New Girl in Town Pt. 11

Jake nods. "As long as I got them to him by Friday, he could get them in."

"This is really amazing, Jake. I can't wait to see this one hanging with the one of Jessica." Dr. Golden says.

"Mr. Pennington let slip that Jake's going to have three pieces there but I can't tell you about the other one because even I don't know what it is." Jessica tells her.

"I guess it's a good thing we all like surprises, Jake." Dr. Golden states.

"I love surprises!" Sarah announces. "Especially good ones, like elephant ears."

****

Thursday

"Jake!" Coach Pennington calls out as Jake exits the locker room.

"Yeah, Coach?" Jake answers as he trots over.

"The late guy to practice has to help me so grab one of these handles." Coach Pennington tells him.

"The homecoming rehearsal thing took longer than expected, Coach." Jake explains then looks at the cooler full of water. "Aren't these usually down on the field before practice, Coach?"

"This one isn't for drinking, Jake." Coach Pennington answers.

Jake and Coach Pennington heft the cooler and begin walking towards the field.

"So this is some sort of punishment then?" Jake jokingly asks.

"Just be glad that this is a walkthrough practice for tomorrow's game and you aren't padded up." Coach Pennington tells him.

"We should always be thankful for the small things or so my grandmother tells me." Jake comments.

"Hey hold up, Jake!" Ray shouts as he exits the locker room.

"Running late too huh, Ray?" Coach Pennington asks as Ray jogs up to them.

"I got hung up at that rehearsal thing too." Ray answers as he takes the handle of the cooler from Coach Pennington.

"Hung up with Staci is more likely." Jake teases.

"Oh like you wouldn't be even later if Jessica were out there with us like she should have been." Ray responds.

"How you two jokers managed to get girlfriends this year is beyond me." Coach Pennington jokes.

"I'm very lovable, Coach." Jake states. "I got tested."

"I keep telling you that you took a test to see if you were insane and that scoring high on it was a bad thing." Ray jokes.

"I was told to always try my best." Jake answers.

"I prayed for football players this season and I end up with you two jokers. Talk about punishment." Coach Pennington chuckles as he shakes his head.

They reach the field and Coach takes back the handle Ray had so he can go join first team. He and Jake carry the cooler over to where the defense waits.

"It's nice to see you making Jake do some manual labor, Coach but the water buckets are already here." Antoine points out.

Coach Pennington chuckles but instead of answering him, he grabs his duffle bag and proceeds to dump the footballs inside it into the cooler of water.

"Anyone see the weather forecast for tomorrow night?" He asks the group.

"They're calling for rain." One of the defensive linemen calls out.

"Correct." Coach Pennington nods. "That means a wet football and we are going to be ready for that. It's unlikely we'll be seeing any passing from East tomorrow but I want us to be ready just in case. Dime package, three deep coverage and let's throw a nice inside blitz at Jake. I hear that he loves those."

"I thought we were friends, Coach!" Jake calls out and gets a laugh from everyone except Jamie.

"That's what you get for thinking, Jake." Coach Pennington states as he walks over to the offense huddle.

The defense lines up and Jake plucks a football from the water.

"Damn, cold water too, Coach?" Jake asks. "Now, I know this is some kind of punishment for sure."

"We'll be lucky if it's in the fifties at game time, Jake." He points out. "Add the rain to that and..."

"And we get a soggy homecoming." Jake answers. "That's going to be great. What's the play, Coach?"

"As long as it's a pass, I'll leave it up to you, Jake." He states. "Show us what you've got."

Jake nods and turns back to the running back and receivers.

"Okay, shotgun formation. Corner routes for my wide outs and curls for the rest. Cut them at ten yards. We'll go on one." Jake tells them.

They nod and jog off to their assigned locations as Jake takes his.

"Set... hut," Jake shouts then drops back five steps.

In front of him, he spies Antoine dropping back into coverage while Jamie makes a beeline straight for the blitz. Knowing he has a moment, Jake looks to his left for a free receiver and spots that Monte has a step on his coverage man. He attempts to heave the ball in Monte's direction but the wet ball slips out before he's ready and it flies out the backfield like a pop fly in baseball.

"Shit," Jake states as Antoine snags it from the air. He heads down field until Jake catches and taps his shoulder.

"Nice pass, dickhead." Jamie remarks as they head back towards Coach Pennington.

"That's what I like about you, Jamie. You're always so quick with the compliments." Jake jokingly says.

"Fuck you, Jake." Jamie snarls.

"Good hands, Tank." Coach Pennington says as they reach him.

"I got lucky, Coach." Antoine states as he tosses him the ball. "Jake's passes are usually uglier than that."

"I'll have you know that my passes were voted prettiest "Comedians. I'm coaching a team of comedians." Coach Pennington chuckles as deposits that ball back into the cooler and pulls another out.

"Let's run it again, funny guys." He tells them.

Coach Pennington has Jake run several passes against the defense, the wet footballs becoming easier to handle for both sides as time goes on.

"So that's what the cooler was for." Ray says as he spots Coach Pennington pull a drenched football from it. Ray and all of first team's receivers have walked over to watch the defense after the offense practice was dismissed.

Coach Pennington watches as Jake drops back and launches a decent spiral that sends a spray of water flinging off in it's wake. It hits Monte in stride and after a small bobble he manages to haul it in for a modest gain.

"Nice play offense!" Coach Pennington states then turns to Ray and the other just arrived receivers. "You guys done already?"

"Coach Yates said he had a meeting to get to so he cut us all loose a little early." Ray explains.

"He could have given us the night off for all the passes we threw." Mitch Channing, wide receiver of first team grumbles.

"I don't see us really throwing many passes guys because of the weather but feel free to jump in here and catch some of Jake's passes, if you want." Coach Pennington tells them.

"I'm game, Coach." Ray comments then jogs over to the huddle. "Someone said there were ugly passes being thrown over here. I came to see them firsthand."

"Is that what I sound like when I'm trying and failing to be funny?" Jake quips. "No wonder everyone thinks that I don't have a funny bone."

"I missed you too, sweetie." Ray laughs. "Now are you going to throw some soaking wet footballs my way, or what?"

"They're cold too and the first one's coming your way, funny guy." Jake tells him.

As practice continues the rest of the first team receivers sub in with the third stringers and by the time Coach Pennington calls it to an end, each have gotten used to catching the wet footballs.

"That was great practice tonight guys, I liked what I saw from each and every one of you." Coach Pennington tells them. "Now I want you all to go home, get some rest and come to school tomorrow knowing that you're ready for anything that East may throw at you."

****

Friday

The Golden Family and Gibson family are all seated together in the packed stadium under four umbrellas to shield them from the hard rain that's falling. Shelly, Jody and Roxie are huddled together under their own umbrellas seated next to Jessica and Sarah.

"The news says this isn't likely to let up anytime soon." Mr. Gibson tells the group as he slips his cell phone back into his pocket.

"If you guys want to leave, we'd understand." Mrs. Gibson tells Dr. Golden.

"We might once we see all the winners at homecoming." Dr. Golden answers. "We bundled up good but I'm worried about Sarah catching a cold."

"I'm fine, mom." Sarah calls out.

Jessica looks over at the game clock. It reads six minutes and twenty seconds to halftime. The score is knotted at seven, as it's been a defensive struggle since neither team seems willing to pass in the downpour. East is driving towards the goal line on the shoulders of their huge running back.

"I'll take Sarah to get some hot chocolate when we get the ball back." Jessica tells her parents.

"Tell Bobby hi when you go." Jody giggles.

"I was wondering where he took off to." Jessica states.

"Over at Marybeth's concession booth, just staring at her like a lovesick puppy." Roxie tells her.

"Aw, that's cute." Jessica comments.

"You might be seeing him pretty soon, Jess." Mr. Golden states as he watches the East running back break Jamie's attempted tackle. A couple of moments later and he's high stepping his way into the end zone for a score.

Mr. Gibson blows out an exasperated breath instead of cursing in front of Sarah and his wife pats his shoulder appreciatively.

"I guess we're getting that hot chocolate now, Sar-bear. Ready?" Jessica asks.

"Yep," Sarah answers as she hops to her feet.

"Can I get anyone else anything while I'm there?" Jessica asks.

"Just some more points if you can rustle some of those up for us, Jessica." Mr. Gibson states.

"I'll see what I can get them to whip up." Jessica answers as she takes Sarah's hand in one hand and the umbrella in the other. "We'll be back shortly."

"Give Bobby some grief from me, Jess!" Roxie calls out as Jessica and Sarah ascend the stadium steps.

While Jessica's gone, the Wildcat's return the kickoff to their thirty-five yard line. The first play goes for no yardage as the running back slipped in the mud after taking the handoff.

"Clean your cleats!" Mr. Gibson shouts.

"I'm not sure how much that would even help on a night like this." Mr. Golden comments. "I feel for whoever has to get this field back in shape after this."

Down on the field, Patrick takes the snap and as he turns to hand the ball off to Kendall, he goes down. When he doesn't get back up, the whole Wildcat side of the stadium goes silent. Coach Yates and the trainers jog out onto the field then kneel at Patrick's side.

"Damn, this doesn't look good." Mr. Gibson says as the trainers are looking over Patrick's ankle. Soon they've helped to his feet and over to the bench where they pull off his show to inspect his injured ankle.

****

"I got extra marshmallows!" Sarah announces as she and Jessica return to the group.

"Marybeth loaded her up and I told her that you were going to leave Sarah with her because of it." Jessica tells them.

"That's not a bad idea." Dr. Golden says.

"It got all quiet while we were in line." Jessica says. "What'd I miss?"

Shelly points down towards the bench and Jessica sees the trainers working on Patrick.

"He just took a step back and dropped." Jody states.

"What a shame." Roxie says and her sarcasm is duly noted.

After the injury timeout Coach Yates sends out the junior who is the Wildcats second string quarterback onto the field.

"He's not going to send Jake in?" Jessica wonders aloud.

"Jake missed a lot of time because of his injuries." Mr. Gibson tells her.

Play resumes and when the ball is snapped, the junior bobbles the snap, fumbles it, then instead of just falling on it he tries to pick it up. One of East's linebackers plows into him as another manages to scoop up the wet ball and trot into the end zone. The Wildcat fans sat in the stand stunned. Their star quarterback is on his way to the locker room his return questionable, East is their biggest rival and they just went up by two touchdowns in a torrential downpour.

The Wildcats receive the kickoff and return it to the nineteen-yard line.

Jessica had turned to tell Roxie something when Shelly nudges her.

"They're sending Jake in, Jess." Shelly points to the field.

Jessica's head jerks towards the field and she watches number seventeen jog out to the huddle.

"Please, please, please don't get hurt, Jake." She pleads silently.

****

Coach Yates grabs Jake by his shoulder pads and pulls him close.

"Just hand it off and get us to halftime. Halfback off right tackle and if there's a fumble, fall on the goddamn ball!" He orders Jake before pushing him towards the field.

"Finally!" Ray states as Jake joins the huddle.

"It's about fucking time they put you in, Jake." Kendall welcomes him.

"Thanks guys." Jake says. "You guys are all muddy. Let's try to keep me somewhat clean, huh. I got this homecoming thing coming up."

"Jake needs to look pretty for his pictures." Kendall laughs.

"That'd be a nice change of pace from how he usually looks." Ray adds.

"All right you jokers, we're running Kendall here off right tackle. Let's open up a hole for him. We've got some catching up to do." Jake states. "On two, on two."

Jake dries his hands on the towel hanging at his waist then gets behind the center. "Set... hut... hut."

He takes the snap, turns right and buries the ball in Kendall's gut. Kendall shoots through a small gap in the line for a gain of five yards before he's tackled.

Jake looks to the sidelines expecting Coach Yates to call a timeout but it doesn't happen. The speedy sophomore, Monte jogs to the huddle.

"Coach says we're to eat the clock. Halfback dive to the left." He tells the offense.

"You heard the man." Jake says looking up at the clock and watching it tick down. "You all right, Kendall?"

"Getting winded, Jake." Kendall answers. "We haven't done anything but running plays this whole game."

"Yates isn't going to call for a pass in these conditions." Ray sighs. "Even though Coach Pennington had us practice exactly for these conditions."

"Let's just make it to halftime only down by two touchdowns." Jake tells them as the play clock ticks down to ten. "Let's run this on one."

The Wildcats line up and Jake again takes his position. The play clock clicks down to three before Jake calls out his cadence. He takes the snap and again hands off to Kendall who is immediately hit at the line by a blitzing linebacker. The ball is jarred loose and hits the soggy ground. Jake spots it and dives for it before being buried under a crush of East players and his own.

****

"Is he getting up?" Jessica asks as she once again has covered her eyes with her hands.

"I don't know. I can't see either." Sarah states as she had copied her big sister by covering her eyes when Jake dove for the ball.

"He's up!" Mr. Golden announces to them.

"And more importantly, he has the ball." Mr. Gibson says garnering a smack on his shoulder for his wife. "I mean to say that Jake's tough. He'll be fine."

The group watches as the Wildcats run another play that gains enough for a first down but still no time out is called.

"They're playing for halftime." Mr. Gibson tells the group.

"Interesting strategy." Mr. Golden says.

"That's Yates. He's afraid that he's watching his record of perfect seasons go down the drain." Mr. Gibson shares.

"Is that why Jake's not throwing the ball, Mr. Gibson?" Jessica asks.

"That and this rain, Jessica." He answers her.

"But Mr. Pennington had them practice for this. Jake told me all about it after yesterday's practice. I spent an hour warming his hands back up." Jessica shares.

"Do I want to hear how you managed to do that, dear?" Dr. Golden asks.

"Lovingly?" Jessica suggests with a grin.

"I'll just bet." Dr. Golden says shaking her head.

"My point is, why not at least give it a try?"

"Yates plays by a very specific book and that book says that in any kind of rain, you run the ball." Mr. Gibson says. "That doesn't mean that he's right but that's Yates. You won't see anyone throwing a pass tonight if he has anything to say about it. He's stubborn like that."

****

Jake watches the last couple of seconds before halftime tick away while in the huddle. The offense heads to the sideline and a waiting Coach Yates.

"That could have gone better but at least you didn't lose the football." He comments. "Everyone head to the locker room except for you damn homecoming kids. Hustle your ass up there once this shit is done. We are losing this game, you know?"

Ray, Antoine and Jake head over to where Ms. Simpson and the rest of the homecoming court is waiting under umbrellas including Patrick who has changed into a suit.

"Nice suit there, Patrick." Antoine states. "How's that ankle feeling?"

"I can't put weight on it. Looks like I'm out the rest of the game." Patrick answers.

Ray starts to say something but Ms. Simpson speaks up.

"Okay, due to the field being a huge mess, we're doing this here on the track." She explains. "Ladies, grab your escorts and be careful of the mud on them."

Marisha walks over to Jake and hands him the umbrella to hold for them.

"How is it that you've gotten even more gorgeous than when I last saw you, Marisha?" Jake asks her as he takes in her elegant purple dress.

"Careful Jake or I'm telling your girlfriend that you're an insatiable flirt." She responds with a smile.

"Didn't you already do that though?" Jake asks as the pair wait for Ms. Simpson to announce their names.

"I did." Marisha laughs. "We've had a couple of nice little chats so far. She's such a sweetheart and gorgeous in her own right."

"Go ahead and ask me the question that everyone asks." Jake sighs exaggeratedly.

She giggles. "Is it, how'd a guy like you get a girl like Jessica?"

"That's the one." Jake chuckles.

"Well?" Marisha asks but Ms. Simpson calls out their names.

"Marisha Johnson and her escort, Jake Gibson." Ms. Simpson says into the microphone.

Jake and Marisha walk arm in arm towards the already assembled homecoming contestants.

"You owe me an answer, mister." Marisha whispers.

"It turns out that if you let the rabbit keep his foot, you get even better luck." Jake whispers.

She laughs loud enough for Ms. Simpson to glance over at them. Ms. Simpson gives Jake a glare but then shakes her head when he winks at her.

"Let's give a nice round of applause for your Wildcat homecoming court." Ms. Simpson says to the crowd.

After a couple of moments of applause, she waves at the crowd to quiet down. "Let's announce the winners so these kids can get out of this rain. First, your vote for the male student that most embodies school spirit that we crown as Mr. Wildcat is... Antoine Adams!"

The crowd cheers loudly as Antoine waves to them before stepping over to where Ms. Simpson instructs him.

"And your vote for the female student that most embodies school spirit that we crows as Miss Wildcat... Marisha Johnson!" she announces.

"I told you that you'd leave me standing alone, gorgeous girl. Congratulations." Jake whispers as Marisha waves to the crowd. He hands her the umbrella and claps as she joins Antoine.

"Let's hear it again for our Mr. and Miss Wildcat." Ms. Simpson calls out to the crowd who cheer loudly. Once it dies down, she continues. "Now without further adieu your vote for your homecoming king... Patrick Greene!"

The crowd cheers as Patrick limps his way to the winner's area. Jake looks over at Ray and Staci and she mouths, bullshit, while shaking her head. Jake mouths back "wrong foot," and Ray starts laughing.

"And last but most certainly not least, your Wildcat homecoming queen... Somer Douglas!" Ms. Simpson announces.

There's applause as Somer struts over to join Patrick but it's quieter than all the others were as is most of the student body in attendance are confused.

"Congratulations to our homecoming king and queen and our Mr. and Miss Wildcat. All hail the reigning king and queen and also get out of this rain!" She announces to the crowd who applaud and laugh at her quip.