"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!"
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