I shrugged. “I’m good.”
“Whatever, man.” Reggie crossed his arms. “Quit playing around and throw the ball.”
Reggie was the best receiver on the team, but he thought he was the best thing in the fucking world. He was an asshole, no doubt about it, and I could already hear the shit he was going to say on Saturday. Reggie wasn’t going to touch the ball that half if I had anything to do with it.
Mostly because when he caught the ball, he tended to make shit happen. As much of an asshole as he was, Reggie was a good player.
I got my head in practice for the rest of the session. I couldn’t make anyone suspicious that something was going on. Hynes was the only person who knew about Avery, but I doubted one bad half was going to make him start telling everyone.
After practice was over and the team showered off, I walked back to the apartment with Hynes.
“You see that girl lately?” he asked.
“Which one?”
“The one with your fuckin’ baby, man.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve been seeing her.”
“How’s that going?”
“Fine.”
“You tell anyone about it?”
“Just you.”
“Probably for the best.” He looked around. “A lot of fucking haters out there in the world. You having some illegitimate baby won’t play well.”
“What do you think Coach would do?”
“Don’t know,” Hynes said, musing. “He might protect you. He might throw you under the bus. He’d be pissed either way.”
“Yeah.” Not pissing Coach off was one of my goals in life. The man did not give a shit about anything when he was angry, and I could already imagine the kind of punishing work he’d put me through if he found out about Avery.
But how was I going to keep it a secret? I didn’t even know if that was right, trying to keep her a secret. It wasn’t like I was ashamed of her. Avery was gorgeous, smart, and funny. If I was going to impregnate someone, at least it was someone like Avery. There was just so much shit surrounding me and my future, and a knocked-up girl who was not my girlfriend could look pretty damn bad.
And in sports, as with most things, image was important. The media liked to talk about how I was from the wrong side of the tracks, a rough family, but I’d gotten out of that and grown up. I was supposed to be some reformed bad boy.
Truth was, I hadn’t reformed shit. I just played football and did whatever the fuck I wanted. I could just imagine the field day they would have with this story, though.
“What are you doing about her?”
“Nothing,” I said. “She’s having the kid and I’m going to support her.”
“Good for you, man.”
“She’s even doing this project for her biology class on me.”
He stopped me. “Hold up. She’s doing a project for biology on you?”
“Yeah, man. She’s doing a study on athletes.”
He cracked up, practically doubling over with laughter. I couldn’t help but grin at him.
Finally, he got control of himself. “Shit, man,” he said. “That’s just some funny-ass shit. You’re amazing at getting yourself into this stuff.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, man, she’s going to be all close to you and shit, taking your vitals, studying you.”
“Yeah, I can see how that might look bad.”
“Looks pretty good for you as far as I’m concerned.”
“Well listen, she’s going to be stopping by the apartment in the mornings to take my measurements and shit.”
“All right, man. Whatever you want.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Just don’t get all fucked up on this girl. We need your head in the game.”
“I’m not. Have I ever been the type to get all twisted over some girl?”
“Nah, man,” he said, “but you don’t normally see them for very long.”
“Relax,” I said as we started walking again. “It’ll be fine. I got this handled.”
He looked at me, skeptical. “I’m not so sure about that, but I trust you.”
I had to admit, he probably wasn’t wrong, but I had no other choice. If only Hynes understood the situation I was in and could even begin to fathom all the pressure I was under.
I’d work it out, one way or another.
12
Avery
I was up at the crack of dawn. I hated getting right up, but I couldn’t spend time lying around in bed. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t be late.
I went into the bathroom and got ready. I couldn’t remember the last time I had gotten dressed seriously before five in the morning, but I wasn’t going over to Gibson’s looking like a total slob, even though I was a total slob, especially this early.