For a Boy

Chapter 7

The next day, we all sat in a room with Mr. Tibbles, Miss Mackay, and Coach Bombay, eating lunch. Though I was done eating so I stood next to Dwayne, leaning into his side as he stood next to Mr. Tibbles. The man had something to show us. There was something next to him, covered by a large black cloth.

"Alright, kids. Look here." Tibbles said. Everyone looked at him and Tibbles pulled the cloth off of the hidden object. It was a larger version of a Wheaties box that said "The Breakfast of Champions". "Ta-da!"

"Woah!"

"That's awesome!"

Under the large words was a picture of the team and the coach in matching training gear and roller skates.

"Hey, y'all. That's us!" Dwayne giggled and pointed at the box with a smile on his face. The rest of the team, minus Darla, started to poke fun at him, irritating me. I cleared my throat as Dwayne's smile disappeared.

"All o' y'all, can it." I glared at them and rubbed Dwayne's back comfortingly.

"Today, it's a Wheaties box. Tomorrow, it's video games, action figures, lunch boxes. The sky's the limit." Tibbles moved to a box behind the other surprise. "Now, just to make sure that everybody knows who you are, try on one of these." He pulled out a red, white, and blue jersey. The team looked at it in awe, voicing their excitement. "Brought to you but those wonderful people at Hendrix for all your hockey needs. Fulton, there you go." He tossed the one in his hands to the boy and tossed one at Bombay as well. "C'mon, everybody get your own. I'm not gonna give 'em out to everybody." Dwayne left my side and everyone crowded around the box, grabbing for one. "Except for Miss Evelyn over here." I looked up as a jersey was tossed at me. I caught it and saw that it had my last name on it and a big number seven under it.

"What?" I asked. Mr. Tibbles smiled at me.

"You may not play, but you're part of the team." The businessman nodded his head toward my cowboy. "You and Dwayne have the same number." Dwayne looked up at the sound of his name and looked at Mr. Tibbles. The man nodded his head at me. Dwayne's eyes locked with mine and I smiled, flipping the jersey around and showing him the back. He smiled and turned back to grab his own. I looked across the room and saw Charlie and Coach Bombay talking. Charlie didn't look too happy though. I walked over as the coach got up to leave and sat down across from the boy.

"You're lookin' a little bummed out. You ok?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just the jerseys and stuff." The boy looked down at his food. I hummed.

"I think they look pretty cool. Ain't no jersey from back home, but still cool." I shrugged and looked back and saw Dwayne looking at me with a smile on his face. "But I'm guessin' you wanted to wear somethin' familiar to you." I looked at Charlie again.

"Yeah. I mean, we're Ducks. We should have at least gotten to keep our own colors if not the name." Charlie propped his head up in his fist on the table.

"I understand that." I nodded my head. "But change ain't always bad. I mean, I didn't think I'd ever leave Texas, and yet, here I am."

"Sorry if this sounds rude, but why are you here?" The boy asked.

"Do you want the truth or do you want me to tell you the lie that the twins told Tibbles to get him to let me come with?" I whispered to him. His eyes widened.

"They lied to him?" He whispered back and I nodded. "Why?" I looked back at Dwayne and saw him standing at the table by Guy, watching me and Charlie. I waved my hand at him, gesturing for him to come over. He came immediately.

"Charlie, I'm about to tell you something that not a lot of people know about. Ok? And you can't tell a soul. You understand?" I said to Charlie as Dwayne sat next to me. Charlie tilted his head but nodded. Dwayne wrapped his arm around my shoulders and offered me his hand, which I gladly accepted. "When I was younger, in about first grade I think, my daddy..." I swallowed back tears. Dwayne squeezed my hand tightly.

"You don't have to tell him, baby," Dwayne whispered to me. "I know you don't like talking about it."

"I know, darlin'."

"Is he dead or something?" Charlie asked. I shook my head.

"No, no. It's nothin' like that." I sighed and wiped away the loose tears. "I don't think he's dead, anyway."

"I hope he is." Dwayne muttered.

"Dwayne." I looked at him.

"You know how I feel about that man, sweetpea." He looked back at me. "For what he did to you, he doesn't deserve to be alive right now. And you know that I'd never wish death upon anyone." I sighed.

"I know. I still don't like it when you say things like that in front of me. He's still my dad."

"I know, baby." He kissed my temple.

"I'm confused." Charlie looked at the two of us. "What did he do?" I looked back at the younger boy and sighed.

"He molested me when I was about 6 or 7," I said somewhat quickly, just trying to get it out. Charlie's eyes widened. "So I'm not very comfortable around boys I don't know, especially by myself. So, Dwayne wasn't..." I trailed off, taking a deep breath and leaning on my boyfriend. He continued from there.

"I don't feel too comfy leavin' her back home without me." Dwayne rubbed my knuckles with his thumb. "Or at the very least Darla. But since we were both coming, it was either Evelyn comes with us or we don't go."

"But we needed a valid excuse so we said that she would be emotional support for us since our mama wouldn't be able to come watch us play." Darla walked up behind me. "And we said that she helps Dwayne play better just by watching."

"That part wasn't a lie. That's the truth." Dwayne laughed. "She does make me play better."

"Do I, now?" I sat up and looked up at him.

"Yeah. I've gotta show off for someone, don't I?" He shrugged and smiled at me as I blushed. In front of us, Charlie smiled at us.

"You must trust him a lot then, huh?" the boy asked. I nodded.

"I do. It took me a while to get there, but now I trust him with my life." I leaned on Dwayne again, grabbing his other hand.

"Yeah, and I pray to God every night that I don't have to do that again." he leaned down and kissed my head. "The first time was enough, thank you very much."

"Sorry, it took me so long to realize that the scary boy wasn't so scary after all." I giggled.

"I'm not scary." He huffed.

"You were to me back then."

"Yeah, she ran from you the minute she saw you." Darla took his hat from him and ran off, the boy running after her for it. I laughed at them as they chased each other around the room, Dwayne full-on tackling her and wrestling her for it.

"Mama gave me this one! Give it back!"

"You think I care, Mama's boy?"

"Me bein' a Mama's boy ain't got nothin' to do with it! Shut up, Daddy's girl!"

"Damn dorks." I rolled my eyes and stood to walk over and break them up. I looked at Charlie before I left. "Give all this stuff a chance, Charlie. It might not be so bad." The boy nodded with a slight frown.

"Alright. And I promise, I won't tell anyone what you guys told me." He said. I smiled at him.

"Thank you." I sighed and walked over to the twins. Shaking my head at them, I took the hat, put it on, and ran away laughing as Dwayne started chasing me around the room.

"Go, Eve!"

"Evelyn, you know that one's my favorite!" He cried.