Chapter 4

 

            Three days after Stevens’ revelation about his health, I was still in shock. This was the last day of wrestling camp, and every time Josh had been on the mat, I was worried about him. Not that I let it show. But whenever he would gasp for breath, or when he would wince in pain, my heart stopped. But today scared me the worst – so much that I was sick to my stomach and my head was throbbing.

            Last night was our annual camp meeting: held every year, on the last night at camp, all night. It started with the traditional pizza night, at a local (at least, local to U of M in Ann Arbor local) pizza shop owned by one of Coach’s friends. Coach would treat our team, and the Michigan team, to an all-you-can-eat pizza fest. Then, we would retire back to a conference room in the dorm hall we stayed in, and talk about everything: from the team season, to our personal goals, to what we thought about this years’ camp, we discussed it all. About seven o’clock in the morning Coach would let us go, just in time to make it over to the athletic complex for our final duel meet.

            And it was that duel meet that scared me. No one had ever gone through the entire camp week undefeated. Since these matches didn’t count for or against us, Coach would set the undefeated kids up with some seemingly impossible matches. Sometimes, if someone had made it to the last day before losing, Coach would set them up with two or even three matches, one right after another. Stevens and I had made it to that point last year. Coach put Josh, a 160 pounder, up against a 215 pound state champion, Hafeez Jaber (who I consequently defeated that year during the regular season) and me, a 189 pounder, up against a heavyweight state champion (who Skodak lost to that year to make it to states). And here we were again: Stevens and I undefeated, and worried.

            “Did you see any state champs here?” Stevens asked me.

            “Not besides you and a few lighter weights; none of them were heavier than you.” I said, trying to shake the grogginess out of my head.

            “Don’t worry boys…you guys are set.” Coach said with a laugh, coming up behind us. “Look at this.” He held out his clipboard to us.

            “Stevens…” Josh ran his finger across the page, “…Shaw. You got me Shaw Coach? Oh, Campbell better have a graduated kid too!”

            “What are you worried about?” I asked, pushing Josh out of the way, “Both of us spanked Shaw while he was still in school. Remember? I beat him his sophomore year at states to place fifth, you beat him his senior year to win team states.”

            “Yeah, I remember all that, but still…I heard he’s training to do UFC.”

            “Whatever, you big wuss. Let’s see…Campbell…” I read the name on the page and looked up at Coach, half in horror and half in amazement. “Besswine? I’m wrestling Taylor Besswine?”

            “WHAT?” Stevens yelled.

            “He was really impressed with you the other day.” Coach said, smiling and taking off his Smote ball cap. “Then he watched you during your matches over the week. He got real impressed when you threw that big heavyweight from Tecumseh; said he never expected you to do something like that.”

            “Did you hear that, Stevens? Taylor Besswine says I’m good wrestler!”

            “He didn’t just say that, Prophet. He said you’re one of the best 189 pounders he’s seen in this state. He said that last year at states, even the D1 guys weren’t as technical as you. He said that you know the ins and outs of every move you hit, and every one your opponent tries to hit on you!”

            “So when do we wrestle, Coach?” Stevens asked.

            “You wrestle first, in about fifteen minutes. Campbell wrestles immediately after you. Time to step up boys!” Coach said, turning to walk towards the rest of the team.

            Stevens and I turned to walk to the mat we would wrestle on, when Coach called back at me.

            “Oh, and Prophet,” Coach said, putting his hat back on, “If…I mean, when…you beat Besswine, I’ll be expecting your ring order form on my desk within a month or so…your undefeated championship ring needs a little extra time to get here, ok?”

            “Gotcha’ Coach.” I said, smiling from ear to ear.