The Walk On

by John Feinstein

“Dave, why don’t you take the kids to eat,” Alex’s mom said. “Maybe you can go someplace where you can sit and talk for a while.”

  “Good idea,” Alex’s dad said. “Okay?” He looked at Molly.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” she said. But the look on her face told Alex that she hadn’t known it was a drive-by visit.

  “Great, then,” his dad said. “My rental car’s a few blocks away because I got here late. Maybe Mom can drop us off there.”

  “Rental car?” said Alex.

  “Yeah, I rented a car because I’m flying back from DC on Sunday.

  “Oh. So it didn’t seem worth the effort to stop and see your kids on the way home.”

  The words came out of Alex’s mouth before he could stop them. And a silence opened up between them because no one really knew what to say.…

  Meanwhile, a steady stream of people were patting Alex on the back, saying, “Way to go” and “Great game” and “Have a great weekend.”

  Then Jonas came over, laughing and full of the excitement for the win. “There you are, Alex!” he said. “The whole team’s going to this party. We gotta go—we’re the heroes of the hour! Jake can give us a ride if you come right now.…”

  Alex looked from his father to Jonas and back again. Hero of the party or dinner with a drive-by dad? No contest.

  “I’ll see you later, Dad.”

  As it turned out, there were four people in Jake’s car for the ride over to the party: Jake, Alex, Jonas, and Christine Whitford.

  “You get all your work done?” Jake asked Christine.

  “It was easy tonight,” Christine said. “Everyone was very willing to talk.”

  Christine offered Alex the front seat, but he turned it down. When they got to the party, Jake didn’t even ask Christine what she wanted to drink. He just said, “I’ll get us drinks,” and disappeared.

  Before Alex could decide whether to ask Christine if they were dating, he and Jonas were swallowed by admirers. Alex spent most of the evening sitting on a couch recreating the final drive while people hung on his every word. At one point he noticed that Hope Alexander was sitting right next to him while April Lowenthal, who wasn’t nearly as tall as Hope but at least as pretty, was on the other side. Jonas looked to be getting the same kind of attention.

  He knew he had come a long way from the day when Mr. O wouldn’t even look up at him while shoving the number 23 practice jersey at him. Still, he wondered what his dad was doing. And he hoped Molly had gone out to eat with him.

  When Alex got home, it was well after midnight. His mom was still up, clearly waiting for him. She asked if he wanted to talk.

  “Maybe later,” he said.

  “You sure?”

  “Completely sure,” he answered. “I’m really tired, and I don’t know what I think about what’s going on with Dad.”

  She nodded. “To be fair to your father, I’m not sure he understands what’s going on right now either.”

  That actually sounded right.…

  “Yeah,” he said. “I think. Good night.”

  He turned to walk upstairs. “Hey, Goldie,” she said.

  He stopped and saw her grinning.

  “Congratulations,” she said. “You got to show everyone what you can do tonight.”

  He smiled back at her. “Night, Mom.”

  He walked upstairs and fell into bed a few minutes later. In spite of the confusing thoughts about his father and the adrenaline still pumping from the game, he was asleep in no time.

  Moments later, he heard his cell phone buzzing and rolled over in bed. He was stunned when he looked at the clock on the night table and saw that it was nine-fifteen. He’d been asleep for more than eight hours!

  He picked up the phone and at the top of the lengthy list of texts saw one from a familiar number: Christine Whitford’s.

  Stark’s 11:30? was all it said.

  It occurred to him that in all the commotion at the party he hadn’t seen Christine or Jake again. Jonas’s mom had come and picked them up, so he had no idea if they had still been there when he left.

  He sat up in bed and thought about it for a moment: Coach Gordon had lifted the media ban the night before, so talking to her now was almost certainly okay. He wondered if he should call someone to be sure.

  He decided against it. He remembered something he had read once: sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. The fact was, he wanted to see her.

  He texted back: OK.

  He started to add a sentence but decided against it. No need to appear overeager. Or overly curious about her relationship with Jake.

  His mom had taken Molly to her soccer game, so he made himself a bowl of cereal and then read the Philadelphia Inquirer that his mom had left on the kitchen table so he couldn’t miss it. Below the fold of the front page of the sports section was a picture of Matt, on his crutches, hugging Alex on the field after the game. The caption said, “Injured Chester Heights quarterback Matt Gordon celebrates with backup Alex Myers after the Lions’ stunning comeback win over King of Prussia Friday night. Details: D-4.”

  Alex turned quickly to D-4 and there, at the top of the high school page, was the headline: FRESHMAN QB SHOCKS KING OF PRUSSIA IN FINAL SECONDS. Below the headline was another photo, this one of Jonas catching the final touchdown pass. The story was written by Andrew Bogusch.

  Before Friday night, Chester Heights freshman quarterback Alex Myers was a third-string quarterback who had taken two snaps all season—the second one leading to a brawl as he kneeled down to run out the clock in the season opener against Mercer.

  Now he’s a star.

  With all-city quarterback Matt Gordon and backup Jake Bilney both injured, Myers came into the Lions’ conference opener against King of Prussia with his team down 17–0 and their dreams of a state title about to go up in smoke before the leaves had even turned.

  All Myers did from that point on was lead Chester Heights to a stunning 21–17 victory, capped by a touchdown pass to fellow freshman Jonas Ellington with nine seconds to go—a play set up by Myers faking a spike when everyone in the stadium thought the Lions (1–0, 4–0) were trying to set up for a tying field goal.

  “That was the plan,” Lions Coach Matthew Gordon said. “We were going to spike the ball, kick the field goal, and try to win in OT. Myers had a last-minute idea and sent Ellington to the end zone.” Gordon smiled. “I told him if he’d fumbled or been intercepted, he’d have been running steps from now until Thanksgiving—or longer.”

  Instead, Myers will probably be running from media demands, lovesick girls, and—quite possibly—a quarterback controversy in two to four weeks, when Matt Gordon’s sprained ankle heals.

  Alex had been smiling until he got to the words quarterback controversy. That was the last thing in the world he wanted—which was a strange realization. He’d come here wanting to prove he should be the starter. Now it was all more complicated.

  He went back to the story. It went through the play-by-play of the game and ended with a quote from Alex: “Matt’s our quarterback and our leader,” the quote read. “I’m really, really happy we pulled this off tonight. I expect him back soon. In the meantime, this is a thrill I’ll never forget.”

  He nodded as he read the quote, as if agreeing with himself.

  He couldn’t resist the urge to go online to find some of the TV interviews he’d done and to read a couple of other stories on the game. Unfortunately, the common threads were, “Wow, what a comeback” and “quarterback controversy.” In one story on the Philadelphia Daily News website, Coach Gordon was asked if there would be an issue when Matt was healthy.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Coach Gordon was quoted as saying. “We’re talking about an all-city player who might be the best quarterback in the state. My guess is Myers would be the first one to tell you that Matt’s the starter. Actually, he’d be the second one: I’m the first.”

  That wasn’t a bad answer, but Alex wondered if bei
ng asked the question would somehow make Coach Gordon cranky when they got back to practice on Monday.

  He decided not to worry about it—until Monday.

  It was a spectacular fall day, the humidity and heat of the summer having finally broken. Christine Whitford was sitting in a back booth waiting when Alex walked in. To Alex’s surprise, he was stopped three times en route to the booth by people who recognized him and wanted to congratulate him.

  “Better get used to that, Goldie,” she said as he slid into the booth.

  “Can we just keep it at Alex?” he asked, smiling nonetheless.

  She shrugged. “I doubt it. Everyone knows it now.”

  “I’d prefer it if you’d call me Alex.”

  “Okay, Alex. So whose idea was it for Jake to fake the injury?”

  Whoa. This girl didn’t mess around. Blindsided yet again …

  “I should be asking you that,” he finally said. “I didn’t spend any time with him after the game except when we were all in the car. If he’d talk to anyone, I think it’d be you.”

  She looked at him sharply for a moment. “He wouldn’t even admit to me that he wasn’t really hurt,” she said finally.

  “Then why do you think he was faking?” Alex asked.

  “Someone else told me.”

  “Then ask whoever it was whose idea it was.”

  “I did. He said it was Jake’s.”

  “And you don’t believe him?”

  “I’m not saying that. But I’m not sure. Jake wouldn’t talk about it at all, and I can’t write that he faked it unless someone else confirms it.”

  “You mean besides Matt.”

  “What makes you say my source was Matt?”

  “If it’s not Jake and it’s not me, it had to be Matt.”

  She looked away for a moment and Alex knew he was right. He wondered why Matt would tell her.

  “Regardless of who it was, I can’t write it based on one source unless Jake confirms it, and he won’t.”

  “Well, I can’t confirm it because I don’t know.” Alex wasn’t sure he’d tell her even if he did know, but he didn’t feel the need to tell her that. He paused, then plunged forward. “I can’t believe you can’t get Jake to tell you something.”

  He thought she reddened a little. “What’s that mean?”

  “You are dating, aren’t you?”

  More redness.

  “We haven’t been on a date. We’ve just kind of hung out at parties.”

  “But you think he’s good-looking.”

  “He is good-looking,” she said. “That isn’t always the reason you go out with someone—unless you’re a guy.”

  He decided not to pursue this any further. The fact that she had said she hadn’t actually been on a date with Jake was a little bit of good news. It was also, he suspected, the last bit of news he was going to get on that front.

  “So why won’t he tell you?” Alex said.

  “I think he’s embarrassed,” she said. “How would you feel if the best way to help your team win was to fake an injury?”

  She had a point. Which actually made Alex a little angry. Jake had done a very brave thing—whether it was his idea or Matt’s. He shouldn’t be humiliated in the newspaper for it.

  “Why can’t you just let it go?” he said. “Why do you guys have to make trouble every week? We just had an amazing win and you’re going to write that Jake faked an injury?”

  “For the good of the team. I’m not going to attack him for doing it. Neither is Steve. Jake knew we were going to lose unless you got in the game, and Coach Gordon wasn’t going to put you in.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Everyone knows that!”

  She was probably right. But still. “Even if that’s true, how does it help the team to say so now? I don’t see how humiliating Jake and calling out Coach for something you only think he would have done is ‘for the good of the team.’ ”

  He leaned back in the booth as the waitress came to take their order. She appeared bored while Christine ordered, but when she turned to Alex, her eyes went wide.

  “Hey, you’re the kid I saw on television last night! The quarterback!”

  “Um, yeah,” Alex said. “Can I have a medium-rare burger with French fries and a Coke?”

  “Sure you can!” the waitress said, now bubbling over with enthusiasm. Alex guessed she was about his mom’s age.

  She turned to Christine. “Bet you’re proud of your boyfriend, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” Christine said, now clearly blushing. “I’m just doing a story for the school newspaper.” The waitress leaned down and playfully batted Christine on the head. “Well he should be your boyfriend, hon! Just look at him!” With that, she walked away.

  Christine looked as if she wanted to run from the room screaming.

  Alex couldn’t resist. “You heard her,” he said. “Just look at me!”

  She let out a deep breath. “Had you pegged right from the beginning. Big-ego football player.”

  “Come on,” he said. “I was joking.”

  She leaned forward.

  “Okay, then, prove you’re different. Tell me the truth about Jake.”

  Alex sighed. “I honestly don’t know whose idea it was.”

  “Whose idea do you think it was?” she asked, her eyes wide open with anticipation.

  He looked around the way you’re supposed to when you are about to reveal something you shouldn’t.

  “You can’t quote me on this because I don’t know. But I suspect it was Matt,” he said.

  “That’s what I thought,” she said. “I knew he was holding out on me.”

  “So Matt is your source.”

  “I didn’t say that,” she said, suddenly a little flustered.

  “Why did he tell you it was Jake?” Alex said, ignoring the non-denial denial.

  She gave up the charade. “Because he figured I knew the truth, and he wanted Jake to come off as the hero of the story. Heck, everyone at the party knew he wasn’t hurt. Jake was dancing before the end of the night.”

  “With you?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said.

  It mattered to Alex. And he knew the answer was yes.

  Jake Bilney was officially listed as “questionable” for the next Friday’s game at Lansdowne with a “slightly sprained knee.” He wore a light wrap on it to practice and didn’t take part in any of the drills that involved running, although he did take part in all the passing drills.

  Emmet Foley, whose older brother Conor was a starting safety, was called up from the JV team to back up Alex at quarterback in case of an emergency and to take all the snaps Alex didn’t take when the team scrimmaged. Jake was held out of the scrimmages.

  “I’m fine if they need me,” he told Alex. “But you better stay healthy so they don’t need me.”

  Actually, no one was terribly worried about the next few games. Having survived the King of Prussia game, Chester Heights was now entering what was expected to be the easiest part of the schedule: Lansdowne, Haverford Station, and Bryn Mawr Tech were traditionally the three weakest teams in the league. In fact, the three of them had one win total—Bryn Mawr’s win over Haverford Station the previous Friday.

  “If I had to get hurt, this was the time to do it,” Matt said as they warmed up on Monday. He was still on crutches, but the doctors had told him he would be in a walking boot by the end of the week. He wouldn’t play the next two weeks but expected to be back for the Bryn Mawr game. “Honestly, no offense, Jakey, but we could win the next three with you at quarterback playing left-handed. With Goldie, we’re golden.”

  Alex had warned Jake on Monday about Christine’s story. Jake didn’t seem too concerned. “She told me she was going to write it,” he said. “I can’t stop her, but no one can prove it. I did hurt my knee, just maybe not as bad as it seemed at the time.”

  “But Coach may get upset again.…”

  “Na
h, we bailed him out,” Jake said. “Matt was right all along. You had to play. The results prove it. I bet Coach doesn’t say a word about it.”

  So Alex let it drop, and Jake turned out to be right.

  The Weekly Roar came out on Wednesday with extra coverage of the game, including a column by Steve Garland on how remarkable Alex’s performance had been.

  “The only problem with Myers’s Miracle,” he wrote, “is that now Coach Gordon will have to decide in a few weeks if he plays his best quarterback or his favorite quarterback. They may not be the same person.”

  Ouch, Alex thought.

  Then there was Christine’s story, saying that “several of the upperclassmen, along with backup quarterback Jake Bilney, had talked among themselves at halftime about the fact that Alex Myers had to take over behind center if the Lions were to win the game.”

  She never actually said Jake faked the injury, but she did write, “Jake Bilney may have saved the season by going down and staying down when the Lions most needed to get Alex Myers up—and in the game.”

  Ouch. Again.

  And yet, not a word from Coach Gordon that day at practice. He was as cheerful as he had been all season—which didn’t exactly make him cheerful, but at least bearable. Matt was acting as an unofficial quarterback coach. Coach Gordon hadn’t replaced Coach Hillier—Alex figured it was tough to do midseason. So when the QBs went off to drill, Coach Brotman focused on the O-line because everyone believed that Alex and Jake and Emmet were in good hands with Matt.

  Alex couldn’t resist asking the question when he had a chance.

  “Your dad say anything about the stories in the Weekly Roar today?” he asked.

  Matt shook his head. “I think he’s finally figured out that getting upset about what’s in the student paper doesn’t do anybody any good.” He smiled. “Besides, Jakey’s girlfriend had the story right. We all knew you had to play. My dad knows that.”

  “She’s Jake’s girlfriend?”

  He thought he knew the answer but wanted to see how Matt would answer.

  Matt stood up to balance himself and pointed a crutch directly at him. “She should be your girlfriend, Goldie,” he said. “You gotta quit acting like you’re a third-string guy. You’re not—not any more than you were a third-string quarterback.”