Pop: Chapter Twenty

    "What do you mean by 'naked pictures on the internet?!'" Pete asked in astonishment.  "That's so unlike you."

    "Actually, he that does sound like him.  Remember that party the year before we graduated.  Someone dared him to strut around in the buff, and he won one hundred dollars."  Frankly, I'm amazed that he was never caught, considering how much he liked to go around with no clothes on at times.

    "No, it's not like that at all.  In fact, it's much worse."  Rick pauses as another light round of thunder rolls through. Getting to be about once every minutes or so.

    "How can it be worse?" Will asks.

    Rick waits another second or two before continuing.

    "It all started when I was born.  My parents had decided that they weren't going to get me circumcised." Rick starts.

    "Wait.  We've seen you naked, many, many times.  We've seen each other without clothes on so much, it's like we live in a nudist colony."

    "Don't jump ahead, Chris." Rick rebukes me.  "As I was saying, I wasn't cut.  I didn't know that was different until I started school.  When I took a quick glance at another boy in the restroom one day, I saw that we didn't look the same.  I told my parents after school, and my dad explained to me why I was different.  From that day on, I tried my best not to go at school.  If I did have to go, I would wait until the restroom was empty, or try to hide in a stall, or just keep everything as covered as I could.  From kindergarten through most of eighth grade, that worked.  Outside of school, I would go in places with more 'coverage' as it were.  The only real problem I had was that it was kind of 'tight' down there on occasion.  Nothing too bad.  Not until one night in eighth grade."

    "What happened?  You never told me about this.  Hell, I didn't even know about any of this until right this minute, and we've been friends for over twenty-five years." Will asks.

    "One night, late February, I woke up in intense pain.  I had gotten that way guys get at night, and possibly a little more.  Somehow, things weren't working the way they usually did.  I looked down there, and it was. . .  Well,  it wasn't the way it was supposed to look.  I don't remember seeing any blood, but it was possible.  I tried to wipe up everything in a hurry, because my parents rushed in.  I had been screaming.  I got dad to get mom out before I told him what happened.  I had gotten back to normal and looked and felt fine, but they were still worried.  Dad called my doctor before school the next morning.  Without being examined, the doctor pretty much nailed down a diagnosis.  I would need to be cut to prevent this from happening again and becoming a bigger problem before I got much older. When I got back from school that afternoon, my parents had managed to schedule an appointment with a urologist in Lexington for a closer exam.  They chose someone far away to shield me from any embarrassment.  In hindsight, they probably shouldn't have."

    Rick waits until the latest round of thunder quiets down.  This round seems a little louder.  I hope I'm wrong.

    "Dr. Mendel, that was his name, agreed to see me that Saturday.  It's amazing how he managed to fit me into his schedule at only a few days notice, but he said he keeps a few hours on the weekends for those in school.  Well, he examined me that morning, without my parents in the room.  I told him how I had been getting tighter lately.  He took a few pictures.  I put my clothes back on, and he brought my parents back in.  He agreed with my regular doctor that I would need an operation.  Apparently, puberty was making me a little bigger it some places faster than in others, and I would have worse problems as an adult if I didn't get this taken care of soon.  I would have to stay in the hospital overnight, if only because I look like I might need extra help.  To lessen the embarrassment, my parents had the operation scheduled for after school let out, with the caveat that it might have to be moved up if I had any complications.  Dr. Mendel wrote a prescription to help prevent any more serious pain, as well as scheduling follow-up visits every few weeks to make sure I was okay."

    "After each visit, he would examine me.  Take a few more pictures.  Nothing changed.  While I was still fairly tight, I wasn't in pain from, you know," I could just barely make out Rick moving his hand that way.  Any male who was ever a teenager knows that motion by heart and what it means.  You just never acknowledge it.

Pop: Chapter 19c

    "You went to the University of Tennessee?!  No wonder you never told us." Will exclaims.  

    "Like I said, I had to leave the house.  I felt that my mom was guilt-tripping me too much.  Tennessee was just the closest school that accepted me.  Besides, it has a pretty well-received education/math program.  It was a win-win situation for me." Pete replies

    Yeah, Pete was always the type of guy who would do calculus problems for fun, in high school.  The rest of us were just glad we only needed a semester of it.  Well, Will had to have a full year, but he did manage to pass.  After almost dropping out the second semester.

    "I started graduate school, and I met my first wife my third week there.  I proposed that December, got married the following June, and were divorced by the time I got my Master's in education and math.  My professors thought I should go after my Doctorate, so I did."  Pete continues.

    I look up at that, as straight into his eyes as I can in the darkened room.  Am I the only one who didn't try for an advanced degree?  At least no one else is bringing it up.

    "I stayed for a semester before returning to Kentucky and a job teaching high school advanced math back in Rowan.  At least I didn't have to stay with my parents any more, but I was still living closer to them than I would've liked."

    "What about your PhD?  Are you ever going to finish it?" Will asks.

    "Well, I take the occasional online course, as well as a summer offering every other year or so.  I would have to return to Knoxville for a final semester though.  I could possibly graduate some time next year, if the baby doesn't cause too much of a fuss."

    "It will.  Trust me." Will confides.  "I don't think I could've finished my final year, if we had had Timmy any sooner."

    Pete laughs a little before going on. "You have told me that last year."

    "At least you're back here, and you doing something you love.  Teaching has to safer than being a pro football player."  I add.

    "Well, things are a little better than you think." Pete says.

    "What do you mean?"

    "After I got the job, I found out that Melissa Andrews was teaching there herself, in the English department." Pete beams.

    "Wait.  Melissa's last name is 'Andrews?'  The same as the girl who started all of this." Will asks again.

    "Yep. She's the same girl.  Her father's family's political fortunes took a huge downturn a few administrations ago.  His second wife left him, and she cleaned him out.  He barely managed to get the principal's job at an elementary school.  That's where he's counting the days to retirement.  I swear, Melissa and I were going out and going at it for two months before I proposed.  We got married as soon as we could, and it was the best decision I ever made." Pete continues.

    "Going at it?!  Just last night, you were hounding me having seven partners over ten years!"

    "I was divorced, so the rules were different.  Besides, she 'technically' had already seen me naked, and we were both fairly sure we were getting married.  I told her father a day or to before we flew to Vegas.  I was a good five, six inches taller than him. He couldn't stop, even though I doubt he could've have done anything, even if he tried.  I managed to get my parents, Mia, and her mother and stepmother there for the ceremonies, although we did have a more traditional wedding a few months later.  Great days." Pete ends.

    "I just wish I had been there, but it was so sudden and I was still a little mad at you for leaving back in college.  I'm so sorry."

    "It's all good, Chris.  It was nobody's fault." Pete all but yells at the end as another crash of thunder rolls though.  Almost a minute now between crashes.

    "Yes, it was my fault.  I forgot to you, and I hate myself for it." Rick finally talks again.

    "Rick, it was an honest mistake. Yeah, you should have said something.  I don't know why you forgot, but it wasn't a big deal." I try to soothe Rick down.

    "You don't know the half of it." Rick exclaims.

    "What?  It couldn't have been major or you would've told us."

    "I was in the middle of a court case of the man who put naked picture of me online." Rick exclaims. 

    What?!?!

Pop: Chapter 19b

    "Dude, Rick told you all of this when we came back from spring break.  Remember.  He was your roommate by then." Will snidely remarks.

    "No, he didn't.  I would have remembered any such thing.  You didn't tell me either.  And remember, I was stuck in the ER for most of spring break before I had to take a bus back to Lexington."

    Rick tries to stay silent, but a mumbling whisper of "I forgot" barely can be made out.

     "It's all right.  Really." Pete starts back.  "After our first year at UK, my parents and I went to visit my sister out at San Diego."

    Mia.  Pete's sister.  Six, no, five years older than him.  She was at Murray State by the time he moved in.  Barely saw her all those years Pete lived there.  Maybe five, six times.  She hated that place and how her parents moved so fast without telling her beforehand.  Moved out to Cali as soon as she graduated.

    "We were there only a day, when my dad had a heart attack.  I guess traveling over an hour a day to and from work finally caught up with him.  He had to stay in the hospital for over a week, although I think they were being overly cautious.  Mom had already decided to move bak to our old town, just a newer place.  She then guilted me to staying with her until dad felt better.  This meant transferring to Morehead.  She even made me stay off-campus.  I was almost closer to the university than I was to the high school.  Even after dad returned to work full time, I got the feeling she wanted me to stay at home, so I did.  Even though I would've rather been at UK with you guys."

    "I remember that your old house was empty when I returned my temp job in Lex.  I just couldn't believe you had left without telling anyone.

    "I tried.  Everything was happening so fast, that I didn't have time.  I would've left a message with your mother, but I knew from your stories about her that she might not relay it.  Will and Rick's families were out-of-town too that week we moved, so I couldn't tell you two either.  How my mom arranged everything so quickly, from San Diego too, still amazes me."

    "I didn't have a phone, so that's why you didn't try to call me, but what about the others.  You didn't try to reach out to them either." I ask.

    "I lost their contact info in the move.  Like I said, everything happened in less than a week.  I can't tell you how much I lost in the move, that still could be in some box somewhere.  If I hadn't seen Pamela Davidson from the year behind us at the school cafeteria one day, I would never had been able to contact any of you again." Pete continues.

    "Yeah, she was one of my old neighbors.  She got a hold of my parents, who got to you, who called me a few weeks before spring break.  Pete told me and Rick everything, but I guess Rick forgot to tell you.  I never mentioned it, because I thought you already knew.  I just thought you didn't care about Pete any more, not that you didn't know the full story." Will explains.

    "Look, Pete, I'm sorry.  I wouldn't have treated you so bad if I had known.  However, that still doesn't explain why you didn't try to get back to UK to finish your degrees."

    "Well, like I said, I felt that my mom preferred that I stayed at home and stay with Morehead to finish up my Bachelors.  I didn't want to continue at Morehead for my Masters, so I applied to anywhere I could.  I did try to apply to UK, but I found out that I had missed that deadline by a few days.  I got the dates mixed up.  I couldn't stay at home any more, so I went out of state." I could tell that Pete was trying not to tell something by the faint downturn in his voice.

    "Where did you wind up going to?" I fearfully ask as the latest round of thunder prevents Pete from answering immediately.

    In the faintest of whispers, Pete replies.  

    "Knoxville."

    Blasphemy!

Pop: Chapter 19a

    Pete pauses as another round of thunder rumbles through the building.  Still fierce, but not as frequent as it has been.  Maybe every thirty seconds or so.

    "Anyway, I told my parents what happened.  Well, I added a few extra details for dad, you can guess which ones, but otherwise the same.  Both of them said not to worry, so I didn't.  However, when I went to school the nest morning, Principal Wallen was there to stop me soon after I got inside.  She told me that as was suspended until further notice, and that I had to leave immediately.  She didn't give a reason, but I noticed she didn't look me in the eye either.  Well, my parents were upset.  They tried to call the school, but the neither the principal nor any of the teachers could give any reason for the suspension.  I even called Coach Franklin to see if he could do anything, because I wouldn't be able to play in the semis.  He said he couldn't interfere, that it wouldn't be right.  I couldn't even travel with the team to see them lose.  Three touchdowns."

    "That must have been bad.  But that still doesn't explain why you had to repeat your freshman year." 

    "I'm getting to that Chris.  I tried to come back the following Monday, as the usual suspension was only three days, according to the guide book.  Well, this time, Wallen stopped me as soon as I stepped onto the grounds.  She told me that if I came back again, she would be forced to call the police.  My mother was there with me, trying to find out why I was suspended and for how long.  I thought I saw her look back towards the school, possibly at Mr. Andrews standing just inside the main entrance."

    "Wait, what?" Rick exclaims.  "What was his deal?"

    "That's what my mother and I thought.  She wasn't familiar with our representative on the board, so she started calling the head of the school board practically on a daily basis trying to get him to respond.  At the very least, she was hoping I could get some home schooling so I wouldn't be completely behind in my work.  He always seemed out, though, so she had to leave messages with his secretary.  We would've tried going to the monthly school board meeting, but we had just missed it.  Pretty soon, it was Christmas break, and I still was out for unknown reasons."

    He pauses again for thunder.  A little louder this time.  The booming seems to echo for about a minute.

    "I thought I would be able to get back after the break, but when my parents called the school, they said that I was still suspended.  This was going on for a month now, and no suspension was supposed to last that long.  We were planning to go to the board meeting, but it postponed due to snow.  In fact, most of the first two weeks of school that year were cancelled due to either snow or flu.  Finally, I caught a break.  My mom ran into the head one Saturday at the supermarket.  They started talking, and my mom found out when the rescheduled meeting would take place and that my situation would be on the agenda.  We were there that evening for the meeting when I was brought up.  My mother stood up and told everyone there what I had been going through.  It was then when Mr. Jackson asked his secretary, Mrs. Andrews, if my mother did leave all of the messages she claimed."

    "Mrs. Andrews?! The chem teacher's name?" Will asks.

    "Yep.  My almost girlfriend's step-mother.  She claimed that there were no records of any messages.  This didn't stop Mr. Jackson from lifting my suspension immediately.  It helped that neither the principal nor any of the teacher's from the school were there.  I was able to go back the next day there was school, the following Tuesday.  The girl was no longer in any of my classes, even though students weren't allowed to change classes this late in the year.  I had been out for a month and a half, and my school life had been ruined.  Because I missed the midterms, I had failed all of my classes.  Even if I aced the second semester, I was probably going to have to repeat all of them.  Coach Franklin came to see me during lunch, and he told me what really was happening."

    "What was it?" I ask.

    "Turned out that Andrews was connected to a big political family.  So much power, that when his wife filed for divorce when she found out he was cheating on her, he was able to have sole custody of their daughter, and promptly married his mistress and got her that position with the school board.  The chairman was just about the only member not connected to the family, but his own ties to the state government was with the other party, so he managed to keep his position.  All of the teachers and the principal were so afraid to lose their jobs, they were forced to comply with Andrew stupid plans of revenge on me for trying to date his daughter.  He even made sure that I was going to fail all of my classes.  At the end of the school day, Andrews confronted me before leaving.  Now, as I mentioned, I had started a growth spurt just as my suspension started.  I was now six three, about eight inches taller than him.  He tried to threaten me, saying that if I even looked at his daughter again, I would be expelled, or even arrested.  I just calmly started down at him and said that I wasn't afraid of him.  I turned away and left."

    "Good for you.  You can't let bullies like him win."

    "My mother didn't think so.  When I told her what happened, she freaked out.  A week later, I found out that we would be moving at the end of the school year.  At least a county away so that Andrews and his family could't hurt us.  My dad had just been promoted, so we could afford it, but it was still a big deal.  The following year, I was with you guys, but I still had problems."

    "What problems?" Will asks.

    "Well, since I transferred, I had to wait out the first year before trying out for football.  My sophomore year, there was realignment and my old school would be playing us.  With the new gym still being build, the football field was unstable, so all the games would be away.  My mom begged my not to try out, as not to get Andrews's family's bad side.  I was ready to try out that spring for junior year.  However, we had a new coach from out of state.  When he found out I would be a junior, he let me go.  See, he had a policy of not letting upperclassmen try out.  He didn't want someone just being on the team for a year or two just to try and get a letter for nothing.  He wouldn't let me explain or anything.  We would later talk at the end of the season, after he found out my situation.  He was willing to let me try out for senior year, but by that time, it was too late.  I was so out of practice, after three years away from the game, I could never get back all that I had lost.  So, there I was, a former Division I prospect, never playing another game after that first partial year."

    "Couldn't you have, you know, walked on, or something."

    I could feel all three of them glaring at me.

    "Colleges usually don't have walk on QBs." Pete kindly explains.

    "Hey, I don't follow sports, okay."

    "So, instead of becoming a pro football player, I wound up becoming a high school math teacher." Pete admits.

    Yeah, Pete was the type of guy who would do calculus problems for fun.  In high school.  Being a math specialist was all but assured.

    "I can almost forgive you for bailing on us and living UK for that."

    "Chris! You know why Pete left UK!" Rick screams.  Another round of thunder echoes his hostility.

    "No I don't!"