Her Imaginary Husband (Contemporary Romance) (8 page)

“Hey, cowboy,” drawled Josh. “Could you mosey a little faster and pass those papers back?” Nikki tossed him a quizzical look, but he just grinned and held out his hand to Adam, who stuffed the papers onto Josh’s desk, wrinkling most of them. “Take it easy, Tex.”

“Shut-up, Ball Boy!” said Adam.

“What’s the trouble?” asked Nikki.

“Cowboy’s just a little slo-o-ow,” said Josh.

Adam turned in his seat and thrust an angry finger in Josh’s face. “Shut up!”

“Boys, boys!” called Nikki. “Do I need to separate you?”

“Please!” laughed Josh. “I can’t stand the stink of cow manure.”

Josh’s teammates laughed it up, and Adam moved to strike.

“Adam! That won’t be necessary.” Adam reined in his anger, and Nikki hooked a thumb in the direction of the door. “Josh, you’re outta here.”

“What?” he asked, as if genuinely confused.

“Outside. We need to talk.”

Adam looked at Nikki, pleased surprise in his eyes, and sat back down.

Nikki followed Josh out into the hall and called after him.

“What?” he snapped, turning around and glaring at her with fire in his eyes.

“Josh—”

“If I get detention for this, I can’t play. You’re going to have to answer to Coach.”

“Seems like that’s always the threat.” She looked at him while he simmered. Her face softened. “Josh, you’re a smart kid. I can see that already. You’re starting varsity as a junior, so you must be talented, too. But I don’t care how smart or talented you are if you can’t be nice.”

He snorted and started to turn away. “Right.”

“Josh,” she said softly. “You’re young—”

“Don’t patronize me, Ms. F.”

She held up an appeasing hand. “You’re younger than I am. But in my few extra years, I’ve realized something. The people I remember from high school—out of everyone, the jocks, the brains, the stoners, the band geeks—you know who I remember? You know who I look back and think, ‘That guy was
cool
’?”

The set of his jaw relaxed, and he shrugged.

“The kids who were
nice
. No matter
what
group they belonged to. If they were nice to everyone they saw, they were cool. They made a difference. I still look up to them years later.” She smiled at the memory. “In the end, that’s what makes the biggest impact. That’s what gets you remembered in a good way.”

Josh seemed to consider her words. “Whatever.”

“Think who you remember most from your childhood,” she continued. “The nice kids and the mean kids, right?”

He nodded almost imperceptibly. “Yeah. I guess.”

“Don’t be the kid they remember for being mean, Josh. You’re better than that.” They looked at each other for a long beat, and then she exhaled and turned to go back to the classroom. “Why don’t you take a long visit to the water fountain, maybe think about what I said? Then come back to class, okay?”

“Wait.” He straightened. “No office? No detention?”

“Do you need it?”

“No?”

“Good. I’ll see you in about ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Ms. F. You’re all right.”



“Are you kidding me? A Spirit Day Assembly?” Nikki stared at the announcement sheet and growled.

Gayle smirked. “Oh well, just cancel Hemingway.”

“I’ll never get that far.”

“Trust me. You’ll enjoy this one,” said Gayle.

They pressed their way into the throng of slow moving students, and Nikki covered her nose. “I’m not sure which is worse,” she whispered. “The smell of teenage boys, or the smell of teenage boys trying to cover the smell of teenage boys.”

“Yeah, the cologne fumes are pretty strong.”

“Don’t light a match. The whole place’ll blow.” Nikki formed at megaphone with her cupped hands and imitated a cow. “Moooooooove!”

The students closest to her giggled, and Gayle back-handed her. “You’re as bad as the kids.”

“Says the woman who plays hangman during staff meetings.”

“Hey, on another note,” said Gayle, laughing as she changed the subject. “I don’t suppose you and your husband are available to chaperone the Homecoming Dance October 9
th
?”

Nikki fumbled with a reply.
Now’s the time to come clean.
She opened her mouth to tell Gayle the truth just as half the football team barreled through the crowd cheering, “Wooohoooo! Go Wildcats! Yeah!”

Everyone covered their ears, laughing at the leaping energy of the boys. Nikki and Gayle made it to the double doors of the gym and stepped aside gratefully to allow the students onto the bleachers. Her confession forgotten, Nikki sidled over beside the other teachers who stood in a ragged line beneath one of the basketball hoops.

“This is different,” said Nikki.

“It’s the epic battle between good and evil,” said Gayle.

The gym ceiling hung with streamers in the anticipated blue and gold, and banners with snarky jokes about tonight’s opponent on the football field graced the walls. But in between, an obstacle course made of hay bales brought a new smell entirely.

“What’s this about?”

“Spirit Day,” said Gayle with a documentary narrator’s voice, “is more than a day to tout the colors of the Riverview Wildcats. It is a time for each courageous department and every major extra-curricular group to assert their dominance in the Wildcat Kingdom. By the end of this yearly ritual, students will be in a veritable frenzy of Wildcat fever. School pride as a whole comes from pride in its individual…” She waved her hand and returned to her usual tone. “Blah blah blah. You get the picture.”

“Okaaaay. But hay bales? And how long is this going to go on if everyone’s going to show off? Do we have to watch the cooking class bake a soufflé?”

Gayle buried her face in Nikki’s shoulder to laugh. “Sshhh! Don’t give them any ideas!”

The horrific screech of microphone feedback jolted everyone to silence, and all eyes turned to Principal Geoffreys at the far end of the gym. “Well, now that I have your attention…” He chortled at his own joke, but most people were still rubbing their ears and didn’t hear him.

As he continued, Nikki leaned in close to Gayle. “Oh my gosh, he’s giving the same corny speech
my
principal used to give at pep assemblies.”

“It’s part of their administrative training, I think,” said Gayle with mock seriousness. “Hot Air 501.”

A whistle sounded, and then a hearty “Yeeee-haw!” Nikki gaped out at the court to see four of her American Lit students standing on hay bales and posturing like roosters at one another. Josh and David, in their football jerseys and helmets, beat their chests and grunted like apes. Adam and Cody, in cowboy hats, boots, jeans and plaid shirts rolled to the elbows, stomped their feet and clapped in rhythm. The students in the bleachers laughed, cheered and hooted. Two competing boom boxes blasted the school fight song and a country western song.

Nikki could not contain her delight. “This is either going to be really fun, or a total blood bath. What do they have to do?”

“It’s different every year,” said Gayle. “But the cowboys and the jocks have a long-standing feud at Riverview.”

“So why are we promoting that?”

“Oh, there’s no stopping it. Even before this new building went up, the townies and the hicks of Eastmont have been trying to top each other. You should have seen it in the old days!” Gayle winked. “I’ve been watching these showdowns since before you were born. It’s all in good fun.”

“As many of you know,” blared Mr. Geoffreys’ voice through the loudspeakers, “Coach Carlin’s football team and Mr. Craft’s FFA club have unfinished business from last year. The battle was inconclusive.” Roars and boos. Mr. Geoffreys raised his hands to quiet the crowd. “Last year, the football team picked the challenge. It involved strength and agility. Most of you will remember the spectacular hurdling portion.” Cheers and whistles. “That’s right! Well, this year, the FFA gets to set the challenge. Strength and speed are involved.”

Nikki shook her head. “The football players are buff. How are Adam and Cody going to stand a chance?”

“They’re not,” said Will.

He had appeared behind her unnoticed in the commotion, and Nikki hid her surprise behind a whooped holler for the kids. “You been training the boys in farm skills?”

Will stepped forward and placed his hand gently on her back. “You just watch, pretty lady,” he said in a countrified drawl. “Them cowboys are goin’ down.”

The challenge was a simple relay race wherein each boy had to maneuver a wheelbarrow laden with a hay bale through the obstacle course and stack the hay at the end. There were four bales in all, so each boy would go twice.

Adam and Cody pulled on thick leather working gloves, but Josh merely spit into his palms and rubbed them on his jeans. A buzzer sounded, and both Adam and Josh shot into motion, Josh leading in speed, but as soon as he grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow, he fumbled. He couldn’t keep the wheelbarrow from veering wide and crashing into the bales that marked the course. Meanwhile, Adam moved with an unhurried ease through the markers to the end. He lifted the bale from the barrow and tossed it against the wall where it would be stacked. As he made his way back to Cody, he leaned over to the struggling Josh and called, “Keep trying. You’ll get there!” There was no encouragement in his tone.

“Oh my gosh,” said Nikki, the grin on her face stretching her cheeks. “This is hilarious. Adam looks like he’s just out walking the dog.”

“It’s not over yet,” growled Will.

Gayle cackled. “Oh Will, this might ruin your undefeated streak for the season, huh?”

Nikki watched as Adam tagged Cody. Smaller, he did not move as quickly, but his arms were steady, and his steering easy. Josh finally tagged David, and the star running back rocketed forward to grab the wheelbarrow. In an effort to grab and run, he found himself knocked off balance by the weight of the hay bale, and both he and the barrow toppled to one side. The crowd roared with laughter and kids cheering.

Will took a step toward David, but Nikki put out a hand and stopped him. “No, no. He’s a big boy. This is his game.”

“Get moving!” he screamed to David. “Balance! Low center of gravity!”

Whether or not David had actually heard him, he did keep his body lower, pushing with energy and steering with more control than Josh had exhibited. But try as he might, he could not catch up to Cody. By the time he was half way across, Cody was trotting back to Adam. They repeated their rounds with the football players falling further and further behind, but the farmers didn’t stop with the final tag. Instead, Adam picked up one of the bales used as a marker and tossed it into the barrow Cody pushed. Cody turned back around and they continued back down the course with Adam adding bales to Cody’s load. When the third bale landed on top of the others and Cody kept going, the students and staff leaped to their feet, cheering. Josh and David had been forgotten in this amazing display of balance and strength. Cody reached the end with the four bales balanced on the wheelbarrow. With a shake of the handles, the top one fell right into Adam’s arms. Adam then chucked it onto the stack of four bales that already stood against the wall. One by one, Cody and Adam tossed the bales higher and with remarkable aim. The last one, however, didn’t make its mark and fell back down. Cody and Adam consulted for a moment, and then Adam grabbed the bale by a cord in one hand and began climbing the existing hay bale tower with the other hand.

The crowd went wild. Nikki, Gayle and the whole line of teachers poured out onto the floor. Even Josh and David stopped everything and moved closer to watch as Adam lifted the last bale into place and then dropped an easy ten feet to the ground with a victorious thud. He removed his hat and threw it in the air.

No one in the room seemed to care who they were rooting for originally. The room belonged to Adam and Cody. People were hugging and jumping and screaming.

Nikki called out, “Hey, Coach! Maybe you can get Mr. Craft to teach your boys a thing or two!”

He glared back, but behind him, Josh and David shook hands with Adam and Cody. Nikki saw respect in Josh’s eyes as he talked to Adam.

Well, good for him. Nice to see they teach sportsmanship, too.



Given the outcome of the pep assembly, Nikki dreaded finding Coach after school. He was buried in a playbook at his desk in the windowed office just off the gym. She knocked on the doorsill.

“Hey, Coach?”

He glanced up briefly. “Hi.”

Surprised by this reaction, Nikki ventured a step forward. “Sorry I teased you after the assembly.”

Will tossed the playbook onto his desk and stretched his feet out in front of him. “What do you need?” His voice almost sounded whiny.

Nikki crossed her arms and stared at him. “Right now, I need you to stop acting like one of my freshmen.”

“It’s not your freshmen I’m worried about. It’s your juniors.”