Pop: Chapter Nineteen

    "Wait.  You whipped it out at school?  That's not like you." Will asks.

    "It didn't happen at school," Pete replies. "Let me tell you everything first, okay?"

    Another rumble of thunder shakes the building as we nod our heads in reply.

    "I'm going to go back a bit, for context.  In eighth grade, I was the starting QB for the football team.  At the start of the year, I was a little bit taller than the other boys, so I got the position.  I even practiced with the high school team a few times.  By the end of the season, though, most of the guys had caught up to me.  Some were even taller.  I thought my chances for making the high school team were low.  I just wouldn't be big enough to compete, even with great skills."

    I never thought of Pete as a jock.  I mean, he had so much muscle when we first met, but I just thought that was because he was older.

    "Then, about a month before try-outs, I had a growth spurt.  Almost five inches, just under six feet tall.  I was now bigger than the projected starter on the team.  I easily made the team, but not the starter.  That went to the incoming senior, but I was still about a half-inch taller than him.  Over the summer, I trained non-stop.  I packed on about twenty pounds of muscle, but I didn't grow any more.  Well, the first two games, we won one barely and lost the other one by a touchdown.  Then, during the first quarter of the third game, the QB strained his throwing arm.  I got my chance!  We wound up winning by fifteen.  For the rest of the season, I was the starter.  We won every game by two or three touchdowns.  Once, we won by forty points!  It was incredible.  I'm surprised you never heard of me."

    "I wouldn't have known my grade school had a football team, if it wasn't for the pep rallies the afternoon before.  I had to go with my dad a few times when he was the deputy on duty for safety." Rick responds.

    "Same here at my school."

    "Well, you three weren't athletes.  I was.  The basketball coach was asking me to try-out, especially since I was getting another growth spurt late in the season, but I was a one sport guy, you know.  I didn't want to mess up any chances getting on a college team.  Yeah, by my fifth win, recruiters were out every game.  We won district.  We went on to win regional.  We were in the state semi-final, and we were favored.  Nothing could stop us.  Except me."

    "What happened?" Will whispers as a roar of thunder rips through the restroom.

    "A few weeks into the school year, a started to get close to a girl in my classes.  She had gone to another feeder school, so I knew nothing about her, but she turned something on in me that I had never felt before.  However, she was very shy.  She would barely talk in class, either to the teachers or even the other girls.  I found out that she was the daughter of the chemistry teacher and that she liver not that far away from me or the school.  Maybe fifteen minutes all together, less if a ran.  So, the Monday before the semis, I walked with her to her home, just to start things going.  I had already made some connection with her at school, so this was literally the next step.  Her parents weren't home yet, so we just sat at the kitchen table, helping each other with our homework.  Then, it happened."

    I have a bad feeling about this.  The thunder agrees with me.

    "Like I said, I was in the middle of another growth spurt.  Hormones working overtime.  And like a normal teenage boy, I popped a random one, right there.  Fortunately, the table hid everything, but my pants were getting pretty tight.  I squirmed around a little to try and gain some room, but it wasn't working. So, I asked to use the facilities.  She told me where they were, and I rushed down the hallway, making certain that she didn't see my bulge."

    "Don't tell me you were going all Fast Times at Ridgemont High?" Rick asks.

    "What?  No!  Not the first time I was in a stranger's home.  What do you take me for?  I was just going to rearrange a few things and hope that I would calm down on my own." Pete almost shouts.

    Yeah, he waited until the second or third time we were at my house to do that, as did Rick and Will.  But I don't need to think about that right now.

    "I went into the bathroom, locked the door, turned on the faucet, and pulled my pants down.  I was hoping that letting it 'breath' would let it calm down, as well as hearing the water running, would get me back to normal faster.  Next thing I knew, the door opened..."

    "Wait, didn't you say you had locked the door?" Rick asks.  "Even if you weren't doing 'that,' you always lock the bathroom door."

    "I did lock it, but somehow, Mr. Andrews had unlocked it.  He then saw me, with my jeans and briefs down , full on, trying to splash some water on myself, and his daughter right behind him.  She quickly covered her eyes and ran off.  Then, he yelled and swore at me.  I pulled my pants up, packing everything in the best I could, and ran back to the kitchen.   I grabbed my books and left, running all the way back home, the best I could in my condition."