November Blues (15 page)

“I miss the band,” admitted Jericho, “a little. But the feel of a good tackle or hit on the line as the crowd cheers in the background—now that's power!”

“I'm thinkin' about trying out for the mascot this year,” Kofi said. “You know—that guy who dresses up like a panther at the football games. Girls go for that thing, I've noticed. Turns them on!” He rolled his eyes at Dana and waited for her response.

Dana smacked him on the back of the head. “If you find something better than me, brother, go for it. Tell those girls this panther is taken!” They grabbed each other and giggled.

November felt an odd mix of emotions. She was relieved that the cookout had been a success, but as she listened to her friends chatter about the beginning of school, she envied them, sadly aware that she would be able to participate in none of the very ordinary school activities they mentioned. None.

JERICHO TRUDGED OVER TO THE PARKING
lot and chugged a whole bottle of blue-colored, raspberry-flavored sports drink. Coach said it was good for them, but Jericho still preferred plain old cold bottled water. He wiped his lips, tossed his gear in the trunk of his car, and turned on the motor, but he didn't get in. He hoped the air-conditioning system was working today—it could be temperamental—so the car would be cool when Olivia got there.

Summer band and football practices were dismissed at the same time. A couple of weeks ago, when a rainstorm had exploded right after practice, he'd offered her a ride home. They'd sat in his slightly leaky, definitely ancient, red Grand Am and talked for two hours while the rain swirled around them. Since then, he had been giving her a ride home every day after practice.

“Waitin' for your girl, man?” Roscoe yelled from the other side of the parking lot.

“She's just a friend,” Jericho yelled back, trying to explain.

“Pretty big friend!” Roscoe laughed and drove away.

Jericho wasn't sure how he felt about Olivia. She certainly was no Arielle—pale and dainty and desirable. Olivia was just a girl—a really nice girl, fun to talk to, but nothing more than that.

She turned the corner, lugging her instrument, and waved. She wore a navy blue T-shirt and red sweatpants. Her whole face became a smile. He waved back, genuinely glad to see her.

“Last band practice of the summer—over and done with, Captain!” she said, saluting. She shoved the sousaphone into the backseat.

“And last football practice, too! Whew! I thought Coach Barnes would never let us out of there.”

“You know, it's not like it's over. We'll still have practice every night after school,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, I know. But somehow this puts the cap on all we've done. The rest is just practicing the details and polishing the production.”

She scowled and looked at him. “You sound like a coach.”

“Coach Barnes has that effect on me. He's always talking about reaching for the stars and dreaming of unbelievable possibilities. I'm starting to believe him,” Jericho admitted. He opened the door on his side.

“Is the team ready for Excelsior next week?” she asked. “This is gonna be like a Tonka truck going against a Hummer!”

“Some of those kids' toys are pretty tough,” said Jericho, teasing.

“Not when they're under the wheels of the biggest SUV in the world! They'd get squashed.”

Jericho laughed. “We're as ready as we'll ever be. Coach won't let us say anything negative—he's making us focus on a win.”

“A win against Excelsior? Impossible. You just have to hope you don't get skunked too bad.”

They climbed into Jericho's car, which had cooled enough so the seats weren't hot to the touch. “At least we got new uniforms. We'll wear them for the first time for the Excelsior game,” he said as he tried to make the air blow cooler.

“Sweet. So you'll look good while you get stomped into the mud.”

“Girl, don't let Coach hear you talking like that. I think he really believes we can beat them.”

“He's a dreamer. What do the uniforms look like?”

“Really nice—expensive looking. They've got our names in big red letters on the back. Red stripes down the sides of the pants—really first-class.”

“And the band has to show up in those same ratty-looking uniforms we've been wearing for the past ten years. Oh well, at least we get a road trip to Cleveland. That ought to be fun.”

“Is the band ready for the half-time showdown?”

“Hey, our music is the bomb! If that's the only thing we had to worry about, we'd blow them out of the water. We're small, but mighty. Me, I'm just mighty!” She
laughed, then added, “The trumpet section sure could use you.”

“Yeah, I know.” He clicked on the radio, but it just buzzed. “You get music or air in my car. Which one do you want?”

“My head is full of music, and the air feels good,” she answered contentedly.

“You ready for school to start on Monday?” he asked her after a few minutes.

Olivia exhaled loudly. “I'm glad it's my senior year. I'm looking forward to my classes. But that's all. School isn't fun for me.” She fiddled with the zipper on her purse.

“I feel you. Me and Josh had all these crazy plans for our senior year—like climbing to the roof of the school and putting up a flag, or letting a cow loose in the main hall….”

“A cow?”

“His uncle owns a farm. It's not important—just stupid kid stuff that will never happen.”

“I know how much you miss him,” she said gently. They stopped at a red light. He noticed she reached over to touch his shoulder, but she quickly jerked her hand back and folded her arms across her chest. He gave her no indication he had noticed and drove on when the light changed.

He pulled up in front of her house but kept the motor running. “Hey, maybe we'll have a couple of classes together.”

“Who knows? When they do class schedules by computer, anything can happen. Last year some girl had been
scheduled for seven periods of gym! She was in the office having a purple fit!”

“Sounds like a perfect day to me.”

“Ugh. A funky armpit day.”

“Well, speaking of armpits, I better get home and get showered. I'll see you at school on Monday.”

She climbed out of the car and retrieved her instrument. “Uh, Jericho?”

“Yeah.”

“I really appreciate the rides home. You didn't have to do that.”

“No sweat. You're pretty cool to talk to—just like one of the guys.”

She gave him a funny look, then closed the car door. “See you around, Jericho.”

AFTER A LONG SHOWER AND A BIG BOWL
of Geneva's chili, Jericho sat in his room organizing his new book bag for Monday. Binders in red and green, fresh notebook paper, and dark blue gel pens. As a junior, he'd learned to do with the very minimum—just enough to get through the day.

Todd poked his head in the door. He wore his favorite pair of Batman pajamas, the blue logo faded and almost gray. The pj's were way too small for him, but he refused to give them up, and would not pass them down to Rory. “You excited about the first day of school, Jericho?”

“Only because it's my last first day. Everything after this is countdown to graduation!”

“You'll have a first day of college,” Todd said, “won't you?”

“Yeah, I suppose. But that will be different. What about you, kid? Ready for the first day of seventh grade?”

“I'm a little scared,” his stepbrother admitted.

“How come? You're at the same school as last year, aren't you?”

“Yeah, but every year in June the seventh graders have a dance that they have to invite a girl to, and I'm afraid nobody will want to go with me.”

“You're worried about a party that's almost a year away?”

“I'm not cool and popular like you, Jericho. You're a big football star, and I've seen how the girls look at you at practice. You're the bomb.” Todd picked up a pack of pencils from Jericho's desk and tossed it from one hand to the other.

Jericho grabbed the boy and tousled his curly hair. “Kid, you are the coolest, flyest twelve-year-old in Batman pajamas that I've ever met. You're going to have to install a special computer program just to sort through the girls who want to go with you to that dance!”

“You really think so?” Todd slipped out of Jericho's grasp and sat on the bed.

“I know so. And I think you've got the wrong idea about my popularity. My girl dumped me last semester, and I been flying solo ever since.”

“What about Olivia? Most days when I came to watch you practice, I noticed you took her home.”

“Olivia is cool people, but she's just a friend. And at your age, that's all you need to worry about—having girls as friends. You're way too young to even think about anything else.”

“There was a girl in my class who got pregnant last year,” Todd said, grimacing. “Yuck!”

“In the sixth grade? That's messed up.” Jericho gave Todd a devilish smile. “You're not the daddy, are you?”

Todd threw several pillows at Jericho. “Ooh, nasty!” the boy cried. Jericho pounced on his stepbrother, tickling him, while Todd screeched with glee. Rory heard all the commotion and joined in, the three boys wrestling and laughing and knocking things over until Geneva came in and put a stop to it.

JUST BEFORE HE FELL ASLEEP, JERICHO'S
cell phone rang. He stumbled over to his desk, lifted it off the charger, and said groggily, “Hello.”

“Hi, Jericho.” Arielle's voice, coming across the phone line like a soft echo, startled him fully awake. He almost fell off the bed.

“Uh, what's up, Arielle?” he managed to say. He wasn't sure if he was glad to hear from her or not.

“I was just thinking about school starting next week, deciding what to wear and stuff, and I got to thinking about you.”

“Me? Why?” His heart was beating fast. He wanted to hang up. But he didn't.

“We had a good thing going for a while there, Jericho. Something special.”

He couldn't believe how her voice was melting him like soft butter. He hated himself for being so weak. “Yeah, we
did. But you were the one who ended it, Arielle, not me,” he said as harshly as he could.

“I know, but there was so much trauma drama going on. I couldn't cope with the stress. Josh was dead, the Warriors looked like they were going to jail, and everybody associated with them seemed to be in trouble.” She sounded as if she was sniffling.

“If I remember,
I
was the one who was stressed. Josh was my cousin, my very best friend. I needed you and you weren't there!” he said angrily.

“I'm so sorry, Jericho. Can you forgive me?”

“You gotta be kidding!” He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“I miss you, Jericho.” Her voice was like candy.

“You're asking quite a bit, Arielle.” He could feel himself weakening.

“I'm a better person now,” she said. “I'm willing to start over if you are.”

“What about Logan?” Jericho asked bluntly. Just saying Logan's name made him furious—not just because Arielle had gone out with him, but because of what he'd done to those kids.

“Logan's in jail and won't get out till he's twenty-one—at the earliest,” she replied dismissively.

“But you wrapped yourself around him like he was the ‘king of all that,'” said Jericho accusingly.

“I admit that was my bad. I made a mistake,” she said sweetly. “Haven't you ever made an error in judgment? Haven't you ever hated yourself for something terrible you'd done and you wish you could erase it?”

How does she know how to stab me right where I'm weakest?
he thought as he stared at the moonlight outside his window. “Yeah, maybe,” he admitted.

“You were the best thing that ever happened to me, Jericho.”

Her voice was pleading, almost plaintive, like one of his trumpet solos. He found himself sweating.

“Did you know Logan was dealin' drugs to little kids?” Jericho demanded.

“No, I swear I didn't,” she proclaimed. “If I had known I would have turned him in. Honest. You gotta believe me.”

“One of those kids could have died, you know.”

“Yeah, but nobody did. That's all that matters.”

“You really believe that?”

“You know what I mean, Jericho.” Changing the subject, she asked, “How are your little stepbrothers?”

“They're cool. They think big brother Jericho is a football star.”

“Well, you are,” Arielle said, her voice sounding silky and smooth. “All the girls on the cheerleading squad say you be lookin' bomb diggety out there!”

“They do?” Jericho was amazed.

“Yeah, sometimes after our practice in the gym, we went over to the football field and watched you guys work out.”

“I didn't even know you were a cheerleader,” he told her.

“It seemed like the right thing to do for my senior year. It's fun, plus it will look good on my college résumé.”

“So, uh, the cheerleaders go to every game?” Jericho hated to sound dumb, but he'd never paid much attention
to the cheerleaders when he was in the band. They were just a bunch of girls with pom-poms who giggled on the bus and wiggled on the field.

“Ooh, yes! I'm really charged about the game with Excelsior! I hear their cheerleaders wear uniforms that glow in the dark!”

Everything was starting to sink in. “So you'll be going with us to Cleveland for that game?”

“Absolutely. I'm going to cheer for the team, but mostly I'll be there to support you, Jericho.”

He honestly didn't know what to say. “Why?”

“Because I gave up a diamond in the rough, and I'm ready to show him how to shine like a jewel.”

“Girl, you talkin' a bunch of mess.”

She laughed. “Just give me a chance, okay? No strings. No promises. I'll see you at school Monday.”

She hung up and Jericho sat there on the edge of his bed for several moments, looking at the phone screen, which glowed for a short while, then dulled as the line went dead. He finally went and put the phone back on the charger, but he didn't go back to bed right away. He stared at the late summer moon outside. Everything looked shimmery and unusually bright. The white lawn furniture in the backyard, reflecting the moonlight, seemed to glow like something out of an old science fiction movie. He knew it wasn't real. He wondered if he could trust anything anymore.