The League (11 page)

Taking the pants from Mom, I said good night to Evan and went inside.

“Toodle-oo, kangaroo,” she said as the door closed behind me.

After the graduation ceremony Wednesday, there was a party in the school courtyard for the families. Mom and Dad made me pose for a million photographs. When that was over, I sat in the shade on a folding chair with a glass of lemonade and a sugar cookie.

Francis showed up and took a seat next to me. Sipping the last of my lemonade, I realized it was now or never. I had to tell him I wasn’t going to golf camp.

“I’m so glad we’re out of here.” Francis sighed and adjusted his tie. “No more kid stuff.” All the other guys had taken their ties off, or at least loosened them, but not Francis. His was still hanging tight
and straight. “Our new lives start this summer,” he added. “I can’t wait to be around people who—”

“I have some bad news,” I said, cutting Francis off. “I can’t go to golf camp with you.”

“Seriously?” Francis said. “Why not?”

I looked around like we were being watched. “It’s the stock market,” I whispered.

“What about it?”

“All I know is my dad said no more golf camp.”

Francis shook his head. “Man, I told him to diversify his portfolio.”

“Well, it’s too late now,” I said, trying to act as bummed as Francis.

“Do you want my dad to talk to him? Maybe he could throw a few tips his way.”

“No!” I practically shouted. “You can’t say anything to your parents.” I lowered my voice again. “My dad is kind of embarrassed, and if your parents knew I wasn’t in golf camp, they might start asking questions.”

“Okay,” said Francis, nodding. “I’ll cover for you. But I don’t know what I’ll say if you’re not in the father-son tournament.”

“I’ll come up with something by then,” I said, tossing my empty cup into a nearby trash can.

“What are you going to do instead?” he asked.

“Probably just lie low.”

“Hey,” Francis said, excitement returning to his
voice. “I have a great idea. You could be my caddy. I could pay you.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but Francis actually managed to find something that sounded less fun than golf camp. I tried to picture myself lugging his clubs up and down the fairway while he soaked up the sunshine. “I’ll think about it,” I said. “But thanks for having my back.”

“What are friends for?” Francis replied, holding out his fist, which I bumped with mine.

I felt a twinge of guilt as our knuckles met. It was hard to forget that I was lying to someone I liked. Still, I thought I had a right to do what I wanted this summer. I just wished I could have been honest about it with Francis. That was impossible, though. If Francis knew what I was really doing, he would make it his job to tell his parents, or my parents, even if it got me in trouble. So it was really
his
fault I had to make up the stock market story. It had to be this way, which was never the fun way.

“We’re so proud of you, Wyatt,” Mom said as she handed me a gift-wrapped box with an envelope taped to the outside. It was dinnertime after graduation, and the whole family was watching me.

“What is this?” I asked.

“It’s a lot of things,” Dad replied. “It’s your graduation present slash starting-golf-camp present slash, well, just all-around-great-job present.”

“Do I get a present?” Kate asked. “I got good grades too.”

Yeah, thanks to me
, I thought.

“So he got good grades?” Aaron said. “Why do we have to make a big deal out of it?”

“It’s called positive reinforcement, pal,” Dad told Aaron. “You want presents at dinner? You bring home straight As and stay out of trouble for a year, I’ll get you whatever you want.”

“I want a truck,” Aaron said.

Dad looked at him. “You get straight As, I’ll buy you a truck. Until then, be happy for your brother. If you’re nice to him, he might tell you some of his secrets.”

“Yeah, Wyatt,” Aaron said. “Tell me some of your secrets. What makes you so smart and special?”

I wanted to crawl under the table until the end of dinner. Why did Mom and Dad have to make such a big deal about my grades in front of Aaron?

Mom pointed at the box. “Open it up,” she said.

I felt the box. It was pretty obvious the present was a pair of shoes, or at least something heavy in a shoe box. Sure enough, when I’d pulled off all the wrapping paper, I was staring at a pair of golf shoes. A
pair of old golf shoes. I could tell they’d been white when they were new, but grass and dirt stains had turned them a brownish green on the sides. Metal spikes jutted out from the bottom of each shoe.

“For golf camp!” Mom exclaimed, in case I couldn’t put it together myself. “They were your dad’s.”

“I’ve held on to them so I could pass them on to one of you. They’ve been in this box for thirty years.”

“That’s gross,” said Kate.

“So, they’re yours now,” Dad went on. “Just in time too. Camp starts Monday, right?”

I nodded. “Yup,” I said. For some kids, anyway.

“Do you like them?” Mom asked.

“They’re great,” I said.

“The best thing is they’re all broken in. You could run a marathon in those shoes.”

“They have spikes,” I pointed out.

“Well, a marathon on grass,” Dad admitted.

Mom began clearing the dishes. “You’re going to have so much fun at golf camp, Wyatt.”

That made me wince. Every time Mom or Dad mentioned golf camp, it was like being pricked by a pin. When I thought of my double life as an adventure in which I had to outsmart everyone to stay alive, it was exciting. But when I remembered that I was flat-out lying to my friends and family, it felt a
little less fun. I just hoped Mom and Dad wouldn’t find out the truth before summer even started.

I looked across the table at Aaron. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t say anything. After all, I knew a secret about him too. And Kate wouldn’t talk either. Not after the mermaid oath.

“There’s more good news,” Mom announced, coming back to the table with a plate of cookies. “Kate and Dad are going shopping tomorrow for golf clubs.”

“What?” Aaron asked, looking more outraged than ever. “Why? What did she do?”

“She got a B-plus on her math test,” Dad said, tousling Kate’s hair as he passed by her chair. “Your mom was so proud she even had it framed. Show ’em, Ellen.”

Smiling, Mom reached under her chair and revealed a framed sheet of paper. It had a giant
B
+ on the top next to Kate’s name, and a dozen completed math problems. “Great job, sweetie,” said Mom, hugging Kate.

“Wyatt helped me a little,” Kate admitted.

“You’re a good big brother,” Mom said, reaching across the table to pat my hand.

I hoped she’d remember that if the truth about this summer ever got out.

Summer vacation was finally here. I had survived the school year, but only because Mr. Groton had threatened to ruin Spencer’s football career if he bothered me. Now I was on my own again. If Spencer found me over the summer, I would have to protect myself. Luckily, it was also the time for the League of Pain—and if that wasn’t going to make me tough enough to face Spencer, nothing would. Aaron had already told me we’d play every weekday between now and the Fourth of July, the day of the championship game. That meant thirteen days of football and then, fireworks.

Brushing my teeth after breakfast, I noticed Aaron
was wearing beat-up cargo shorts and a T-shirt with dirt stains. I found clothes in my room that looked like his, threw them on, and went out into the hallway.

“What are you doing?” Aaron asked. “You can’t go downstairs dressed like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re supposed to be going to a golf course,” he said, slapping me on the side of the head. “You have to wear something nice.”

Looking down at my grass-stained clothes, I realized Aaron was right. For a guy who didn’t know a right triangle from a trapezoid, he sure could think through a lie. “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll go change.”

“But bring those with you,” he added. “Or you’ll trash your golf clothes.”

“Obviously,” I agreed, grabbing a wad of money from the peanut butter jar in case I got hungry after the game.

In the driveway a few minutes later, I tied the laces of my golf shoes together, threw them over my neck, and said goodbye to Mom.

Dad was starting up his car in the driveway with Kate in the backseat. “You sure you don’t want a ride to the golf course?” he asked. “It’s not far out of my way.”

“I’ll ride my bike,” I said.

Dad started to drive away, then stopped suddenly and looked back. “Wait,” he said. “Don’t I need to sign you in?”

“Francis said if you’re over fourteen you can sign yourself in,” I said.

“Okay,” Dad replied. “Well, I can’t wait to hear all about it tonight. You know where to pick up your clubs when you get there?”

“Yup,” I said.

He pointed to the shoes as he drove off. “Take care of those.”

I forced a smile as I strapped the shoes carefully to the rack of my bike so I wouldn’t have to tell Dad I’d lost them on my first day.

“See you at the club,” Kate called, her head sticking out of the window as Dad drove away.

The wind rushed over my helmet as I sailed down the hill toward the park. In my head I went over the directions to the field Aaron had given me last night: go in the main entrance and follow the gravel trail until it turns into dirt. Stay on the dirt trail all the way through the ravine. Look for the break in the blackberry bushes. Listen for voices.

I followed Aaron’s directions to a grassy area hidden between a row of pine trees and the side of a dusty hill. I stood alone in the middle of the field, staring all around me. It was impossible to see the
outside world. It was like being at the bottom of a bowl. At one end of the bowl, two oak trees about fifty feet apart reached toward each other with their longest branches. Turning around, I saw two boulders on the other end about the same distance apart sitting in front of a thick mess of blackberry bushes. I bet those were the end zones.

But where was everyone else?

Then I heard a noise from the other side of the hill. Like a flock of birds mixed with a stampede of horses all in the middle of an earthquake. As it got louder, it began to sound more human and I could make out voices. Well, not voices exactly. More like deranged yelling and screaming.

A dust cloud formed at the top of the hill as heads began to appear. A second later the heads were whole bodies. Big bodies racing and tumbling straight down the dirt hill toward me with their arms in the air. As they reached level ground, I picked up only one word coming from the pack: “FOOOTBAAALLLL!”

Suddenly I was surrounded by ten, maybe fifteen heavyset guys with jerseys, arms as big as my thighs, and cleats. None of them seemed to notice me. They jumped into one another, stomping across the field and beating their chests.

As they stormed around me like wild things, I could see that some of them had streaks of mud painted under their eyes.

I was never going to get out of Boardman Park alive.