Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 13:00:52 -0700
From: Alex Bright <adisoc007@msn.com>
Subject: Chapter 13

Chapter 13
Let's get ready to Rumble


Meredith

"Alisa, what do you mean you're to blame? Why would you say that? " I asked
her curiously.

"Well I had asked him a question and I think it upset him, in fact I know
it upset him. I just didn't know how much."

"Alisa darling, I don't think you did anything, you and Justin have not
talked to each other in over three years. I think the shock of finally
talking to you surprised him, but I highly doubt..." but before I could
finish she cut me off.

"I 'm sorry, but it was about Brad and us. I know the question upset him
because of the way he grabbed me, and I have never seen Justin looking at
me the way he did. He was squeezing my arm so hard it hurt. "

"What? That doesn't sound like Justin. He would never hurt you Alisa, he
loves you, Brad and Alex." Suddenly, as I turned around Justin was standing
there behind me. "Justin!!!" I called to him, as I ran over and hugged him
while still holding the phone. After a few minutes I stopped hugging him,
but still held on to his hand.

"Alisa..." I said to her.

"I know, I'll let you go. Please tell Justin that I'm sorry about
yesterday, and I'll talk to him in school."

"Ok, and Alisa I do hope you wont disappear on us again."

"I wont. Bye," she said as she hung up the phone. I then turned to look at
my son and pulled him into a hug. " You are in big trouble Mr."

"I'm sorry Mom...I'm sorry for running out and not talking to you last
nigh," He said, now hugging me back and holding on to me as if for dear
life.

"Well you'd better have a dam good excuse young man," is all we both
heard. When his father yelled out, we both turned around to see him
standing with his arms crossed. Suddenly Justin looked at the ground like
he used to when he was a little boy and upset his father.

"I am sorry papa...I had a few things I had to work out and ...." He
stopped talking to his father as I stepped in front of him to try to calm
his father down. I know Steven is more upset with Justin for upsetting me
than he is with him for running out.

"Steven," I said as I placed a hand on his chest, "I'm ok now. Justin knows
he was wrong for running out and worrying us last night, but he is going to
be late for school if you berate him now. He's home safe now. I called in
to work saying that I didn't think I would be in because I didn't know if
Justin would be ok once he came home. Now that I see that he is, I want to
go in. Can't we talk about this later when we get home?"

Steven looked at Justin, then at me, and was about to say something, but
after seeing that I was ok he stopped himself.

"Fine, but I want him to talk to you and have this is resolved before I get
home. He does have a big game this week." He smiled as he walked over to
Justin and hugged him, then put his hand on his shoulder and smiled again
as he ruffled Justin's hair. "Remember," he said, "You can talk to us about
anything, we love you Justin."

"I'm sorry Papa." Justin said as his father walked out of the house. He
then turned to me and said, " First thing after football practice we'll
talk." He then kissed me and ran up stairs to get changed.

"Don't you want some breakfast." I asked him as he took off.

"No thanks mom. Katie made me breakfast this morning, I'm cool." I heard a
door close, followed by the shower running.

I suddenly thought about what Alisa said about why Justin was upset. Why
would Alex, Brad and Alisa upset Justin?


Brad

Fear sometime can cause the biggest adrenalin rush and cause you to do
things that you normally would not do. Normally I would never drive a car
to school, mainly out of fear of what someone would do to it. That is the
one reason I never asked for one from my parents. I always turned it down
and just told them to get me one for graduation, but today it was a matter
of life and death. After the look I saw in Alex's eye I knew he was going
to kill Tony, and I had to stop him. Today I knew I finally had to stand up
to them no matter what the price would be. I quickly hopped into my mom's
car and pulled out of my driveway heading towards school, wondering how
could I stop Alex, then it dawned on me. It had to work it was the only
way. Now, if I could only find her.


Alisa

Well, at least he got home ok, now I just have to find him. I'll look
during lunch, I thought to myself.

"OH SHIT, " I said as I pulled into the parking lot and saw them all of
them waiting at my parking space. Me concentrating on Justin this morning
made me completely forgot my bigger problem. They surrounded my car as I
shut off the engine.

"Alisa, I can't believe you. What is wrong with you?" Marissa asked me as I
opened my door and stepped out into the crowd

" I'm sorry, Marissa. I know you're upset, but I'm not sorry about saying
no to Blake."

"Alisa, do you know what going out with him would have done for your
reputation? Why would you say no?"

"You don't understand. You guys are so blinded by his image that you can't
see that Blake is a arrogant prick. "

"And Justin, what image does he have? He's just a dumb Jock," Meagan said,
cutting me off before I could say anything else.

"Well, I know Justin, and I don't have to be anything other than Alisa."

"Whatever. I can see that just like this morning, there is no talking to
you," Marissa said, rolling her eyes. Suddenly I heard a voice calling my
name behind me.

"Alisa!"

Before I could turn my head to look around, everyone in front of me was
looking at me with their mouths wide open.

"Alisa! " I heard again as I turned around.

"Brad?" Is all I could say, as I now was standing with my mouth wide open
too.

" You gotta come with me now!" he said as he grabbed my hand and quickly
dragged away from my group.


Justin

Ok, I got out of that for now, but when I get home I have to think of
something to get my parents off my back. I pulled into the parking lot. Ok,
I have to start thinking of the game tomorrow or I'm going to blow it. Just
think football buddy. Football is the one thing that has never let you down
in your entire life. I got out of my car and decided that I better find the
guys to see what' up. Walking out of the parking lot, I suddenly felt a
wave of fear and anxiousness, like something major was about to happen.


Alex

Walking around campus looking for Tony didn't work. I didn't know where
Tony would be so, I went back to the parking lot and waited for the one
person I knew would know where to find him, Justin. As soon as I saw him
get out of his car I knew he would lead me to them. I now I was going to
get pay back.


Brad

"Brad, you have to hold on a sec, and tell me what's going on," she said
while running beside me.

I turned to look at her. "We don't have time! You have to help me!"

"I'll help you, but I can't help you if you don't stop and tell me what's
going on," she said me as she stopped dead in her tracks. " I mean, you
just sweep in and grab me away from my friends without so much as a Hi
Alisa, Then you expect me to drop everything to run all around campus not
knowing what I'm trying to help you do." She was smiling, but trying to
look upset.

"Hi, Alisa." I quickly looked around.

"Gee, and hello to you too, Brad. God that looked painful." She was trying
to get me laugh after seeing that I was upset.

"Sorry."

"Now will you tell me what's going on?"

"It's Alex. I have to find him. I don't have time to explain. We have to
find him before he finds Tony and his friends," I told her as we started
walking again

"You don't mean Tony Hunter from the football team do you, Justin's friend?

"Yep, that's the one."

"Brad what's he going to do?" She stopped walking and was giving me worried
look.

"I don't know, but we have to get to him before he finds Tony," I said,
walking over to her

"I think I know where they may be. Follow me." She said as she went from a
brisk walk into a full all out sprint.

Damn. I had forgotten how fast she was, remembering when we were little and
how she used to love running.

"Hey, wait up." I called, trying to catch her.


Justin

There they are. Ok, big game tomorrow. Homecoming, last game before
playoffs, that's what you're going to talk about. Don't think about
yesterday or last night. Don't think about anything but football, not about
Alex and Brad getting back together, not about Alisa looking for Brad, and
not about what Kate may or may not think or feel about you.

"What's up Just?" is all I hear as I snapped out of my trance approaching
my friends.

"What's up guys?" I answer back, smiling on my face as Tony walked over to
me.

"One more day, man," he said, reaching out to me.

After what happened yesterday I had no desire to talk to him, let alone
touch him. When he touched my shoulder he made my skin crawl. " Yea, one
more day."

The chant "State Champs" started. Some others made comments when Tony put
his arm around my shoulder and we started to walk back towards where the
rest of the group was sitting. Suddenly Mark and Joe got up from their
seats and walked quickly over to us.

"Shit, what the fuck does he want?" one of them said to Tony, as he and I
turned around.

"Alex? " I was staggered at the look I could see on his face. I had only
seen him that mad once. It was once right before he stopped hanging out
with me. It was the day I found out his new nickname and what it meant...

"Hey, Buddy" I said to him as I entered the lunchroom and saw that he
wasn't sitting with his new friends.

It had been about three weeks since I had gotten a chance to talk to him
outside of class. " If I didn't know you any better. I'd say you've been
trying to avoid me," I said with a smile, sitting down next to him

"Justin?" He said, nervously looking around to lunchroom

"Hey, man what wrong? You haven't called or come over in three weeks. I
know my mom's cooking is bad, but ..." I laughed and saw a small smile
coming over his face.

"How many times do I gotta tell ya leave the jokes to me and Brad?" He was
laughing too.

"Are you mad at me or something? I'm sorry if I did something to piss you
off."

"You didn't do anything, Just," he said, looking at me and smiling again.

"Alex, You're one of my best friends, and I can tell something is
wrong. You're mad at something. Is it Alisa or Bear?"

"No, I'm not mad at Alisa or Bea...Brad."

"You called him Brad! You never call him Brad when it's just us...what's
wrong?"

Suddenly his expression changed and then I hear IT for the first time.

"O" Someone called out. As Alex quickly turned around and stood up, about
15 black kids walk over to, us all calling Alex 'O'. I guessed that was
what he was going by now. Alex made a fist and hit other kids;
fists. Giving a pound as I later found out it is called.

"Yo, who this?" one kid asked.

"This is my frien...this is Justin," Alex said as the kid looked at me.

"I seen you before...CS football, right?" He asked looking at me.

"Right, I played quarterback. I'm Justin Kemper," I said as I held out my
hand.

He just looked at me with a smirk and said, "Yea, I remember you got lucky
and beat us. I play quarterback for Stonewall."

"Yea, I remember you now. You're good. What's your name?"

"JC Washington, You better remember it, cause that's the name of the
starting JV quarterback," one of his friends told me.

I just smiled as I thought about what my dad taught me. To always be
humble, because no matter how good you are there is always someone better
than you "You're good. The JV team will surely win a lot of game with you
as QB."

Alex looked at me then, at JC. He seemed shocked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, getting into my face.

"Nothing, I mean you're going to be a good QB for the JV team," I said,
looking at Alex and then at JC.

"Your damn right. With me and my boys, we're gonna have a bad ass football
team, aint that right O?"

"What do you mean?" I looked at Alex and he was still looking at the
ground.

 "We're gona run things on the football team. Me and my boys," he said, as
he looked Alex. "Ain't that right O? You are playing aint you. O?"

"You're not talking about Alex are you?" I asked with a smile as JC looked
at me confused. "Unless he's gonna kick, Alex doesn't play football."

"What do you mean, he don't play football?"

"JC, Alex plays soccer and he's real good at it, and besides his mom won't
let him play..." I realize what I was saying, but it was too late.

"Soccer? " he asked. "O plays soccer? And his mommy wont let him play
football?" He started laughing along with the other kids and looking at
Alex.

"Well what about you? Is your mommy letting you play with the big boys?" he
asked me.

I was agitated because he was picking on Alex. "Yes, I'm going to play."

"Well you better be ready to back me up," he said with a smile.

"Actually, I'm really looking forward to playing backup, just not your
backup. You see, I'm going to be a backup, just not JV. I'm playing Varsity
backup," I said with a smile as I got into his face " See like after we
beat you, we played for the championship, and the team we beat is the
varsity coach's son's team, and lets just say he pushed me up to varsity
because of that game."

"Whatever, O, we're goin outside. You coming or what?" was all he could say
as he walked out of the lunchroom.

"What an asshole," was all I could say as I watched them walk outside.

"Is that who you're hanging with now?" I asked Alex as he got up and
started to walk out after them.

"I'm going to get so much shit now because of you," Alex said, pissed off
and not looking at me.

"I sorry, he just pissed me off. He acts like he's known you forever,
picking on you, why did you let him do that?"

"I don't know, you don't understand...you can't understand," he said,
dumping his tray in the garbage.

"And what the hell is up with this O thing, O?" I punched him lightly in
the arm. Suddenly he turned around and had a look of hurt and anger, like I
had never seen before.

 "DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT!" he yelled, turning and grabbing by my arm
with tears and anger in his eyes.

"What the fuck, Alex. What's wrong?" He looked at me, then let me go and
started to walk away.

"What the hell is wrong with you," I asked as I caught up to him and
stepped in front of him. "First you stop hanging with me and start hanging
with the homeboys, then you flip out because I call you a something your
new friends can call you, but I can't? Your best friend?"

"You don't understand," he said, trying to walk around me.

As he stepped around I grabbed hold of his arm. "Oh, I guess I can't
because I'm not black. Right, Alex? Or should I call you O? Oh, I'm sorry,
I'm not permitted to call you that," I said as I gave him a shove. "Do you
know what that feels like?" I was getting tears in my eyes as I pushed him
again "What it feels like to be left out of your best friend's life?"

"Well do you know what that nickname means?" he asked, pushing me back and
starting to cry himself. "It means OREO, Justin!" he said as he pushed
around me and ran off.

I never got to say sorry to him for that, and now he had the same look in
his eye that he had that day. Hurt and anger.

"Hey O," Tony said as he got closer, "Where's your boyfriend?" Tony says
with a smile and starts laughing.

With one punch to the mouth Alex knocks Tony right to the ground. Joe, Mark
and I were stunned beyond belief. Sudden Alex reached for Tony again, but
before he could I grabbed Alex and pulled him away from Tony as Mark and
Joe rush to help Tony. I quickly rushed Alex away from the group.

"Theirs my boyfriend, Bitch," he said as I rush him away before any
teachers arrived to see the commotion.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND?"  I asked him as I let him go. "WHAT THE
FUCK DID YOU GO AND DO THAT FOR?"

Then out of the blue I heard my name being called. "Justin!"

"WHAT!" I answered, as I turned around and see Alisa. "Shit."

"Oh No! Please tell me we're not to late!" she says looked concerned.

"What do you mean WE? " I asked

Huff...Huff...is all I heard behind her " I think someone gotten faster in
her old age." the voice from behind her says.

"Brad?" is all I can say, now total blown away.

"Hey Just," he said with a huge smile as my legs now turn to Jello.