Chapter 19

Ray

The crowd roared to life all around me. Everyone stood on their feet, shouting at the top of their lungs. My mom stood to the left of me, Britney to my right, and Sam right behind me. “Touchdown!” shouted the announcer. Doug Cooper just caught a touchdown pass to put our team in the lead. Everyone was elated, cheering for our team… except for me.

I remained sitting on the bleachers with a hoodie over my head—even though it was a warm Arizona evening—hoping nobody would recognize me. Sam convinced me to come to the football game, so I could keep my mind fresh for next football season, but I wish I would’ve been more stubborn and refused to come. It was gut wrenching to watch my team play from the stands. I thought it would hurt to watch them lose without me, but it was even worse to see them winning without me. It was like… they didn’t really need me after all. Ryan Creighton, the backup quarter back, was doing a decent job. He’d tossed some crappy throws at first, but then he just threw three touchdowns in a row. Score was now 21-14 us.

My phone buzzed while the crowd sat down. Sam slapped me on the back before I could look at it. “Were you watching that Ray? That was an awesome play! Go Cougars!”

I scowled at him, but he wasn’t looking. My mom—ever the observant one—wrapped an arm around my back. “Sorry you can’t be out on the field son. You still have your senior year ahead of you. I’m sure you’ll get your chance to be under the Friday night lights again.”

As comforting as her words were meant to be, they only depressed me more. I knew there was a very small chance that I could play football again. Not now that I’m a…

I glanced over at Britney. She was more focused on her phone than on the football game. She hadn’t even looked at me ever since the whole gas station fiasco.

I looked at my phone and saw that I got a text from Mark. Training begins tonight. Meet me at the pinned location in 10 minutes. I know you’ve got nothing better to do.

“Mr. Simmons! Mr. Simmons!” I looked up as soon as I finished reading the text. The voice came from a guy I didn’t recognize. He had a clean-shaven face, wore glasses, and had a perfect comb over. He had pushed his way to the bleacher in front of me and held his phone up to my face to record audio. “Hi Ray, you’re a tough guy to find. I’m Steve Henderson, journalist from Channel 9 News. Can you tell me what happened last night with your neighbor’s fence?”

At first, I was taken by surprise and was about to answer, but then I thought the wiser and just glared at the guy. I knew better than to say anything anymore. They had already twisted so many things on the news. Well… some things they actually got right, but I didn’t want them to know that.

Steve pressed further. “Your neighbor, Mr. Mortenson, claims that you knocked it over with your superpowers. Is that true?”

Britney looked up from her phone and at me with narrowed eyes.

My mom leaned in to make sure her voice was getting recorded. “Sorry, mister, you’ve got it all wrong. My son was sleeping when this happened. We all were. We woke up to see the wreckage in the morning and have absolutely no idea how it happened. My guess is that Mr. Mortenson did it himself just so he could frame Ray.”

Several people in the crowd turned their attention to us. Some were curious, most were annoyed. “But, Mr. Mortenson is an old man,” Steve stated. “And there was no evidence of explosives. How could an old man do something like that with his bare hands?”

My mom was about to answer, but Steve turned back to me. “Mr. Mortenson says that he will press charges against you, Ray. The Tucson Sheriff’s Office is considering your arrest at this very moment. What do you think about that?”

I didn’t answer. A few tense seconds of silence passed by. He kept his posture, with his phone directed at my face. I kept glaring at him. He smiled back. This was going nowhere. I’m so sick of this.

His smile disappeared when he saw my eyes glow. I reached my fingers around his phone and squeezed. It crumpled between my fingers as easily as an empty soda can. Steve, my mom, Britney, Sam, and all the other onlookers were speechless.

I stood up and said, “I’m outta here.” I walked casually down the stands. Nobody tried to stop me.