Chapter Twelve

Part 3

By the time I was done meeting and greeting all the scouts, I was feeling quite content with myself. It seemed as if every last one of them was determined to talk me into coming to their school. Suddenly, my options were endless, and I couldn’t wait to talk to my parents. They were going to be beside themselves.

My jollity was cut short, however, when I came around the corner in the hallway and found Gray, Lenny, and Rick waiting for me. Perfect. Just what I needed to overshadow an otherwise triumphant moment— harassment from this band of goons. At least Ogre was, for some reason, absent. I was loath to go anywhere near them, but they had already spotted me. There was no escape. I walked over, my head now hanging.

“What’s up, fellas?” I said.

Gray and Rick wore their old red and black Hillside varsity jackets to show their support with the rest of the fans, while Lenny had gone with his usual black leather, apparently too cool to get with the program.

“Hey, Mike! Great game today!” Rick said in his usual chipper manner. “You really persevered out there. Those Dorchester idiots are still licking their wounds.”

I blinked. Not the negative welcome I was expecting, but I would definitely take it. Gray, however, reached up and smacked Rick on the back of the head. Apparently there was some discord among the group about how I should be treated.

“Ow! What?” Rick said, touching his head and grimacing. “I’m just saying he played well.”

“Wake up, Ricky. This is still the guy that cheated us out of our hard-earned cash,” Lenny said gruffly.

“Exactly,” Gray said, rounding his shoulders. He looked me up and down and sneered. “That was some exemplary play out there, though, Riley,” he said sarcastically. “Did you have some good meetings with all those scouts?”

“Yeah,” I said uncertainly. I raised my chin and looked him in the eye, hoping to win back some of my pride. “There’s some interest.”

“That’s great, kid. You’re still the golden boy,” Gray said. “Too bad no one around here will ever know what a complete fraud you are.”

He reached up and slapped his hand down on the back of my neck, hard. I resisted, but he managed to pull me toward him in his death grip. Fear squeezed my heart. Most of the fans had long since gone home, and there would be no one around to witness it if these guys ganged up on me. Maybe I could put up a good fight—after all, Rick was kind of a wuss—but there was no way I could overpower both Gray and Lenny.

“Come on, you guys,” I said. “Winter and Ian said we had a deal.”

“We do,” Lenny told me, rubbing his hands together. “We just want to make sure you know to take that deal seriously. After all, we wouldn’t want to have to propagate some rumor about the Hillside hero fixing a game to right a gambling debt.”

My heart swooped in my chest. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t we?” Gray said. “We could debunk your whole image just like that,” he said, snapping the fingers of his free hand. “So don’t mess with us, all right? You better show up at that poker game, and you better be ready to pay up.”

“Okay,” I said, as he tightened the vice on my neck. “Okay. I got it.”

“Good,” he said, shoving me away. I stood up, his fingerprints raw on my skin. “Otherwise you might not have the longevity to even make it to Michigan or USC. You get me?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. Damn, this kid sure had the menacing thing down.

We all heard footsteps and looked up to see my parents entering through the gym lobby doors. The moment they spotted us, my mother’s face creased with concern.

“Michael?” she said.

“That’s our cue,” Lenny announced.

Great. What could be better for the ego than to be saved by my mommy and daddy?

“Good game tonight, man. Really,” Gray said congenially, patting me on the back. “We’ll see you soon.”

The three guys sauntered off together, passing my parents by on the way out the door. They even congratulated my mom and dad on my performance, and my parents looked relieved. They erroneously thought their first impression had been wrong when they believed these guys were threatening me. By the time I joined the two of them, they were both beaming with pride.

“Michael! What an incredible game!” my mother said, planting a kiss on my cheek.

“I met a couple of those scouts on their way out. Everyone wants to come by the house tomorrow and meet you, son. Including the guys from Penn State,” my father said.

“I know. I can’t believe it,” I said, forcing a smile.

My father patted me on the shoulder. “You did it, kiddo. You’re gonna get that scholarship.”

“I know. Thanks, Dad,” I said.

Inside, my stomach was in knots. Lately, absolute comfort and happiness were proving to be elusive things. Whenever I was up, it wasn’t for very long. There was always someone or something waiting around to remind me of the mess I had made.

“Everything okay, son?” my dad asked.

Apparently my acting skills weren’t up to par. For a split second I thought about confessing everything. It was clear to me, in that moment, that coming clean was inevitable. Sooner or later they were going to call the bank, and even if all the money was miraculously back in place by that point, they would get a statement and see that it had once gone down to zero. I would have to explain why I had emptied my account. Eventually they were going to know what I had done.

But now was not the time. They were so excited for me just then, and I didn’t want to take that away from them.

“Yeah! Totally!” I replied. “Just a little tired.”

“Well, you’ll have to get your second wind,” my mother said. “We’re going out to celebrate.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile. “Let’s do it.”

May as well enjoy what could be my last day as the perfect son.