Girl, you’re so funny,” I said to Laurel as I watched her try to mimic the dance I was teaching her a week later. “You know, with floor routines, I thought you had to know how to dance.”
“The balance beam was my best event, Payton. There’s just no hope,” she said, getting frustrated.
“You’ve got hope, Laurel. You can hear the music, can’t you? Just let the music take over.”
Laurel had only been back to school for two days since being in Arkansas. Sadly, her grandfather passed. We had talked about how this was affecting her, and when she described the funeral to me, it reminded me of my grandfather’s service just a few months before. We had already said that we were going to help each other get ready for cheer-leading, but now we had a much bigger mission, which was to keep each other encouraged.
“OK, Payton. Enough picking on me.”
“I’m not picking on you, Laurel. You’ve got to get this.”
“OK, since you think it’s that easy to learn a dance, let me see you do a round-off back handspring.”
“That’s not fair,” I told her.
“Well, you’ve at least got to try. What’s wrong, Payton? Need me to spot you?”
“Yes.”
I was so nervous that when I went into the flip, I tripped over my own feet. “I can’t do this,” I said, frustrated.
“Well, now you see how I feel, Payton. Tryouts are at the end of the month. We need a miracle,” she said as she sat down beside me.
“I guess we’ll have to keep praying for one.”
As we walked back to our dorm, I said, “Gosh, it’s hard not talking to Tad.”
“You still haven’t talked to him? It’s been four days. What’s going on?” Laurel asked.
“Tomorrow’s April Fool’s, and I’m playing a joke on him.”
“Are you serious? What’s the joke?”
After I told her everything, she said I was completely wrong for playing the joke on Tad. She suggested that I not play with fire because I might be the one to get burned.
When I got home, there were two messages on the machine from Tad, and his voice sounded urgent. I was excited because I knew the joke was going to work. Last year in high school he and my rival, Starr Love, got me good. She told me that she kissed him and I went off on him. When he told me it was a joke, I vowed to get him back. Every twenty minutes I looked at the clock because at 12:01, I was going to dial Tad up.
Later in the evening my alarm clock went off. It was 11:50. I must have dozed off.
“Payton,” Laurel said as she rolled over, still tired. “You’re not gonna do that to the boy, are you?”
“Girl, go back to sleep.”
“I would hate for this to backfire on you.”
“It’ll be fine. Tad is a big practical joker. He will understand.”
At 12:01 I dialed Tad’s number. The machine came on.
“Tad,” I said, “this is Payton. I know I haven’t talked to you in a few days, but I’ve been thinking about us and things are getting too—”
“Payton, what’s up? I was asleep,” Tad said as he answered the phone.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Tad, but I think you demand too much from me. Maybe this commitment thing is too much.”
“What are you tryin’ to say? Do you want to break up? If you don’t think you want to be with me, I can give you some space.”
“Well, that’s what I want,” I told him nonchalantly.
“Are you sayin’ we’re breakin’ up or somethin’?”
“Yeah, Tad.”
I couldn’t tell how this was affecting him, but his silence was scaring me. Could this backfire on me?
“Tad, are you OK? You’re not saying anything.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Good night,” he said as he hung up the phone.
“Oh my goodness!” I said loudly.
“What happened?” Laurel asked.
“He just hung up on me.”
“Well, what did you expect him to do? You just broke up with him.”
“He was supposed to try and get me to change my mind. Then I was going to say, ‘April Fool’s.’”
“Payton, I told you you were playing with fire.”
“I’ve got to call him back and explain.”
“Don’t. It’s midnight.”
“I need to call him back so he won’t be upset.”
“He’s upset because you called him early in the morning and told him that stuff in the first place. Wait until morning. He will be thinking more clearly then.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
I got down on my knees and prayed, I hope I didn’t ruin things for us. It was just a joke. Make him understand.
I got into bed, but I couldn’t believe this. It was supposed to be a joke, but it turned out to be a big mess. Hopefully Laurel was right and I could fix this in the morning. However, the morning wasn’t coming soon enough so I started naming the books of the Bible.
“Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habukkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke …”
Luke was the last thing I remember saying. I fell asleep in hopes of a better day tomorrow.
“Payton! You’re gonna be late to class! It’s 9:30!” Laurel screamed in my ear, attempting to wake me up.
“Oh my gosh! I’m already late!”
“April Fool’s! It’s only 8:00!”
“Oh, you’re so wrong!” I exclaimed as I bopped her with my pillow.
“Ouch!” she said. “Well, that’s what you get. You said you liked practical jokes.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know you did too.”
“I got you.”
“Do you think Tad is really mad at me?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but that was a cruel joke. If I had a boyfriend I wouldn’t want him to play that type of joke on me. I would probably be mad for a long time.”
“Would you really? It was just a joke.”
“Yeah, but not everything is funny. I’m sure that once you explain it to him, Tad will understand.”
“I sure hope so.”
I dialed Tad’s number but got his answering machine. I wanted to talk to him in person so I hung up.
I knew his first class was far from mine, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want the day starting off with him thinking we had broken up.
Maybe he was in the shower, I thought. I’ll call one more time.
This time Dakari picked up. “Hello? Hello? I know somebody is there. Don’t make me star-69 you,” he threatened when I didn’t say anything.
“It’s me, Dakari.”
“Your boy ain’t here. Or are you callin’ me?”
“Dakari—”
“Don’t Dakari me. Who do you want to speak to? Pretty soon I’m gonna be the only one at Georgia anyway, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“There’s a letter here from Duke to Tad.”
“What do you mean?”
“They are checkin’ Tad out. Since the coaches have changed, any player is free to go, and Tad might.”
“Did Tad tell you he was thinking about this?”
“No, I just saw the letter. He doesn’t know I read it or anything.”
“Why are you reading his mail?”
“Oh, please. It’s not a big deal. I thought it was mine.”
“So what did it say exactly?” I said in a disappointed tone.
“First you didn’t want me to read his mail, and now you want me to tell you what it says. You can’t have it both ways, baby. You ask him. But he ain’t here.”
“Well, how are you?”
“I’m fine. I’m cool,” he said.
I knew him, and I knew he was fronting, trying to have thick skin so he wouldn’t let on that he was still hurting.
“I’m a little ticked at my mom because she’s trippin’. She got me walkin’.”
“You don’t have a car?”
“No. Mine’s in the shop and she won’t bring Dra—my new ride up here.”
I could tell it was hard for him to even mention his brother’s name.
“Well, I’m gonna let you go, but if you need a ride somewhere let me know.”
Through the course of the conversation, Laurel had gone. I thought about Dakari, and him still dealing with everything. He was dealing with it on his own. He wasn’t seeking God anywhere and that had to be destructive. All I could do was think about that old Helen Baylor song “Can You Reach My Friend?” Even though I couldn’t sing, I hummed the words to the best of my ability. I just wanted the Lord to hear my plea.
I prayed, “Can You reach my friend? You’re the only one who can. I know You love him. Help him understand You. Can you reach my friend? Bring his searching to an end. Help him give his heart to You. As bad as Dakari wants to see his brother, I pray that he never sees him again. If he doesn’t accept You, he’s going straight to hell. Don’t let that happen, Lord. Do whatever You have to do to let him know he needs You. Please fix this thing with me and Tad. Amen.”
An hour later, I was in front of Tad’s first-period class. “Hey,” I said when I saw him walking to his classroom.
“What are you doing here?” he asked coldly.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Well, you said it all last night.”
“Last night I was just—”
“Payton, you don’t have to check on me. I’m all right. I can move on now. I cared about you, but I’m fine without you.”
He walked around me, not allowing me to say anything. I wanted to follow him, but I didn’t have time because I had to get to class too.
Before I could leave his building he came back up to me and said, “Coach Mullens and his wife wanted us to sit with the babies. I just wanted to know if that was OK with you.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“We can ride together, Tad.”
“Why go through all that? Let’s just make a clean break of our relationship. Best wishes for your cheerleading try-outs today.”
“Tad, wait.”
“Payton, I don’t want to talk about our relationship. It’s over.”
“No, it’s not about that. Are you changing schools?”
“Where did you get that from?”
“Dakari.”
“We’ll talk tonight,” he told me, avoiding my question.
I arrived late to my class. I hoped that I hadn’t messed things up with Tad for good. I hated having to go through the day with Tad thinking we were apart, but fortunately I could set things straight this evening by baby-sitting the twins who were our namesakes. I hoped so anyway.
It was about four o’clock and there was a gym filled with men and women wanting to try out for cheerleader. It was the first day of the three-week process. This meeting was for information, and there were so many people in the bleachers I couldn’t find Laurel.
Maybe she decided not to try out, I thought.
Then I heard her say, “Excuse me,” while tripping over someone’s feet. She nervously sat beside me.
The cheerleading sponsor got up to talk first. “Being a Georgia Bulldog cheerleader is a great honor. We take pride in what we do. We go to competitions because, like the players we cheer for, we like to win. We will have fourteen cheerleaders on the squad. Seven boys and seven girls. We will also have a mascot. Tryouts this year will be tough. We have two rounds. Those who make it through the first round will go on to the second round, and those who make it through the second round will make the team. Our returning cheerleaders are exempt from our first round, but it is not guaranteed that they will make it again.”
Laurel held out her hand and I placed mine in hers. We held hands tightly. Both of us were thinking the same thing. There was probably less than a one-percent chance that we would both make the team.
“Last year’s squad will be teaching you the first round. We will bring in a choreographer for the second round. Without further ado, I’m going to bring out last year’s squad to show you what you will be practicing. Bring out the dogs!”
As I watched the cheerleaders, I only saw one person who looked like me, and he was a man. When they did their hurkies, toe touches, splits, double somersaults, dances, and cheers, I was in awe. There was no way I could make the squad.
“I hope you guys are fired up by what you saw,” the sponsor told us as he looked around the crowd. “We’ll see you here tomorrow promptly at 4:00. Dress in a red shirt, black shorts, white socks, and white tennis shoes.”
“Well,” I said to Laurel on the way home, “I’m going to do my part in making sure you know the dance. I just need to get you on the team.”
“What are you talking about, Payton? You have a better chance of making the team than I do. You’ve already done cheerleading in high school. I would rather put all my energy into you.”
“Laurel, you’re white, so you have a better chance.”
“Stop using that race stuff.”
“It’s true.”
“Well, if anything, you have a better shot because they know they need to diversify. However, neither one of us can quit. We’ve got to give it all we’ve got. If one of us makes the squad, it will count as a victory for both of us. We both know the Lord and He will produce a miracle.”
We went from believing that neither of us was going to make the team to knowing that both of us were going to. The Lord was on our side, and with Him all things are possible. We now had the faith we lacked before. It didn’t matter what the odds looked like. We knew we would come out of the fight. We had faith. We had each other. We had God.
“Are you sure you guys know what to do?” Shayna asked, going through the list with Tad and me for the twelfth time.
Her husband was as cool as a cucumber. “They’ve got it. These kids are responsible.”
“I know. I just wanted to make sure they know everything about the babies. Skky likes to listen to ‘Joybells’ and Taylor doesn’t care too much. I need to teach you guys baby CPR.”
“Joybells? What’s that?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s this adorable new kids gospel group. Look at the CD.”
I smiled at the four cute faces on the cover.
“Shayna, get out of here,” I told her half-jokingly.
“We’ll be fine,” Tad assured her.
“We’re just going to dinner and a movie and we’ll be right back,” she told us.
I wanted to tell her to quit tripping, but I realized that these were her babies and, if I was in her shoes, I’d probably be stressed to the max as well.
As soon as they left I tried talking to Tad, but he wasn’t hearing what I wanted to say. He kept trying to straighten up, but he had no idea what he was doing.
“I want to talk to you. Why are you avoiding me?”
“Because it seems like you’re trying to make me feel better. It’s OK. I’m just trying to figure out if I want to go to Duke in the summer or wait until the fall.”
“You’re going?”
“Yeah.”
“You know Coach Mullens is here.”
“Coach Mullens isn’t going to let me start. Rocky is coming and we already have too many running backs. Since you and I are not going to be together anymore, I have decided to go for my dreams at another school.”
I went over to the window and tears started to drip from my face. How could he give up on us? Our relationship was worth fighting for.
“Why the tears?”
“I can’t believe you’re willing to give up so easily. It was just a joke. I love you.”
I felt arms around my waist, and he whispered in my ear, “I knew it was a joke all along. April Fool’s on you.”
“What?” I turned and asked as I hit him softly in the chest. “You knew, and all day you made me think we were broken up?”
“Yeah. I’m not going to Duke either. Gotcha twice. You know Coach Mullens wasn’t going to let me go anywhere.”
“But Dakari found the letter.”
“Duke asked me to come, so I left the letter out. I knew Dakari would tell you about it.”
“You planned to fool me with this moving thing?”
“Yeah, but you scared me first when you called last night. Or should I say this morning? I knew whatever you said had to be linked with April Fool’s, but I wanted to beat you at your own game. Now come here. I want to hold my girlfriend.”
It felt good being in his arms. He really did care about me. He wasn’t giving up on our relationship, and he didn’t plan on going to some school miles away. Tad Taylor was still my guy and though he had beaten me at some April Fool’s trick, I was happy we were still together.
Before we could say it to each other Skky started to cry. I tried to calm her down, but she wouldn’t stop. Tad thought he could help, but when he was about to try, Taylor started screaming. The two of us were going crazy trying to handle the babies.
“We need bottles,” Tad said. “How do we make the formula?”
“It’s ready to serve. Just pop open the can and pour it into the bottle. Weren’t you listening?”
“I thought you were.”
With babies crying and us bickering, it was eventful but fun. The night was topped off when Tad went to change Taylor and he checked him a little too soon.
“You got squirted.” I laughed. “I guess that was Taylor’s April Fool’s trick on you.”
“Why are you giving me a hard time?”
“Because you deserve it.”
We couldn’t stop laughing. As I looked back over the day’s events, I realized that it’s good not to take life too seriously. It was actually fun tripping over everything.