The Ties That Bind

by T. Starnes

  "You heard Tina, get lost."

  She turned and gently pushed him back, making sure she was between me and him. It was clear she wasn't rejecting him, but trying to keep me from being in reach of the guy.

  "Steven, no."

  Ahh, so this was the guy Tami mentioned ... the one her sister knew.

  "It's okay Tina. I am leaving. But remember, regardless of what Margret says, I still consider you family. If you need anything, you know where to find me."

  She didn't respond and shut the door. Steven was still pawing at her as they disappeared from sight. I felt my blood pressure go up but walked calmly away from the house.

  I was still in a mood when I got back to the house. Zoe was in the kitchen when I walked in but didn't immediately turn around when she started talking to me.

  "How did it ... that bad huh?"

  "Yeah. She said she didn't want me to come by any more. Margret wasn't there, but there was a guy there. I am guessing it is this Steven Mertz that Tami's sister mentioned to her. He was really handsy with her while we were talking."

  "Cas, you didn't..."

  "No, I kept my cool."

  She came over and held me tight against her.

  "I know it's tough, but Tina is a good person. She'll come around."

  "I hope so."

  I headed back, to get ready for the game, but wasn't convinced. I knew she was trying to comfort me, but I was still pissed. Partly I was mad that she was throwing away the relationship we had just started to build. More than her reaction to me was that she let that guy have his hands all over her, in front of someone else. It was really disrespectful to her and she shouldn't have stood for it. It upset me that her apparent self-worth had taken some kind of a hit, and I was worried about her.

  The girls let me be while I stewed, although each gave me a kiss as we separated to our respective buses for the game, or in Vicki's case Megan's suburban. A few of the guys tried to talk to me on the bus, but gave up when all they got were monosyllabic responses in return.

  It got worse as we got into the game. The longer I stewed, the angrier I got. I started taking it out on our opponents. I was putting blockers down hard every time they got in my way and pouring it on when running the ball. I was lost in my own world. At halftime, Tami and Zoe grabbed me as I headed off the field.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Playing football, what the hell does it look like I'm doing?" I was still keyed up and took it out on Zoe. "Go back to the other cheerleaders and leave me the hell alone."

  Tami whacked me hard on the helmet, "Cas, pull your shit together. I know you're pissed at Tina, but don't take it out on Zoe."

  I looked at Zoe and saw tears forming in her eyes, and my anger faded away.

  "Shit, I'm sorry, Zoe. I didn't mean that, I was just being an ass."

  Tami grabbed my face mask and pulled me to look at her. She was still annoyed with me. I think that is what snapped me out of it more than anything else. Of my three girls, she had the sweetest and softest personality, while Vicki tended to be the hard core one.

  "We have bigger problems than that. You have the attention of the teams and coaches on both sides. You have been annihilating anyone getting in your way, and running like you play on a pro team. This is not 'flying under the radar.'"

  "Shit. This is bad. What do I do?"

  Zoe was still looking sad, but stepped in, "We need to get you off the field. Better yet, in a way that takes you off it permanently. Too many people have noticed how you are playing. You are going to be watched by scouts from here on out."

  "Okay, but how do we do that?"

  "I have an idea. I already called Alex and she is on her way down. Next time you get the ball, take a hit. Go down hard and stay down. Play up being groggy and out of it until Alex gets to you."

  "What ... never mind. I know you have it worked out, and I trust you. I have to get to the locker room."

  I ran off the field and joined the team in the locker room. There was a lot of back slapping going on. The coach stopped his pep talk when I walked in.

  "Grey here is going to keep us in points for the rest of the night. If you guys can keep their offense pinned down, and keep the ball in his hands, we can't be stopped. Keep this up the rest of the season; we are a shoe-in for state."

  Man, the girls were right. This was getting out of hand. I just kept my head down and tried to look focused. We received the ball and our return was stopped just short of the fifty yard line. The first play was for me to get the ball. They knew it, too, and had two defenders stacked up on me.

  I ran my route like normal, got in between the two defenders and snagged the pass. I had to slow down to make sure I was in position to receive the ball and was well lined up between both guys. I pulled my speed a little more to make sure both guys could make contact. I gritted my teeth and waited for the impact. The two guys slammed into me, one going low the other high causing me to upend as I hit the ground. My head was ringing and my right shoulder hurt like hell, but other than that, I felt okay. I however stayed put and kept my eyes closed.

  The trainers started gathering around me and my helmet was pulled off. Hands pulled at my eyelids and I figured I needed to open my eyes. If I continued to try and pretend I was out, they would definitely notice.

  "Wha..."

  "Caspian, can you hear me."

  "Yeah."

  "What..."

  "Out of the way, let me through."

  I recognized Alex's voice getting stronger as she got closer.

  "Ma'am, you can't..."

  "I'm his doctor. I told him he shouldn't be playing so soon after his injuries."

  She leaned over me, shining a light into my eyes like the trainer did.

  "I see a few small hemorrhages forming already. Let's get him into the ambulance right away."

  "Wait, I didn't see anything."

  "Well, one of us went to medical school, and the other took a weekend course. Who's opinion do you think we should go with here? Get him in the damn ambulance."

  I heard grumbling but felt them move me to a board and up onto the trainer's cart. Alex hopped aboard and we were whisked off the field. Several people tried to talk to me but Alex intercepted all of them. Every time I tried to speak, she put her hand on my arm.

  She spoke to the EMTs off to the side for a few minutes and then climbed into the ambulance with me. When we got to the hospital, she had me sit up and walk off the ambulance with her. Instead of going to the ER, she walked me to her office. Inside mom and Vicki were already waiting on me.

  "Well, that was close," Alex said, shutting the door behind us.

  "How bad did I screw up out there?"

  Vicki just shook her head and said, "Pretty bad. It was a hell of a performance in the first half. Maybe the best the school has ever seen."

  "I was afraid of that. So what do we do?"

  Alex was already writing out a note, "I am going to send this over to your coach. It is instructions that you are not to participate in games any longer. It will say that you have lasting effects from your shooting, that could become serious. From here on out, you are medically prohibited from playing sports."

  "Well, that sucks."

  "At this point you don't have much of a choice. People already recognized your athletic ability, and with tonight's display, you would be pretty well sought after. The last thing you want is the media all over you as some kind of sports wunderkind."

  "I guess."

  I looked over at Vicki, "How pissed are the girls at me?"

  "Zoe is upset and Tami is totally pissed at you for yelling at her. They may love you, but you are in for a world of hurt when we get home. On top of that, we were all looking forward to the homecoming dance, and now we can't go."

  "Why?"

  "You were just rushed off the field in an ambulance. How would it look if you showed up healthy, and ready to dance, just a few hours later?"

  "Damn."

  We waited in
Alex's office for almost an hour, but I let them do most the talking. I was pissed at myself. I had let my anger over Tina's situation get the best of me. I had ruined high school sports for myself; yelled at Zoe, and made it so all three girls had to miss the homecoming dance.

  I knew I was in for it when I got home.

  Chapter 5

  Alex drove Vicki and me home, since the girls had already made arrangements to stay with us ... or, rather, with Zoe ... following the homecoming dance. No one talked in the car, although I could tell it was more Vicki giving me space to think, rather than her being mad at me too.

  When we got home, mom pointed me at a chair at the kitchen table.

  "Vicki, the girls are already upstairs. You head on up and let me talk to Cas for a minute."

  Vicki patted me on the back once then headed up to join the other two girls. Mom sat across from me and just looked at me for a minute.

  "You know, with everything that has happened, sometimes I forget you're fifteen years old."

  "I know. I screwed up tonight," I said, hanging my head.

  "It's not just tonight, Cas. You have been a little reserved for weeks, ever since we found out about your unique biology. It got a lot worse after Alex showed up, and we learned about the behavior changes. Tonight was just the 'straw that broke the camel's back,' but you have been headed towards this, all week."

  "I know you have a lot on your shoulders. I can't even imagine what it must be like to feel responsible for the development of humanity. I don't think anyone could imagine that. But you can't let that shut you down, or change who you are. From the first day I met you, you have been kind and caring. Now isn't the time to stop being those things."

  "So, what do I do? How do I fix this?"

  "Well, for starters you need to stop thinking about yourself. I know it's tough with all the pressure being put on you, but you aren't alone. Those three girls are crazy about you. I know they have already tried several times to tell you how happy they are and to allay some of your fears; but I don't think you really listened to them. You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself, apologize to them, and remember that we are all behind you."

  "Okay."

  I was trying not to sound mopey, but it was tough. How do you not feel sorry for yourself, when someone is telling you to stop feeling sorry for yourself? But I knew she was right. I had been way too self-absorbed and it was hurting me and everyone close to me.

  I got up and started to head towards the stairs, when I was grabbed from behind and pulled into one of her bone crushing hugs.

  "Just remember, Cas, we all love you. If you start from there, everything will work out."

  I hugged her back, hard, and whispered, "Thanks. I love you, too."

  I could hear whispering through the opened door, but all talking stopped when I walked into the room. All three girls were already dressed for bed, and both Tami and Zoe were glaring at me. I pulled the desk chair up to face the three of them and sat down.

  "I know you guys are pissed at me, and you have every right to be. First, I want to apologize to you, Zoe. I had no right to yell at you. You were trying to protect me from my own stupidity. There was no excuse for it. I also want to apologize for ruining the dance. I know you three were really looking forward to going. More than that, I have not been fair to you three all week, or hell, even for the last few weeks. You have all tried to reassure me that everything was fine and I haven't listened to you. I want you to know: that stops, now. I am done with my pity party."

  "So now all I can do is, say I am sorry, I will try not to let it happen again, and I love all of you."

  Both girls turned to look at Zoe who, besides apparently being the one most pissed off at me, was still the nominal leader of my ... harem, for lack of a better word.

  She nodded once and said, "Okay. Apology accepted, but you can only get away with the 'I'm a dumb boy' excuse a few times, so don't make a habit of this."

  "So, what now?" I pleaded, hoping for a chance to make it up to the girls.

  “Now you make it up to us,” she said.

  And I did my best to do just that.

  The next morning I woke up with Tami and Vicki still pulled in close to me. Zoe had kind of sprawled and was laying half on me and half on Vicki. I kissed all three awake.

  "Jesus, girl, I am not a mattress," Vicki said in a joking tone, rolling Zoe off both of us.

  "I don't know, you're pretty comfy and come with nice pillows," Zoe teased back.

  I hopped out of bed and realized I was still wearing the pants I wore to the hospital last night; the other three were naked.

  I pulled Vicki to her feet and said, "If you girls are done with the morning banter, let's go get a shower."

  Vicki looked at me quizzically, "I don't think there is enough room in there for all four of us."

  "You're right, but I want to take a shower with each of you, so you will have to cycle through. It's all part of 'Operation: Get Cas Out of The Dog House'."

  Vicki just shook her head and helped Tami and Zoe to their feet. We did manage to cycle each girl through so I could scrub their backs and wash their hair. We kept the grab ass to a minimum so it didn't take all that long, actually.

  At breakfast, Tami sat in my lap and the other two pulled chairs up close to me to eat. As usual, I was required to feed the one sitting in my lap. I didn't mind, really, since I knew 'which side of my bread was buttered.'

  Mom was smiling as she served us breakfast, "I see you kids managed to work out your issues."

  Zoe nodded and replied in between bites, "Yeah. Cas admitted he was an idiot and begged our forgiveness, so things are back to normal."

  "Well, just keep training him up right. Guys are like decorating, they need a woman's touch," mom said as she went back to cooking.

  Zoe gasped, "MOM!"

  Mom whipped around and put her hand over her mouth, "Ohh, I didn't mean ... I meant like ... ohhh, damn."

  We all broke down laughing.

  The next several weeks flew by. We got into a pretty good pattern. I would go once a week to meet with Ted and Marcus. In the mornings, I would run with what was now a pretty large group. Now that I didn't have practices, I would work out with the afternoon crew. I did go to one or two practices, but the coaches knew I couldn't play, so I just watched. I helped out at all the study sessions, went to the Dojo, and spent a lot of time with the girls.

  It was really nice to go a while with no crisis. The last month, with my getting shot, then getting kicked out of Margret's house, then mom's medical crisis, plus all the new stuff we learned about my biology and the changes to everyone ... it felt like life would never slow down!

  I watched Tami and Zoe cheer at the last game of the season and rooted for Josh and my former team mates.

  True to her word, Megan went to see Doctor Chang trailed by Alex, her boyfriend. New tests were run on the all of us, well, except for Tina who was still not talking to me. They also managed to get Rachel in for a "research study" to get her tests and she didn't seem to realize anything unusual had happened. Alex (our Alex, not Megan's Alex) and Mom both said it would be a few weeks before we had answers from these new samples.

  The week before Thanksgiving, Ted called to tell me. Jonathan would be at our next meeting. Apparently, we had progress. I followed up with a call to Jonathan, to get a ride from him. It was still more than six months to my official or at least state recognized, birthday. Then I could get my license. I was more than a little impatient. Begging for rides was getting old, fast.

  Marcus was already in Ted's office when I got there and was keyed up.

  "Okay, so what's the big news?" I said sliding into one of the open chairs.

  "We made big progress this month. The patent applications are all researched, written, and filed with the patent office."

  I looked over at Jonathan and he nodded, saying, "Yep, I don't foresee any problems. I reached out to a friend of mine that specializes in patents, and has done some work for
some of the beltway firms. He did some pretty thorough checks, and assures me there were no conflicts he could see. He said we should be golden. We filed the Patents on Thursday."

  "Great. So we are ready to start on the prototype, then?"

  Marcus was practically bouncing in his seat, if he had been a kid he would have.

  As it was he was barely contained when he said, "Well, that's the other thing. We already went ahead and started working on the prototype."

  I looked sideways at Ted, "Really? That seems risky. What if the patent search didn't go our way? Seems like a gamble with our development money, if we had to scrap what was already built and start over."

  Ted just shrugged, "We talked with Jonathan a bit before we started, and he already felt confident that we were in the clear ... although like any good lawyer he wouldn't actually sign off on it until he triple checked."

  Jonathan held up his hands in mock surrender, but Ted continued, "We did take a gamble, I will admit, but it has put us ahead of our original timeline. We mostly worked on some of the independent parts, and built the basic frame. We tried to hold off on the parts covered in the patents as much as possible; but, even on those, we did a little preliminary work."

  I frowned at him, "Ted, this is something that should have come up in one of our monthly meetings. I know I am a kid, but my money is backing the bulk of this project. I need to be in the loop. You can't cut me out of decisions like this."

  Ted knew he was in the wrong, but tried to spin it, "I know you're right, but we felt like we couldn't wait. If we wanted to get a jump on it, we had to start right away."

  I knew when I was hearing bullshit, "So you started on this since last Sunday?"

  Marcus looked over at Ted again, then admitted, "Umm, no. We started just over two weeks ago."

  "So we have had two meetings since you started where nothing was mentioned. Don't bullshit me, Ted. We are partners on this, and we need to act like it. My guess is you thought I might veto starting early, so you took a gamble and hoped it worked out."