I Walk The Line

Chapter Eleven: The Games begin.

September 16, 2016.

Carrie sat on the bleachers in the middle of Meryl and Marilou. Behind them, was Carrie and Harrison's mothers. It was the first game of the season.

Carrie was nervous because it was her brother's first time playing. Also, she didn't want Harrison to get hurt a long with the boys. For their first game, the pirates were playing the sharks.

They watched as Harrison ran onto the field first in purple and gold, their team colors. She knew it was Harrison by his number, 56. Todd ran out on the field after him with his number 27. Then there came Terrance, with the number 32. And last but certainly not least, Mark with the number 07.

They heard the whistle and the game started.

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The pirates won the game, 14-0! Once the whistle blew to end the game, Carrie and Marilou ran on the field to see their boyfriends.

Carrie ran to Harrison. He picked her up, spun her around, and kissed her. "You did it!" Carrie yelled over the cheering of parents and students.

He smiled and gave her another kiss. "I'm so proud of you!" She yelled. "Thanks, Carrie." Harrison said. He put her down and Dorothy walked over to them.

"Good job, Harrison." Dorothy said followed by a hug. "Thanks mom." He said. Then Mark and the boys came over followed by Marilou. "Good game, guys." Todd said. "Very good game, indeed!" Mark exclaimed.

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Since Todd and Terrance rode home with Debbie and Dorothy, Carrie took Harrison home.

"You want to come over tomorrow? We can play pool with Todd and my mother." Carrie said. "Sure. But I call being on Debbie's team." Harrison said. Carrie playfully rolled her eyes and slapped his chest. "Ok, ok, whatever." She said.

He kissed her and got out of the car. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said. Carrie nodded. "Ok, I love you. Text me tonight, alright. Don't forget." Carrie said. "You know I won't." He closed the door and walked to his house. Carrie sighed and drove to her house.

She got into the house and saw Debbie and Todd, at the table, eating burgers from Reggie's. "Real original, get burgers without me." Carrie said. Debbie laughed. "Don't worry, dear. We got you one." Debbie said.

Carrie walked upstairs and threw her keys on her dresser. "Thank you, mother." She yelled from her room as she took her ponytail down.

"You're welcome, dear." Debbie said as Carrie came back downstairs. "So, Harrison's coming over tomorrow to play pool. He requests to be on your team." Carrie said. "Only God knows why." Todd said causing Debbie to slap him on the cheek. "Sorry . . ." He whispered.

"That's fine, that's fine. I guess you and Todd can be teammates." Debbie said. Todd shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm going to spend the day with some friends." Todd said.

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Ok, fine. I'll just have Terry be on my team." Carrie said. Todd nodded. "I don't care." He said. "Fine. I'll call him now." Carrie said with a smile getting an eye roll back from her brother.

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The next day, Carrie had to drop Todd off behind a building. Once they got there, there was some boys that looked pretty tough. Todd was about to get out of the car before Carrie grabbed his arm.

"I don't know about this, Todd." Carrie said. "What are you talking about? These guys are cool. Just leave me alone and let me live my life the way I want to. Ok?" He said. Carrie slowly nodded and Todd ran out of the car.

Carrie came back home to Harrison and Terrance already being there. "Hey, Carrie." Harrison said. Carrie nodded with a small smile and walked up the stairs. Knowing that something's wrong, Harrison followed her.

Carrie gets like this every once in a while due to her mental illness, and Harrison knows that. But, something ahour her just seems odd.

Carrie reached her room, threw her keys on the dresser, and sat on the bed, dropping her head to her hands.

Harrison sat next to her and rubbed her back. "Sweetheart, what is it?" He asked. "I told you how Todd is hanging out with some "friends" today, right?" She asked as he nodded.  "Well, the people he's hanging out with are very suspicious looking to me." Carrie said.

"And why's that?" He asked. "Well, they are tough. The way they stand, the way their facial expression is, and they all have heavy metal shirts on. I questioned Todd about it and he was all, "they're cool, let me run my life the way I want to". But I'm afraid he's going down the wrong path!"

Harrison sighed and hugged her. "It'll be ok. Todd's a smart boy. If they try to get Todd to do something bad, he'll leave." Harrison said. "But he's also easily influenced." Carrie said.

"Just like his father." Carrie and Harrison look up to see Debbie standing in the doorway with Terrance behind her. She walked in and sat on the other side of Carrie with Terrance on the other side of Harrison.

"He has too much of his father in him, Carrie." Debbie said. Carrie nodded and laid her head on Harrison's shoulder. "You should have seen the boys, mom. They looked exactly like little . . . Punks! Little punks, that's it." Carrie said.

Debbie frowned. "He'll learn . . . Eventually. I just hope he doesn't learn the way Eddie did." Debbie said with a sigh. "What happened?" Carrie asked. "The group he was in, wanted your father to steal a radio." Debbie said.

"What did he do?" Terrance asked. "Well, he said no of course." Debbie said. "Oh, I'm almost scared to find out the ending!" Carrie exclaimed. "They punched him and stole all of his money. Then he ran to my house. He was scared to go home because he knew that his father would kill him for letting that happen." Debbie said.

Carrie nodded and frowned. "Todd really screwed up this time." Carrie said.

"He did. But just like his father, he has to learn. If your father didn't get beat up and stolen from like that, he'd probably be the father to one of those punks running around with your brother." Debbie said.

"She's right, Carrie, " Harrison started, "The boy has to learn. I . . . Had to learn." Carrie gasped and turned around to look at Harrison. "Oh, Harry, what did you do?" She asked.

"Well I was, like your brother, hanging around the wrong crowd. I was in the seventh grade, we were walking walking down the street and saw a dog. There had been a sign for a week saying that the dog was lost. Well, it was that dog. The boys told me to take the dog. Different from your father, I did what they said." Harrison said.

"Harrison Ford!" Carrie yelled.

"Two weeks later, I was walking the dog down the street when this woman came running down the street. She yelled, 'you found my dog! Why didn't you return him?' And it just so happened, that the guys were with me that day. I turned around to see what they would say, but they were already gone. Laughing and running with each other."

"Oh my gosh, Harrison." Debbie said.

"I returned the dog and apologised. To make up for what I did, I gave her the dog food and toys that I bought. Three months after that, the woman moved away. And since that day, I never talked to the boys again."

Carrie sighed and slapped his shoulder. "That's horrible, Harry." Carrie said. "We all make mistakes . . . And we have to learn from them." Debbie said. "I know what I did was wrong and I still can't believe I let those boys get to me." Harrison said.

Carrie sighed and laid her head back on his shoulder. "Poor Harry." She said. "Ok. Can we go play some pool now?" Terrance asked. Carrie laughed and scratched his head. "Yes, little buddy. Me and Terry against mom and Harrison." Carrie said.

Everyone smiled and ran downstairs to play some pool.