Remember

Chapter 9

"Ronnie Bass, I like that new haircut. Show me what you got." says Boone. 

"Let's go! New Quarterbck!" I yell, clapping my hands together. I line up, and get ready to play. 

"Ready, set, hut!" yells Ronnie. He backs up quicly, and attempts to pitch the ball to Petey. The ball goes in a totally different direction, and Boone stops the game with his whistle. 

Boone tries to explain the pitch to Ronnie, but ends up assigning Rev to teach him. 

~

I finish all the food on my tray and stare at it's emptiness hungrily. 

Alan walks over and sets down a bowl of fruit in front of me. I scoot over and let him sit, as a thank you. 

Ray walks over and tries to squeeze in next to Gerry, who is next to Julius. "Hey, can you scoot over a bit Ger?"

"Hey man, this is the defensive table." says Gerry. Ray looks around to see us all staring at him. He sighs and gets p and sits at the other table awkwardly.

 Petey scoots in across from me and leans forward to talk to Sunshine, who had gotten the bunk above mine. 

"Hey, Sunshine." he says awkwadly. "It's not like I care or nothin, but, being your roommate and all, yo uwere just messing with Bertier, right? You-you-you, you were just messing with his mind, right?"

"What are you talking about, Petey? asks Sunshine. 

"Look man, it don't matter to me. You know, if... you know. I just gotta know. You know?" stutters Petey. 

"Well if it don't matter, what's the big deal?" asks Sunshine. I bury my head in Alan's shoulder to keep from snickering. He tenses for a moment. 

"I gotta know." replies Petey seriously. 

"Know what?" asks Sunshine. 

"You know what. I gotta know, don't mess with my mind!" yells Petey. 

"I think Coach has been keeping Petey out in the sun for too long." I say loudly to Sunshine. 

Petey rolls his eyes and gets up to sit at another part of the table. 

"Aww, no. Petey, he didn't mean it. Come on!" I call after him, laughing.

~

"What are you?" asks Boone. 

"Mobile, agile, hostile.!" We yell back. 

"What is pain?" calls Boone. 

"French bread!" we call back. 

"What is fatigue?" he calls. 

"Army clothes!" we call back. 

"Will we ever quit?"

"No! We want so'mo! We want so'mo!" we yell. 

"Turn in!" says Coach. We stop our exercise and start jumping into the huddle. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

One at a time, we take off our helmets. I thank god that I don't have to wear all that giant body armor. It looks like you'd get really sweaty in there. I'm fairly happy in my New York Jets T-Shirt and yoga pants. 

"Let me ask you something Mr. Campbell." says Gerry. "What kind of power you got?"

"Aww man, you know I got some soul power." replies Julius. 

"What kind of power you got?" repeats Gerry. 

"Man, I got some soul power!" repeats Julius. 

"Yes you do!" yells Gerry. 

"Now, let me ask you a question Mr. Bertier!" yells Julius. "How strong are you?"

"I'm too strong!" replies Gerry. 

"How strong are you?" he repeats. 

"I'm too strong!" screams Gerry. "I want a victory!"

"No, I want a victory!" yells Julius. 

"We all want victory!" yells Gerry. We all cheer in reply. 

~

"Na na na, na." starts Blue from across the bus. 

"Na na na na. " Calls Petey. 

"Hey hey hey!" I sing. 

"Goodbye!" calls the whole bus. 

"He'll never love you! The way that I loove you!" I sing. 

"Cause if he did, oh no, he wouldn't, make you cryyyyy!" sings Gerry badly. 

"He might be thrilling baby but my love's so doggone willing, so kiss him..." sings Big Ju. 

"I wanna see you kiss him, I wanna see you kiss him, goodbye!" sing Alan and I. 

The whole bus joins in. "Na na na na, hey hey hey! Goodbye! Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye!"

The bus pulls into the parking lot, and we get off, one at a time. We each give Coach Boone a salute before walking off.  

I give my mom a quick hug, but she immediately pulls away to hug Gerry. "Welcome home!" she says happily to him. 

I walk over to meet Boone's family. 

"Mrs. Boone, nice to meet you." I say, joining Yoast and Sheryl. 

"This is my wife, Sharon, and this is Karen, and this is Nikki, Nikki, that's Caroline." Boone says, introducing me to his older daughter. 

"Why do you dress so weird?" Sheryl asks Nikki. 

"Look who's talking." replies Nikki. 

"Well, aren't we all just getting along." says Boone awkwardly. 

"It's nice to meet you." Sharon says to me. 

"Nice to meet you too." I say, shaking her hand. 

I start walking to my car, but Alan stops me. "You're walking with Gerry tomorrow, right?" 

"Uhh yeah. Why?" I ask.

"I just wanted to make sure. See you tomorrow." he says, walking off.