach Randal called the same damned play tonight and the exact same thing happened!  Teagan went down, under a guy twice his size.  He was laying in a heap in the endzone and the medical team was running towards him.

        I was frozen in place.  I dropped the football I was holding.  This was unbelievable, like a bad movie.  It couldn’t be real.

        “Holy shit,” said Coach Daniels, genuinely astonished.  He looked back at me. “All right, kid, this is your moment.”

        I looked at him.  I was absolutely petrified.  We both knew I wasn’t ready, but the coach put on a brave face.

        “Daniels?!  Is our boy ready?” yelled Coach Randal.

        “He sure is, skip!” replied Daniels.

        Daniels grabbed me by the helmet and gave me a pep talk.

        “Look kid, life has thrown you a moment,” he said.  “Take it by the horns!  Go out there and win this game!  I believe in you!”

        I went out on the field and got into the huddle.  One of the players told me the play, but I couldn’t hear it.  My heart was beating too fast.

        “Hey, Mason, you okay?  We’re running a button hook.  Piece of cake, bro,” my teammate said.

        “Yeah,” I said, vaguely remembering the play.  “Let’s do this.”

        The ball was snapped and I fell back to pass.  It was all a jumble.  I couldn’t pick out anything.  I was just overwhelmed, my heart thundered in my ears.  Then I saw this huge defensive lineman heading my way, so I started to move.  I threw the ball while I was moving.  It was something I had done, but hadn’t practiced much.  I heard the boos before I realized the pass had been caught by a player on the other team.  I had thrown an interception on my first pass.  I was so stunned, I also missed the opportunity to tackle him.  He ran right in for a touchdown.

        The other players assured me that it was okay.  We were still up by two touchdowns.  I got back to the bench and I couldn’t stop sweating.  I heard people blasting the coach for calling that play.

        “Who calls a pass play with a new quarterback?!  The guy’s first play and you’re not going to ease him into it?” I heard.

        By the time we got the ball back, I had almost convinced myself it wasn’t my fault.  The coach had made a bad call and of course I shouldn’t be passing.  Not on my first play!  But it went downhill from there.

        I took a bad snap---Well, actually, it was a good snap that I dropped.  I bobbled the ball and by the time I got control of it I was sacked for a seven yard loss.  The fans were booing me non-stop now.  I would find out later that the sports announcers were openly wondering whether or not I was even ready to be a quarterback.

        A few plays later and I threw it short.  Again, it got intercepted.  Fortunately, this time, I was aware enough to chase after him.  I tried to make a diving tackle and missed the guy completely.  So not only did I hand the ball to the other team, I failed to do the one other thing that would’ve stopped them.

        This time I went back to the bench and fewer players were defending me.  The ones that were convinced themselves that I was just warming up.  They had seen me throw in practice and were convinced I could do it.  I wish I was as convinced.  The team had this game won and now I was personally losing it for them.  I checked on Teagan’s condition.  It was bad.  He wasn’t coming back and would probably be out the entire rest of the season.

        The new information made me even more nervous.  The first time was a fluke, the second time was nerves, but a third time would mean that I would suck.  Now I was actually shaking going back onto the field.  I tried to orient myself and relax, but it didn’t work.

        After a few handoffs, the coach called for a pass.  This was supposed to be my strength, but I had missed two throws in a row badly.  I had hoped the Coach would give me the option to call an audible, but he didn’t.  I was still too new.  After a few incompletes, I threw a Hail Mary to a group of guys, some of who were actually on my team.  Unfortunately, it was caught by the other team.  Intercepted a third time.  They ran it all the way back for a touchdown.

        I blew a three touchdown lead.  Our opponents ran the ball in for an extra two points, taking the lead.  In less than 20 minutes on the clock, I had destroyed a 21 point lead.  That had to be some kind of new record for sucking.

        Back at the bench, the guys were in open rebellion against me.  They tried to hide it, but I could hear them muttering.  They couldn’t believe I was blowing this game for them and they had every right to be mad.  I wasn’t ready.  I couldn’t roll with this.  The pressure was just too much.

        The icing on the cake was our last possession.  I had one opportunity to put us back on the board but threw so wildly out of bounds the crowd started laughing.  It was an utter disaster in every sense of the word.  If I made a highlight reel, it would be for worst first performance in quarterback history.

        After the game was over, I was heading to the showers.  I was kind of ducking the team, feeling sorry for myself.  I heard a familiar voice call me from the stands.

        “Mason!  Over here, Mason!” called Kyle.

        I walked over.  I assume he was going to demand money from me.

        “Tell your brother he needs to start paying me,” said Kyle.  “Now or I else I ruin his and your football career.”

        “Won’t everyone in the college hate you for doing that?” I asked weakly.

        “Did you not hear the boos?  They’ll probably give me a medal for getting rid of you,” laughed Kyle.  “But hey, I’m an honorable guy.  Tell him I want my money.”

        “How did you know it was him and not me?” I asked.

        “Because I’m not an idiot, Mason,” he said.  “I gamble.  I notice things like body language.  You and your brother have completely different body language.  I could pick you two out of a lineup of clones.”

        “We’ll get your money,” I told him.

        “Oh, I know you will,” he said.  “To be honest, I feel bad for you.  If your brother’s willing to take the rap, I’ll keep you out.”

        “Why?  What do you care about me for?”

        “I heard you brother fucked your girl, Faith,” he said.  “That dumb slut will bang anyone.  Her legs are open for business!”

        “That’s not true,” I insisted.  “You don’t know.”

        “Son, I got girls that live all over this campus,” he bragged.  “One of my honeys lives right next door to Faith.  She heard the two of them doing it.  Hate to be the one to tell you, but that chick is crazy sexy and crazy about sex.”

        “You sh-sh-shouldn’t say that about Faith!” I said, very annoyed.  “She’s  religious.  She wouldn’t do that.”

        “Hey, that’s what I thought when I met her,” said Kyle.  “Turns out, those Catholic girls are dying to get laid.  When the damn breaks they go crazy trying to catch up to everyone else!  Trust me, bro.  I know.”

        “You don’t know anything!” I insisted.  “You don’t know her!  You didn’t bother to get to know her!”

        “How well does anyone know anyone?” said Kyle cynically.  “You think you know your brother and he turns around and fucks your girl behind your back.  That’s cold, bro.  Totally against the bro code.”

        “I don’t believe you,” I said, walking towards the showers.

        “Suit yourself,” he called after.  “But tell your brother he has 24 hours.  And tell him not to make me look for him.  That would greatly upset me!”

        We were so screwed.  Not only did we not have the money for the house, we now owed an insane amount of money to Kyle!  There was no way dad would bail us out and give money to Faith!  Hell, he’d probably be so mad, he wouldn’t even bail us out!

        This was beyond bad, like several times a million bad.  I had takenthis gamble all for nothing.  My football career would  be over before it started, or my father would be so pissed at me---Jesus, what am I going to tell him?   How was I going to come up with all this money?!

        I had to find Logan.  Maybe he could just fall on the sword and we’d get a slap on the wrist.  Sure, dad would be pissed, but at least we could keep playing football.