Seven
December
If there was one thing to be said for my schedule these days, it was that it made for quick weeks.
During the school week, I was doing pre-school gym with the team, arriving at six-thirty. Then there was school, followed by practice or a game. Nights that I had a game were my reprieve; those were the nights I got to spend thirty or so minutes with Mo on the drive home, only to get home and hit the sack.
Nights I had practice, though, I was sticking around the Ice Plex and helping with the youth program until eight at night, when Dad would take me home.
And that was just during the week.
On Saturdays, I was going from six a.m. practice at the high school to the youth program, to the weight room for team gym, and then to a final practice.
They made for long days, but I wasn’t stupid. Dad was insuring that I wasn’t going to have time to get into trouble.
And if I found time, I didn’t have the damn energy.
I yawned as I twisted the combination to my locker, thankful that it was the last class for the day. This was the last week and it was Winter Break too. God, I needed the rest.
I was thinking about Winter Break and how much time I’d hopefully be able to spend with Mo when Alex crashed into the locker next to mine.
“Dude, just hold on to this for me.” Alex stuffed a baggy onto the top shelf of my locker.
I didn’t have to see the contents to know what it was.
Athletic Codes meant nothing to this kid.
Can’t smoke? Who cares.
Can’t fail classes? He’d get out of it.
Drugs are a big no?
Ha. He’ll prove to all of you how he could be high and play a good game, all while making the world think he was a great student and an example for the athletic-student association.
I reached back to try and grab the bag of weed to give back to him, but Alex pulled my arm out.
“Alex, I don’t want that shit in my locker.” My voice was low and I shifted my eyes to see if any teachers were monitoring the halls between periods.
Alex put the bag back in. “Mrs. Shityourpants is standing right next to my locker. I can’t put it in mine. Just for the period, Ports. I’ll get it after English.”
I ground my molars. If I was caught with weed in my locker, I was done. Between the pool incident and a couple failed tests, I was already pulled aside by the school’s athletic director. That’s not even to mention what my parents would do. I was almost finished off paying Dad for his truck, and I thought I was finally on good terms with both Mom and Dad.
“Alex, no.” I reached in for the baggy one last time and stuffed it against Alex’s chest.
“It’s just one freaking class, Prescott! Chill.”
“No, Alex.” I wasn’t getting caught with weed in my locker, be it a fifty minute class or the rest of the day. I pushed Alex back before slamming my locker door shut. “Just…put it in your backpack or something. I’ve gotta go or I’ll be late for class.”
My next class was clear on the other side of the school and if I was late, Mr. Stanford would make an example out of me.
Always did.
Didn’t matter if I was on time or not.
The man had a vendetta against me, I swear.
I stepped away from my locker, not sparing another glance toward Alex.
I didn’t give two shits what he did with his weed, just so long as it wasn’t in my locker.
***
Ten minutes remained in class when the door was pulled open and the principal walked in.
“Excuse me for the interruption, Mr. Stanford. I need to borrow Porter Prescott for the remainder of your class.”
Shit.
It was never good when the principal pulled you from class.
I gathered up my book and papers, standing and holding them all in hand against my body, while wracking my brain, trying to figure out what I could have done wrong.
Shoot. Did someone overhear mine and Alex’s conversation?
Guilty by association was a true thing in this school.
“We have a test tomorrow, Mr. Prescott. Please prepare,” Mr. Stanford said as I passed him. Principal Jenkins held the door open for me and exited into the hall after I did, closing the door. I waited for him, following him down the hall, down a flight of stairs, and toward the office.
The front office had a wall made of glass and seeing the Sheriff and K-9 sitting on the other side…
“Fuck…”
He fucking didn’t.
There was no way on earth that Alex got back into my locker and left that shit in there.
“Language, Mr. Prescott,” Jenkins said, leading me into the main office and toward his own office. Sure enough, the Sheriff and his dog followed, closing the door behind him. I eyed the dog wearily, but he sat next to his handler, tongue out, eyeing me back, but otherwise looking relaxed.
“I assume by your word choice that you know what this meeting is about, Mr. Prescott.” Jenkins sat at his desk, leaning forward with his hands steepled in front of him.
“It’s not mine.”
Jenkins smirked, but covered it up by lowering his mouth to the tips of his fingers. “With your record, Mr. Prescott, I’m afraid that not only are you being pulled from the hockey team, but you are facing out-of-school suspension. That’s not even to begin speaking of the legal consequences.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I sat up, my face pulled tight. “It wasn’t my weed!”
Jenkins wasn’t hearing me. “We’ve already contacted your parents—”
Fuck me.
“—and they are aware and on their way.”
The cop finally spoke. “Under Wisconsin state law, we can charge you for possession. So long as it’s a first offense, you’d likely only be looking at counseling and probation.”
“I’ll take a fucking piss test!” I stood up, anxiety more than anger rolling off me in waves. I was not going down for this. “It’s not mine! It was Alexander Ponch’s.” Alex could fucking rot in hell for all I cared at the moment. The asshole probably heard the cops were coming and that was the reason he was so adamant on getting the weed in my locker. I may have a record with the school when it came to grades and my mouth, but Alex was known to be caught outside of school with drugs. “He tried to stuff it in my locker before class and I told him no. I shut it and left for class. He must have put it in there after I left.” I looked at Jenkins and pointed to his computer screen. “Pull up video. I swear I’m not lying.”
Jenkins looked momentarily taken aback, as if he hadn’t even thought there’d be another explanation.
Never was when it came to me.
He sat up, finally lowering that stupid-assed hand gesture he did all the damn time, and turned to his computer to pull up the hall monitors.
After a moment of fiddling with different keys, Jenkins glanced at me, then the cop, before looking back at me. “It appears that camera isn’t working.”
“Of course it’s not.” I plopped back down in my seat, thoroughly exasperated. Crossing my arms over my chest once again, I pleaded with the cop. “It’s not mine. I’ll pee in a cup; you can have someone draw my blood. I have never touched weed. It’s not mine.”
The cop looked to Jenkins. “If what he’s saying is true,” he paused and readjusted his utility belt, “we can bring him down and take samples once his parents get here.” He then looked to me again. “Just because you haven’t touched it, doesn’t mean you weren’t planning to.”
“I have no intentions in touching it. Ever.”
“Can you bring the other kid in?” the cop asked.
Jenkins nodded and picked up his phone. I listened as he spoke with the superintendent. As soon as Alex got in here, the cop was going to have to hold me back. I couldn’t fucking believe he would do something so shady.
Actually.
I could.
What the hell did that say about me?
Before I could figure it all out though, I saw movement out in the main office, just as my parents came toward the principal’s office.
Dad looked pissed.
Mom looked devastated.
I stood up just as they reached the door, Dad allowing Mom to walk in before him. “It
wasn’t mine.”
“Sit down, Porter,” Dad said. I wasn’t sure if he was dismissing my statement or…well, he was dismissing my statement. “Surely you have not questioned my teenaged son without his parents.” This was directed at Jenkins. Mom moved to sit in the chair next to me, but Dad continued to stand.
“Mr. and Mrs. Prescott? I’m Sheriff Stevens.” The cop held his hand out for my dad to shake, which he did. “There hasn’t been any formal questioning, no. Your son here is pretty passionate about it not being his, giving the name of another student who it could belong to. Porter has offered to provide samples to at least prove he hasn’t taken the drugs.”
“I wasn’t intending—” I started, but Mom stopped me by putting her hand on my arm and giving me a warning look with just her eyes.
It was just about the only time I’d even been truly intimidated by her.
“Let me guess. The other student is Alex?” Dad asked Jenkins.
“I am not at liberty to discuss that with you, Mr. Prescott. I’m sorry.” Jenkins resumed that steepled-hand gesture again.
Dad looked to me. “Porter?”
“He tried stuffing it in my locker and I took it out, telling him I wasn’t holding it for him. He must have gotten back in my locker after I left for class.”
“You have cameras. That was the big referendum vote four years ago. Did you pull up video?” Dad asked Jenkins, turning his attention back to the principal.
“That particular camera was not working, no.” Still, Jenkins sat behind his fingertips. Did the guy not realize it did nothing for his image?
I watched as the muscles clenched in Dad’s jaw before he turned to the cop. “Can we take him down to the station?”
“Yes, Mr. Prescott. I will be sure to let them know you will be on your way. I’m sorry for all the trouble.” The cop shifted and I stood, Mom standing after me. I glanced back at Jenkins before Dad waved me over to leave the room.
Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I mentally prepared myself for what was to come.
Even if they believed me, even if it were proved that I wasn’t lying, there was no way this one was sitting well with dad.
No way in hell.
***
I was slowly becoming accustomed to silent car rides with my parents. Even though the afternoon played out in my favor, I knew Dad was stewing.
When we first arrived at the station, we were told that Alex denied the allegations. Therefore, the blood panel would be the best course of action for now. However, before we left, Sheriff Stevens arrived and stated that Alex did, in fact, confess to everything, and that another computer at the school had an alternate angle, both of which confirmed my story.
However, in some stupid twist of Jenkins’s mind, because the weed was found in my locker, for sake of school safety, I was considered to be guilty of possession and was suspended for the remaining part of the week.
It was Thursday, so whatever.
I think it was the suspension part that really had Dad’s pissiness in full-force, though. None of my siblings had ever been suspended, making me the first in yet another disappointing action.
Hell, it was only for a day. Winter break was starting.
But still, I wasn’t about to open my mouth at the moment. I wasn’t that stupid.
Especially with him continuously muttering Alex’s name under his breath.
When we pulled up to the house, I groaned when I saw the multiple cars littering the driveway. I forgot that every single damn person in my family was due home today.
Ken and Avery returned home for winter break, Myke was in the family home getting ready for our trip up to the lake house, and with the Enforcers having a lucky break in schedule near the holiday, Caleb and Sydney flew in while I was in school.
And surprise, surprise, Jonny wasn’t making it home for Christmas.
Again.
With the girls and Cael home, unfortunately this meant my latest issue was going to be front and center with all my siblings. This wasn’t something that was going to fly under the radar. Oh no. They were all going to hear about it.
While we had waited for the tech to draw my blood at the station, Dad talked about canceling the trip up north for Christmas. However, because our extended family was meeting us there, he decided that because I would be with family and away from my friends, it would be ok for us to do the trip.
The entire family was sitting in the family room, spread out among the couch and love seat, my sisters sitting on the floor. Everyone’s bags were by the door and ready to be loaded into cars for the five-hour trip to the family lake house.
Nothing like your fuck-up being the center of attention.
“I talked to Coach Max,” Dad was saying. Mom was sitting on the stoop of our fireplace and Dad stood beside her. “He’s willing to talk to the board at University to allow you in after winter break is up.”
“You can’t reward him for this, Dad.” Caleb was sitting in a rocker with a very pregnant Sydney in his lap. Brandon was napping in their room.
Dad looked at me as he answered Cael. “One, I think Porter knows that this is his last chance to play hockey.” Regardless of it not being my weed, I wasn’t exactly surprised that Dad was considering this my third strike. It wasn’t about the drugs; it was about my choice in friends. “East’s team won’t take him back.”
My eyes narrowed. “What?”
His brows lifted, Dad shrugged. “Your coach is suspending both you and Alex indefinitely.” He glanced back at Caleb. “Two, your brother would be stupid to say no to University at this point. Besides, University won’t take his shit.”
“They’re probably stricter about grades and sports, too,” Avery offered, reiterating Dad’s point. I cut her a glance. I thought she, of anyone, would have my back. Her eyes met mine and she quickly looked down, shrugging a shoulder.
“Porter?” Dad was waiting for my response.
I knew that if I didn’t choose University, I was kissing hockey goodbye. I’d probably be able to get back on the team next year, but scouts were looking this year. Losing the last part of my junior year on the team was not ideal in any way.
I could stay at Beloit East and hope I could make some sort of bang during the hockey season next year, reaching my other goals of taking down Caleb and Jonny’s names, but what was that going to get me if the scouts didn’t look at me again?
I’d be stuck trying to get on a college team, hoping the scouts would see me then. If they didn’t, I was fucking playing for the Enforcers because that organization would take me. It was a freaking rule or something.
I crossed my arms and took a resigning breath. I really had no choice. “Fine. Tell Coach Max—”
“Ask,” Mom corrected.
“Ask,” I looked at Mom, “Coach Max if I can finish the year at University.”
“Not just the year, Porter. Your Senior year too.”
“I get it, Dad.” I wasn’t exactly thrilled by it, but if I could still play, I would take what I could get.
***
It was easy to forget about the whole school debacle with the holiday. I rode up to the lake house with Cael, Syd, and my nephew. Brandon was eighteen months and wasn’t the best conversationalist, but between “Team Umizoomi” and “Blaze and the Monster Machines”, he was pretty content on the five-hour drive.
The lake house was actually a pretty big log-style house with two floors and plenty of space for the entire family. The adults all got their own rooms and prior to last Christmas, we kids were stuffed together between three rooms. With Caleb and Sydney having a kid now though, they took one of those three rooms for themselves.
This year’s festivities had our immediate family and Dad’s parents, but also my Aunt Natalie and Uncle Joe—my cousins Kendall and Ben couldn’t make it, but Nat and Joe’s youngest, my cousin Nick, was here—as well as Uncle Ketty, Aunt Ronnie, and Teagan. Uncle Ketty always tried to get out of holidays, as he wasn’t a Prescott, but my grandparents considered him another son; he and Dad played together for many years. I suppose it was only natural to become close friends after playing together for nearly your entire hockey career.
I couldn’t imagine being with one team, one organization, as long as Dad was with the Enforcers. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted that, either.
Dinner was cooking, and the tree was decorated the moment everyone arrived. My grandparents liked to do that as a family, which was slightly odd to me. Why wait until Christmas Eve to decorate the tree? You had to take it down a few days later.
The adults, adult children notwithstanding, were in the kitchen. Nick, who was thirty, was playing a card game with McKenna, Sydney was putting Brandon down for a nap and Myke and Cael were outside shooting pucks at one another.
Literally.
At one another.
Rocket style.
I didn’t understand it either. They were too old to be playing like that.
Ace, Teagh and I were playing a pretty cut-throat game of Monopoly.
I was winning, naturally.
My grandparent’s old Australian cattle dog, Lucky, sat patiently between Ace and Teagh, probably hoping one of us would give her a pretzel or Cheez-It.
We’d been at the game for an hour and a half, McKenna being the first to lose, which was why she ditched us for Nick.
She could have played banker for us but apparently, we were playing too ruthlessly for her.
“Why are you wasting all of your money putting hotels on Boardwalk?” I asked Teagh as she counted her bills, trying to find a way to purchase the red building. “People land on it what, twice an hour?” It was her one monopoly in the game so yeah, I got it, but she needed to be more worried about having cash on hand when she landed on any one of the multiple properties kiddy-corner to her two properties.
Because that was where her cash was going. On all those properties with the mini green houses on them.
When you owned the entire stretch, utilities included, hotels were unnecessary.
“Porter, shut up,” she grumbled, handing the cash to Avery, who had the two hotels ready to hand over. “Thanks, Av.”
“Pleasure doing business.”
I shook my head, grinning crookedly. She was selling back those hotels in a matter of two rolls of the die, and she may even be mortgaging those damn properties.
My phone vibrated in my back pocket so I pulled it out, grinning when I saw Mo’s face on the screen. We were banned from talking on cell phones this weekend, but could freely text during non-family times.
“Pause the game a sec,” I said as I slid the message open.
“Uh-uh! You didn’t pause for me when I had to use the bathroom, Porter! And you landed on Boardwalk!”
“You didn’t call time,” I told Teagh around a grin, reading Mo’s message.
Mo: Hey, you
Me: hey beautiful hows it going
Mo: Good! Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas in case we don’t talk tomorrow
Me: i'm sure i can spare you a few min tmrw ;)
Mo: lol. What are you up to?
Me: kicking av and teaghs asses in monopoly
Mo: ha! Have fun with that.
Mo: ….maybe later we can….
I frowned at the pause, no longer paying attention to the game going on in front of me. The bubbles stating Mo was typing something continued to dance across my screen. I glanced up to check the position of my sister and Teagh just as a picture flashed on the screen.
I looked back down.
“Shit.” It was a picture of Mo.
Well, her cleavage.
And then some.
The top was cropped just above her lips, which she was biting. One strap of her bra slipped from her shoulder and she squeezed her tits together with her arms. Everything that was important was covered, but the lace of one of the cups was folded so dangerously low.
I shifted in my spot, totally sporting full wood, and quickly typed back.
Me: Give me 10.
“What’s got you all flustered, Ports?” Teagh teased. I looked up and saw she fucking cleared my properties.
“I can find out,” Avery said, diving for my phone.
“Avery!” I quickly pushed my phone under my ass and grabbed a pillow from the couch behind me to put on my lap. “Jesus, personal space.”
Avery sat back, grinning widely. “Put your phone away, Porter. This is ‘family time.’” She did the fucking air quotes in the air, too.
“This is not official family time, Ace,” I grumbled, picking up my bills.
“Um, yeah.” She pointed at Teagh, then me, then swung that same finger in a circle around the game board. “Family. Together. Ergo, family time.”
“Let’s just play the game.” I reached for the die, being my turn now that I completely missed Teagh and her hopping over my properties.
I landed on Go To Jail.
I couldn’t believe my luck.
I quickly stood up, dropping the pillow from my lap only because I was certain all evidence would be gone, and put my bills on the floor.
“Well, I’m in jail. Can’t do shit anyway, so now’s a good time to use the bathroom.”
“You can still collect on your properties,” Teagh said around a frown.
“Now, Teagan, you know that’s not the way we play in this family.” We played that once you were in jail, you didn’t collect anything. Just like Free Parking was also like winning the lottery, with taxes and other miscellaneous fees ending up in the middle of the board.
“Your loss,” she said, shrugging and pushing the die to Avery. “Your go then, Av.”
I had other things to attend to. Phone in hand, I made my way to the bathroom.
The one upstairs.
On the other side of the house.
Away from family.
I needed a little bit of privacy.
***
After a ten-minute video…chat…with Mo, I made my way back downstairs only to see the girls were packing up the game.
“What the hell?”
Avery lifted a brow in my direction. “We weren’t sure you were coming back. We were bored anyway.”
“Sorry, Ports,” Teagh said, grinning. She wasn’t story at all.
“Kids!” came Mom’s voice from the kitchen. “Jonny’s on Skype.”
Like he was the freaking President or something, everyone gathered in the kitchen around the table where Dad set up his laptop and Jonny’s mug filled the screen. He was sitting on a sunny deck somewhere, somewhere bright and warm it looked, with the glass door of a room behind him.
“What happened to your hair, dude?” I asked, squeezing between McKenna and Mom to get a better look at him. His curls were gone. Hell, his hair was gone. What once was a curly mop on his head was now shorn closely to his head.
He grinned crookedly, shrugging. “Time to look more like a grown up,” he answered.
“It looks good, Jon Jon,” Myke said, pulling on my shoulder so I could stand in the back. “Tall kids in the back.”
“Look at you, somewhere nice and warm this Christmas,” Mom said with a tease in her voice when really, everyone knew Mom was actually hurt. This was the second Christmas Jonny missed since marrying Jenna—two years ago.
Jonny chuckled lightly. “Yeah, well.” He shrugged to the camera. “I miss you guys. Well, maybe not you, Cael. I see your ugly mug too much.”
“I love this ugly mug,” Sydney said, and I could see in the monitor as she took Caleb’s face and pulled him down to her, kissing him soundly on the lips.
“Where’s Jenna at, Jon Jon?” McKenna asked, leaning into the computer. “We’d like to wish her a Merry Christmas too.”
Avery pulled her shoulder back so everyone could see the monitor.
“She and her mom went out.” Jonny shook his head and grinned. “I needed the break anyway.”
We talked with Jon Jon for another twenty minutes before the sliding door behind him opened. He glanced over his shoulder and whispered something. We couldn’t see the person’s face, but it was no doubt Jenna. The whispered conversation held a slightly heated tone to it, which had almost every one of us in faraway Wisconsin shifting in our spots.
Jonny turned back to the camera and grinned, but this time it was strained. “Jen’s back. I’m gonna get going. Merry Christmas, guys.”
“We love you, Jonny,” Mom said quietly. Shit, she was going to start crying.
“Love you too.”
“Will we talk to you on your birthday?” Dad asked before Jonny could turn off the conversation. Jonny was one of those lucky kids who was born the day after Christmas.
“We’ll be on a plane, so probably not.”
“Well, happy birthday too, then, son.”
The screen went blank shortly after that and the air in the kitchen was thick.
Caleb eventually broke the silence, stating what we probably all were thinking. “He’s probably paying for that entire fucking vacation. Jenna comes from money, doesn’t work, and expects Jon Jon to hand her everything. I don’t understand what he sees in her.”
“Cael, it’s not the time,” Dad said, shaking his head.
“It’s Christmas. I’m sure Jenna has her reasons,” Mom added.
Everyone disliked Jenna, yet Mom and Dad still found ways to stick up for her. I honestly thought that Jonny stuck around with her because she was the first girl to give him head, but I didn’t know that for a fact.
“Next Christmas he’ll be home,” Mom said with a smile. “He told me the other day.”
“That’s what he said about this Christmas, too,” McKenna pointed out.
Mom’s smile was strained as she stood from the table. “Next Christmas he’ll be home.” No one bothered to correct her as she left the room, Dad quietly behind her.
***
Christmas morning.
The first thing I did was text Mo but I hadn’t heard back from her. Not that I was expecting to. After gifts and breakfast, most of us went out to the lake to play a game of three-on-three hockey.
The rules were the guys couldn’t check the girls, but the girls definitely abused that rule. I landed on my ass on more than one occasion, courtesy of Ace.
McKenna stood on the side playing score keeper and ref while the teams played hard.
Team one, Dad, Myke, Ace, and Cael, was freaking stacked. My team consisted of Uncle Ketty, Teagh, Mom, and Syd. Needless to say, the team with four hockey players on it was certainly stronger than the one with two players on it, regardless of who was sitting out a shift. But it was still fun.
McKenna called time after she received a text from Aunt Ronnie, saying that dinner was ready. We all made our way back to the house, through the snow and trees, while spirits were high. Snowball fights ensued on the walk back, only further elevating the mood.
After everyone ditched boots and jackets, and tossing skates on the back deck, we made our way in. The smell of turkey and ham, as well as all the other dishes, filled the air.
Then, rising above the smells and voices, Lucky’s bark fought to be heard. She jumped up from her dog bed, more nimble than she should for her senior age, and ran toward the front foyer.
My grandparents and parents exchanged frowns but before any of them could go see who walked into the house, there was a booming, “Merry Christmas!” from the foyer.
“Jonny?” Mom jumped out of the kitchen chair at the sound of my second oldest brother’s voice.
Sure enough, my brother himself walked into the family room, void of his jacket but snow still speckling his close-cropped hair.
“Hey, Mom.” Jonny’s words were soft, but his smile was wide.
Mom ran up to him and embraced him, her arms around his middle while he looped his arms around her neck. “Oh, Jonny! I’m so glad you made it!”
“Where’s Jenna?” Dad asked as he walked in to greet Jon Jon as well.
Jonny squeezed Mom and let her go before shrugging, more or less dismissing Dad’s question. “I decided that I needed to do the holiday with you guys. She understands, but she decided to stay in the Bahamas with her family.”
Dad stared at him in the way he sometimes did, trying to read between the lines, but ended up letting it go. “We’re glad you’re here.”
The rest of the day flew by in a rush of positive emotions. Before everyone headed to bed, the Ketterhagens left. In the morning, Aunt Nat, Uncle Joe, and Nick were due to leave as well, leaving just my immediate family and grandparents for Jonny’s birthday.
It was easy to forget the fact that come next week, I’d be in a new school with a new hockey team. It was easy to forget that my parents were disappointed in my actions. It was easy to forget that people I’d called friends had no problem throwing me under the bus.
This was definitely a needed break and made me realize that amid all my bitching about my brothers and hockey and the future, it was when my family was together that everything felt completely whole.
It felt right.