Beast and Dog-Boy

Chapter 6 - The Game

The next morning Valerie rang up Drew’s house fifteen minutes before her pick up time, just to make sure there were no snafus, and to make sure he was all right.

His phone rang twice. Then he answered it by saying, “Yes?”

“Hi Drew,” she said.

“Hey Valerie!” he said. “Hot diggity dog! Thanks for calling me on the telephone!”

“Is that another movie reference?” she asked as she smiled..

“Blast from the Past,” he said. “It good. It funny. Want watch again, you sometime.”

“OK,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I’ve even heard of that movie, but I’d like to watch it with you.”

“Ready get you.” he said. “Can I do now? Things happen bother. Want Valerie talk.”

“Sure,” she said. “Plus, I’m dying for a little extra Drew time before school anyway.”


Three minutes later, she saw his pickup bouncing up the road toward her as she waited by the dirt road. When he stopped, she opened the door, put her heavily loaded, and somewhat healthy, bagged lunches on the seat. She got in as she closed the door behind her. She said, “Hi.” She put on her seat belt.

“Hi,” he said. She thought he looked troubled.

“So what’s bothering you?” she asked as he started to drive down their dirt road slowly.

He said, “Two botherIngs. One embarrass, confuse. Two scare.”

She smiled at him and she said, “I get it. Listen, you’re talking to Beast here. I’m the Queen of embarrassment. And I’m just about always afraid.”

“Valerie no Beast. Valerie Queen Beauty,” he said. “You say.”

She smiled and she said. “I’m a beauty queen.”

He said seriously, “Hell yay you are.” Still he looked troubled, then he continued, “First bothering be after Valerie castle. I go home, get in snuggly bed, fall asleep. You come Wezell house, take off clothes. Get inside snuggly Drew bed. Kiss, grabby a lot. I grabby you under more, and more, more time. I wake up, you no there. You go Wezell house last night?”

She smiled and she said, “No, I didn’t come to your house last night, but I understand what happened to you. You had a dream. It’s OK, most people dream. I do, for instance. It’s very normal and common. Dreams are like pictures, or stories you get in your mind sometimes when you sleep. Some are pretty weird. Some make no sense. Others are fairly normal, like the one you had. But what you see and do in a dream, doesn’t actually happen. We didn’t do that last night. Your people don’t dream?”

“No,” he said. “People sleep, no dream. He paused for a time, and then he said with puzzlement, “Valerie, I wake up wet.”

She blushed at this and she said, “That’s very normal too, especially for boys your age. Although girls like me aren’t usually the star of those dreams.”

“I more embarrass,” he said. “Sorry tell.”

She said softly, “It’s OK, and you can always tell me stuff like that. Let’s even the embarrassment field back up again. I did, in my bed before I went to sleep, pretty much the same thing you did as I thought of you, except I wasn’t asleep, and I was just thinking of you as I was awake.”

“You sad done, before go asleep?” he asked.

“No,” she said with surprise. “Why? Were you?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Cause no Valerie bed Drew wake up,” he said.

She said quietly as she blushed, “Well, buck up kiddo, cause I have good news for you. If you want me so bad in your bed, we can do that tonight.”

“Good,” he said quietly. “You promise no clothes first, before snuggly bed.”

“Yes,” she said as she blushed more. “But I know I’ll be very embarrassed when I do.”

He said, “I help Valerie get no clothes.”

She said, “Well, it will go faster that way, as a team effort and all.”

Then he quietly said as he made a turn onto the main drag for school, “Hope you no change mind.”


A little time later, she asked, “What is the other thing that’s bothering you?”

He said, “After Valerie grabby dream, I clean, think lay bed, go back asleep. I wake up. Not so sad, no tired. Watch Blast from the Past movie, then poop. There corn Drew poop. This scare.”

She laughed at this and she said, “That’s perfectly normal too. That also happens a lot of the time after eating corn.”

He asked, “Valerie corn poop morning?”

She laughed at this and she said, “I haven’t pooped since we ate the corn, but I tell you what - I’ll keep you posted.”


With his concerns eased, Drew’s mood brightened, and for the rest of the way to school he described the movie he watched early this morning. From what she could gather from him, Blast from the Past was a fish out of water movie, where a street smart girl helped a clueless (but sweet and gifted) boy until they fell in love. By the time he finished trying to explain it, she was naturally very interested in seeing it with him, because this was close to their situation.

They parked the pick up, locked it, and went inside the school. She cringed as they did so, because Drew not going to be in-school suspension would be seen by a lot of students in the halls that day. It smacked of injustice to her, and she felt like they had become part of the problem in gaming the disciplinary system at school.

She need not have worried, the students were used to this kind of favoritism. And Drew hadn’t seriously hurt either Carl or Zach, which blurred the line in calling it a fight. And he had achieved celebrity status in besting and humiliating two of the worst bullies in the school.

She could feel it. It was palpable in the air, as they made they’re way to their lockers. A lot of eyes were on them now for all the heroic ruckus he raised yesterday. He was a new celebrity at old Pine Plains.

As they neared their lockers, her breath caught as he saw Carl walking down the hallway in their direction. They locked eyes for a moment. Drew was babbling to her about a television show he saw this morning and was completely oblivious to the approaching Carl.

But Carl just passed them in the hallway without a word or further glance as Drew started to open his lock for his locker.

“Whew, that was close,” she said in relief, and then she started to unlock her lock.

“What close?” he asked.

“Carl just walked past us, and I know he saw us. That’s good, because maybe it means he’s just going to move on from yesterday. You didn’t see all that?” she asked.

He said, “I see Carl. I too busy tell Valerie about show. You even listen to Drew about show?!” he asked.

“I have to admit, when I saw Carl, I kind of tuned you out for a few moments there. Sorry,” she said as she put her lunch and Advanced Chemistry stuff in her locker while keeping her Calculus stuff out for first period. “Plus the show you’re talking about is Jackass, which is the dumbest show ever!”

“No dumbest show! Best show!”” he cried. “So listen this. Then guys put paper cuts between fingers, then guys put lemon juice in cuts between fingers…”

She laughed at this, then her eyes glazed over as he babbled on about more stupid stuff the Jackass crew had done that he loved.

Eventually the first class bell rang. She asked him, “Are you ready for the school day?”

He opened his locker and pointed into it. It was empty. “Yes, here all I need,” he said.

She laughed while he closed, then locked, his locker.

“Are you ready for the school day?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said.

Then he gave her a peck on the mouth.

“That will hurt your rapidly rising street cred,” she said smiling. “Some people saw that.”

He said, “Yeah, good people saw. You my girlfriend. People be in the know. People in the know be Valerie Queen. I play football. I kick ass bullies them Valerie tease. And want do kiss. It the best. ”

She blushed and smiled at him warmly some more. Then she said, “On three! One, two, three. Break!” as they both clapped their hands together.

Then they went to class.


She did not see Drew right away between first and second period. And she couldn’t linger around because she had to grab her European studies stuff and then bolt to that class.

As she entered class, she dropped her weekly assignment into a metal tray that said - “assignments/homework” on Mr. Sanchez’s desk as he sat there writing.

“Hang on a sec, Val,” Mr. Sanchez said as he pulled it out of the tray. He looked at it and said, “Not your usual neat, typed report.”

She said, “Sorry, I couldn’t make it over to the computer lab.”

He said, “Well, hand written is acceptable, but this isn’t even up to your usual neat script. This is flat out sloppy.”

Now to the rest of the class he said, “Everyone! Take a moment to refresh yourselves with chapter three, because I’m going to be asking you all a lot of questions about it, because it’s class discussion day.”

Then he said quietly to Valerie, “Let me guess, done on the bus this morning?”

“No, the bleachers yesterday,” she said while blushing.

“You got a seventy eight on that pop quiz yesterday. Did you read chapter three last night?” he asked.

“Yesterday afternoon,” she said.

“All right,” he said. “I’m thinking of having you lead discussion time today. Everyone has to twice this half. Would you be ready for that?”

“Yes,” she said.

“OK, you can take your seat,” he said.

After he let his students peruse chapter three for another minute, Mr. Sanchez arose from his desk and said, “All right everyone. Close your books because it’s just talk time. Val, what can you tell us about Elizabeth the First to start us off.”

After thinking for a bit, she said, “Well, generally speaking, female queens in Europe at the time faced more challenges than male kings. She was no exception.”

“Do you know what time period that was?” he asked her

She said, “She was born in 1533, and she reigned from 1558 until 1603.”

Mr. Sanchez turned and wrote these dates on the chalkboard

“Now I know these are her reigning dates,” he said as he circled them. But I have to admit I don’t know if this is her year of birth. Is that in our text?” he asked her.

She said, “I don’t think so, but it is on the poster of her you have on your wall by the window.”

A bunch of students laughed at this.

“Marcus, stand up and check that year,” said Mr. Sanchez.

A moment later Marcus said, “Yeah, she’s right.”

Mr. Sanchez said, “Well, speaking of reigning queens, I think I just got ruled at school.” Even more students laughed at this.

“Anything else you’d like to add, Val, about Elizabeth the First,” he asked as he smiled.

She said after a time, “Well, our text said that her contemporary and critic John Knox likened a queen to a monster, who had its feet where its head should be. His attitude was shared by many of the time, that women were incapable of ruling because, by nature, they should be ruled by men. Knox, and many others of the time, firmly believed women couldn’t, for instance, rule effectively as military leaders. So this was one specific female ruler type challenge she faced.”

Mr. Sanchez stood still as she said this, and the rest of the class was quiet as well. They had all heard of the lunch time incident yesterday, and how the new kid Drew had only stopped from going berserk because of her.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say you just got an A plus for class participation today,” he said. More students laughed.

“I’d like to ask a question of you,” he said.

“OK,” she said quietly.

“What do you think of all that, of John Knox’s view of queens as poor rulers, particularly as military rulers?” he asked.

She thought for quite some time and then she said quietly, “I don’t know…”

Mr. Sanchez nodded his head. For a time, he just let that sink in for the class, and for himself.

Then he said, “Marcus, would you please read outloud the bio on the Queen Elizabeth poster, because apparently I need a remedial run down on her myself.”

The class busted out laughing at this. But then Marcus topped both him and Valerie with comedy when he said, “Well! As everybody knows, her life started out when she was born in the year of 1533.”

This got the whole class laughing hard, including Mr. Sanchez.


Between second and third period she saw Drew at their lockers waiting for her. As she opened her locker, she asked him how everything was. He said it was good .

She asked, “Did either Rob or Mr. Cahill tell you when you’re going to practice with Rob today?”

“No,” he said. “I ask Rob lunch if he there.”

She nodded her head as she pulled her advanced chemistry materials out of her locker, with Drew just watching her.

And then they went off to their classes without doing their little football huddle break thing. Apparently, that wasn’t going to become their ritual, she thought.

But he did give her a quick kiss before he left, so maybe that was.


After third period it was time for lunch. They were already headed out the door to the outside with their lunches.

A bunch of the students started clapping for them, but Mr. Horice yelled, “That stops right now! Anyone who disagrees can go inside and eat.” Valerie saw Mrs. Dodds was with him too today.

All those students went quiet.

She scanned the groups of students and she found Rob sitting with Janice and a bunch of other students who were part of that social group.

She and Drew walked to them. As they neared Janice said, “Yeah! Are you guys going to eat with us today?!”

Valerie noticed that some of Janice’s friends looked shocked and appalled by this suggestion.

She looked at Drew. He said, “Thanks invite Janice, want Valerie time.”

Janice took one more shot at this and she said, “Well, she’ll be here too!”

Drew said, “Thanks more, but I a hog, want Valerie time just me.”

Janice said, “That is so sweet!”

Rob said, “Hang on a second Drew. Coach Cahill wants us to get together after lunch. He just sent a class dismissal down to Mrs. Owens for you for your fifth period, so you’re cleared.”

Drew looked a little disappointed and he said, “That Drew Monopoly Junior time Martin and Sheila. Miss that. Martin and Sheila be sad too.”

They all went quiet at this because Martien had Down’s Syndrome and Sheila was wheelchair bound with cerebral palsy.

But a moment later Drew smiled and said, “Make up miss game Martin and Sheila later.”

Janice cooed. She turned to Rob and asked, “Why can’t you be more like him? He’s so sweet!”

Rob said, “Babe, nobody’s that sweet like him ‘cept in the movies.” Then he pulled a couple of pairs of cleats out of a bag, and said, “Drew, sit down a second and see if these fit.” Drew sat down and took off his sneakers. Rob continued, “These are my older brother’s that I pulled out of his closet last night. They’re elevens, so they might be a little big.”

Now Drew was putting a pair on and lacing them up. The pair he put on looked barely used. The other pair looked only slightly more worn. Rob said, “He’s in college now, so he won’t need them, plus he has three more pairs still in his closet anyway. I knew he had more than one pair, but apparently, he was an even worse cleat hoarder than I thought he was .”

Drew had them laced up. He stood and walked around in them a bit. They felt fine to him.

“Come over here, Drew. Let me feel the toes,” Rob said as he was still sitting on the lawn. “They don’t feel too, too big. And they’ll give you a chance to throw on an extra set of socks. I say you do that for tonight, that will help keep your feet from getting blisters. They feel alright?”

Drew smiled and nodded his head.

“OK, they’re yours, and the other pair. You can keep that bag too,” said Rob.

As Drew left his cleats on and put his sneakers in his bag, Valerie said, “We’ll pay you for them.”

Rob said dismissively, “Don’t worry about it.”

She said, “Those are worth a lot of money.”

Rob said, “Not to me they aren’t. My family’s loaded. Listen, if you want to pay me for them, play good so we can get a win tonight. We had a shitty season last year. It blew. Don’t worry about the cleats. Anyway, my business is done here, if you guys want to go off and eat lunch.”

Valerie was reluctant to take these cleats, but she said, “Alright Rob, we owe you one, or maybe two.”

Drew smiled and said, “Thank you, Rob. I see you done lunch.”


When they settled into a spot on the lawn, they spent about ten minutes mostly quietly eating because lunch time was moving along. Valerie had brought a lot of different stuff for them to eat, and again Drew seemed to want to focus on this. So, like last night, for a while, the only thing they discussed was what the food was, and his complimenting her on it.

She noticed something during this time. When she was with Drew, she was starting to get more comfortable tuning people out. Eyes upon her, or things said about her, weren’t bothering her so much as late with him. When they had their little locker meetings, she wasn’t paying much attention to the students around her. And even when she walked the hallways without him to get to class, she wasn’t dreading mean comments being thrown her way. She was wrapped up in her own thoughts instead of anticipating teasing or bullying.

No surprise there. Drew had given her lots to think about, with all the awesome things he’d done for her. And he had given her some things to think about, like when she had to troubleshoot his problems, like that big old lunchtime pickle yesterday. Lastly, he had given her much to think about because he was from another world. Go figure, she thought.

Presently she had many other things to think about as well. She was going to watch him play football tonight. She had watched so many games of football on TV with her grandfather, but watching a live game would be a first for her. Then after they were going back to his house and she was going to get in his bed. She was growing increasingly anxious about this, and she didn’t know if he was going to want actual sex with her. If he did, she didn’t know what she’d do. She was so nervous, and excited too. Scared as she was, it was comforting that she was being presented by a universal problem shared by just about every woman in the world, now or ever.

She never thought she was ever going to face that dilemma. Now, at age sixteen, here she was confronted by it too.

Then she noticed how beautiful the weather was out here today. It was so nice to sit outside and eat with him, as he asked her what raisins, bagels with cream cheese, and the other stuff she brought were. He thanked her for them as well. So she put all other thoughts aside, and she focused on only lunch with him.


After lunch she went to her fifth period Humanities class. Drew and Rob went out to the football ball field. They mostly worked on snaps and when Drew should do them. Rob started by positioning himself with only “under center” snaps Drew got a sense of Rob’s cadence in his counts.

Then they went to five yard shotgun snaps. It took Drew only about a dozen before he was putting them all on Rob's right hip. Rob told Drew to dial them a little back from warp speed, and soon Rob was getting the sapped balls form Drew chrisply, but not hand breakingly fast. He discovered in getting so many so consistently hiked, that personally he liked the ball higher and into his mid-chest. So he had Drew switch to hiking them there. Soon Drew was snapping those back perfectly into his hands held there.

He gave Drew some information on a few of the called pass plays they ran, but he didn’t want to waste time with this now, as that was not the highest priority.

He said, “Look, there’s a lot to know at center, but most of that stuff is fine tuning stuff. Tonight, you should just be going for the basics. You got the snaps down, those are key. The other important thing is knowing if it’s a pass play or a running play. If it’s a pass play, just drop back a little, and block anyone who has set up front of you. If no one set up in front of you, just step back into your defensive stance, and wait to see if a defensive player tries to come down the middle. If one does, block his ass from sacking mine.”

Drew nodded his head, so Rob said, “If it’s a running play, don’t let anyone penetrate too far into our backfield. Even better, if you can, you can try to block him backwards, to help out the running back out even more. If no one was set up in front of you, you have options; you can just stay home there, or you can help one of our guards block his man, or you can range across the line and block one of the other team's defenders prowling around out there. It’s kind of a judgment thing. Basically the middle of the field is your responsibility to control as best you can, to help the running back get as far as he can get. Understand?”

Drew nodded his head.

They had about six minutes left before the first bell would ring for the next period. Drew didn’t need to learn the long snap yet, because Kevin could sub in for those, but Rob thought just for a little fun and a challenge, he’d have Drew try to snap a few of those.

Just two minutes later, Drew was snapping those balls back fifteen yards to Rob as he knelt in the holder’s position. Drew was sending those back almost as consistently and he did with the shorter five yard gun snaps. Rob couldn’t believe it, and the only thing he said during the middle of it was, “Drew could you dial those down too, because they are coming in too hot for me to handle.”

Drew took the right amount of speed of those next dozen perfectly hiked balls, and Rob smiled when the first bell for the sixth period rang.


The rest of the school day was relatively uneventful for Valerie and Drew. Despite this, they both felt the student body’s growing excitement about the game tonight. Home games always got the students more stoked, so their attendance was better. Friday games were even more exciting and fun, because they had more of a social, party type feel. Parent attendance was better as well, because it wasn’t a work night for them, and they didn’t have to travel to some other school to attend.

And most every student knew that Drew had made the team, so watching what Dog-Boy would do was just the enticing icing on the cake.



After school they went home, with Drew dropping her off at her house. She spent some time socializing with her grandparents. She made Drew a honking ham and cheese sandwich with spinach and tomato in her kitchen. Then she left to walk down to his house.

When she got there he wasn’t too hungry. So they split it and ate it together at the kitchen table.

She looked around for what they could eat for dinner that night. She saw a big frozen steak in the freezer among other frozen meats. She checked the date. It was bought last week.

Mr. Wezell had really tried to set Drew up, she thought.

She pulled it out to dethaw.

After that, they went out into the garden and picked more beans, carrots and corn for their later dinner as well.

Then they went into his bedroom and they got into his bed, both with their clothes still on. Soon she fell asleep, with Drew’s chest as her pillow.

And before she knew it, he woke her up. It was a quarter after four and time to go. She and Drew climbed into the pick up. He started driving them to school. He had the cloth bag that had his cleats, a change of clothes, and an extra pair of socks. She had her Humanities text. Gametime was at five.

They parked in the students’ parking lot. They got out and went into the school. They gave each other a kiss, and then she went down to the library because she didn’t want to sit in the bleachers a second more than she needed. He went into the locker room to change. Among all yesterday’s gear he already had in his locker, was a new uniform. There were two jerseys in there, one for home games and one for away games. Each jersey said “Wezell” on the back.


At just before five, Valerie left the library, made a pit spot at her locker to throw her Humanities book in there, and then made her way to the bleachers.

When she arrived there she was not surprised to see them nearly full. There were a lot of people standing or sitting in folding chairs between the sets of the bleachers, and behind the end zones as well.

The September weather was clear, mild and perfect for football. More people were still arriving.

As she made her way down the sets of bleachers looking for the least crowded one, she heard a sharp, loud whistle. She looked to that whistle’s source, and she saw Janice removing her fingers from the corners of her mouth. Janice waved for her to come up there.

Perched with Janice atop a double row of bleachers were two of Janice’s friends. Valerie was not a big fan of either one, but they weren’t the worst girls by far either. As she made eye contact with them, she saw the feeling was mutual. They looked vaguely miffed by Janice’s “greeting” and invitation for her to join them, but they didn’t protest.

As she approached those bleachers, Janice called out, “Hey Val, come sit with us! And don’t even think of saying no, because now you aren’t with blue eyes, and so you can’t use dreamboat Drew as an excuse not to.”

She smiled a little and realized Janice was right. So she reluctantly made her way through the people sitting in the rows. She did so slowly and carefully, so she wouldn’t stumble over to perhaps kill some child.

She took a seat at Janice’s right which separated herself from Janice’s friends. Now the opposing players were coming out the gym’s doors and soon they ran out onto the field. They were the Columbia Red Devils and they were the league champs last year. It looked like they were going to do this again this year, as they were two and zero, and neither game had been close. They were from the next town over, and they were the classic rivals of their school. Not that it was much of a rivalry for the last few years.

Then the Pine Plains Bearcats came out of the gym doors and they took to their side of the field to warm up as the crowd cheered. Her eyes were upon Drew as they did so. Among those big football players he looked average sized, and he blended in well.

She saw Janice had a notebook on her lap and it became apparent to her that Janice was going to help their coaches record stats. She was pleased by this, as this would keep Janice somewhat occupied, and so hopefully that would keep their conversation to a minimum. She really appreciated Janice’s warm friendliness, but she did not want to engage in a lot of Drew talk with her. Actually she was hoping Janice would spend most of her time talking to her other friends.

But they did chat a bit. Janice told her that Rob was super excited to have Drew at center. Janice said to her, “I wish I had a dollar for everytime he said today - I can’t wait to air the ball out some tonight.”

Valerie couldn’t help herself and she laughed at this.

Janice said, “Drew looks a tad small for a center.”

She nodded her head.

Then Janice said very low to her as her other two friends chatted, “Val, I was out on the lawn yesterday when Drew owned Zach and Carl. Rob tried to stand up, to help them. I pulled him back down to the grass. I told him that it was Zach and Carl’s mess, and he should stay out of it.”

She said nothing to this, although she nodded her head,

Janice said quietly, so again only she could hear, “I have to admit, I’ve never seen anything like that. Drew must have dodged a half a dozen punches thrown by those two. And the way he went from the arm lock he had Car in, to flipping him upside down into the garbage can - it was very freaky. It was so unreal, it gave me chills.”

Her face went red at Janice’s insight, and she said nothing.

Janice glanced up at her and she must have seen the look of concern on her face. So she smiled and said, “I’m sorry, Val. That was not cool to bring that up. It’s Friday night and we’re here to watch our fellas play football! Hey, did I mention that Rob is super excited to try and air the ball out some tonight?”

She laughed at this.

Then Janice said low again, “By the way, Rob told me airing the ball out some is not the plan for the first bunch of plays.”

She said, “No?”

Janice said very quietly, “The plan is to start with nothing but a bunch of runs up the middle.”

She nodded her head. She just hoped that all of her warnings and advice she gave Drew before this game had sunk in.

She hoped he stayed low under the radar. She hoped he didn’t do anything freaky, unreal, or anything that gave anyone the chills.


Janice must have sensed she wanted to be quiet, so she let her be, and for a time Janice chatted with her friends.

Then it was game time. The Bearcats won the coin toss. Rob elected to receive first, as Coach Cahill wanted to get his newly suped up offense doing damage.

The ball was kicked off and the Bearcats were only able to get it to their own twelve yard line before the Red Devils special teams swarmed in and brought down the kick returner en masse. The Red Devils were good on offensive, on defense, on special teams, etc. They had no weak link.

Their players danced and high fived each other at the Bearcats’ bad field position. They were pumped and they wanted to bury the Bearcats right away. The Red Devils smelled blood and the home crowd was already quieter.

She watched as Drew ran on the field with the offense. She couldn’t help herself, and despite her fear, her heart swelled with pride.

Immediately, Janice was proved right. The first play was a run up the middle for six yards. The next was a run up the middle for five and a first down. The next was a run up the middle for another six. And so on

She drank this in as best she could. It was actually a little hard to see what Drew was doing. At center, he was placed in the middle of both teams’ biggest players. After the ball was hiked, he almost disappeared from view. Suddenly, she was greatly relieved by this. It was going to be hard for everyone to see him.

But she could see him somewhat, at times. During one play she saw him block and turn his man just enough for the halfback to squeeze on by. On another play she saw him tie up the middle linebacker, so that player was just unable to get a hand on the running back who streaked past him for another first down.

Coach Cahill and Rob stuck to their plan. They ran more plays up the middle with no passing plays. The Red Devils switched out their biggest tackle to play nose guard right in front of Drew. That player all but dwarfed him.

But Drew was too quick and strong. That tackle could not push him back or shake his blocks. After Drew snapped the ball, he was immediately striving for hand position with quick feet. On one play, she saw him completely locking up that tackle, and just as the running back met the line, he turned the huge tackle back to the left enough for his back to run through the hole he created for a nice gain.

The Red Devils kept adjusting. They moved to middle linebacker out of pass coverage to run stoppage. But the Bearcats stuck to the run plan and this still was not enough to stop the runs, because the Bearcats still had plenty of free linemen to block him as well

The Red Devils faked bringing the strong safety into run coverage, but they were surprised when the Bearcats called their bluff and still ran it up the middle again. This fooled the Red Devils as the strong safety didn’t blitz, so he lost a step as he dropped into pass coverage and the Bearcats’ running back ran for a first down to the Red Devils’ twenty five yard line.

The home crowd was feeling it and cheering loudly. It had been a long time since they had seen their team make such a solid march down the field, and they were doing so against one of the best teams in the league and their cross town rivals no less. The home fans were eating it up.

She took a moment to view Coach Cahill. He looked business-like, but his stance suggested he was pleased.

Now the Red Devils really had to bring in their strong safety into their defensive line. They were on their heels and surprised. They continued collapsing everyone into the middle to stop this running attack.

Rob now thought the moment was ripe. It was time to really put a stamp on this drive and shake the defense. He wasn’t about to mix it up by running it to the outside either. That might not work anyway. His receivers had been patient. He had too. Plus, it was psychological shock time too.

So the next play when Drew snapped him the ball, and then Drew solo blocked the huge nose guard in front of him, while also giving a subtle hand drag block the defensive tackle to help his guard contain him (which nobody in the crowd could see, not even Valerie or Coach Cahill), Rob smiled as he faked a hand off to the running back.

Then he was standing tall and watching his two receivers run their routes against the vulnerable man coverage of just the Devils’ two corners and their safety. The offensive line was making a tangled mess out of the Red Devils defense and holding them good and nice. He had some time.

Then he saw the nearly same thing he saw in practice the other day. The primary receiver was covered by the corner and the safety, but the second receiver had just a half step on his corner as he slanted across the middle of the field fifteen yards out.

Rob slung the ball into that narrow window to him. The receiver caught it in stride and ran until the corner tackled him from behind. But that tackle came too late, as the receiver stretched the ball out across the endzone line before he went down.

The home crowd erupted. Rob jumped into the air and pumped his first. The receiver stood and smiled broadly as he spun the ball on its point in the endzone (as he had been the kick off returner who had been clobbered on the first play). Coach Cahill gave a small smile. The previously jubilant Red Devils seemed stunned. Janice cheered and she slapped Valerie affectionately on her knee, multiple times.

And Valerie? What did she do?

She smiled at Janice, and she blew a big sigh of relief.

She realized If this was how the rest of the game was going to play out, this would be smooth sailing. Currently, Rob, the running backs, and the receiver were all getting the crowd’s attention. Drew was largely responsible for all this, but only football aficionados would notice the superb job he was doing at center, and even they wouldn’t realize the full extent of how he was the complete cornerstone of the offensive line.

She saw he was being masterful at this. He was controlling the middle, but it wasn’t like he was pancaking everyone or throwing them to the turf. He was doing exactly what she had asked him to do. He was doing just enough to manage the middle of the line without standing out or showing off.

While the team ran and jumped off the field while high fiving and butt slapping everyone else (including lots for Drew) she was so, so proud of him. Not because he was good at football, or because he was or wasn’t a star - she was proud of him because he listened, he was kind, he was smart, he was thoughtful, and he was humble.

She thought he was amazing. She wondered, how could he be all those things and still be modest.

She didn’t know how, but she guessed that it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he wasn’t human. And that he was a Wezell pick.


The first half of the game was a barn burner. Both offenses scored numerous times against their out matched defenses. The Red Devils may have had a near impossible time stopping the Bearcats from scoring, but the Bearcats’ defense had the same problem in return.

Still both defenses were fighting it out as best they could. Both managed to force punts once a piece.

She continued to grow more relieved as the game progressed. Drew was opening up holes and blocking his man consistently, but not in an overtly magnificent way. He was so shrewd. Time and time again he blocked or turned his defender just enough to create a hole for the running back to slip through. And time and time again he subtly picked up any rusher coming down the middle just enough to stop him from getting to Rob during a pass play.

Now Rob was throwing the ball about a third of the time, and he hadn’t been sacked as yet. The Red Devils pretty much stuck to leaving three men back against his favorite two receiver set up, so he was hitting one of them pretty consistently. But he mixed that up as well. For instance, occasionally he had his tight end leave line coverage for nice pass gains, to keep the Devils off balance, and to spread the wealth too.

The Devils also got doses of three receiver plays, and running back throws to the outside as well.

He himself was racking up some nice passing yards. He had another touchdown strike. And he was lacing his passes accurately without any interceptions. This is what he could do with better pass protection, even against a good team.

Drew did have one unfortunate stand out moment himself. During a run play, as the back ran through the hole he created by sealing off a tackle and made his way into the secondary, the Red Devils’ middle linebacker took his growing frustration out on him with a hard hit that rang his bell. The running back was sent sprawling to the turf, and the ball popped out of his cradled arm.

Valerie saw Drew display a touch of his phenomenal speed. As players from both sides converged to be the one to get that fumble, she thought he barely reached it first, just before the ensuing pile on occurred.

Indeed, the home crowd went from gasping to cheering loudly when, after the officials had finally pulled the last of the players from off the pile, Drew was at the bottom with the ball. The Red Devils couldn’t believe it, as many of them had been closer than he had been when the ball was coughed up.

She smiled as Janice slapped her knee again and cried, “Fumble recovery for your guy! That goes in the stat book!”

She was pleased, but also a little worried as this was exactly the kind of thing she was worried about - too much Drew attention from the crowd, and recorded as a stat no less.

But what could he do? If he could get a fumble recovery without attracting too much attention, he needed to. He couldn’t hold back so much as to permit a turnover in a close game. She couldn’t blame him.

As if reading her mind, for the rest of the half he dialed it back as much as he could. Rob and Coach Cahill won the time management battle, and with less than a minute on the clock the Bearcats scored to give them a 35 to 28 lead. And the defense was barely able to hold the Red Devil’s offense enough so that even a field goal couldn’t be attempted as the half came to a close.


As the home crowd cheered at this surprisingly exciting and high scoring and competitive game, the players and coaches from both sides ran to their lockers rooms. All except for Drew. He jogged down the line of bleachers looking for her.

She stood and made her way down the rows of people to get to him.

She whispered to him, “Let’s take a walk to the gym so that we aren’t being stared at by everyone.”

He nodded his head. As they walked toward the gym, he said quietly so only she would hear, “Sorry get fumble. Bearcat defense no stop Devils. Need get that ball.”

She laughed and said, “I was thinking the same thing. You had to. And you weren’t a blur when you did it, so it’s OK. You are doing a fantastic job out there, while looking like you’re doing a good job. What you’re doing is perfect. ”

Now that they were out of earshot of everyone, he said with frustration, “I do too much! I dial back to be blend in, team need punt!”

She was surprised by how upset he was. So she said, “Drew, you’re doing exactly what you need to do out there. For both me and the team. I’m so proud of you right now.”

He seemed more settled as her message was sinking in. Now they were at the gym’s doors. He said, “Need blend in now. Need go locker room.”

She nodded her head and said, “Once again, I was thinking the same thing.”

He gave her a warm smile, then he went through the gym’s doors.


After half time as the players ran to the field, she watched as Drew noticed Sheila and Martin among some people who were not sitting in the bleachers. Someone had rolled Sheila in her wheelchair to nearly the edge of the field, and Martin sat next to her in a folding chair.

As the Bearcats ran onto the field for a quick warm up, Drew veered from his teammates and jogged to them as he smiled big. Coach Cahill yelled at him to join his team.

Drew yelled back, “I with team now! Team Retard Room!”

Martin and Sheila died laughing at this, Valerie smiled big at this, and Coach Cahill looked pissed. Then Drew did nothing but talk to them for a while, until he just barely made it back to play center on their offensive play.


The third quarter was just more of the same. When the Red Devils received the ball at kick off, their receiver ran it to the thirty five. Then they picked apart the defense and scored to tie the game again.

But the Bearcats scored in response to retake the lead. Back and forth it went. Neither team’s defense was able to stop the opposing offense.

During the middle of the fourth quarter, Valerie saw Coach Cahill intently talking to Drew as he sat on the bench. He was shaking his head no as Coach Cahill talked to him. This went on a little longer than she cared for, and just as she was about to get up and go down there to see what the hell that ass was doing, she saw Drew stand up to look for her in the bleachers.

She stood up so he could see her. He waved her down to the sideline. Blushing crimson from both embarrassment and anger, she made her way to him.

When she got to both of them, she blustered to Coach Cahill, “You had so better not been giving Drew a hard time, about anything…”

Drew defended him by saying, “Coach no giving too much hard time. Coach want me play defense. No know no if I want that. No want tackle Devils. Maybe hurt. Say ask you.”

She was about to say something nasty to Coach Cahill, but he raised his hands and said to her, “Listen to me for a second, before you chew me out. You’re a genius, right? You have to know what’s going on. We might lose this game. We are only a touchdown ahead and look - They’re already driving it up the field again! They’re gonna score, and then it will be tied. If we fumble, or Rob throws an interception, or our offense hits a snag on our next possession, we will lose. We need to stop them once. I want Drew in on defense to help stop them.”

He looked in her eyes and he continued, “Our season rests on this game and you know it. If we lose, we’ll be zero and three and out of league contention. If we win this game, it’s all wide open again. We’ll have beaten the team who is for sure the best team in the league. And we can still take it all.”

A completely unimpressed Valerie said, “That’s your problem.”

Coach Cahill said, “No, that’s our problem. Drew is a Bearcat now. He needs to help our team win. To be on the team is to get on the team.”

“Fuck you for even trying that guilty manipulation on him,” she said low.

Coach Cahill said, “What you call manipulation, I call the truth.”

She was about to lace him out some more, but Drew said, “Valerie, Coach right.”

She fumed, but she said nothing. Drew said to Coach Cahill, “Want talk Valerie alone.”

He said tersely, “Alright, but hurry up. They’re already on their forty yard line.”

Valerie said to Coach Cahill, “Who do you think you’re talking to?! Drew, if I asked you to leave this game right now and go home with me, would you?”

“Of course,” he said immediately. “Never no play football again.”

Coach Cahill burned at this, but he kept his mouth shut.


A moment later they were alone on the sidelines. Drew told her what he was thinking and she was surprised by his thoughts. She helped him work out the bugs of his ideas and how exactly he could play defense without attracting too much attention, or tackle anyone. It only took them about two minutes to iron this out. Meanwhile, a frantic Coach Cahill bought some time by calling a timeout that perplexed everyone - from his assistant coaches, to the opposing coaches, and to even the crowd. Nobody could figure out why he burned a crucial time out at this point in the game, especially since it seemed to only benefit the Red Devils.

By the time they returned to Coach Cahill, the game had resumed and the Red Devils had already crossed the fifty yard line.

Coach Cahill asked them, “So what’s it going to be? This game is getting away from us. They’re going to score and tie it up. And there’s not much time left.”

Drew said, “I play.”

Coach Cahill did not remove his eyes from the field as he asked Valerie, “Where do you want him?”

“Middle linebacker,” she said. “Let him own the middle on defense too.”


After the next play was done, Coach Cahill barked for the middle linebacker to come out and for Wezell to go in. The beleaguered Bearcat defense smiled as Drew ran on the field. The Red Devils’ coaches looked concerned, and the football buffs in the crowd gave him some applause and cheers.

Valerie went to take her seat back in the bleachers, but Coach Cahill said, “Don’t go! I have no control over him! And you do…”

“I thought you said, just yesterday, that there was no fraternizing with dopey females while in uniform. And here you are today, at the big, must win game no less, asking me to stand on the sidelines with you?” she said.

And as the Red Devils ran a run to the left for five yards that didn’t involve Drew, he said, “I don’t consider you a female no more. You’re too dude like.”

“Flattering,” she said. She started to leave again.

“Listen,” he called to her. “Just stay here for a bit. For the team’s sake, and for Drew’s sake.”

She knew he was manipulating her some more. But he was right again too. She watched as the Red Devils ran another run play to the outside for a first down. This put them on the thirty yard line. She started to consider that it was maybe too late to save this game from a tie, or send it into overtime, and then into a possible loss.

Plus she could see Drew and the rest of the game way better from the sideline.

So she turned around and walked back to stand next to Coach Cahill.

The very next play Drew got involved. As the Red Devils ran another run to the right, Drew chased the half back down. She cringed as she was afraid he was going to strip him of the ball, like how they had talked about. This would be way too early, and too attention getting.

But Drew merely pushed the running back out of bounds for a six yard gain.

Now the Red Devils were on twenty and they could taste a touchdown. There were less than two minutes left on the clock, so they had time to score and leave the Bearcats without much time to score in their last possession.

The crowd was yelling and cheering for the defense. Coach Cahill said to her above the noise, “What the hell was that?!”

She said, “That was him playing defense.”

“That was him being slow ass and a pussy!” he cried. “Jesus, Priorson could have made that play! He probably could have done it better!”

“You have the mentally of a spoiled toddler. Just be patient,” she said. Although now she was worried that Drew would not have another opportunity to impact the game again. She cringed and she felt guilty about the stressful situation she had helped Drew get in. She wondered if he was getting upset like he had about the first half.

The Red Devils ran a running play to the left. Drew had no part in this and they picked up another four yards. The Devils were on the sixteen yard line now.

The crowd was all fired up. The students were hollering and screaming, as were many of the parents. Most were excited and supportive, but a few of the adults shouted insults at Coach Cahill for his idiotic time out and his poor coaching. They could see this game slipping away into overtime, or being called a tie.

Coach Cahill shouted instructions to his players. He told them to spread the fuck out some more and stop those outside runs.

She herself was very anxious now as well. She felt responsible for the mess out there now.

The Red Devils ran another running play to the outside, but their back was stopped on the line of scrimmage for no gain. Coach Cahill was loading up the outsides of his line, as if daring the Devils to run it up the middle, or attempt a pass.

Then the Red Devils’ coaches made a mistake. They called for a pass play with the tight end running a comeback to about the five yard line as the primary receiver. As the ball was hiked, the quarterback faked a hand off that the Bearcats bit on, and then he stood to throw the ball.

Drew pretended he bit on this as well, and he took a few steps toward the line like he thought it was a running play. And he sold this to the quarterback, as it looked like Drew had lost track of the tight end as well.

Drew read the quarterback’s eyes, and just as he started his throw, he backpedaled hard to his left, toward the tight end.

The quarterback threw the ball to his waiting tight end who was wide open just a fraction of a second ago. As the ball sailed to him, Drew did too. Then he leapt and stretched out to barely get a hand on it to knock the ball away before it reached the tight end’s hands.

And where did that tipped ball go? Everyone in the crowd couldn’t believe it when it landed almost perfectly into the Bearcats’ safety’s hands. He ran it up the field for ten yards until he was tackled by the fullback.

The crowd leapt to their feet. Whistles, clapping, airhorns, yelling, and cheering filled the air. Valerie instantly felt relief at this, and then she took a moment to enjoy the absurdity of this all. Somebody just arriving here would have thought the Bearcats had just won the superbowl.

As the Bearcats offense took to the field, and as Drew stayed there to join the offensive huddle, a stunned Coach Cahill said to her, “What the hell was that?!”

“What’s the problem? That was you winning the game,” she said quietly.

“Come on, woman!” he cried as he watched his half back put up seven yards by running it up the middle. He continued, “He may be fooling everyone else around here, but he ain’t fooling me. That was him acting! Even that wasn’t him moving like he can!”

She didn’t want anyone else to hear what he was saying, so she said to him, “Keep your voice down, or I’m leaving. And he looked pretty wicked fast to me.”

Coach Cahill gritted his teeth and said low, “Yes that was fast...that was fast...for everyone else. But that was him dogging it and you know it. He is the best high school player I’ve ever seen, and the fastest. He could have intercepted that ball. He’s faking it out there. He’s trying to act like he is trying very hard, when he isn’t. And that ball didn’t just happen into Ellsworth’s hands. He deflected it there on purpose.”

For a moment she was scared by Coach Cahill’s spot on assessment of Drew. But then she thought, why worry? She didn’t think anybody else was coming to the strong conclusion he was. She thought most people believed Drew was just having a solid, good game. Coach Cahill was an outlier, because he knew Drew better than the rest of them, and because of his extensive football knowledge.

She thought this too. What would Coach Cahill conclude anyway? That Drew wasn’t human?

So she smiled and said to him, “That all sounds pretty crazy if you ask me. But listen, if you really believe he’s chiseling it out there, and not putting forth his best effort, you can always cut him from your team. I would appreciate that, cause I want his afternoons back bad.”

“Funny,” he said as he watched his team pick up a first down, and then the Red Devils desperately used one of their time outs.

“And do me a solid,” she said to him. “I’d like you to keep your stupid theory, that Drew is secretly the greatest high school football player to ever live, to yourself. I can’t stress enough how much I really don’t want him playing for you. And it’s funny, he’ll do anything I ask him to do, even if it's something like quitting football.”

“That is not a problem at all,” said Coach Cahill. “You think I want the other teams knowing how good he is? I want to keep him a secret weapon as long as possible. But if he’s not going to run the ball, can’t you get him to tackle at least? Just use your girlie charms and all. You want him to become a better football player, right?”

“No, I don’t,” she said. “And so no can do. You’re just going to have to be OK with what he did for you on defense today. Hey, beggars can’t choosers.”

As the Bearcats took a knee to run out the clock, and as all the Pine Plains fans continued to stand and give their Bearcat players much applause, Coach Cahill actually looked...saddened.

“Listen,” she said. “Buck up kiddo, you won! And you have Drew on both sides of the ball now. I bet if during a practice, you ran some drills with him with a running back, you could teach him how to tackle people without hurting them. What do you think of that?”

“I think that sounds pretty gay,” he said. “But it also sounds like a good idea.”

She was about to go, when he asked her quietly, “Why?”

“Why what?” she asked as she stopped, halted by his seriousness.

“Why is not hurting players so important to him? And why isn’t he trying his hardest out there?” he asked low.

“He is trying his hardest out there,” she lied, sticking to her story. “But you wouldn’t understand it if I tried to explain him to you.”

Now Coach Cahill seemed numb and tired. Nevertheless, he asked resignedly, “Try.”

She smiled and said, “Well, Drew’s very spiritual. His religion’s tenets require him to love his brother and do no harm. This comes very naturally to him anyway. And he has to stay modest and humble. This also is in his nature, and he easily lives up that creed as well. It’s a very beautiful religion. It’s heavily influenced by Judeo-Christanity’s Love thy neighbor concept, yet it has adopted many other religious principles as well. Take their adherence to the Buddhist belief of attempting to achieve non desire, for instance…” Then she paused for a moment and asked him, “Shall I continue?”

Now, as the clock ticked off the last second, and the Bearcats shouted while running off the field, Coach Cahill said, “No, because all that sounds really gay too.”

Presently the Bearcat players were jumping around their Coach. This snapped him out of his funk. He shouted, “Everybody sit your asses on the grass and shut up!”

As she turned and left, she heard him yell at his quieting team, “I have no idea why you idiots are celebrating! We just gave up fifty six points. Fifty fucking six! That’s eight touchdowns for the math impaired among youse, which is most of you baboons. And I don’t know why you offensive guys are all happy, because apparently their defense sucks as bad as ours! And if that's what you’re actually capable of, then I’m royally pissed off and want to know why you only scored seventeen points, in total, for our first two games! Seven-fucking-teen! In total! First two games! We are one and two now. One and two! That’s a losing record…”

By now she was sitting with one leg over her knee on the closest bleacher. Parents, relatives, and students milled about chatting and laughing. Yet she could still easily hear Coach Cahill yelling, “Does everyone understand everything I’ve said here? Is there any confusion as to anything I’ve said!?”

She watched and noticed that while most of the players listened to his rant quietly, they did not seem overly shamed. Drew, she saw, had listened with rapt attention. Before Coach Cahill could yell again, he raised his hand. She cringed at this.

“Wezell! Why are you raising your hand?!” Coach Cahill yelled.

Drew said, “I no understand all coach say.”

Coach Cahill threw up his hands and shouted, “What PART didn’t you understand?!”

He said seriously, “I no know what baboon is, and I thought we Bearcats.”

She was just able to hear this and she fought from dying from laughter.

Many of the players sitting on the grass couldn’t show such restraint. They busted out laughing.

Coach Cahill yelled, “You all are going to hate practice on Monday! It’s going to be all laps and push ups, and then more laps! You’ll think you’ve all joined the marines. Seriously, no one will be laughing after it! Now get the hell off my field! Go shower and then get out of my locker room too!”

The players stood, then they left the field laughing and talking among themselves.

Drew jogged off the field and Valerie watched as he went out of his way to pass Sheila and Martin. She grew warm inside when he gave them low fives. Then he jogged to her.

As they made their way to the gym, the first thing out of his mouth was, “I sorry not strip ball from running back. Need do stop pass instead. Not plan.” He looked concerned that she may be angry with him.

She said, “It’s fine. What you did was pretty much the same thing we planned - no, what you planned, and it was great. Actually, it was better than the first plan. And you didn’t do it too early, and you didn’t do it too late. You were so cool. Your judgment was perfect.”

“Good,” he said as he looked relieved. “Shower fast, go home Valerie.”

“I’ll be waiting on those benches,” she said dreamily as they entered the gym and she pointed to them.

“Want keys so you waiting in truck?” he asked as he knew by now she disliked a lot of interactions with most people, and presently he saw those benches held girlfriends, parents, relatives, friends and such waiting for their respective players to come out of the locker room when done.

“No,” she said as she took a seat at the very end of a long bench. “I’m good waiting for you here, but thanks for offering.”

“No take long,” he said. Then he flagrantly broke the sacred, cardinal no interacting with females dress rule by giving her a kiss.


Just three minutes later Drew sat partly undressed in front of his locker. The players in there were laughing, talking loudly and cutting it up. He was whistling a new tune, and moving it along.

From the other side of the lockers Rob called out, “Drew!” A lot of players went quiet at this

He stopped whistling and he asked, “What Rob?”

Rob called to him, “Last year, after every Friday and Saturday home game, my parents always put out a spread at our house. This year’s the same. It’s catered with help and all that. We have a heated pool. It’s all very deluxe and civilized. Nobody drinks there, that comes later, somewhere else. Everyone here is invited and he can bring a chick if he’s got one. Most everyone here is coming. It don’t last too long. Just long enough for everyone to get something good to eat, and then swim after if they want. We got a huge outside hot tub too, so you can soak in that too. Why don’t you and Val come?”

Many more of the players went quiet to see what Drew would say to this.

Now he was fully undressed and wrapping a towel around himself. As he made his way around the lockers to stand before Rob, he said, “Thanks invite, but no. Make Valerie plan.”

Rob asked, “What plans do you have?”

He said, “Go home. Valerie cook steak, beans, corn. I help. Valerie say beautiful table prayer. Eat, clean up. I brush teeth good. Then Valerie, Drew take off clothes to get in snuggly bed. Kiss, grabby a lot.”

Everyone in the locker room was dead quiet at this. Some of them tried to mentally picture this, while some desperately tried not to.

Rob, however, laughed like crazy at this. He said, “Yo bro, I don’t think she wants you sharing all that, especially with us, and especially in here…”

Drew looked concerned, but he said nothing.

Rob continued, “Listen, all that sounds like a stellar plan, but why don’t you two come over and hang out with us all for a while? After that, you can go home for some naked, grabby Valerie time.”

Still all of the players were quiet, and were just listening to the two of them in shock.

“No want Rob house tonight. Another time. Thank you invite. Another time,” said Drew.

“Alright man,” said Rob. “I’m going to hold you to that!”

Drew smiled and he said, “It’s a date.” Then he hustled into the showers.

Then Rob and a bunch of players busted out laughing at this as they resumed undressing, talking, and cutting it up.


As Valerie sat outside in the gym waiting for Drew, she just soaked in all the happy, chatting people out on the benches or standing in the gym waiting for their player to emerge. Watching, and listening to all of them, this made her happy as well.

Then she got even happier when her respective player came out about ten minutes later.


As they started to walk to the truck, he said, “I scared maybe you be mad for what I say locker room.”

“What did you say?” she asked as they went outside into the parking lot.

He explained what happened as they walked to the truck, and as they got in and he started to drive them home.

A strange thing happened to Valerie as she received this latest development. She did not get mad or upset, and she did not get embarrassed either.

The first thing she said was, “Yeah, Rob’s right, you shouldn’t have told them all that. A lot of sex stuff shouldn’t be talked about out in the open, in front of a lot of people, it’s inappropriate.”

“I sorry,” he said.”I no know that. I sorry more.”

“It’s not your fault. And of course you didn’t know that. How could you know? You’re from another world, and you’ve been here for only five days. And I didn’t tell you not to say anything, so if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. Hey, I have a question for you. Did any of the guys throw up when you said all that?” she asked as she smiled.

“No,” said Drew as looked confused. “Why they do that?”

“Because they think I look disgusting, of course,” she said.

He said nothing to this as he drove and he looked very troubled.

“They’re are lots of ramifications for what you said in there,” she said as she smiled.

“What a ramifications?” he asked.

“A ramification is something that happens because of something else happening,” she said. “So, for example, because you said we are going to get into bed naked together tonight, your growing reputation as a cool kid just took about the biggest hit it could take. And my reputation as the least coolest kid in school, just took a big blow too.”

Drew looked like he didn’t all this follow right away. But after a moment, he smiled. He said, “Good. Those both be good things.”

“I’m very scared about tonight,” she admitted as her smile left her face.

He looked surprised by this and he asked, “Why?

She thought for a time, and then she said, “Not all women are scared when they have sex for the first time, but I think most are, and I’m in that group. Millions of women have been very frightened the first time they have sex throughout our history, and up until now.”

He was about to say something, but she continued softly, “And now I’m finally confronting that age old, universal dilemma. I thought I might never do that, and here I am, at the age of sixteen, no less - faced with it. I’m scared, but hey, I also want to thank you for that.”

“Thank Drew what?” he asked.

“For putting me in that scary dilemma that most women need to face,” she said.

His eyebrows knitted and he looked very concerned. “What sex?” he asked.

She spent some time describing it to him. As she did, he nodded his head.

“That Drew dream last night,” he said.

She blushed at this.

He said, “Valerie worry too much. I no think sex happen tonight.”

Her breath caught and she asked, “Why? Did you change your mind?”

“No change mind,” he said. “Want no clothes, kiss, grabby time Valerie in bed tonight. I think tonight no sex time.”

“Why?” she asked quietly

“Because you no ready,” he said as if this was obvious. “You no ready be Queen. You no ready be sex. You no ready be either…”

“Then what are we going to do?” she asked as she was riveted by what he was saying and it was making her feel all safe and protected.

“I no know!” he exclaimed. He thought, and then he said smiling, “Drew Valerie play! Drew Valerie be fun in bed! You no ready sex, but you ready to fun play!”

She smiled in relief at this. And then she realized that this did sound like a lot of fun. Almost instantly, she went from anxious, to expectant, and excited.

He continued, “No want no confusion, woman! Other time you be ready! Other time you be ready Queen. Other time you be ready sex.”

“It’s a date,” she said quietly.

“Hell yay it is!” he said. “That best date ever. Get it? That be best date ever...for Drew!”

She laughed and laughed at this. And by now he was pulling his truck to stop in front of her house.

“I’m going to check in with my grandparents, take a shower and then come down to your house, OK?”

“That right, woman,” said Drew, goofing around. “Get clean. Get ready.”

She smiled at him. She said, “I'll see you soon.”