Wrestling Against Myself (29 page)

“Peter seems pretty certain of it and he's convinced a lot of people.”

“But it doesn't make sense,” Tony said in frustration. “How does he know?”

“Can I ask you a question and you not get mad?”

“Sure.”

“How do you know he isn't right? You're whole argument has been that he hasn't seen her naked to know for certain, but I'm sure neither have you?”

Tony held his tongue. What was he going to do, ask everyone he knew to show their privates so he could confirm that they were who they said they were?

“I got to go. This isn't about you, or even about her, but this is one time that peer pressure wins out.”

“I'm sorry you won't be wrestling with us today.”

“Me too,” John said glumly and made his way out of the locker room.

Tony couldn't believe how mad the world had gotten. He took his wrestling shoes and made his way to the mats. He unrolled one half way and decided to do some sprawl drills while he waited on Carl. 

Carl didn't keep Tony waiting but five minutes and joined his teammate on the mat.

“You were right,” Tony said as the two stretched out together. “The rumor is getting worse. Roger told me 'God hates gays' and John said he won't be working out with us if Courtney is going to watch.”

“He doesn't want people seeing him get his butt kicked. You know he ha
s pride issues.”

“Maybe, but this is getting out of hand.”

“You might have to admit it Tiny, this might be one locomotive heading towards the cliff that you can't stop.”

“I'll never abandon a friend. If the train is going to plunge, I'll ride it all the way to the bottom of the canyon with her.”

“Courtney is a friend now?”

“Shouldn't she be? I would do the same for you.”

Carl smiled. “I know. I don't want to see you get hurt.”

“Who me? I'm a big boy now, didn't you know.” Tony said tongue in cheek.

“They're trying to put a new game into play.”

“The 'Dude Looks like a Lady' thing?”

“Someone already tell you?”

“John Sharp.”

“He would know. He hangs out in those circles.”

“I'll tell you this, if I catch him doing it, he's going to be thinking that cross face from yesterday was a love tap. People need to back off.”

“Why do you think they've gotten on this kick? I've never seen it this bad before.”

“I talked to Pastor Bob about it last night before youth group. My thought is this, what if when she was in middle school she was a mega-ultra tomboy?”

“Mega-ultra?”

“Sorry, maybe I've been hanging out with Dave and Ted too much. Anyway, what is she was a tomboy, one of the guys, and no one assumed that she was a girl. She gets to high school, decides to put the tomboy stuff behind her, you know, a new school, new year, new me kind of a thing. Now, all her old friends from middle school don't know what to think so they come to the wrong conclusion. Would make sense why she was worried the first few days of school, might have been the first time she wore a dress in her life and she was worried how people would respond.”

“How does Peter get involved then?”

“Outside of him being a jerk? It’s like him to find a weakness and exploit it for his own amusement. He turned into a bully last year and he enjoys it. He's popular and this is a way for him to get more power.”

At the moment Courtney walked into the wrestling room and stood alongside one of the padded walls.

“Power half nelson time,” Tony said as he offered Carl a place to lie on the wrestling mat.

Courtney stood back and watched as Tony explained the move, going step by step and covering why it was important to do things a certain way. She noticed John didn't show up, but didn't interrupt Tony while he was holding court on the mat. Though she didn't understand the rules of the sport, she found it fascinating as Tony manipulated Carl's body to do whatever he wanted.

Carl was on his back, pinned under the crushing weight of the hold. “Tiny, this doesn't feel good.”

“That's the point.” Tony released his grip. “Now you try.”

Carl tried the move on Tony, receiving instruction along the way. Though he performed the power half nelson in stages, he knew in a match it would take seconds to complete. When he was done, he found himself on top of Tony, having the much larger teen pinned.

“Yeah,” Carl said as he tightened his grip, trying to make Tony tap out. “I like this move, it is definitely much better to give than to receive.”

“Are you done?”

“Do you submit?”

Tony positioned his hands beneath Carl and launched his friend off of him. In an instant he scrambled to his knees and hands, and then to his feet.

“I think that was a no,” Courtney said with glee as she watched in amazement at her friend's strength.

“Great, two against one,” Carl said as he got into his wrestling stance.

“No live wrestling today,” Tony said. “I promised coach.”

“Why did you do that?” Carl asked.

“I don't know, maybe because he saw you rubbing your neck leaving the locker room the other day. I promised him one day of live wrestling and one day of technique. Now show me your chicken wing.”

“You guys are going to eat?” Courtney asked.

Carl laughed. “No. The chicken wing is the ultimate defensive wrestling move.”

“It's why Carl almost passed me in the team lead in pins last year even though he spent most matches getting his butt handed to him,” Tony explained.

“Luring them into a false sense of security.” Carl got on his hands and knees. “Start riding me.”

Tony got in the top position and was led through the intricacies of a move that had him flying over Carl's hip and landing on his back. The wind was knocked out of him as he made a loud oomph.

“You know you did the move correctly when you hear that sound,” Carl said as he held Tony down and looked towards Courtney.

As soon as he got his breath, Tony performed the move on his friend, trying hard to repay the kindness.

After a half hour of going through moves, the two teens rolled up the mats and were done for the day.

“I'll meet you by the car?” Tony asked as he made his way past Courtney.

“That's cool. Maybe one day you'll show me some wrestling moves?”

Tony raised his eyebrow, but didn't know how she meant the comment. “Maybe,” he said and then made his way to the locker room.

“Ut-oh,” Carl said as he joined Tony by his locker. “Someone has a crush on you.”

“Get real.” Tony put his wrestling shoes away.

“Is it so hard to believe? She wouldn't be the first girl at the school to have the hots for you.”

“She's a freshman.”

“That's beside the point.”

“Freshmen date other freshmen, or, if they're bold, a sophomore.”

“Tiny, he's so dreamy,” Carl teased.

“Cut it out.”

“I'm noticing the classic signs.”

“She acts like every other girl I know,” Antonio said plainly.

“You mean how every other girl acts around you lately,” Carl said with a taste of bitterness. “Quite sickening if you ask me.”

“Just one more year and you and Tracy will start dating.”

Carl immediately brightened up. “You think so.”

“It's a sure thing. The only question is, does her self-imposed sanction on dating start after graduation or after she starts attending school.”

“God, I hope it's after graduation.”

Tony gave Carl a look of warning.

“It's not taking the Lord's name in vain if you really mean it as a prayer.”

Tony laughed. “I'll let you slide on this one.”

“Better not keep your secret admirer waiting.”

“Not for nothing,” Tony said as he tied his sneakers. “Doesn't this prove that Courtney isn't a boy?”

“It's not a rumor I'm spreading.”

“I know. I just wanted to point it out. How long do you think this rumor will last?”

“Could last a week, could last as long as your nickname stuck.”

“What nickname is that?”

“Um,” Carl looked at his friend incredulously. “Everyone calling you Tiny.”

“Oh, right. Sometimes I forget that's not my given name.”

Carl punched Tiny in the arm.

“You don't want to go shot for shot do you,” Tony said as he opened the door and walked out of the locker room.

“No.”

“Then don't do that again,” Antonio said half in jest.

“Point taken.”

The two separated, Carl headed towards the auxiliary parking lot and Tony headed to his Firebird.

Tony made it to his car, the windows were already rolled down, which he appreciated, and Courtney was sitting in her seat. “Hope I didn't keep you long.”

Courtney looked up. “Not really. I was just thinking.”

“Thinking is a good thing, I guess. But if you think too hard you'll give yourself a headache.”

The girl gave a small smile.

“What mysteries of the universe were you trying to unravel?”

“Just wondering how we became friends. Most people either make fun of me or have nothing to do with me.”

Tony turned the key in the ignition and fired the vehicle up. “I guess it's because I understand what you're going through.”

“You can?” Courtney sounded doubtful.

“When I came to this school, my family moved down from New York City. I started two weeks later than everyone else because my mom didn't know school started early in Florida. It starts after Labor Day in New York.”

“You're from New York City?”

“Born and raised. It's not a bad place, kind of cramped.”

“I would never know you were from New York, where's your accent?”

Tony smiled as he drove out of the parking lot. “It creeps up every now and then on certain words. But it got teased out of me.”

“You were teased?”

“I wasn't always this big mass of wrestler. I was kind of short and dumpy, kind of like a fluffy bowling ball with arms and legs.”

Courtney laughed.

“It's true. So I know what it's like to not fit in and be teased, never a cool thing. I remember when people seemed to have it out for me and my accent. Say Dawg, they would go. Say Cah. Tell me if the Dawg needs Watah.”

“You didn't really sound like that did you?”

Tony scrunched up his face and nodded. “Pretty close. Of course they over exaggerated a little bit, and half the time they got a New York accent confused with a Boston accent, but I adapted.”