The Agreement
21 Life’s Rules
WE MOVED INTO the semi-final game on Friday with all our cheering section intact. Rhiannon’s mom swung by to pick up both Cassie and Samantha to bring them to the game. Since she was in the neighborhood, she picked up Geoff, next. We played the Whitcomb Bruins at two-thirty. We’d all agreed to stay through our varsity game at five-thirty, so we’d probably be eating popcorn for dinner.
Whitcomb was big, but not fast. They tended to just get under the basket and push people around in order to get a shot. Coach realized we couldn’t compete there so he called us in for a time-out.
“Men and woman,” he said, “these guys are too big for us to wrestle with. We’re in a one-shot ballgame. We aren’t going to get rebounds under our basket. Whit, are you getting roughed up?”
“No, Coach. I can’t say they’re afraid to touch me, but they don’t make any effort to.”
“Flag me if that changes. Two fingers straight down as you pass me. I’m moving you to forward. I want those corner shots. Derek, you move to guard with Josh we need beef in the backcourt. Carl, you’ll rotate in and out with Doug at the other forward. Whitney to the left where she’s got her strong arm on the shot. You guys to the right and rush the rebound in their court. It’ll be Sean and the right forward muscling it out under their basket. Whitney, Derek, and Josh, be moving down court when the shot is taken. Get as many fast breaks in as you can. Got it?”
“Trojans!” we yelled and the five hit the floor. I rode the bench all of the first half.
We were within five at the end of the half, but we were pushing the running game and we were only rotating seven players. They were getting tired. Not taking down any offensive rebounds was hurting us. No second chances. We had a fifteen-minute break between quarters and we were all surprised at how Coach used it.
“You six,” he pointed at the guys who had played most of the first half, “shower up. Use fresh T-shirts for the second half. We don’t have full uniform changes for you. You’ve got four minutes then Whitney’s coming in to shower.” There were a couple whoops and Whitney blushed. Coach tossed her a clean T-shirt to wear under her jersey and a towel. She stood back and waited her turn for the showers.
“They are going to look like a new team,” Coach said, looking at the rest of us. “You are going to play the game. We’re using the same strategy, but it will be Paul and Joe at forward with Ty rotating in and out with Sean. Brian and Bert at guard. Les and Drew will be rotating in and out with you guys. The change in strategy is this. The shot goes to Brian in the backcourt if he’s open. Pass off to Bert if you’re blocked. No shots closer than top of the key. You two are the deadliest we’ve got from that distance. Watch for me to put Whitney back in the corner if they start putting too much pressure on.” He looked up and saw Whitney was gone and the other six guys were pulling on their T-shirts. He counted to make sure no one was missing and grinned at us. “Just had to be sure. Brian!”
“Yes, coach.”
“What’s life rule number one?” How the fuck did Coach know about my life rules? I didn’t tell anyone. That English paper I wrote at the end of first semester. Crap.
“Rule number one is to do whatever is necessary to protect and defend the ones you love, Coach.” The guys all looked at me a second as they started nodding.”
“In this club, you do whatever is necessary to protect and defend your teammates. These guys are big. Don’t be afraid to gang up on them.”
Whitney walked in pulling her T-shirt on over her sports bra. I think every guy in the room noticed, but there wasn’t a single catcall.
“Who are we?” Coach called.
“Trojans!”
“What are we gonna do?”
“Beat ’em!”
Whitcomb didn’t know what hit them. They were still playing their first five for the most part and we were all completely fresh. Even the guys who dominated the first half looked fresh and ready to go. They spent the first few minutes looking for the threat from Whitney in the corner and Bert and I sailed three long-shots right over their heads. Their zone defense developed holes as it tried to shift from one to the other of us and the first time it happened, Bert dribbled around a defender to feed the ball to Ty who stuffed it. They tried fouling us to stop the drive, but we sank every free throw. They had three of their musclemen in foul trouble in the first five minutes of the third quarter. They had no choice but to start shuffling their second team in. We could see right away why they’d played their first five nonstop. The second team didn’t have the skill either to shoot or grab the rebounds. As soon as the complexion of the game changed, coach started rotating our muscle back into the front spots and we dominated the boards. Every time one of their starters re-entered the game, we went back to long-ball. They never knew whether to look for me, Bert, or Whitney.
We won and advanced to the finals on Saturday. Nobody thought the little kids could do it.
I made it a point to sit beside Cassie and asked to hold her hand as our Trojan varsity clobbered the Bishop O’Dell Saints. That might be one of the things I remembered most fondly about our time in sixth grade: just holding hands.
“Brian, will you kiss me goodnight?” Cassie asked as we were heading out of the game. The JV and cheerleaders all had to head for our bus, but everyone else was headed for the parent pick-up. Cassie hadn’t let go of my hand all evening. “I don’t mean a big kiss, but… like we used to?” Well, maybe just holding hands wasn’t the only thing that I remembered fondly about our time in sixth grade. I leaned in to kiss her soft lips and just revel in their touch. We parted and she smiled at me. “I feel like I’m twelve again. Thank you for still wanting to be my boyfriend.”
“You’d better catch up with Rhiannon. Cassie, I like being one of your boyfriends.” She smiled and ran off to join Rhiannon, Samantha, and Geoff.
I got smashed up against two beauties on the bus. Brenda pushed me into a seat and sat on my lap. Rose squeezed in as tightly as she could. Whitney and Carl hung over the seat in front of me and Doug had a grip on my shoulder from the seat behind me. Sora leaned up next to him and Josh had his feet in the aisle next to us.
“May I kiss my boyfriend, quick, before the coaches get on the bus?” Brenda asked. I squeezed her and offered her my lips. The kiss I got was a toe-curler and right there in front of the rest of our group. “That’s from all of us,” Brenda said. “I just got to be the lucky one who said thank you.”
“What? What’s this all about?”
“You saved our girlfriend, Brian. I know it’s not the same as rescuing Jennifer when she fell off a horse, but you came to the defense of Cassie even against her father. She told Rhiannon, Samantha, and Geoff and they filled the rest of us in during the game. When you defended our agreement—our girlfriend—you defended all of us. We all wanted to say thank you.”
“Uh, it was just… well, geez! What would you all do if you came on any one of us crying out in the woods? I just did what any of the rest of you would.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, man. You did so much more than I’d ever dare to,” Carl said. “I’d think he’s an adult and I’m just a kid. I can’t do anything. But you did something. We just all figured out what you mean by life rule number one. I know coach borrowed it for our game, but you live it, man. I like Cassie a lot and hope she’ll go out with me sometime. You kept her part of our… uh… family. I’m sure going to say thank you for that.”
“Coach is coming,” Sora said. Brenda launched herself off my lap and over Rose to land in the space Josh made beside him and the eight of us were sitting quietly and properly when Coach came down the aisle. He was giving out “good game” to each of the players and “thank you” to each of the cheerleaders when he got to us. He paused, noting that Sora and Josh were sitting with us.
“I won’t have to come down the aisle every ten minutes while we’re heading back to school, will I?” he asked us.
“No, Coach,” Brenda answered. “We won’t do more than hold hands, if that’s okay. We know the rules. Josh, will you hold my hand on the way back to school?” she asked.
“Thank you, Brenda. I’d love to,” Josh answered and took Brenda’s offered hand. Coach watched as each of us turned to our seatmates and asked the same question then grasped hands. He just nodded and continued down the aisle to make sure everyone was on the bus.
All the guys had their shorts on when Coach opened the door and let Whitney into the locker room. She had her shorts and T-shirt on, but was carrying her jersey, shoes, and gear. She plopped down on the bench next to Josh and started lacing up while Coach gave us our pre-game talk. This was strange. Whitney usually left her bag with the cheerleaders and joined us after everyone else was ready for the court. Coach must really have something important to say. We paid attention.
“This is our tournament, team. We play Portage this afternoon and varsity plays Portage tonight. Things didn’t go so well the last time we played them did they, Sean?”
“No Coach. We lost. They’re a lot bigger and more powerful than we are.”
“Was that an excuse, Sean?”
“No Coach. Things just didn’t go well last time.”
“That’s right. And Sean’s right about the fact they are bigger and more powerful than we are. I think they are even faster. We’re out-gunned. Most of these guys are sophomores and juniors while most of you are freshmen and sophomores. They’re older. Wiser. They have more experience than we do. The only reason some of them aren’t on varsity is because they’ve got so many powerhouses on their varsity team. Lamar Trane isn’t even going to be the tallest guy on the court tonight. But we have something they don’t have.” Everyone looked at Whitney. Coach started laughing. “Yes. We’ve got a girl playing basketball. A woman.” Whitney sat up straighter. With her sports bra on, you could barely tell she was female from her chest. Her face just glowed, though. “That’s not what I was talking about. We have a team. What’s life rule number one?”
“Do whatever is necessary to protect and defend your teammates!” Everyone shouted. I wasn’t completely sure I liked the fact that Coach kind of changed my life rule, but it was true. Among this group, I’d do whatever was necessary.
“That’s right. We have a team. And every person on this team will protect and defend their teammates. It wasn’t always like that, was it? What happened after the first practice this season, Josh?”
“Coach. I got my mouth washed out with soap because I badmouthed one of my teammates. I didn’t understand life rule number one but her… real teammates did.”
“You learned that lesson. You defended her on the court in the Holiday Tourney. I understand and I’m sorry I had to suspend you for two games. Keep in mind, team, that basketball is not a free-for-all. When you defend your teammates, you have to stay within the rules. What’s life rule number two, Brian?” Damn, he was going to use them all.
“Treat others with kindness and respect, Coach.”
“Whitney came in here today before you were all fully dressed and she didn’t have her jersey and shoes on yet. We’ve been making her dress with the cheerleaders. Oh, you were all decent and so was she when we sat down. Nobody’s here for a peepshow. Right?”
“Right!”
“But I couldn’t have brought her in here to be with her team a few weeks ago. Why is that?”
“Because we weren’t treating her, or each other, with kindness and respect, Coach,” Ty spoke up.
“That’s what rules are all about. Rules are about making sure that we maintain an even playing field and treat everyone with the same kindness and respect. That goes beyond our team. That means that you respect those players who face you on the court today. You respect the referees. You respect your coaches and the cheerleaders. And most of all, you respect each other. That’s what makes you a team worth defending.” There was a moment of silence as Coach Hancock made eye contact with each of us.
“Who are we?” he yelled into the room.
“Trojans!” we answered.
“What’re we gonna do?”
“Beat ’em!”
We charged onto the court like David ready to face Goliath.
We lost the game, but we stayed with them all the way. We couldn’t work them down to a weak spot in their rotation because every player was strong. They even had a player shorter than me who dribbled right around me. Once. He found out he wasn’t the only one who could move the ball. But it still wasn’t enough. They were all the things Coach said. Bigger, stronger, faster, more experienced. It was all we could do to stay within ten. We were exhausted when we finished. We cheered when we found out Whitney was our top scorer. We all sat in the hall while she got the first shower.
“Boyfriends!” A whole screaming pile of girlflesh smashed into the five of us when we exited the locker room to go watch the varsity games. Some of the other players might have been a little jealous but they were smiling. I think Bert looked a little regretful when he saw that Josh had been included in the squealing mass that included one of our varsity cheerleaders and three JV cheerleaders.
“Coach Hancock?” I looked over to see Whitney’s mom. She’d been great to all of us, especially since she was running a sort of taxi service of girlfriends to the games. “We know your boys worked hard today and they plan to see the varsity games, but they must be starving. Some of us Moms put together a little picnic for the team and we have permission to serve it in the cafeteria if you’ll permit it.
“That’s great!” he said. “Uh… which of the boys is yours?”
“Her.”
“Oh! Guys, cafeteria is this way. Let’s be sure to show appreciation for the people who prepared this food.”
We all filed into the cafeteria and I felt hands slip around my waist.
“May I hug you, boyfriend?” I spun around and Jennifer started squeezing me like crazy. We couldn’t make out in front of the team at a school function, but I hugged her to me. She loosened her grip a little and Courtney said, “Me too?” I had both girls in my arms as we entered the cafeteria. I saw my mom and Mrs. Pratt putting platters of fried chicken on a table that already had a ton of food on it. Brenda’s mom was organizing where the food went and Hannah’s mom was handing plates to the team as they filed through. I even saw Mrs. Clinton putting potato chips in a big bowl. It looked like a lot more food than the team and cheerleaders could eat. Then I noticed Geoff and all the girlfriends got in line behind us.
“I don’t recognize, you, Ma’am,” Coach Hancock said politely to Mrs. Gordon as he took a paper platter from her. They really went all out and didn’t give us flimsy little paper plates. “Which of my team is yours?”
“Oh. Those two,” she said, pointing to Hannah and Sarah who were putting soft drinks on ice.
“Oh. I’m sorry, I thought it was team moms who were providing this picnic.”
“Some of us are,” Carl’s mom said as she came up to join the conversation. “I’m Carl’s Mom. But we’re actually all the moms of the… I wish they’d think up a better name… dating group.”
“And Coach, even though my sons are on varsity and not on your JV squad, one of them is part of that group,” said a tall black woman I had only met once. I was so glad Lamar and Lionel’s mom was here. I saw Sugar’s mom, too, but realized sadly that Denise didn’t have a mom to be here.
“I want to thank you all,” Coach said graciously. “I didn’t realize that all the families were involved in that group. It’s been interesting just to have four players and two cheerleaders as part of it, but now it looks like you have another player and cheerleader being added.” He nodded toward Josh and Sora who had been seated without plates in front of them and had Sugar and Samantha on either side. Jennifer and Courtney stepped around us and filled two plates piled high and took them to Sora and Josh and started literally feeding them. “Who are those two?”
“Sorry, Coach,” I said from behind him. He turned and looked at me. “I didn’t know they were planning this little surprise or I would have warned you. The two that you’ve never seen before are Courtney and Jennifer, our girlfriends from Kokomo.”
“Brian, I’ve never asked, but exactly how many are in your dating group?”
“Well, if Sora and Josh are both voted in on Monday, which I think they will be, there will be sixteen girls and six boys.”
“It boggles the imagination,” Coach said.
“Don’t think they are all sleeping with each other, though,” Mrs. Clinton said a little anxiously as she stepped up beside Mrs. Gordon.
“Mrs. Clinton,” I said, softly, “none of us are sleeping together. At least not in the sexual implication of the word,” I added as I caught a raised eyebrow and a smile from Mrs. Gordon. It was only a few weeks ago that she saw Hannah and me asleep together in my bedroom.
We had a great time eating, laughing and reliving the high-points of the game. There had been one time when Whitney got under the Portage basket and went up for a rebound that she fired down court to me for a fast break. When I looked back, I saw her crouched on the floor and a Portage player sprawled on his face beside her.
“Hey. I can’t just count on Ty or Sean to protect me all the time. My coach at summer basketball camp said that if it looked like I was overpowered, to make the play and then go to the floor. It’s the best way to keep from getting clocked by an opponent. I didn’t know he’d fly over me and land on his face!” We all laughed. For having lost the championship, we were in a hell of a good mood.
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