Promise Kept (Perry Skky Jr.)

by Stephanie Perry Moore

  “Lenard! Perry! What is up with this? You’ve already been suspended for fighting.”

  Lenard rushed to answer. “Folks started coming at us with bottles and stuff. What are we supposed to do?”

  Coach snarled, “You shouldn’t have been out there in the first place.”

  At the same time I was thinking, Yeah, that’s what I told them. But at that moment, what could I have done? I wasn’t strong enough to lead them to do the right thing. So I gave in to the pressure and let them lead me into doing something that was wrong. We had cuts on our faces, and Lenard was holding his ribs. We had a National Championship game to play and some of the key players were banged up over this foolishness.

  Coach lectured us all the way back to the hotel. I heard him, but he couldn’t have made me feel more like a loser.

  “It ain’t like he’s gonna bench us,” Markus said as he leaned over and clutched his stomach.

  “You know what?” Coach said. “I heard that. All three of you guys are going to sit out the first quarter of this game.”

  “You want to make that stupid move, Coach, then do what you got to do,” Lenard yelled back. What was he thinking?

  Coach replied, “Since you’re so big and bad, when you get a chance to play, make up the difference. Fight on the field!”

  Lenard lowered his voice a few decibels and said, “But you’re tying our hands, Coach, by keeping us out one quarter.”

  Coach Red said, “What’s fair is fair. Yes, I want to win a National Championship, but more than that, I want to make you guys winners in life. Actions come with consequences.” Now you’ll never forget how much your stupid actions cost your team and your fans.

  Back at the hotel, Saxon said, “Coach can kiss off.” Word of our punishment had got through to the team.

  My roommate and our new quarterback, Lance Shadrach, chimed in, “Yeah, if you’re not playing, I’m not playing either.”

  Since Mario, our former starting quarterback, got caught up in a scandal, Lance was ready for the job. He showed out at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game and we won. Though the media was saying we wouldn’t have a chance against the Trojans, Lance had the heart of a warrior. I called him a brother in white skin and I knew he was going to show up and do his part on game night. But he and Saxon were talking foolishness. Before I could set them straight, Deuce, our other roommate and running back for the team, echoed Lance’s sentiments.

  “If the quarterback and tailback don’t play, or at least threaten not to, Coach Red will change his dumb tactics. What’s he going to do without all of us?”

  The three of them went on and on about how they were going to convince the other players to boycott. I was just so thankful that I didn’t get arrested like the rest of the club members, for inciting a riot at the Miami bar, that sitting out one quarter of the football game was really no big deal. Even though it was the biggest football game played in college sports.

  Deuce came over to me and rested his hand on my shoulder and said, “Look, if it wasn’t for you taking time out to help me study, I wouldn’t get through school. Seriously, if you hadn’t stepped up and made me get all of that calculus, I’d be sitting out the whole game. I know Lenard and Markus, man. They convinced you to go somewhere you didn’t want to go. All that football hazing is a bunch of crap. For real you shouldn’t be punished for what coach practically signed off on. He told us to follow the upper classmen when the season first started. I’m going to talk to the rest of the team now.”

  As Deuce headed to the door I just shook my head. I couldn’t believe the chump was serious. Why would he put his career on the line for me? Yeah, we were brothers now in every true sense of the heart, and as crazy as Saxon had been towards me—not wanting me to be with his sister and feeling he was a much better player than I was—somewhere along the way he and I had formed a bond too. I cared about those three guys and I needed to let them know that there was no way I was going to let them carry through with any sort of plan of rebellion. I jogged over to the door and barricaded myself in front of it.

  “Move, Perry, now move,” Deuce said, as he tried unsuccessfully to push me aside.

  “Naw, now for real you guys are going to hear me out,” I said boldly to the three of them. “Quit being hotheads for a second and listen to me. Saxon, I’ve been watching you in practice lately and boy, you are a heck of a football player. You know I never wanted to admit that with me and you being rivals in high school and all, but you the man! With me on the bench you’re going to get a chance to play. You can show out and show ’em the threat and presence of what’s coming next year. Aight?”

  “I hear you, man,” Saxon said, and he came and gave me dap.

  “And Deuce and Lance, though the loyalty chokes me up inside,” I said facetiously.

  Lance grabbed a pillow and tossed it my way. I ducked. We all laughed.

  I continued, “I’m serious. I appreciate y’all caring, but what good is it going to do with none of us in the game? Somebody has to represent the freshman class and help us win this thing. I’ma get back in there. What I want y’all to get is that we got to live by rules, and when you break them you got to step up, be a man, and take what’s coming to you. I don’t need y’all to take my medicine for me. I know what I did and I know why I did it. I just need the three of y’all out there. And light up the scoreboard, so when I get in I won’t have to show y’all up.”

  They charged me. The next thing you know the four of us were play wrestling. It was cool to know I wanted the best for them and that they had my back.

  The next couple of days were chaos. All the sportswriters were clamoring outside the hotel to make the story even bigger than it was. Coach protected Lenard, Markus, and myself through a lot of the public functions that the team went to—team meet-and-greets, pep rallies, Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast—so we were able to chill.

  I was also avoiding my folks. I knew they had driven down to Miami. I was successful in not seeing them until my dad banged on the hotel room door and yelled that Coach told him I was in there.

  “Alright Dad, but I got a game in the morning,” I said, sounding real tired.

  “Whatever, son, open the door. I need to talk to you now.”

  I couldn’t even look his way. Feeling bad was an understatement. I hated letting my parents down. What could I say?

  “I know, Dad. I made a bad decision.”

  “I hear you, son, but you can’t just run away from us when you get in some trouble. Besides, this year you have had one incident after another and we have always been there for you.”

  “I shouldn’t have embarrassed you guys, Dad. Truthfully, you couldn’t be more bummed out with me than I am with myself.”

  He went on anyway, lecturing me for another thirty minutes, then told me to rest up for the game. I appreciated that at the end of the day he brought our conversation back to a positive place.

  As he prepared to leave, he touched my shoulder and said, “Listen. All this talk now is that you’re coming off of the bench and you won’t be able to help the game. Shut the media and the fans up; do your thing tomorrow, aight?”

  “Aight, I’ma try,” I laughed, trippin’ that my pops was down.

  Eyeing me to make sure I took him seriously, he said, “Naw, you gon’ do it. You hurting this team on the bench. You get in that game and make up the difference.”

  He had no idea how right he was. In the first quarter we were down 28-0. Saxon was dropping passes. Deuce was getting blocked turn after turn, and Lance was getting sacked every snap. It was a massacre!

  In the second quarter Lenard and I were able to join the game. We gave Lance confidence and the O line started blocking better. Deuce was able to run and he scored a touchdown. With Markus back as a leader on defense, we held them, and I caught some crazy balls and scored two touchdowns.

  Even with all that battling, when the end of the fourth quarter came we were still behind 28-21. Though we did our b
est, USC did not come up short. I wanted to beat the Trojans so bad. After all, we lost the first game of the season to them. I played a big part in that loss. My absence in the first quarter of this game will always be in the back of my mind. Once again, I let my teammates down. As we walked to the middle of the field to shake hands with the victorious Trojans, Coach Red didn’t even look my way. I know he was pissed at me. Though we played a hard-fought game, in the end it just wasn’t enough simply trying to win!

  Dealing with Trouble

  The mood in the locker room was somber at best; some young men were crying, and rightfully so. For the seniors they’d never get another chance for that ring.

  Coach Red said, “Men, we only lost two games all year, we have to take our hats off to the Trojans. I know you’re mad at me about the decisions that I made and maybe you’re equally upset at some of your teammates for not thinking on this bowl trip. But guys, we have to put this behind us. We had a heck of a season. Nobody gave us anything. We were always ranked in the ugliest spots. Most games we were favored to lose. You guys are champions in my book. Every single one of you is a winner. You may cause me a lot of pain, but one thing for sure, we came together as a team. You need to know wherever you go in life you’re someone special.”

  A few guys cheered, even more clapped. His speech was moving, but it didn’t move me. I said to myself I was never going to be depressed again. I wanted to keep my self-esteem intact. However, even with two of the longest catches of my football career, a 97-yarder and a 98-yarder, maybe if I had been in the game sooner I could have done more. I sat down on the bench, placed my head between my knees and let the tears mix in with my sweat.

  Then I heard Calvin’s voice yell out, “OFFENSE, man, y’all were terrible out there. Y’all didn’t block nobody!” I looked up and he was in the face of two of our linemen.

  “You need to get out of my face,” our center said to him. “That’s the problem with you now, Calvin, you can’t keep your emotions in check; starting some fight at the bar, getting some of our players suspended because they’re trying to support your stupid ways.”

  “Oh, you calling me stupid?” Calvin said to him as he pushed him into another guy.

  Bilboa jumped into the scene and pushed Calvin into another corner. “Naw, he’s trying to blame me for him playing poorly.” I heard more arguing but I put my head back down.

  “You can’t blame yourself for this,” Deuce came over and said to me.

  “Nice try, buddy, but that one don’t fly.”

  “I’m serious man; I choked up in the beginning. You told me it was going to be my time to shine and all I had to do was hold it down until you got in the game, and I choked. You saw more in me than I saw in myself and then when you did come in you put us in a position to almost win it. My yards were the worst of all this year—twenty-two. Now come on, I know your folks want to say something to you. Let’s shower and then go enjoy the night. We don’t have to fly back until tomorrow.”

  “I know you didn’t just say enjoy the night.”

  “Perry, what you gon’ do, wallow in it, man? Learning some lessons? No mistake about it, we got to the big dance because we were good. We’re just freshmen and nobody going to think we can get back here next year. But we can, if we take tonight, shake it off, and get ready for this time next year.”

  “Alright man, I hear you,” I agreed, so he would leave me the heck alone. When I went out into our crowd, my parents had a look of pity in their eyes. It took my mom all she had inside of her to say something positive, which wasn’t her style because she used to shoot straight at me.

  She said to me, “Son, you did so good.”

  “Yeah, son, you really did,” my dad agreed. Man, both of them were crazy. How could I have done such a great job if I was out of the game because of foolishness? I just wasn’t trying to be around them or anybody else. People were saying stuff to me, asking me for my autograph as I meandered my way through the crowd, not stopping until Savoy stepped in front of me. The way we left things a week ago, I didn’t know where we stood. With everything going on, she actually hadn’t been on my mind.

  I appreciated it when she said, “I know you got to be hurting, I’m sorry it went down like that. Let’s just go out tonight, take your mind off of some of it.” She kissed me on the cheek, nibbled on my ear a bit, and I sort of pushed her away.

  “Naw, I’m just going to go back to the hotel.” I knew she and her parents had come all this way to support the team, but I just couldn’t handle any company right now.

  “Me and some of the other track girls are going out. I thought you would have missed me this week, but you’re still going and putting everything in your life first. Cool, fine. Go back to the hotel and relax then.”

  I did not feel like putting up with her crap. I had just lost a National Championship game. How dare she try to brush it under the rug. Did she think that her little peck was going to make me forget what had just slipped away?

  “Hey, I didn’t think we were together no way, from what you said last week,” I retorted in anger.

  “Oh, dumb me. You’re right!” She turned around, flung her hair in my face and walked away. I tried to grab her but more fans stepped between us. I towered over most of them and could see that as she walked away she wasn’t even looking back. I’m done with it; maybe she was right. Maybe it shouldn’t have been all about me. But if Deuce couldn’t understand it, my parents couldn’t understand it, and Savoy couldn’t understand it—then maybe God would just let me wallow.

  On the bus to the hotel I sat in my seat and prayed, Lord, this is a lot to deal with. Help me to not get into a funk, although I am already in one. Help me to not stay that way! I don’t know what I’m saying, Lord, I’m just a frustrated man and really upset. I’m upset at me. The more and more I try to do the right thing, the more negative comes my way. I know You’re up there—could you light up my path a little bit? I’m a football player playing in the dark—give me some lights, Lord. Shine some, Lord, dang.

  It was such an emotional, draining day I couldn’t wait for my head to hit the pillow and crash. The National Championship game had slipped through my fingers and I wanted that day to be over. However, I heard a bunch of noise at the door when Deuce came in with Saxon and a few other players. I was frustrated that I had not locked the door when they burst in.

  “Get up, get up, get up!” Saxon said, messing with my legs.

  “Ouch, boy, I’m sore,” I told him.

  “Aw Perry, come on, man, we’re just trying to have a little fun. Get up out the bed, it’s not even eleven-thirty. You crashing early like you some little momma’s boy or something.”

  “Sax, you know me well enough to know that little snide comments like that do not bother me. I’m tired, man,” I said, putting the pillow over my head. That was stupid because the next thing I knew Deuce and Saxon were pushing me and hitting me and shoving me.

  “Alright, alright,” I said as I sat up. “What do y’all want?”

  Deuce said, “Come on, we are going to hang out for a little bit. We’re going to this little club that the track girls are going to.”

  “Forget them, I hear some of the local girls are fine too—I hear the place is jumping. Let’s go,” Saxon said.

  “Y’all go mess with the honeys,” I told them.

  “Well, you know my sister is going to be mad that you’re not there,” Saxon said as he gave me some evil eye, like I wasn’t taking care of my business.

  “I don’t think me and Savoy are going to work out,” I said, regretting that I gave her brother more information than he needed.

  “Boy, I can tell in your face that you want my sister. And no matter how much I try and fight it—your little having-no-sex behind is the perfect one I want for her. What y’all done had, one time in two years?” I gritted my teeth at his insinuation that I was less of a guy or something because I wasn’t trying to screw her brains out. I had integrity and character and I respected her.
And more than that, I wanted to respect the word of the Lord, who said that satisfying my flesh had given me too many issues. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt Savoy’s feelings. Maybe I would surprise her and go to the little club, get our groove on and let her take my mind off the game.

  So when I got out of the bed Saxon said, “Now, that’s what I’m talking about, boy. Yeah, let’s go.”

  Half an hour later we pulled into a club called Heat. None of us were over twenty-one, but flashing our Georgia Tech badges we were able to get in. I checked out my environment—folks were in groups laughing and enjoying each other. There wasn’t too much alcohol out, just a few cans and some cigarettes, and people on the dance floor were getting their groove on.

  I did not see Savoy, but Deuce said to me, “Oh, there are our girls.”

  I looked in the direction he was pointing and then our jaws dropped when we saw the Tech girls hanging out with some older local guys.

  “I don’t understand what’s up with this, Kendall knew I was coming. That dude needs to take his hands off her butt. You coming?”

  “Naw, man, Savoy looks like she having a good time. She don’t need me. I’ma chill over here.”

  Deuce walked a couple of steps farther and waved his hand at Kendall. She looked up and saw him and met him halfway. I watched as his tongue slid down her throat. I don’t know if he was trying to prove a point to the guys that she had just walked away from, that she was his, or if he really was excited about seeing her. Either way, they were cool and went off into a corner somewhere. Savoy, though, tried to play me. She saw me and I smiled. She didn’t smile back, just turned around and started rubbing on some guy’s chest. It had to be to make me angry, because he wasn’t hot. The guy looked like a thug, with one gold tooth in his mouth and a bandana around his head. Yet when I saw him pull out a roll and hand it to his boy for drinks, I realized that he was probably the leader of the crew that she was with. Did she even know what she was doing? It could be dangerous for her to act like she wanted to be with this guy. Accepting a drink from him could get her into even more trouble. The dude could spike her drink or he could take that as a sign that she was his for the rest of the evening. I had to be real and understand what I had done to push her toward this situation in the first place. She was a big girl. She wasn’t a baby. But I did sort of hurt her feelings—twice—telling her that I wanted to do something without her. But there was no denying that I cared for her deeply. I felt my blood boiling as I saw the guy run his hand up the back of her shirt.