A Teenage Love: A Coming of Age Story

Chapter 16 - The Winning Team

Michelle. I went to Davenport to pick Brandon up for the homecoming game. Kevin was on his way out the door when I arrived. He was bearing his gym bag and a box of Davenport flags and wax candles. "What are you doing here?" he grinned.

"I'm taking Brandon to the homecoming game."

"Good. You can pass out candles for Lew's vigil," he said stuffing the box of Davenport fanfare in my hands.

I gave it back. "Can't. I'm sitting in the Springs stands."

"Sure you wanna be on the losing side?"

"That's my school now."

"Light one anyway. For Lewis." He put a couple candles and a lighter in my hand and jumped in his truck. Then he forgot something and jumped back out. "Sorry about what happened at the track."

"I know."

He kissed me on the lips and told me to meet him after the game.

"Kevin...no."

"Nobody's going the hurt you while I'm there."

Laura came out in a cocktail dress and pumps holding Brandon's bookbag. She tried to help him with his jacket but he insisted on doing it himself. "Be good okay?"

He snatched his bag from her jumped in the car.

I said, "What's wrong, B?"

"I don't wanna go to a stupid football game."

"Don't you want to watch Kevin play?"

He folded his arms across his chest.

"It'll be fun. We get to yell as loud as we want and eat pretzels and drink coke..."

He liked that idea only because Laura would never allow him to eat junk food.

"Not too much though, right? We don't want Mom to be mad at us."

To him, a little was more than enough. The Springs stands looked like a big blob of burgundy until we arrived in blue and disrupted the unity.

Ryan. The first thing I noticed was the kid in the royal blue Trojans jacket. She had on a gray Davenport sweatshirt.

"Yo, she gon have to take that Davenport shit off," Terrell warned me. But it was too late. The crowd was already in attack mode. "Wrong side, bitch." Somebody threw an M&M at her.

On her way up, a group of girls bounded down the stairs and bowled her over. She desperately grabbed some dude's shoulder trying to hold her balance but she went tumbling down the bleachers. Me and Terrell jumped up and rushed down. Nadia and Shay came down after us. "Girl, what the hell you doing with all this Davenport shit on?" she said picking up one of the flags and tossing in on the ground.

"Ow," she cried holding her casted wrist.

"Get up," Nadia said yanking her off the ground.

"He gon have to take that jacket off," Shay said pointing to the kid. He clung to Michelle and clutched a toy car in his fist. He didn't even know the riot he was causing.

"He's alright. Come sit with us," I told her.

The kid kept rolling that car back and forth on the bench reminding me how much I hated kids. Every time the wheels hit the ridges, it made a ticking noise that drove me insane. During half time, the Davenport players lined up center field holding stubby candles. The royal blue crowd on the opposite side stood up as well, all holding tiny yellow flames. You would think Michelle would have kept her ass on the bench after being pushed down a flight of stairs, but she stood up too. Shay and Nadia tried to make her sit down. She shooed them away. The rowdy crowd yelled obscenities at her through the whole prayer.