Men, Women & Children (6 page)

Tim wrote a brief e-mail to Freyja. It read, “The Myspace references thing popped you up when I logged on. Just thought I’d say hi.” He didn’t want to let Brandy know that he knew who she was. He decided to see what her reaction would be to his e-mail before doing anything else.

Brandy had just sent a response to an e-mail from Dungeonmax, part of an extended conversation about
True Blood
regarding which of the vampires they found to be the most sexually attractive, when she saw a new message from Tim appear in her in-box. The subject line read, “Hello.” She was instantly nervous and slightly afraid. She frantically wondered if she had been discovered by one of her classmates—and not just any classmate, but one whom she had had romantic interest in the year before. She opened his e-mail and read the message, which seemed innocuous enough not to warrant any alarm. Nothing in the message led her to believe he knew it was her, and even if he did, it didn’t seem like he was the type to divulge this information to her mother or anyone else for that matter. Despite her understanding of the situation, Brandy decided to ignore his message and delete it.

In his room, Tim waited fifteen more minutes for Brandy to respond. In those fifteen minutes she never went offline and she never sent a response. He assumed her reasoning was identical to the time he sent her the first text message: that she was uninterested.

D
anny was allowed to pass twice in the first half, each time resulting in a gain of over fifteen yards, once resulting in a touchdown throw to Chris Truby, who was alone in the end zone. Despite the success of both passing plays, Coach Quinn forced Danny to execute a battery of running plays. The final play of the first half found Danny Vance handing the ball off to Tanner Hodge for a gain of three yards. As the Goodrich Olympians ran off the field into the field house for a halftime pep talk, the score was thirteen to seven in favor of the Park Panthers. In the wake of the football team, the Olympiannes took the field to put on a halftime show they had been practicing all week.

In the stands, parents freely issued conjecture on the state of the team, the outcome of the season, and the mistakes that would surely be made in the second half. Jim, Don, and Kent were among these parents.

Don, who was inebriated, said, “Well, it’s not looking good, huh, guys?”

Jim said, “Nah, we’re fine. Danny and Chris will hook up a few more times before the game’s over. You’ll see.”

Kent said, “It’s not going to matter much if our defense can’t stop them from scoring.”

Jim said, “I know. And Park probably has the weakest running game of any school this year. I hate to sound like a broken record but you have to find a way to get Tim back out here.”

Kent just nodded.

On the field, the Olympiannes formed a pyramid with Allison Doss at the apex. Dawn Clint knelt by the pyramid, snapping photos of her daughter, who was in the second tier of the pyramid. She found that from a certain angle she was able to take some in which Hannah’s buttocks were slightly exposed, shots she knew would be favorites of her subscribers. Upon review of a series of ten photographs she took, she found that one actually allowed the viewer to see a small part of Hannah’s vagina on the side of the underwear she wore beneath her cheerleading skirt. She deleted this image immediately.

The pyramid was to be held for ten seconds, at the end of which Allison Doss was to stand up on the shoulders of the two girls supporting her, scream “Go Olympians,” and then fall back, to be caught by Mrs. Langston and Rory Pearson, the only male member of the Olympiannes. Allison stood at the correct moment but found herself unable to scream “Go Olympians,” due to becoming abruptly and extremely light-headed. She fell backward from the top of the pyramid, unconscious and bleeding from the nose. As Mrs. Langston caught her limp body and became aware of the blood trickling out of her nose, she yelled, “Doc!” Mr. Kemp, the school’s athletic trainer, made his way to her as quickly as possible from the sidelines. Mrs. Langston told the rest of the Olympiannes to continue the show with basic cheers and individual gymnastics while she and Mr. Kemp took Allison to the field house.

In the field house, Coach Quinn was explaining to the football team that the offensive line needed to pick up the slack in order to make sure the running game was as effective as it was designed to be. Danny became aware of the fact that Coach Quinn had no intention of letting him pass and was unsure of how to change the situation. He was on the verge of voicing his opinion when Mr. Kemp and Mrs. Langston carried Allison Doss through the front door, prompting Coach Quinn to stop his speech and say, “She okay?”

Mr. Kemp said, “I think so, just got a little light-headed, nose bleed. Nothing serious. Just needs to lay down for a few minutes.”

Coach Quinn said, “Okay, you can use my office if you need or anything in the training room.” Then Coach Quinn turned his attention back to his team and began his speech about the importance of a solid ground game again.

In the training room, Mr. Kemp and Mrs. Langston laid Allison down on a table that was generally used to tape athletes’ joints before games. Mr. Kemp retrieved some smelling salts from the first-aid cabinet and brought Allison back to consciousness. He gave her a washcloth to wipe the blood from her nose.

She said, “What happened?”

Mrs. Langston said, “You passed out on top of the pyramid.”

Mr. Kemp gave her a grape Gatorade and said, “Just sit here as long as you need and drink this and you’ll be okay. I have to get back out on the field. Mrs. Langston, you okay in here?”

Mrs. Langston said, “Yeah.”

Once Mr. Kemp was gone, Mrs. Langston said, “Should we call your parents or anything?”

Allison didn’t want her family to have reason to suspect that anything might be abnormal with her. She said, “No, they’re both working and wouldn’t be able to come anyway. I’m fine, really.”

Mrs. Langston said, “Allison, you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to, but I want you to know that I’m here for you if you do. Have you been eating okay?”

This was the first time Allison had been directly confronted about her eating habits, the first time anyone had recognized that something might possibly be out of the norm. She said, “Yeah, I had a big lunch today. I mean, I know I’ve lost a little weight, but I think it’s just because I’m going through puberty or something, you know? Same thing with the nose bleeds. I read online that you just get them sometimes as you grow.”

Mrs. Langston said, “That can be true. I just want you to know that if you want to, I’m always here to talk.” Mrs. Langston had coached Allison in the seventh grade as well. She had always liked Allison and felt sorry for her, knowing that once she got to high school, she would be too overweight to make the cheerleading squad. So when she returned to eighth grade, not only thinner than she had been in seventh grade but thinner than virtually every girl in her class, it seemed likely, at least in Mrs. Langston’s mind, that Allison might have developed an eating disorder, although she reassured herself that she had no conclusive evidence to support her suspicion. Mrs. Langston had never dealt with something of this magnitude, and wasn’t exactly sure how she should handle it or if she should alert a third party, so she decided in that moment to let Allison come to her if she felt it necessary; otherwise, she would remain silent.

Allison said, “Thanks.” Then she looked at the Gatorade and said, “Could I actually just get some water?”

B
ack in the main room of the field house, Coach Quinn delivered the final words of his halftime speech; then the team stood and began to file back out onto the field. Danny Vance thought for a moment about approaching Coach Quinn privately before they left the building, to air his complaint about not being allowed to use his passing capability as frequently as he thought he should be. Instead, years of discipline and forced respect for authority, instilled in him by his father through various organized youth athletic endeavors, motivated him to remain silent and hope that Coach Quinn would realize the Olympians should utilize the pass play far more in the second half than they did in the first.

The first play Coach Quinn called in the second half was the four-three-six option, another running play. The next two plays of their first series of the second half were also running plays, resulting in a net gain of three yards and forcing a punt. As Jeremy Kelms delivered a thirty-two-yard punt, Danny watched from the sidelines, wondering what he should do about the obvious lack of coaching ability that was hindering his team. Brooke came up behind Danny and said, “You look really good out there, babe.” Danny found her voice to be annoying and shrill at that moment, a sound that broke his concentration on the game. He said, “Not now, we’re losing.” This was the same response and attitude that Danny’s father would display toward his mother when she would ask a simple question while he was watching a professional or college football game in which his preferred team was behind, although Danny would never have recognized the similarity. Brooke said, “Sorry,” with sincerity, and returned to her place among the Olympiannes as they began a cheer with “Go! Fight! Win!”

For the next quarter and a half, Coach Quinn called only running plays that resulted in no additional scoring. The Park Panthers were able to exploit the Olympians’ weak middle defense to score an additional touchdown, bringing the score to twenty to seven with slightly more than five minutes left in play as Danny Vance and the Olympians’ offense took the field again.

Chris Truby ran into the huddle from the sidelines and whispered the play to Danny as was protocol. He said, “Five-three-two flip” and took his place in the huddle, waiting for Danny to repeat the play to the rest of the offense. Danny looked at the clock and knew that another run play was a mistake. He decided at that moment to take matters into his own hands and said, “X fade on two, X fade on two. Ready—break!” Chris was the only player on the team who knew that Danny had changed the play, and he offered no complaint, because the play Danny called was a pass play with him as the primary receiver.

As the offense lined up, Coach Quinn immediately knew that something was wrong, based on the formation. He was on the verge of calling a time-out, but before he could, the ball was snapped and the play was in motion. Chris Truby hitched on the front line for a few seconds as Danny dropped back in the pocket, and then Chris took off down the sideline with as much speed as he could generate. He overtook the right side cornerback and was alone within a matter of seconds. Danny threw the ball to Chris, who caught it and ran to the end zone for a touchdown. Coach Quinn was confused by what he saw. He didn’t know which of the players had decided to change the play he called, but the outcome was beneficial to his team, so he decided he would allow this one transgression against his authority to go without acknowledging it. There would be no reprimand, no inquiry into the matter.

After the extra point, the score was twenty to fourteen with slightly under five minutes left in play, and the Olympian defense took the field. By this point in the game, the Park Panthers had recognized that the weakest point in their opponents’ defense was right in the middle. If they could get a run play through the defensive line, it was almost guaranteed to get past the middle linebacker and would only be stopped by the free safety, which would usually result in enough yardage for a first down or close to it. With a seven-point lead and little time left in the game, the Park Panthers’ coach decided that the best strategy was to call run plays up the middle for the remainder of the game.

The first such play resulted in a gain of seven yards. The second, a gain of five for a first down. The third, a gain of fifteen for a first down. The fourth, a gain of four. The fifth, a gain of nine for a first down. The sixth, a gain of eighteen for a first down and a field position on the Olympians’ twenty-yard line with slightly under two minutes left in play. Even if they didn’t score a touchdown, they could easily kick a field goal, making it virtually impossible for the Olympians to win.

The next play was another run up the middle. Every member of the Olympian defense expected it, and one member, a lineman named Eric Rakey, decided that instead of going for the tackle, he would attempt to strip the ball, knowing that a turnover might be the only thing that would allow the Olympians a chance to win their season opener.

As the Park Panthers’ tailback came through the hole immediately to Eric’s right, Eric raised his hand and swatted at the ball in the tailback’s hands as hard as he could, causing a fumble that was recovered by Bill Francis.

The Olympians’ offense took the field on their own eighteen-yard line with one minute and forty-two seconds left on the clock. The first play called was the seven-six-two smash, a running play. Danny knew that Coach Quinn had made no attempt to reprimand him for calling his own play earlier in the half, but he felt that doing it again might incur some form of punishment. He ran the play as called for a gain of one yard. The next play was also a running play. He ran it as called for a gain of two yards. On third down, Coach Quinn called another running play. This time, Danny decided to override his coach in an attempt to win the game. Danny called the wide-right fly, a play designed to get Chris Truby as deep as possible while making it seem as though the intended receiver was much closer to the line of scrimmage in the flat on the right side.

Danny connected with Chris for a gain of thirty yards, putting the Olympians just over the fifty-yard line. In the stands, the parents credited Coach Quinn with finally deciding to pass. On the sidelines, Coach Quinn called his last time-out. As the offense made their way to the sidelines, Danny correctly assumed that calling his own play a second time might have been a mistake.