Chapter 2

 

            “It’s so exciting to hear you guys talk about stuff like this.” Amanda said between opinions on our team’s strength and how the end of the year will be. “Just thinking about it makes me all hot and bothered.”

            I chuckled to myself as Leon choked on his spaghetti, then, while still coughing, reached underneath the table to remove Amanda’s hand from his thigh. He looked at Stevens and shook his head.

            “Anyway,” Coach Smitt said as he straightened his tie and leaned back in the oversized booth we occupied. “So what’s 189 gonna’ look like this year, Prophet?”

            I wiped my mouth off and rubbed my face with both hands, dreading the question I knew had been coming all night long. I loosened my tie and leaned forward, looking at each person at the table individually. I was surrounded by Stevens who was seated across from me, with Ashley Malone, one of the junior managers, to his right. Stevens sat smug, knowing that his state championship was secure. Sitting to the right of Ashley was Amanda, and next to her Leon. Coach sat next to Leon, still leaned back in the booth, swirling his Coke and waiting for my response. Then sat Megan Hughes, our third manager and my date for the night; she was twirling the end of one of my dreadlocks around her finger. I pushed her hand away and pulled the rest of my locks out of my face.

            “Pretty easy Coach: Campbell, Stoker, Masters, and Chavez. No one really cares about the bottom four, right?” I said, mimicking Stevens’ cocky phrase from earlier.

            “Okay…but where are they gonna’ be?” Coach asked, leaning down onto the table with one elbow, stroking his goatee.

            “Even easier.” I said, leaning back, putting my arm around Megan and rubbing my soul patch with one finger. “From fourth to first: Masters, Chavez…” I paused, giving a dramatic affect.

            Everyone leaned in closer. I looked at everyone again and smirked, “Stoker, Campbell.” Everyone eased back.

            “Hot damn!” Coach said, smacking the table, “He’s got it! Do you see that Josh? He figured out it’s not about who’s better or who’s got the best record. He’s figured out it’s about who wants it more.”

            “I know Coach.” I said chuckling softly. “And I want it more. Stoker doesn’t want it. He just expects it. And I’ll be DAMNED if he gets a bullshit call and wins another one. Mark the Prophet’s words, Daniel Stoker will not graduate with an undefeated career.” I said, attracting the attention of the rest of the restaurant.

            “Yeah Campbell!” Leon said, feeding off of my intensity. “Screw rankings. They say I’m only fifth in the state? Let ‘em come and try to take my pride. Let ‘em. I’m going to place in the top half! Hell, I’m going to place in the top two!”

            “Well, we’re at it,” Stevens chimed in, “Why don’t I just cut to 145 and whip Greenhill’s a*s?”

            “Umm…no.” Coach said. “But Campbell…you’ll see Stoker more than once, remember?”

            I almost choked on my drink. I had forgotten about the fact I saw Stoker at not only states, but at the Wyandotte tournament also.

            “You’ll beat him twice then, right Isaiah?” Megan asked me; this time playing with one of the small sleeves I had covering a deformity in my dreads.

            “Yeah…yeah. What Megan said.” I spit out, hoping my nervousness wouldn’t show too bad.

            “Well, let’s wait until the season starts to make out your ring order form, okay?” Coach said. “Now, you kids go have some fun.” He said, motioning us out onto the dance floor.

            “Sounds good Coach.” I said, grabbing Megan’s hand and practically running to the floor – anywhere away from Coach’s doubting stare. I could tell that Coach believed that I could win states. But was there that Coach didn’t believe…what was it? I couldn’t read him. I looked back as he sat in the booth, sipping his drink and pondering.

            “Isaiah, come on!” Megan yelled, pulling me out onto the dance floor. I gave one last glance back at Coach, who waved his hand for me to stay where I was, mouthing the word “Later.”

            I followed Megan out onto the floor and tried to keep up with her as she moved her body with the rhythm of the music. What was playing was stuff that I was familiar with: the same recycled rap music they played in every club from Ann Arbor to Detroit. There was no escaping it. When I asked if anyone wanted some drinks, Megan got upset and followed after me.

            “What, don’t you like dancing with me?” She asked, tears on the edge of her voice. “It’s because I’m not all over you, isn’t it? Well, I’m sorry I’m not some s**t like Amanda!”

            “Megan, that has nothing to do with it.”  I said, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes. “This upcoming season will be a tough one for me. I’ve got more riding on this than anyone. Don’t let anyone know,” I looked around to make sure no one who knew us was within ear shot, “But Stevens already has his scholarship in the bag. After practice today he made a verbal commitment to come wrestle for Michigan.”

            “Oh my God, that is so cool!” Megan said, jumping up and down with joy.

            “Megan…MEGAN! You can’t tell anyone! Stevens doesn’t want to make it known before this season so he won’t have to live up to anything. Not that he does: he’s everything that Coach Brushfield expects. But me on the other hand, I have to make the recruiters come after me. They all know I could be something big…it’s just the matter of whether I will or not.”

            Megan smiled, a kind, warm smile, the same one she had given me the night I lost the state title for the second year in a row. She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back of the restaurant/dance club we were in, towards the private booths. As we passed the other two couples on the dance floor, Stevens smacked my butt and gave me a thumb’s up while Amanda gave a shriek of approval, followed by a “Yeah Prophet!”

            But I knew that what was on Megan’s mind was nothing like what the other four were thinking of. Megan was young and timid – I was the only person she could really connect with. She often would call me up, telling me about her problems with her boyfriend William from Crestwood, the cross-town rivals of Smote. William was also a wrestler, a real decent kid at 171 pounds. He placed sixth in the state last year, two places higher than everyone expected him to place. And it was him that kept me from asking Megan out.

            “Isaiah…oh, Isaiah…do you know how much you mean to me?” Megan asked, that same smile creeping back across her face. Just seeing it made me feel like I could take on the world.

            “Well, I don’t know exactly, but I figure quite a bit…I mean, c’mon, you do test the fact that my phone is on 24/7 almost weekly.” I said jokingly.

            “Oh…it’s so much more than that.” The smile quickly disappeared, though it was not replaced with a frown. It was replaced with a stare, one that seemed to glance through my whole soul, searching for something.

            “Can I help you with something?” The waiter asked, handing us a menu filled with appetizers and mixed drinks.

            “I’ll just take a large orange juice.” I answered, surprising the waiter with my non-alcoholic request. “Do you want anything, Megan?”

            “Just a water, please.” She answered.

            “Thanks.” I said as the waiter walked away. “Now, where were we…oh yeah, you were checking me out!” I said with a laugh.

            “I was not checking you out!” Megan said, turning away and trying to conceal her reddening face. “I was just looking at something.”

            “What? Do I have a something in my teeth? Or did Stevens stick toothpicks in my dreads again?” I said, looking around for a mirror. In reality I knew Megan meant nothing about my physical appearance. But I wanted to play into her game, let her be in control of the journey, because I honestly had no idea where we were going.

            “No, Isaiah, I was not looking at your teeth or your hair,” She said, pulling some of my dreads out of my face. “I was looking at you and wondering what it would be like to finally stop resisting the force that’s been drawing us together since last year.”

            I looked at Megan, not knowing what to say. I knew she didn’t mean sleeping together, at least I hoped not. I looked down at her left hand and assured myself that she was still wearing her purity band. Then what was she talking about? I leaned back into the booth and thought about her entire statement.

            “The force” she spoke of was our mutual attraction to each other, which we had both admitted to last year at wrestling camp. But we had agreed not to act upon that because Megan was dating William, and had been for a year that night. I thought back and realized tomorrow would be their two year anniversary. Then I looked at Megan’s neck: her necklace that used to hold William’s class ring was empty.

            “Megan…are you saying…but you know we can’t ever be together. We agreed on that last year, when we—”

            “No, Isaiah, we agreed we couldn’t be together as long as I was with William. But I dumped him before school even ended this year. I couldn’t stand to not be with you anymore. I want to be there when you celebrate your win at the state finals this year.” She concluded with that same smile and all I could think was “I am the luckiest man alive.”

            “I am the luckiest man alive.” I said to her, almost accidentally, looking deep into her eyes and wondering if she realized the sacrifices she would have to make to be my girlfriend.

            “Megan, you don’t know what being with me means. It means long nights and hard struggles; it means being there to comfort me if I do lose. And do you really want to be with the kid who’s second in the state?”

            “Isaiah…I know what it will be like. I’ve been that person the past year, haven’t I? You said yourself ‘We might as well be dating.’ And it wouldn’t matter to me if you placed eighth this year, or if you didn’t place at all; wrestling is not the reason I care about you so much. I want you for the simple reason that you are one of the greatest people that I know.”

            “Megan…my first instinct is to say ‘Yes.’ I want you to know that. But you’re going to have to give me some time to think about this. I’ve already got a lot tied up in winning states and getting recruited somewhere. I need some time to think about whether or not I can handle the pressures of both that and having a serious relationship. I want to be with you, but better—”

            “Isaiah, I understand. It’s fine. Take as much time as you want. And if you decide you can’t handle it, I’ll still be here after the season is over. But for now, let’s forget about this. You don’t want to make your best friend into a liar, do you?” She said, sliding off my suit jacket and pulling her close to me. I looked at this girl, this beautiful, five foot tall, green-eyed brunette who was one of the most beautiful things on this earth.

            “What do you mean?” I asked facetiously.

            “Like I said…we don’t want to make Josh a liar, now do we?” And the smile was back. But even this was not the same smile that she had given me previously. This one had something devilish behind it.

            “Whoa! Yeah Campbell!” Stevens yelled, as he and Ashley made their way to a table past us.

            “Do you catch my drift now?” Megan asked, and I nodded that I did.