Coming Home [Completed]

Ch. 4: On I Go

For the second time in a week, Charlie found himself in an office with an authority figure questioning him. More accurately, in this case, it was two authority figures. And, to make matters doubly worse, this office was located in a school, the last place Charlie wanted to be at the advent of his summer break.

Nevertheless, here he was, in the office of Mr. Matthews, the principal at Pine Brook, with Coach Hansen, who ran the school's football team, also in attendance. Even more to his displeasure, his mother was also present. They were there to officially enroll him at the school for the next year. Coach Hansen was there because Pine Brook's football team was supposed to be in an off-year and the addition of an all-state running back like Charlie could make their year.

As Mr. Matthews was slowly coming to the end of his long soliloquy on the values and prestige of his school, he ended on a note that made Charlie somewhat uncomfortable, "now, I know that things were handled differently at your last school, but Pine Brook has a zero-tolerance policy for physical violence between students and abusive language."

Charlie shifted in his seat. He hated the use of words that accurately describe what happened to end his attendance at Saint Sebastian because they made him feel like a victim and that wasn't something he wanted to be.

"That being said, there's another area of difference between schools that must be addressed. I am aware that Saint Sebastian has a two-hour grace period for athletes in the morning before they are marked late. That doesn't happen here and neither does any other favorable treatment based on extracurricular activities."

That one actually stung for Charlie, who had availed himself of that informal policy more times than he could count last year. He was in a shitty mood for being dragged out of bed this morning to come to this, so he thought he'd try to press his luck.

"Well, sir, knowing that I think just confirms for me that I really should be focusing on getting into college this year and jettisoning any distracting extracurriculars, especially after the trauma I experienced at my old school."

Mr. Matthews, a wiry, old academic-looking man, did not seem to know how to respond to that, which gave Charlie a momentary twisted pleasure. Then, Coach Hansen intervened, "if I know you like I think I do, Charlie, there's nothing that will keep you off that field for the rivalry game against Saint Sebastian this fall."

Hansen was calling his bluff and he was right. Bastard, Charlie thought briefly, but he had to respect it. "Now, Charlie," Hansen continued, "let's leave Mr. Matthews and your mom to the logistics and I'll take you to the weight room; some of the boys are doing off-season workouts today."

Before Charlie knew it, he was leaving the office with the coach and heading down a hallway towards the weight room. He hoped he wouldn't be expected to give any show of strength. He'd barely exercised at all in the past two months, mostly spending his time away from school lounging around, feeling sorry for himself, and rewatching The Sopranos.

There weren't many players in the weight room when they arrived, only about a half-dozen or so by Charlie's count. State rules made these off-season workouts technically voluntary but any halfway-decent team usually had full attendance at them because guys were fighting for spots. They must really be in bad shape this year, Charlie thought.

As if reading his mind, Hansen conceded, "we had fifteen starters graduate this year. We're basically starting over from scratch."

Charlie had instantly recognized two of the players upon walking in, Theo's friends Nolan and Jude, but had carefully avoided eye contact. However, eye contact and more would be inevitable when Hansen took him around introducing him to all the players present.

When they got to Jude, Charlie preempted Hansen, "Hey, man, how've you been?"

Jude, much to his surprise, lit up and started talking a mile a minute about lord knows what, but was quickly silenced when Nolan reproachfully said his name. Hansen had left them be to speak with another coach.

"Nolan," Charlie acknowledged returning the other boy's coldness.

"I guess we're teammates now."

"I guess we are."

"You're out now so there's no excuse for your shitty behavior anymore, got that?"

"Nolan—" Jude began but stopped himself from saying anything further when he saw the look his friend gave him

Charlie didn't know how to respond to that and, thankfully, he didn't have to as Hansen returned and took him back to the front office to reunite with Mr. Matthews and his mother.

Just great, Charlie thought on the ride back home, not only do I not have friends, now I have enemies here too, apparently.

_________________________________________________

Charlie couldn't attend the football team's offseason workouts until July when his transfer cleared, which was fortunate for him because it gave him a few weeks to get back in shape. Several weeks of languid idleness had softened his form well below mid-season or even offseason form.

To remedy this, Charlie had taken to going for runs throughout his neighborhood every morning and then went to a local gym for a lift every afternoon. It seemed silly but he wasn't very acquainted with his own neighborhood. He'd lived there for years now, but had barely paid much attention to his surroundings. He didn't need to. He went to a different school from most of the other kids in his area and his arrival to the neighborhood came long after the need for friends within walking distance.

Now, it appeared that he'd be getting to know his surroundings and its inhabitants a bit better over the coming months. Saint Sebastian was like a community unto itself that liked to be as insulated as possible from the outside world, regarding it all with haughtiness and contempt.

Charlie's mind drifted to these thoughts as he was running, even through his playlist abstract thoughts such as these crept into his head. He hated the act of running, thinking it mindless and repetitive exertion of muscles, but he knew it'd be necessary for him to return to playing shape. Strangely, between coming out and switching schools, he was actually looking forward to the upcoming season, a welcome return to something he'd done his whole life. This was a marked difference from this time last year, when he was ready to quit, having lost interest in the sport, but this cluster of recent events seems to have reinvigorated...

Charlie was aroused out of his reverie by the honking of a car horn. Quickly gathering himself, he realized that in the midst of his run, he'd drifted out into the street of his suburban neighborhood and was preventing a car from passing. He quickly returned to the side of the road and gave an apologetic expression, with his face reddening, to the driver, a quick-tempered middle-aged man who appeared to be heading to work.

That's when he noticed him. A brown-haired boy who looked to be approximately his age had slowed his own morning run to witness Charlie's embarrassing display and he was laughing subtly to himself. The boy was dressed in some rather short shorts and a Pine Wood Swimming & Diving t-shirt. Charlie was mesmerized, having stopped his run completely to watch the supple figure pass him by. The teen noticed and flashed him a small smile before quickly returning to the road ahead of him, having the sense not to get distracted as Charlie had been.

He spent most of his runs for the subsequent weeks searching his field of vision for the unidentified jogger, occasionally spotting him and exchanging nonverbal acknowledgments, but Charlie never worked up the courage to actually introduce himself to his newfound object of affection.