who he notice seemed to be aware of the players’ gestures aimed at him by the glare on the coach’s face aimed at the player making it.
He frowned as the coach spoke in a loud tone “I’ll bench any player from playing any games if I discover that their bullying another player and I mean it with my words. I won’t tolerate bullying happening among this team. I expect you all to behave better than that!”
He formed a glare on his face as the coach added with a louder tone “I want you all getting along which is vital to winning games. I refused to have another repeat of that loss to Glastonbury happen again. So get along!”
Jinks remembered the rest of the football practice which resulted in a scrimmage game. Bulk’s warning was true the other players on the opponent team targeted him violently hitting him hard during the scrimmage game enough to have him hit the ground hard with bruises felt all over him. This went on for rest of the day. Jinks would after practice drag himself to the locker room to change into his clothes and backpack which he would drag himself home and collapse in bed passing out unconscious skipping dinner to sleep till the alarm went off two hours before the sun rise. He would get up feeling a little better but sore all over to get dressed then head downstairs to the kitchen to eat a big breakfast and drink two cups of coffee then head to the desk to do his homework doing it all till it was time to go to school which he would go and struggle to stay alert during class till football practice which he would see the same gestures again.
Jinks frowned remembering the coach took him aside day before Friday’s game at the beginning of football practice telling him “You’re to go home and rest up for the game. You’ve earned the rest.”
Jinks at the moment sensing an opportunity to rest obeyed leaving football practice to walk home which he arriving home doing his homework till his Mom arrived from her works near dinner time.
He saw a look of surprise on her face seeing him home as he signed to her “Coach told me to go home and rest up for the game tomorrow.”
He saw her nod her head before she signed “I’ll get dinner ready. Finish up your homework, Jinks.”
Jinks obeyed getting his homework done and once finished set the table for dinner which she brought out two pots full of food to put on the table. He felt himself terribly hungry ate big helpings of food till he felt himself full and drank the entire cup full of milk. He sighed leaning back against the chair to feel he better as his Mom tapped him on the shoulder.
He looked at her as she signed “Help me put everything away will you?”
Jinks nodded his head and helped his Mom with the dish washing and putting away the remainder of the food in the refrigerator and putting away the dishes. He went to the TV once done to turn it on to the local news channel ears trained for sports involving football.
He heard a report talking “The Hamden/Wethersfield game with Hamden favored to win it with a Glastonbury like game crushing their opponent and not letting them score any touchdowns.”
Jinks glared at the TV glaring at the analysis people on the screen talking “There being a rumor going around that the Wethersfield football team wasn’t getting along with each other as in several players bullying another player. The coach was not doing anything to stop the bullying of a player.”
Jinks dropped the remote fisting his hands as the people on the screen continued to speak “The bullied player identified as a sophomore was out sick day of the Glastonbury game.”
He growled some angry sound as the TV continued to blared talk from the people saying “We’re wondering what the Glastonbury game outcome would turn out if the bullied player was in the game. We hear he’ll be in the Hamden game.”
Jinks blinked his eyes as the TV went dark as if clicked off. He heard a harrumph sound from his left looked to see his Mom standing holding the remote who folded her arms to glare at him.
He flinched from the glare as she put the remote on the couch dresser then signed “Want to explain why those players are bullying you?”
He frowned seeing the serious expression on her face sighed and raised his hands to sign “They don’t want me on the team. They wanted a guy named Reggie who’s a senior to be on the team. I heard that from one of them friendly with me. They started bullying me freshman year after I was picked over Reggie and they kept up the bullying after football season was over for the rest of the school year.”
He paused from signing to see his mom’s face become more glaring which he continued to sign “I thought they would stop the bullying this year but they kept it up again after I was again picked over Reggie who tried out for the team with the others like I did.”
Jinks frowned as his Mom signed “You know that I have to inform the coach of this? He should be informed of this and handle the players bullying you.”
He groaned a soft sound as his Mom again signed looking furious on her face “Go to your room and stay there. Don’t come out till I order you out unless it’s for showering and time for you to leave for school.”
Jinks obeyed going up the stairs to his room leaving the door ajar. He groaned loudly to sit on his bed rubbing a hand on his forehead while staring at the bedroom door. He lowered his hand and sat staring at the wall letting his thoughts wander. He sat and heard a door slam he recognized belonging to the other bedroom’s door. Jinks eyed the clock seeing it was near bedtime got up grabbing his pajama pants and went out the bedroom to the bathroom to take a shower. He came out of the bathroom to meet his Mom who had a glare on her face with arms folded while having a large cloth on her shoulder which he paused to stare at her.
He saw her point a finger at his bedroom door and then she signed “Get in there and go to bed now. I’m furious with you and I don’t expect to see you out of that room till its time for you to leave for school the next day.”
Jinks nodded his head and went into his bedroom gently closing the door behind him. He threw his clothes in the laundry hamper and tossed his sneakers in the closet closing the closet door behind them then shut off the lamps’ light. Sighing he went to his bed getting into it to yank his blankets up to his chest and stared at the ceiling in the darkness unseeing it. He felt sleepiness hit him sighed and allowed the feeling to overtake him as he shut his eyes falling asleep.
Jinks woke up hearing the alarm got dressed and went downstairs to make some breakfast which he ate and left the dishes in the sink feeling like his Mom should take care of them and not his responsibility. Jinks grabbed his backpack and his keys then left the apartment locking the door. He walked to school to spot the familiar five football players gathered around a car that gave him obscene gestures with their hands aimed at him. Jinks ignored the gestures to walk into school attending class. He attended school with no incident from the football players till after school is when he went to the locker room to change into his uniform and saw the players there looking angry with looks aimed at him. He shrugged off their glares while changing into his uniform and grabbing his helmet he followed them out of the locker room to the school bus which he got on it. He sat next to Bulk near the back of the bus seeing that the sophomore wasn’t that angry at him but pitying him by the look in his eyes. Jinks kept his mouth shut as the bus drove out of the school parking lot to Hamden High School.
He heard talk among the football players in a seat in front of him talking “The coach threatening to kick players off the team if they played as bad as the loss to Glastonbury.” Jinks heard them add “For getting Jinks Montreal himself kicked off the team for all they had to do is lose the game very badly and point the finger of blame towards Jinks himself.”
Jinks felt he getting furious hearing that while hearing the players nearby cheer the comment. Jinks stood up and tapped the player on the head seeing he was the quarterback who turned around to look at him with a glare on his face.
He spoke very loudly hearing silence from the bus “The coach knows that you wanted some other guy instead of me on the team and is aware of you having some campaign to kick me of
f to get that guy to replace me.”
He glared at the quarterback who retorted “So what? I would rather lose the game than have you on the team.”
He heard scattered agreements from the other players and felt Bulk tap him on the back which he sat down to glare at the sophomore.
Bulk spoke “The coach at football practice yesterday told us he’ll kick out a player and replace him if we lose the game and made it clear that he’ll keep doing that to other games lost. The others have agreed behind the coach’s back to lose the game just to get you kicked out.”
He growled an angry sound stood up and tapped the quarterback on the head hearing silence in the bus again. Jinks saw the quarterback look at him with annoyance on his face.
Jinks spoke loudly “Why didn’t you bother to tell the coach that you didn’t want me on the team? He could have done something about that.”
He sat down and placed his arms on his helmet and heard Bulk clear his throat.
Jinks looked at Bulk with a glare on his face who spoke in low whispered voice tone “There are some of us who would rather win the game than lose. Don’t tell the others this but I blabbed to the coach about the others’ reasons for making fun of you and our talk behind his back. I told him with very clear details