Juice - Eric Walters [8]
“I’m going to school.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s summer vacation. You don’t have to go to school,” my mother said.
“I’m not taking a vacation this year. I’m going to school every day this summer to hit the weight room. You should see how amazing it is in there!”
They’d finished the weight room in record time, and it was everything that Coach Barnes had said it would be.
“I’m sure it’s wonderful. What I don’t understand is how come they don’t have money for each student to have his own textbook, but they have money to spend on the football program.”
“It was all donated,” I explained.
“Maybe somebody should donate money for textbooks.”
“I think that’ll happen when everybody in town crowds into the stadium to watch people read their textbooks,” I said.
“That won’t happen in this town. Everybody is football crazy, maybe too much so,” my mother said.
“That’s not possible.”
“Do you really think that you have to go in every day?” my mother asked.
“Gotta. I’m the captain and I have to set a good example.”
My mother came over and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “You always set a good example in everything. I’m so proud of you. I was proud of you long before you started playing football.”
I felt embarrassed and happy. “I better get going.”
“Why don’t you wait and I’ll drive you to school.”
I shook my head. “That wouldn’t work. I’m going to run to the school and get some work for my legs. Thanks, but no thanks. I gotta get going.”
I stood up and cleared my place, putting the bowl and cup in the sink.
“I’ll see you after work,” I said.
“I’ll make you something special for dinner,” my mother said.
“If you want to make it really special, make it really big. I’m trying to bulk up.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I was worried that you were wasting away,” she joked.
“And do you think you could buy me some vitamins?” I asked.
“You’ve always hated vitamins,” my mother said. “When you were little I even tried to get you to take those chewable ones, the ones shaped like little bears and bunnies.”
“I was hoping that instead of bears and bunnies you could get me some vitamin C, and A and some E and—maybe you should just get me the whole alphabet.”
“I’ll get you whatever you want, but why this sudden interest in vitamins?” she asked.
“You can’t run an engine without putting in the right fuel. That’s what Coach Barnes said. I need vitamins to build up my strength.”
“Your strength? You’re as strong as an ox,” she said.
“I want to be stronger than an ox. I only have fourteen weeks until our first game. That’s fourteen weeks to make it happen.”
That didn’t seem like nearly enough time. I had no time to waste.
Chapter Six
I paused at the door to the weight room. The door was locked and there was a little touch pad to enter the code that would open it. It was a four-digit code—a very easy code to remember. One, one, one, one. Coach Barnes had told us that one was the only number we’d need to know because number two and up were for losers. I punched in the code and there was a loud click as the lock released. I pulled the door open. I expected that the lights would be off. Instead the hall was well lit and the door to the weight room was open. Had somebody gotten here before me? I heard the sound of weights being lifted. Who was it? Was it Caleb or Robbie or one of the other guys? Then again, it couldn’t be Caleb. If he were here he’d be sitting on a bench, but not actually lifting any weights.
I poked my head through the door. There was a man—a big man—on a bench doing presses. He was focused on the bar he was pumping and didn’t see me. He was grunting as he lifted, and his muscles—his big muscles—flexed. His arms were gigantic and his chest was as thick as a tree trunk. His head was shaved and shiny, and that made it harder to judge his age, but I figured he was in his twenties.
I did a quick count of the weight he was lifting, adding up the plates. There were over three hundred pounds on the bar! And he wasn’t just lifting it—he was pumping it up and down, up and down, like his arms were