There Must Be Something More

18 | Excuse

"Where in the world were you? Coach Anderson was furious!" Calum said. He glared at me behind my locker door's shingles.

I wanted to tell him about my awesome day with Meredith and the kids. I wanted to tell him how fun it is to play with sock puppets. I wanted to tell him how nice the kids in the orphanage were. I wanted to tell him how fulfilling it was to do good.

I wanted to tell him how amazing it is to obey the Lord!

But I knew I was still afraid of what he'd think of me. I know, it was silly. Why did I still care of what he thought? Wasn't it more important that I myself did have fun? Wasn't my opinion more important to me?

"Well?" Calum snapped his fingers in my face.

"Well what?" I asked.

"Well, what's your excuse, you weirdo? You just ran out of that field!"

I stared at my best friend. I didn't wanna lie, but I didn't wanna tell him the truth, either. And not only because I was afraid of what my friends would think, I was also afraid they'd make me stop seeing Meredith if they knew about my reason for yesterday's sudden run.

"Can I not have an excuse?" I said.

Calum boggled. He stared as if I had three ears. He punched my locker shut and jabbed a finger to my chest.

"Hey," he said, "you were the one who chose to join the baseball team for our popularity. And now we do have it. What the heck are you doing? If you don't have an excuse to tell Coach Anderson, you might as well kiss your popularity good-bye!"

And then I caught myself. Whoa. Did I just--for a second there--not care so much about baseball just for yesterday? Did I just actually choose to not have an excuse just so I could keep knowing God more?

What is wrong with me?

"I... I have an excuse," I snapped.

Calum looked at me in disbelief. "Oh, you do?"

"Yeah, I'll go tell Coach." I shoved one last loose leaf notebook onto my locker.

"Well, you better do it soon. Before practice later. He said he was going to give you twenty-four hours to explain. And those hours are going to end exactly during practice."

I nodded. "I'll go tell him in his office right now."

"Whoa, confident, huh?" My friend said. "And to think just a few seconds ago, you were putting on airs."

"Stop stressing, alright?" I said, "I got this."

"You better," he murmured. "I can't lose my popularity. I can't. And I don't want you to lose yours too."

"Gosh, what a good friend," I said sarcastically. He laughed and slapped me hard on the back.

~~~

"Borlock," Coach Anderson said, his eyes never left the papers on his chaotic desk. His balding dark hair parted from the middle, making his skin glisten under his bright fluorescent light. If it wasn't such a serious time, Calum would whisper something funny. I would've been laughing or snickering.

But it was.

"Hey, coach," I said.

"Have a seat," he said. He gestured to the chair fronting his desk. Calum excused himself out and I sat in front of my coach.

My heart pounded in my chest as if it was knocking and begging to get out. I was all agitated. I kept tapping my foot under me, holding myself together. The walls seemed to close in on me. I had to tell him something.

"So?" he finally looked up at me. His eyes searched me through, though I doubted he could read my mind. I was good with hiding what I really felt. My mom always said I would be a good poker player.

"So... what?" I asked. 

He pounded his fist on the table. He looked at me angrily. "What's your excuse, Borlock? Or do you want to be kicked out of the team? I can find better guys who'll actually give their all for this sport!"

I had to think fast. I had to tell him I did all that because of Meredith. I can't lose my one dream of becoming a professional baseball player someday!

"My mom was in an emergency!" I blurted.

Coach Anderson's eyes boggled. His eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Really?"

"Yes," I said. "Uh... Mom's car needed some repairing and she really needed a ride to the, uh... bank. She also needed my credit card because she lost it."

My coach stared at me. I had no idea if he was buying or not.

"So, yeah..." I continued, rubbing the back of my neck anxiously, "it was a pretty big emergency. If it hadn't been for me, my mom would have walked--or worse, rode the bus to the bank. And... um, she would have had no money to claim from the bank."

He looked at me nonchalantly. "And she couldn't just call your dad? She had to call you while you were on your baseball practice."

"Well, it was the end of classes. And Dad's pretty busy."

Coach Anderson grunted. He sighed. "Okay. Since you're one of my best guys, I'll let it go. For now. But I never like to tolerate lazy bums, Borlock. Make sure your mind's in the right track when you're on the diamond again!"

"Yes, sir," I mumbled. When I walked out of there Calum had a grim face on. He leaned on my locker, he looked at me as if I had done something really bad and got in trouble for it.

He looked at me like a delinquent.

Well, what I did that day was way far from delinquency.

"So?" Calum said, standing straight from the lockers.

"Why have I been hearing that word all day today?" I frowned.

"Well, what did Coach say?"

"He's overlooking my minor offense," I said. I opened my locker and snatched my precalculus textbook. "Thank goodness, huh?"

"A-huh," my friend muttered. He punched the locker beside him. "What did you tell him, Charlie? Why'd you run out so suddenly that day? I heard from your mom you weren't home until nine. I would've assumed you were at Krista's, but she told me you two hadn't talked for days."

"Who are you, now? Detective Conan?" I snorted. I did my best to hide my nervousness. But it wasn't easy, especially lying for the first time to the person who's known you all his life.

"Why did you run out that day, Charlie Borlock?"

"My mom had a flat tire and she wanted me to drive her to the bank. And her credit card maxed out, so she borrowed from me."

Calum looked uncomfortable, but he exhaled. He smiled. "Well, I'm just glad you're not doing anything that might tarnish our reputation."

I clenched my teeth. Like hanging out with Meredith?