Prime Choice

  “Oh, so is Saxon. That’s actually the school I want to go to.”

  “You ... you coming?” I hesitated, wanting the answer to be yes.

  “I don’t want to tie up my weekends like that again. I’m just thinking about Tech. I want to be an architect, and it’s a great school. Handle your business. We’ll talk soon.”

  When Duke’s head coach came in, I wasn’t even thinking about most of the stuff he said. Though I was very respectful and truly appreciative, it didn’t click for me. However, when I got on the plane and headed home, I couldn’t help thinking about next week. I asked myself, Hmm, would it be great to go to the same school with her or would that be asking for trouble?

  “Junior, honey, come here. This is so great!” I heard my mom shout from the kitchen.

  I dashed downstairs, full of excitement as well. She didn’t get pumped up for much, but since she was calling me, something big had to be going on. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “It’s your SAT scores. Check this out.”

  I took the sheet from her and saw that I had made a 2160 out of a possible 2400. The last time my score was lower than that. I was pretty proud of myself to see that I had upped my score. Wow! Hard work was paying off.

  “Baby, you can sign anywhere now. I’m so proud of you.”

  When my dad came in from raking leaves, I saw something between them I hadn’t seen in a while. They shared a moment of happiness and joy after my mom rushed up to him and showed him my scores. He gave me a thumbs up.

  My mom said, “Our son is awesome.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. They danced around like kids. He came up and slapped me with a cool high-five.

  “I knew you could do it, Son. I knew you could beat your old score. I bet if you took it again you’d get a perfect 2400.

  My dad got cleaned up and took us out to dinner. It was amazing, things were going so well for our family.

  Dinner was awesome. My parents were getting along, laughing about things that happened on my two recent recruiting trips. They were both impressed with my reasons as to why neither Duke nor Miami were right for me.

  If I could have frozen that moment and kept it forever, I would have. Since life changes so quickly, I took the time after dinner to silently pray and thank God for all that He had done:

  Lord, a couple weeks ago I was crazy, so upset that I didn’t win the big game. As I now see, You can work all things for my good. The school thing is working out. I don’t have any doubts, You’ll place me where I need to go. I’m also thankful for my parents. I was worried about their relationship, but looking at them enjoying each other is a good feeling. I want to talk to You more. Help me learn how to do that. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

  Later that week my folks and I were at Georgia Tech for the big showdown battle of the Techs. The state school was playing Virginia Tech, another ACC rival. Virginia Tech had beaten Georgia Tech the last three or four years. But with this being a home game for Georgia Tech and both teams needing to win it, this was an exciting game for a recruiting visit.

  I love Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. It was cozy and not so overwhelming, like some schools I’d gone to. But it was still massive and very appealing to the eye simultaneously. The head coach’s office, like in South Carolina, was right inside the stadium. They had just renovated and added on to their stadium. However, I had to admit I was disappointed when I came to my seat right at kickoff and still noticed that there were empty places. The stadium held only fifty-five thousand, but a lot of seats were open. Even at Duke that wasn’t the picture. Did I want to play at a place where the fans weren’t totally behind the team? Maybe I could be a part of a recruiting class that changed that. Who knew?

  Before kickoff, though, Lance Shadrach and Saxon Lee came and sat beside me.

  “Wasup, fellas?” I asked, greeting them both.

  “They got two senior receivers on the field and a senior QB. I hear their backups in all positions can’t touch us. What’s up is, are we gonna sign here?” Saxon asked.

  “Be careful, Lee, our sisters go to Georgia,” Lance said as he tapped my back.

  “Like we care about going to school with our sisters,” Lance said, like he knew everything.

  “Lance, I hear y’all still undefeated,” I said.

  “Yeah, I might have to lose one so I meet y’all at the state playoffs,” he joked back to me.

  “I’m just messing with y’all. I’m not ready to commit anywhere, either,” Saxon said. “Too many folks want me on their team. However, Perry, this is the only school where they need two receivers badly.”

  “I hear ya, Saxon.”

  Tech was making an impressive go at beating Virginia Tech 23-17. We recruits liked it when the schools we came to visit ended up winning. And if seniors were on the field or juniors leaving early to enter the draft were winning for their school, that was even better. They’d really need new players to make that kind of impact.

  Later, back in the hotel room, I walked in to find my parents arguing. My mom was thinking this was the best place in the world and the only place I needed to go. My dad thought that the academic challenge, though I could handle it, might put me under too much pressure.

  “All right, guys, keep it down,” I said, coming into the room and hoping to interrupt them.

  “Son, what are you thinking about this place?” my mom asked.

  “It’s cool,” I said, really having mixed feelings.

  My mother politicked. “I know Lance Shadrach is really thinking about going here. His mom just told me, he’s almost a shoe-in. He’ll commit before he leaves.”

  “Well, I don’t think any of us are sure at this point.”

  “You know you can’t sign right now. You got to keep all your options open,” my dad said.

  My mom debated, “Honey, goodness forbid something happens to that boy, and he hurts himself before the season’s over. He needs to take this opportunity to sign in a place he knows he will like, and that’s in the city of Atlanta. It’s not Miami but it’s not North Carolina, either. This is a good place right in the middle for this boy. He could have a good education and a nice football career. Not to mention he won’t be that far away from us.”

  “Well, if he goes to Athens, he won’t be too far away from us, either,” my dad responded.

  “So, Dad, am I hearing you say Georgia is where you want me to sign?”

  “Why not go to school with your sister? It’s all about who you know. Tad is up there. Dakari is up there. But they only have one senior receiver slot. I agree with your mom. Ain’t no need in holding out if you pretty much know where you want to go. I guess we need to get you signed early after all.”

  I wish I knew where I wanted to go. I hadn’t even been to Georgia’s game yet, but I did like Tech. I just wasn’t ready to make a decision. It was just October, and signing day wasn’t until February. Why the rush?

  The next day we drove back home. I thought about the weekend. Georgia Tech had some pluses that made me truly excited. The major thing was that the team chaplain was a brotha who was off the chain. His love for God was actually pretty contagious. I knew that if I sat around him for a bit, I might become a better man of God. However, the academic advisor sort of scared me. I wasn’t going to be able to just major in anything. Being an engineer wasn’t my heart’s desire. Productive recruiting trips confused my mind even more as to where I wanted to go to school.

  When I got sick and tired of my parents arguing, I just said, “Hey, guys, enough. I hear you think I’ve got the great future. And I’m excited to play college ball somewhere, too, but you guys have got to lay off and let me make this decision.”

  I hated to be so frank with my folks, but I was tired of people telling me that I was such a good student that I could choose any school. It was just a lot of pressure. The only things I could do to stay sane were to stay prayed up and humble in the midst of hearing I’m great.

  8

  Dealing with Drama


  I should have known something was up when Damarius called me early in the morning and asked if I’d stop by and pick him up for school. Cole lived closer to him and so he usually went with Cole in the morning. After I picked D up and listened to him insisting on buying me breakfast, I was ready and waiting for the other shoe to drop. My boy was tight with his cash, and rightfully so. I was even short on mine these days and would have to make a point at getting a little stash from my pops. Even though I knew D had an ulterior motive, I was ready for a chicken biscuit.

  Pulling out of Hardees, I quickly said, “All right, D, so what’s up? What you want?”

  “No, no I don’t want much. I just want to give my buddy a biscuit. Brother can’t have you going to school looking all hungry and everything. You did come all this way to pick me up.”

  “Man, cut the bull. For real. What’s up? You’re not going to have my car to go out on no date. I ain’t going out on no date with no girls. Most of my recruiting trips are over and you can’t try to weasel your way on one of them.”

  “Ah, see, you misreading me. Why I gotta want something?” he said to the window instead of my face.

  My friend couldn’t even look at me at that point. He just chomped into his biscuit and just kept looking to his right. He was sort of nervous-acting. Real fidgety. Yeah, I knew something was up, and the fact that he didn’t come out and ask me told me I really didn’t want to know what it was. However, before we both got out of the car for school, he grabbed my arm.

  “I just need to talk to you for just a sec.”

  “Man, we been in the car for twenty minutes. I asked you awhile ago. See, you gonna make me late for class.”

  Again, Damarius was having a hard time communicating with me. Like he wanted to tell me something and then again he didn’t want to tell me.

  I grabbed my book bag from the back and opened my door, saying, “You just have to come to me when you got all your thoughts together. No need to rush it. Don’t stress. Plus, you know we got this big government test second period.”

  “Okay. That’s what it’s about.”

  “You ain’t study, boy!” I said in an angry way as I looked over to him.

  “That’s just it. Perry, I tried. I studied and all those names, they just jumping around in my head. I mean, the senators and the congressmen and the judges, I can’t tell ’em apart.”

  “Well, what you want me to do at this point? I can’t cut first period and help you study, man. You ain’t gonna get it at that short of notice. If you haven’t gotten the material by now, that’s a flag.”

  “I understand. I’m not asking you to skip class to help me.”

  “Well, what are you asking, D?”

  “Remember you told me you’d do anything to help me pull up my grades?”

  “Yeah, and I meant that, but not right before the test.”

  What did my friend think? Did he just think if I drilled him on the names, he’d get it in the last hour? Did he think I was just naturally smart and that’s how it came to me? No, I’ve been studying for a month on all those daggone people. I didn’t know what to tell him and I certainly didn’t know what he was asking me to do. So I looked at him in a way that was like, come on, what? Finally Damarius came out with it.

  “I need you to let me look off your paper.”

  “You on drugs, son,” I joked as if it was a commercial.

  “Perry, I’m serious.”

  “I’m serious. That’s ridiculous. I don’t cheat and you shouldn’t ask me to.

  “But that’s just it. I’m asking. My grade can’t take another F. I promise, if you help me through this time, I’ll study with you next time and try to get it like you do. But I’m not intelligent like you, man. I can’t get it like that. I just need a little extra help on this one. Cut your partner a break. I’ve been doing well on the field, Perry. Showing out like you sort of told me to, but if I don’t get my grades up, no school is even going to offer me to be a water boy. You know what I’m saying.”

  Although what he said was hilarious, I could not afford to laugh, ’cause what he was asking me to do was real deep. As I looked at him with his head down, he started getting all emotional, and I knew that he was not playing. What would be the big deal? I mean, he sits behind me. I could just slide my test over a bit. Let him copy off my paper. That’s him in the wrong copying, not me. I remembered the time a year ago when Jo-Jo Brown picked me up with a gun. Damarius was his childhood buddy and talked him out of beating my tail worse. He risked it all for me. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t do the same? I looked at him and though it hurt me to say it, I gave in.

  “I’ll hold my paper to the side and you can copy off of it.”

  I quickly got out of the car and shut the door. I was heated. I wasn’t happy at all with what I had just told Damarius. And he knew it. I watched him as he walked his usual jovial walk to class, and I felt like I had just conspired to commit a crime. Though I knew it would be hard to live with myself, it would be even harder for me to live without my friend. However, all first period, I couldn’t concentrate on school.

  When we got into Mr. Banks’s class for second period and he handed out the test and roamed up and down the aisle, I thought it would be a little harder than I expected to actually let Damarius see over my shoulder. The test was a breeze for me. All of a sudden I heard a whisper.

  “Psst! Perry. Slide it over to the right, man. Banks stepped out.”

  Without thinking, I followed his instruction. I turned the three-page test to page one, slid all the way over to my right, moved my elbow and body as far as I could to the left, leaving my paper totally exposed for copying.

  Thirty seconds later, Damarius anxiously whispered. “Next page, next page.”

  I listened to how rushed his words were and how quickly his pencil scratched as he wrote the answers. It seemed that my brother had done this before, because I could not understand how he could write down my answers so quickly. Sitting there pondering how much he may have done this, I put my head down. In a matter of seconds, I heard another whisper.

  “Last page!”

  And right after he said that, Mr. Banks walked over to the both of us.

  “You two. In the hallway.”

  I wasn’t the perfect child, but I hadn’t cheated in my life. I didn’t know what a sick knot feeling was until that day. The knot tugged in my stomach as Mr. Banks walked us to the office. He didn’t mind giving us a lecture.

  “You know, boys, I’m just so glad I walked in when I did catching you two cheating. See, you athletes think y’all should get through the system any old kind of way. That’s why our black boys are always in jail or wind up dead. Thinking they can cheat their way through the system. Not in my class and not on my watch. There will be consequences for you both.”

  Damarius was steady, trying to weasel his way out of it, saying he wasn’t doing nothing and saying Mr. Banks misunderstood. In my mind, why fight what was obvious? If someone asked me, I wasn’t going to deny it. I was a lot of things, but a liar—oh, no. Mr. Banks left us in the lobby while he walked into the principal’s office and talked to him.

  Our principal, Dr. Franklin, was real cool. He’d been at the high school for a long time, even in my sister’s day. He would always wear the same black suit. We called him the Black Boss Hogg because on the Dukes of Hazzard that little chubby man would wear his black suit, and every day Dr. Franklin didn’t fail us. But he was quick to let us know it wasn’t the same outfit. Our stay in his office wasn’t long at all. As soon as Mr. Banks left, Dr. Franklin spoke with us.

  “All right, I’m just going to be frank with you boys. You know I’m a big football knack. Perry here is the best football player in the state of Georgia and getting suspended would ruin a lot things for him, and if both of you get suspended it would ruin a lot of things for me because then we would have less of a chance to win the state championship. So I’m telling y’all what I’m going to do. Mr. Banks is going to give both
of you guys an F on this test.”

  “I can’t afford an F,” Damarius pleaded.

  “You can’t afford an F and to be suspended. I’m going to lift one of them. Don’t push it, now. Study next time, boy,” he said as he took a notepad from his desk and whacked Damarius across the head in a playful way. He then looked at me and shook his head. “And, negro, the next time one of your partners asks you to do something shady, stand up, be a daggone man and say no. Do what’s right,” he said, whacking me in the head next. “In addition to this warning I’m giving you brothers, I will be calling your parents. How much have you learned from this?”

  I finally opened my mouth at this time. “I appreciate this. But, umm, do you have to call my folks? I mean, can we work this out?”

  “Uh-uh, you all decided to break the rules and now you gonna suffer the consequences.”

  It was my turn to hold my head down at that moment. Mr. Franklin telling my parents was not good. Guess I’d brought it on myself, though.

  My mom was waiting for me when I got home that day and it was not with an afternoon snack.

  “Have a seat, Son,” she said as soon as I hit the door.

  “Mom, I know what you are gonna say and I feel bad about it. D was just up against the wall and needed my help. It was stupid and I won’t do it again. Dr. Franklin took care of it. Can we just drop it?”

  “No, we’re not gonna just drop it. Sit down!” she said forcefully.

  I loved my mom with all my heart and it made me feel worse knowing that I had let her down. But, shoot, I wasn’t perfect, I was just a teenager. At least there was a type of principle I was standing on behind my decision.

  I wanted to help out my friend. I said I was sorry. I said I wouldn’t do it again. Why in the world did she feel like she had to drill me on it?

  “I see you over there rolling your eyes, boy, like I don’t need to say anything to you. Your dad doesn’t even know yet.”