KISS: Casablanca High School

Ch 92: State Part 1 (Multiple POVs)

BRUCE

I sat on the mat, stretching after my last ever wrestling practice and feeling absolutely worn out in more ways than one. Eric was sitting next to me, basically folded in half. "Dude that's freaky," I mumbled, but he just grinned. "Just because you're not flexible doesn't mean you need to hate me because I am. Now shut up, Coach is coming to tell us who made it to state," he said under his breath. 

Sure enough, Coach walked into the room, staring at a clipboard before looking at the rest of us. "Alright, listen up! I'm proud of the few of you who actually made it to state. Simmons, you're wrestling 172s. Carr, 126s. Tiana, 124s. And Becca, 116s. The rest of you, congrats on a good season! You four, listen up. State is going to be this weekend. It'll be self-transport, I need all of you at the hotel by 6 am. Obviously you won't be attending school that day. You will all wrestle Friday and then depending on if you win, you'll wrestle Saturday morning and potentially Saturday afternoon. I'll give you the permission slips and some more information tomorrow. Now get out of here! Except for you, Kulick. I need to talk to you." 

My heart dropped to my feet and I could feel my face growing white, but Eric nudged me, giving me a smile. "It's good news, I promise," he whispered, before jumping to his feet and ruffling my hair as he headed to the door with the rest of them. Not even close to reassured by Eric's words, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked to Coach's desk. "You wanted to see me? If it's about my weight Coach I swear I'm improv--" 

Coach shook his head, giving me a smile and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Bruce, you know I can't let you compete at state, and I'm sorry for that. But I want you there. I want to give you the experience of being at state your senior year, and I need to have you there to help coach. You're one of the best wrestlers on this team and with Strange gone all weekend I need an assistant. So can I trust you to be there?" 

A huge smile split my face and I nodded. "Yes! Yeah I can absolutely do that! Thank you, Coach!" Coach nodded. "Perfect. I'll get you the necessary paperwork tomorrow as well. I'm proud of you, Kulick. Now get out of here!" 

Beaming, I grabbed my bag and ran outside, smacking into Eric who was waiting next to Gene, matching smug grins on their face. "So? Can we count on you to be assistant coach?" Eric teased. I punched him in the arm, so happy my hands were shaking. "You're too nice, you know that? Damn, you really went behind my back like that." 

"Hey, give me some credit too! I helped Eric get it all worked out," Gene said. "So anyway, we were talking about how we're gonna do this. Eric said he's willing to drive but given his track record of staying awake, I was thinking either you or I should drive." I laughed, nodding. "Yeah, good point. You wanna drive?" 

Gene let out a sigh, running a hand through his head. "No, but I will. I'll pick you guys up at 2 on Friday." "2?! Two AM?! But that's when I'm asleep!" Eric protested. I ruffled his hair, still overwhelmingly excited. "And that's why you're not driving. But seriously, thank you guys. It's uh...it means a lot," I mumbled, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. Eric gave me a hug, smiling. "Hey, it's the least we can do. Anyway, I gotta go, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" 

2 AM Friday morning was here before I knew it. Breath frosting in the air, I jogged out to Gene's car, throwing my bag into the trunk and sliding into the backseat next to Eric, who was fast asleep. "He lives like ten minutes away from me, how is he already asleep?" I asked incredulously. Stifling a yawn, Gene just laughed. "You know how he is. He's upgraded now, he's got two hydros of coffee and not a single one of water." 

"Eric, Eric, Eric," I muttered, watching as he shifted in his sleep and started snoring. "You ready for this though?" Gene shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. "I gotta win, man. I seriously need to get first at state, especially since Stanford's giving me a spot on their wrestling team. I'm glad you're going though. It'll be nice to have a level head at the tournament."