Chapter Text
Andy couldn’t really remember what he did the Sunday after the detention. He’d done a lot of thinking about Monday — did he have the guts to stand up to his friends? Could he protect Allison from the wrestling team? Would Claire keep her promise? – that he pretty much was on autopilot as he did what he always did on weekends. In the grand scheme of things, he had a boring life outside of school. He lifted weights, played with his dog, did stretches with his knee, and finished any homework that would be due the next day. Compared to the huge epiphanies he had on Saturday, his life was boring as shit.
For some reason, the voice that echoed in his head was Bender’s. And that voice asked him why he kept working out if he hated wrestling, or why he didn’t tell his old man to go fuck himself, or why he didn’t just skip training for one day. Even though he was an asshole, Bender made good points in the sea of rambling insults and jokes. Why didn’t he change everything right then and there? Was he too afraid to rock the boat before Monday? Or was he retreating back into his old self that was a mindless shithead?
“Andy?” His mom asked.
Andy looked up from where he’d been pushing around a meatball on his plate. He hadn’t noticed that he’d zoned out, he should’ve been on his second plate of spaghetti to prepare for his meet Saturday. Dad was on his second beer, a second cold bottle next to the first, and he had that critical look in his eye when he wanted to give Andy shit for doing something wrong.
“Sorry, Mom,” Andy wrapped a bunch of spaghetti around his fork. “Got a lot on my mind.” He shoved the mouthful into his mouth to give him some time before the questions started.
Dad’s shoulders only went down a little. “Is it that girl I saw you kissin’ yesterday? What was her name? Alice? Amy?”
“Allison.”
“That’s right. Said she was an artist, right?” His dad scoffed. “Drawing stick figures won’t get ya far as a career. Hope that thing with her is temporary, don’t wanna get you distracted from wrestling.”
Andy started shredding his napkin under the table to keep his cool. “There’s art scholarships, y’know.”
Dad waved it off. “Yeah, sure, but that’s not a real scholarship. I mean, what would she be doing? Slinging paint at an easel? The muscles you’re building in wrestling will give you killer stamina that lasts for the rest of your life. That’ll serve you well as a Wall Street trader.”
“Didn’t last for you,” Andy mumbled behind his cup.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” He got up from his seat and took the plate with him. “I’m gonna eat in my room. Don’t wait up.”
Andy ended up working on the end of an essay while he ate his dinner. He’d probably get docked a few points for some drops of spaghetti sauce he’d accidentally gotten on the pages, though his mind wasn’t really on the core themes of To Kill A Mockingbird. He thought of Allison and the broken way she said she didn’t have any friends. How Claire sobbed about hating going along with her friends. How Vernon felt like he could bully Bender because he liked to talk back. How Brian was close to killing himself because of the pressure an F in shop gave him. And none of them laughed at Andy when he told them about how shitty his dad was, they understood. They all had a different version of the same problem waiting for them at home.
When he put his essay in his backpack, he saw that his dog, Missy, a three-year-old golden retriever, was laid out on his bed. She was the only one in Andy’s life who didn’t have impossible expectations of him, and she loved him more than anyone in his family. She’d probably love up everyone he’d befriended in detention, except maybe Bender. The idea of chilling with all of them at his house, or at the mall, or after school under the bleachers of the football field, made him smile. He looked forward to it becoming a reality more than he did anything in a long time. They’d all seen the darkest parts of each other, and that was worth more than any championship match or perfect disciplinary record.
“They need me,” Andy said to Missy. “I can’t chicken out now.”