Matthew responded, “Not now; we’ll talk about it later.” He rounded the far end of the building and there at the front row of parking spaces was Connor lying on the pavement. Trey reared back and kicked him in the stomach. Connor twitched in pain and rolled to his side.
Jack was pinned down by one of the football team’s defensive linemen, and Amanda was held by another. Matthew arrived at the lot and called out to the pack, “One, two, three…seven guys to take down my brother. You must really be proud of yourselves.”
Amanda tried to pull away from the large senior lineman and yelled to Matthew, “Just go get some help. I think Connor’s really hurt.”
Trey pointed his finger at his former girlfriend. “You shut up! This is your fault!” Trey walked over to Amanda and put his hand on her shoulder and said, “This wimp tries to steal my spot on the team, and then you reward him by coming to this dance with him.” Connor tried to get up from the ground, but Trey moved back over and kicked him in the face.
“That’s enough!” yelled Matthew.
Trey looked to Matthew, beer bottle in his left hand, and said, “I have to admit, your brother can sure take a beating.”
Matthew saw a small object lying on the ground close to one of the cars in the parking lot. It was the snap ring he had given to Connor. Matthew looked to Jack and the boy that held him to the ground and said, “Why don’t you let him up?” He looked to the boy holding Amanda and said, “You can go ahead and let her go, too.” He walked within two feet of Trey and said, “I’m gonna take on all seven of you.”
Trey laughed and taunted Matthew, “What are you gonna do? You’re a little punk compared to your brother. I could kick your ass with one hand tied behind my back, blindfolded, and hopping on one leg.”
Matthew reached down to his watch and pressed the second button from the top. He took another step toward Trey and said, “Come on, second string; let’s see what you got.”
At that, Trey Wilson dropped his bottle of beer and took his first swing at Matthew. Matthew raised his hand toward the star quarterback and proceeded to toss him ten feet back into a parked car. The windshield cracked from the force of the hit and Trey was knocked for a loop.
Austin and Rick made their move toward Matthew. He was trying to move Cassie away from the danger area. Austin got a shot in on Matthew’s side, but Matthew was able to block the next punch headed toward his face. Austin was thrown fifteen feet into the air and landed flat on his back. You could hear the air leave his chest on impact.
Rick grabbed Matthew around the waist and threw him toward the parked cars. At that, the boys who were holding Amanda and Jack let them go and joined Rick. Amanda tried to jump onto one of the boys’ backs, but he threw her to the ground.
The act of striking any young woman would have made Matthew Chance mad, but to do it to Amanda Curry was unacceptable. Rick shouted, “All right boy, now we’re really gonna stomp your ass.” All three boys jumped onto Matthew and began to throw punches. Amanda and Cassie screamed for help, but it wasn’t needed. Matthew had picked up the snap ring that Connor dropped earlier and he had it positioned at the three boys over top of him.
“You had enough, wimp?” Matthew turned over with the ring in hand and snapped his fingers into it. All three boys were tossed like sacks of garbage at the dump and slammed into the side of the gym. The final two football players who were there made their way toward Matthew, but they stopped at the sound of an approaching voice.
“You boys stop right there! What’s goin on here?” Beth had arrived with both Officer Charles and April. The two players who hadn’t tangled with Matthew ran off into the darkness of the parking lot. Trey Wilson came to.
“What’s goin’ on here, Mr. Wilson?” the officer asked Trey. “You causin’ problems for these three boys?”
Officer Charles looked around the area and saw four more of the largest football players on the team lying on the ground. He looked to Matthew and asked, “You took on seven players from the football team and you’re the one still standing?”
Matthew placed the snap ring back into his pocket and said, “We just got lucky, officer. They’ve been drinking, so we must have been too quick for them.”
Officer Charles called for some backup and a couple of police cars drove up into the lot. “Y’all can head back to the dance. We’ll take care of these boys.” Officer Charles walked over to April, who was tending to Connor, and said, “I’m sorry our discussion had to be abruptly ended like this Ms. April.” Officer Charles extended his hand. April extended her hand, expecting a shake, but Officer Charles kissed it instead.
“Maybe we can continue our talk over dinner some night.”
April held Connor, who was still hurt and bleeding from the altercation, and said, “I better get him home and clean him up.” She smiled at Officer Charles. “It was nice meeting you.” The family started toward the car, but Amanda blocked Matthew’s path.
“How did you do that? That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.”
Matthew looked to the gorgeous blonde and said, “I told you. I just got lucky.”
Amanda shook her head. “You just took on and took out half of the seniors on the football team.”
Cassie and Jack walked up behind Amanda and added, “Yeah, Matthew, I haven’t even seen anything like that in the world of professional wrestling.”
Matthew cleared his throat and replied, “Look, the important thing is that everyone’s OK. I couldn’t let them hurt any of you.”
“Come on, Matthew, we need to go!” yelled April.
Matthew turned to Jack, Cassie, and Amanda and said, “I’ll see you all on Monday. Just go back and enjoy the rest of the dance and tell Beth that I’m sorry for running out on her.” Matthew headed to his mother’s car and they sped off.
Beth found Amanda as she made her way back to the gym and asked, “Did Matthew leave?”
Amanda told Beth that he apologized for running out on her and asked, “Did you have a good time with Matthew?” Beth shook her head yes, but then went on to say that both Connor and Matthew seem a little too weird for her.
Amanda grinned and thought, I need to find out more about those two brothers—especially Matthew!
Cassie and Jack were walking well behind Amanda and Beth and discussed what they had just witnessed. “Can you believe how he tossed those guys? I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s half their size and threw them around like they were dolls.”
Cassie pondered some other items. “Can you believe he came here with Beth Perry? What does she have that I don’t?”
Jack replied, “Besides a rocking body, curly hair, and some very short skirts, not much at all. And I think you are missing the point here. There is no way Matthew Chance could have done what he did without some help.”
Cassie shrugged her shoulders and asked, “What kind of help?”
Jack replied, “I don’t know, but I think something alien is going on here.”
Cassie laughed, and said, “I think you’ve been watching too many sci-fi movies.”
Back at the Chance residence, Matthew and April were helping Connor into the house. “I’m already feeling better, guys. I can walk on my own.”
April opened the front door and asked, “Will there be a day that you don’t get beat up at that school?”
Connor looked to Matthew and said, “After the beating that Matthew put on those guys, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them anymore.”
April grabbed Matthew by the arm and looked at his watch. “You used this to stop those boys, didn’t you?”
Connor replied, “Yeah, he used that and the snap rings that Walter sent with us.”
April dropped Matthew’s hand and said, “You used one of the things in the backpack that I told you not to mess with?”
Matthew began walking to his bedroom and repli
ed, “We had to do something. We can’t keep letting these guys push us around, and I certainly couldn’t let anything happen to Amanda or our friends.”
April walked into the kitchen and grabbed a drink. “This is all my fault. I haven’t been doing what I should have been.” April took off her sparkled heels and threw them into her room. “I am such a fool, worrying about new dresses and dances for you boys. We have been here a week already and we don’t even know if this girl has the attribute charm.”
Matthew came back out of his room, “That’s not entirely true.”
Connor asked, “Which part?”
Matthew explained that he saw the charm on Amanda’s neck while they were dancing. “She’s wearing it.”
April grabbed both of the boys around the shoulders and added the obvious. “Now all we have to do is convince her to give that charm to one of you.”
Matthew looked to a calendar that was hanging on the wall and said, “We have one more week to do it.”
April looked at the calendar and said, “I let this place get the best of me. All the freedom, all the options, I just let it get to me. No more. We’re not here to make friends. We’re not here to win the big game. We’re not here to join the community. We’re here to get that charm from Amanda Curry, and that is what we’re going to do.”
The Chances headed to bed on the night of the Eastview Fall Fling and knew that a lot of work was still ahead, but they also knew that the attribute charm was within reach. Visions of Amanda Curry filled the thoughts of Matthew Chance on this night. He wanted to know what she was thinking and he wanted to know why he felt so strongly about her. Connor may have taken her to the dance, but he wasn’t the one who protected her. If only Matthew knew what was to come.
Chapter 12
mirror mirror
“Matthew. Matthew, wake up!”
Matthew rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock in his bedroom. “Come on Mom, we were up until three a.m. Let me sleep until nine.”
April pulled the cover from Matthew’s bed and explained her rude sleep interruption. “Amanda Curry is waiting for you in our living room. She wants to take you to the morning parade downtown.”
Matthew sat up in the bed and said, “I’m sure she asked for Connor, not me.”
April rummaged through Matthew’s clothes and corrected him. “No, she specifically asked for you. Now get dressed and get out there.” She threw Matthew a T-shirt and a fairly clean pair of jeans. “I’ll keep her busy while you get ready.” Connor rolled over in his bed, oblivious to Matthew’s actions.
“It’s very nice to see you again, Amanda.” Ms. Chance offered the young girl a drink and something for breakfast, but Amanda turned down both. April sat on the couch beside the lovely cheerleader and noticed the square charm on a chain around her neck.
Amanda observed the strange look and asked, “Is there something wrong, Ms. Chance?”
April averted her eyes and replied, “Oh no, I was just noticing the lovely necklace around your neck.” April’s voice had cracked while making the comment.
Amanda grasped the charm with her hand and said, “Yeah, this necklace has been in my family for years. I’ve had my eyes on it since I was a little girl and my mother finally gave it to me as a present for my sixteenth birthday.”
April regrouped and complimented her young guest. “It’s just lovely. You should be proud to wear it. I would think you would only give that up to someone very special.”
Amanda replied, “They would have to be very special.”
Matthew emerged from his room and saw his mother and Amanda chatting it up. Amanda heard him walk up and said, “So, are you ready to go?”
Matthew asked, “Where exactly do you want to go?”
Amanda explained that the town always threw a fall parade on the Saturday after one of the early football games and today was that day. Amanda said that she felt bad about what had happened last night, so she wanted to show Matthew that the entire town wasn’t as bad as a few football players. “We really need to get going; it starts in about ten minutes.”
Matthew looked back to his bedroom and asked, “What about Connor? I can get him up and he can go with us.”
Amanda stood up from the couch, confused. “I figured he would barely be able to move after what Trey did to him last night, much less be able to stand up and watch a parade.”
Matthew realized that Amanda was right. If Connor hadn’t been wearing the Hathmec, he would be laid up for days. “Oh yeah, you’re right; he needs his rest.”
Amanda replied, “OK then. I have my parent’s truck, so I can drive us.”
Matthew and Amanda jumped into Mr. Curry’s black pickup truck with rolling wave designs on the door. It was a perfect morning for a parade. No rain, no fog, and no football players were around to ruin it. You could smell the fall dew on the ground and see hazy footprints in the grass in the early morning hour.
April woke up Connor and argued with him about going to the parade. “You should be in the hospital after the beating you took last night. You have to lay low for a few days.”
Connor was upset that Matthew had left with Amanda. “She went to the dance with me. I should be going to the parade with her.”
She replied, “Matthew has it covered. I saw the attribute charm.”
Connor pulled the fake charm that Walter had sent with them from his backpack and asked, “Did it look like this?”
April held the fake charm in her hand, studied it, and replied, “Exactly like this.”
Connor asked, “What do we do now?”
“You’re gonna stay here and I’m heading to the parade. I can keep an eye on Matthew.” April grabbed her bag and made her way out the door. Connor fumed for a few minutes and headed back to his room.
“Wow, I didn’t realize there were this many people in Travis.” Matthew took in the crowds that lined the streets of downtown. He watched the local churches and community groups pull their floats of papier-mâché down the street. He also saw a stream of fire trucks, old cars, and school bands parading down the middle of the road.
Matthew asked, “Who are the people on that float?”
Amanda told him that those lovely ladies were the winners of the fall beauty pageant. “They’re the winners in the sixteen-to-eighteen-year-old division. See, Beth was a runner-up.”
Matthew looked to the lovely blonde and confidently announced, “Well, I don’t see how they could have a beauty pageant without the prettiest girl in Travis.” Amanda’s cheeks turned red, but before she could respond, Matthew added, “Of course, you’re a nice person, so you probably don’t compete in all of them—just to give other girls a chance to win.”
Amanda shook her head no and said, “Please, I am not the prettiest girl in town. I’m also not nice enough to let other people win.”
Matthew and Amanda made their way around downtown for most of the morning and talked about school, family, and getting out of Travis. “I can’t wait to graduate. I’m gonna get into college, somewhere out of state, like Florida.”
Matthew wondered why she was so determined to leave Travis. “You’ll be leaving your family and your friends; doesn’t that bother you?”
Amanda explained that most of her friends would end up marrying someone way too soon after school, get stuck in a dead-end job, and the highlight of their year would be the local football games and parades. “I want more. I can be someone important.” Matthew agreed that doing something important was a good goal, but he was also starting to figure out how important family could be.
“Don’t get me wrong; I love my parents and my little brother. I mean, he can be a real pain in the butt, but I still love him.” She went on to explain that just because she wanted to get out of Travis, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t miss her family. “I’m sure you can understand what I mean; it’s the same as how you would feel le
aving your mom and brother.”
Matthew replied, “I don’t think the dynamic at my house is quite the same as yours.”
Amanda grabbed Matthew’s hand and pulled him toward the sidewalk. “Let’s test the theory then.”
Matthew, puzzled by the request, asked, “How do you propose we do that?”
She replied, “Come over to my house tonight around five and eat dinner with me and my family. We’re having homemade spaghetti and my mom’s a great cook.”
Amanda gave Matthew the directions to her house and asked if he wanted to go to a movie after dinner. She pointed to the movie complex located downtown and explained that she had wanted to see this movie for weeks. Matthew tried to hold back the huge grin that had already flooded his face, but he was unsuccessful. This would be a great opportunity to find out more about Amanda.
Downtown Travis was beginning to clear out as the parade ended. The town’s main street emptied and the normal flow of traffic started to fill the streets. April had followed Matthew and Amanda for most of the morning, only stopping to admire the canopied shops along the parade route. It was the typical eighties small southern town. There was a library on the corner and a video rental place at the end of the block. April could smell the detergent being used at the local coin-op laundry, and she loved the mural on the exposed brick wall of the downtown electronics store.
She walked up behind the two kids as they passed the local pharmacy and asked, “Did you enjoy the parade?”
Amanda turned to see Matthew’s mom and replied, “Yes, ma’am, it was even better than last year’s.”
Matthew told April that he was invited to Amanda’s to eat with her family. She replied, “That sounds great. I’ll be helping Connor tonight anyway. His face still hurts and he’s all swollen, so I may have to fix soft food for a few days.”
She glanced over to the library and noticed a familiar face in the crowd. Matthew could tell that his mother had lost her train of thought and tried to pull her back to the conversation. “Mom is something wrong?”
Last Chance Page 17
