Chubby Chaser (7 page)

It was finally homecoming week, and Jason couldn’t have been more thrilled, nor could anyone else. If there was ever any doubt that he lived in a football town, homecoming week removed it: most establishments hung banners heralding the big game on Friday, football players ate free of charge for the entire week at every restaurant in town, and Tallis focused on nothing but homecoming activities all week. Jason canceled both of his tutoring sessions with Sara, so he could fully participate in all the festivities.

On Monday everyone who was anyone and anyone who wanted to be someone came to Tallis wearing the school colors (blue and white). A lot of people came with their faces painted the school’s colors as well.

As part of the
show-your-school-spirit design contest
, each class, from freshmen to seniors, had to festoon a different section of the school, and they had permission to skip their last two periods to do so. The only requirements were no pornography or profanity, and they had to include the school colors in some way. The faculty would then vote on which class they thought had done the best job and announce the winner at the pep assembly on Friday.

The seniors’ section was the east wing of the second floor.
Andy came up with the idea for the seniors to
make posters o
f
Philippine eagles with blue-and-white plumage plucking the eyes out of black-striped, red (City High’s colors were red and black) Bali tigers to hang on the walls to symbolize the Tallis Eagles’ certain defeat of the City Tigers. According to Andy, the Philippine eagles were the largest birds in the world and one of the most powerful, and the Bali tigers were the smallest extinct tigers. Jason had to hand it to him: Andy was smart as hell, but if he spent less time obsessing about weird shit, such as which was the largest and most powerful eagle and which was the smallest extinct tiger, he wouldn’t still be practically a virgin. All the posters had to do was look cool, not provide a zoology lesson.

The football team had practice every day that week until the big game on Friday against City High (games usually took place on Saturdays, but the homecoming dance would be happening then).
During Monday’s football practice, Coach Logan focused on passing plays via a scrimmage (first string versus second string) to help decrease the likelihood that City would gain possession of the ball on account of fumbles and interceptions. He didn’t want to see any fumbles or successful interceptions, and if he did, the entire team would have to run one lap around the football field for every fumble and for every interception. All of the guys—from the running backs to the wide receivers—did a great job, having only one fumble and no interceptions for first string and three fumbles and one interception for second string, but the coach yelled at them all, anyway, and told them they sucked as they ran their mandatory laps. In addition to his harsh criticisms, Coach Logan told them that passing would be the focal point of their practices for the rest of the week until they had no fumbles and no successful interceptions and that he would double the number of laps for each fumble and each interception for each extra day that they had to expend on passing plays because of their screw ups. Rather than demoralize them, the coach’s merciless words and stringent requirements motivated the team to do better and fired them up to tear the heads off the City Tigers come homecoming.

Jason had added incentive to do better (not that he wasn’t already amazing, because he was): Ben Hoates, the quarterback coach from SCU, was coming to watch him play. With his stats, Jason was pretty much guaranteed a spot for next fall, but winning the homecoming game would make him an even better prospect.

On Tuesday work was started on the float for the homecoming parade. Football players were exempt from building it, as the float was in their honor. Whatever the underclassmen were making, it had better be good. It was Jason’s senior year; it was his last homecoming, and it was the only homecoming where he could be (and would be) homecoming king. He wanted everything to be perfect in every way.

Somehow Jason and the other football players performed even worse during Tuesday’s practice than they had during Monday’s (first string had four fumbles and one interception during the scrimmage, and second string had seven fumbles and two interceptions), and Coach Logan was not shy about voicing his disappointment.

“What the hell was that?” the coach spat. The team sat on the bleachers, giving the coach their full attention lest they piss him off any further. “Ya’ll played like a bunch of fags who’ve never even stepped foot on a field. Now, we only have two days of practice left until we play City, and I don’t know about ya’ll, but I like being a winner, and in order for me to keep being a winner, ya’ll have to keep being winners, so fucking get it together, so we can fucking keep winning. Go on and do your laps, so you can get out of my sight.”

“Coach, can the guys who lost the ball just be the ones who have to run? That’s not really fair to the rest of us,” Aries grouched.

“You’re a team, Aries. If one of you screws up, all of you screws up, and to show you what I mean, the whole team will now have to run thirty-eight laps instead of twenty-eight as punishment for your smart mouth.”

All of the guys on the team groused.

“Ya’ll wanna make it forty-eight?” Coach Logan threatened, shutting everyone up. “I didn’t think so.” Coach Logan stared at the team, vexation on his face. “Well, what are ya’ll waiting for? Ya’ll got thirty-eight laps to run, let’s go! While I still got some hair left on this head, come on!”

The team leaped from the benches and began their marathon around the field. Jason joined Eric and Andy, and the three ran side by side.

“Man, I’m so fucking pissed. Aries better not say shit when we get into the locker room. I’ll break his fucking jaw if he does,” Eric said.

“Let’s do it anyway,” Jason proposed. “I’ll hold the motherfucker down while you beat his ass.”

“You guys can’t do that,” Andy told them.

“And why not?” Eric snarled.

“Duh, Captain Dumbass! His father’s Mr. Henderson. You don’t think he’ll run and tell daddy if you jump him on school property? You’ll be suspended, maybe even kicked off the team.”

“No way!” Jason argued. “Coach wouldn’t allow that to happen, not with the big game coming up and us having a real shot at our second state championship in a row.”

“He wouldn’t, but we have a new principal, and who knows how she feels about football. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“But it’ll be our word against Aries’s.”

“Yeah, but we still have Mr. Henderson for AP calculus, and I don’t know about you guys, but—”

“We’re doing it!” Eric said, cutting him off. “Stop being such a pussy, Andy. Besides, I know just the thing to do to make sure Aries never says anything to anybody, not even his pops. Let’s spread the word, boys.”

Jason, Eric, and Andy told the guys behind them of their intention of seeking reprisal against Aries, and then those players told the guys behind them, the message spreading like a virus until the entire team—save for Aries—had been informed of the plan and was prepared to back Jason, Eric, and Andy up when they made their move.

It happened in the locker room: All the guys undressed and jumped in the showers, as usual, but kept an eye on Aries. The team waited until he had finished showering. And that’s when they pounced. Five guys pinned Aries down on a bench and held his mouth open, so Eric could stick his erect dick inside. The rest of the team took photos and videos with their smartphones; if Aries snitched, the pictures would go on the Internet.

Eric taunted Aries as he repeatedly thrust his penis in and out of Aries’s mouth, making him gag. “How does that dick taste in your mouth, huh? How does it feel? You tell anybody or shoot your mouth off again during practice, and the whole world will see what a faggot you are.”

Jason saw a single tear trickle down Aries’s face.

“Admit it, that was one of my best ideas ever!” Eric said. “I swear, Aries was gagging so hard, I thought he was gonna puke on my dick. Then I would’ve had to break his jaw after wearing it out.”

Jason, Eric, and Andy laughed. They were coming from the locker rooms and were heading to their cars.

“I will say one good thing about Aries,” Jason said. “He made me miss my date with Emily.”

“How is that good? Emily’s hot as fuck. Man, if you don’t want her, I and every other guy in the school will take her. Hell, I bet even Darlene would take her.”

“She might be hot, but our dates sure aren’t. All she can do is talk about homecoming.”

“But the sex makes it worth it, though, right?”

“Sex? What sex? She’s still got my ass on probation for
cheating on her
.” Jason made air quotes. “It’s been nothing but kissing and hand jobs since
we
got back together
.” Jason did another set of air quotes.

“Enough with the air quotes, Mr. Swishy. You can’t be fagging out on us when we got the big game on Friday.”

“Between the three of us, who was the only one who put his junk in another guy’s mouth?”

“Fuck you.”

Jason and Andy guffawed. The three of them exchanged their goodbyes and then climbed into their cars.

“Jason, where the hell are you? I’ve been waiting for almost an hour.” Emily said. Jason had called her on his way home from football practice.

“Sorry, baby. I got held up in football practice.”

“You better not have been with another girl.”

“I haven’t, I swear. Check with the other guys on the team. They’ll tell you.”

“Okay. You still wanna come over?”

“I can’t. I have to get home.”

“Jason—”

He could hear the disappointment in her voice, so he said, “But I’ll see you tomorrow at the bonfire, okay?”

“Okay,” she sighed. She still sounded unhappy with him.

“And you’re gonna wear something sexy for me, right?”

“Jason, you are so crazy,” she chirped, followed by a flirtatious laugh.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, baby.”

“Okay, bye.”

He ended the call. Playing women was hard. But it was fun.

The bonfire took place at seven in the evening out on Fisherman’s Lake. Because the football team had made it through Wednesday’s practice with no fumbles and only one successful interception occurring when second string had been in possession of the ball, Coach Logan had cut the team some slack and let them off for the day with no laps, so they could enjoy the bonfire but had made it clear that tomorrow—the last practice before homecoming—he wanted no fumbles and no interceptions. With practice ending at six, it would be another two hours before it was time to go to the bonfire (it took that long for the school chaperones to leave and for the real fun to begin).

Jason, Eric, and Andy stopped by Rob and Rich’s party store to pick up the cases of beer and ice. The juniors and seniors had pitched in and bought two-dozen cases of beer for the bonfire. Eric had been entrusted with the actual purchasing of the beer, because of his great fake ID. Well, it wasn’t actually a fake ID. It was his older brother’s license that Eric had swiped last year when his brother had been home for Christmas break. The two brothers were only a few years apart, and they looked so much alike that no one ever questioned it when Eric flashed Scott’s ID.

The boys also bought other drinks plus food to snack on while they were at the party store: Jason bought a bag of taco-flavored Doritos and a bottle of Sprite; Eric bought a bag of pizzeria-flavored Combos and a can of Red Bull; and Andy bought a package of black licorice and a bottle of water. They would be drinking a lot of beer later on, and it was best not to do it on an empty stomach. Once they paid for their stuff, they headed back out to Eric’s black Yukon. They stocked the coolers that were sitting in the hatch of Eric’s SUV with beer and ice and then took off.

They hadn’t been on the freeway for five minutes before “SexyBack,” Jason’s ringtone, started playing. It was Emily calling him. Jason debated whether he should answer it. It was the fourth time Emily had called him that day, and each time, she never had anything more important or interesting to say than what time would he meet her at the bonfire, or had he found a blue tux yet, so he could match her dress for homecoming. He decided not to answer it. He put his phone back in his pocket.

“Was that Emily again?” Eric asked, momentarily taking his eyes off the road.

“Uh-huh.”

“See, this is why the only girl that has my phone number is my mom.”

“I think what you meant to say was your mom is the only girl that wants your phone number.”

“Fag.”

Jason and Andy doubled over laughing.

“Yeah, sure, go ahead and laugh. We’ll see how funny it is when I leave you two jerks by the side of the road, and you have to walk the rest of the way to Fisherman’s Lake.”

They made it to Fisherman’s lake about twenty minutes later. A huge bonfire had been built on the turf a good distance away from the lake, with a slowly incinerating large wooden eagle as its centerpiece. Multiple cars had music blasting.

Eric stepped out of his Yukon and yelled, “It’s brewsky time!”

The crowd of people already there gave him wild cheers.

“It’s about time you motherfuckers showed up. I’m dying of thirst over here,” Collin complained, a bottle of water in his hand, as he followed Eric to the back of the Yukon.

“What are you talking about, man? You got a bottle of water right there in your hand,” Eric pointed out.

“Did I say I was thirsty for water, dumbass?”

Eric laughed. “Touché.”

Collin chucked his bottle of water and grabbed three cans of beer from one of the coolers: two for himself and one for Amy.

Jason decided to grab a beer, too, for a crowd was starting to form around the Yukon, and he wanted to get his drink before the crowd turned into a maelstrom. Walking away, he popped his can and took a sip. Good stuff. He looked around: there were a lot of hotties, ones he hadn’t even fucked yet.
Last week
, he told himself. After that he was a free man again and could go back to fucking whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted, however he wanted.

“There you are!”

Jason turned to find Emily coming toward him. She was wearing a black halter top with pink capri pants. She kissed him and wrapped her arms around him.

“Did you get me a beer?” she asked, looking at him and smiling.

“No, but you can have mine,” Jason said, his voice not betraying even a trace of the reluctance and anger that was in his head as he handed her his can of beer.

“Thanks. You’re so sweet. Take a look at this.” She held her phone up, so Jason could see it: there was a picture of a blue tux on the screen.

Not this shit
again.

“I thought since you were having such a hard time finding a tux that matched my dress, I’d help out and find one for you. What do you think?”

“It’s okay, but you know, baby, I am capable of finding a tux on my own.”

“You said the same thing last week, Jason. It’s now Wednesday. The dance is on Saturday. Ticktock.”

“I know, I’ve been working on it.”

“Okay. Here’s my dress, so you can make sure you get something that matches.” She changed the picture on her phone from the blue tux to one of her pink-and-blue dress. “I know I already showed you my dress, but just in case you forgot.”

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten.” She had sent a dozen pictures of her dress to his phone last week, and she showed him the dress on her phone every time they were together. There was a better chance of him forgetting what his own face looked like than there was of him forgetting that stupid dress.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Amanda staring daggers at him. “You wanna go for a walk?” he said to Emily. He wasn’t really up for going anywhere with Emily at the moment (her endless chatter about dresses and tuxes was seriously irking him), but he was worried Amanda might cause a scene, given their history, and he wanted to get out of there before she did. He decided to take Emily with him, because one, he couldn’t think of a good way to ditch her without it being obvious that he was trying to ditch her, and two, it might lead to sex. He also didn’t want to leave Emily anywhere near Amanda, not after what had happened the last time they had hooked up. Jason got hard as he thought about Emily and Amanda actually hooking up.