Chapter 36: Senior Week

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After dinner, Jim left first.

Lisa had her driver take Mia, Katherine, and Nolan home.

On the ride, she praised Nolan’s decision in front of them.

"Plenty of players have talent," she said. "Very few understand business early."

In only a few days, Nolan had surprised her too many times to dismiss any of it as luck. The face, the body, the football talent, the story instincts behind Mia’s script, and now the instinct to turn attention into leverage.

Most important, he did not hesitate.

His future could be very large if he stayed this decisive.

As a mother, Lisa almost envied Mia. Look at someone else’s son, then look at Rice. The distance between them felt obscene.

Still, Nolan was not her son.

That left other possibilities.

Outside the limousine, night had settled over the city. In the dim rear cabin, Lisa slipped one shoe off and slid her foot carefully along Nolan’s pant leg. Her toes traced his calf beneath the fabric.

Mia sat nearby.

The risk made Lisa bolder, not less.

Nolan, meanwhile, watched Katherine across from him. She stared out at the passing streetlights, her face calm in a way that meant her thoughts were not.

Katherine’s feelings had always been complicated. Tonight he had not followed her advice. She knew, rationally, that as his football world grew, she would not be able to help him with everything. She had not expected that truth to arrive so quickly, or with Lisa sitting in the car.

Then she remembered Lisa’s voice from that accidental phone call.

Too warm. Too familiar.

Katherine turned and found Nolan looking at her.

That helped.

When the car stopped at the motel, Nolan immediately said, "I’m hungry. Make me something."

"How are you hungry?" Katherine asked. "You just ate half the restaurant."

"Large appetite. And that food was fine, but it was not your food."

Mia whistled softly.

"I am going upstairs," she said. "Take your time."

"You are impossible," Katherine said, though the corner of her mouth betrayed her. "Eight servants probably would not satisfy you."

Lisa might have access.

Katherine had his stomach.

For the moment, balance returned.

That was why he had to keep both sides steady.

Later that night, Katherine helped Nolan review for his Spanish final. She paid special attention to hermana, novia, parientes cercanos, and esposa, which told him more about her mood than the vocabulary did.

Three days of final exams followed.

Thanks to Katherine and several classmates, including Amy and Naomi, Nolan came out of the stretch with actual confidence. If the grading broke his way, his GPA might climb to at least 2.5.

Jim’s feature ran three days later. It took up nearly half of the football space in the sports section. The public challenge sat in bold type like a flare.

Outside exams, the end of the school year brought parties. Nolan, now one of BHHS’s most visible students, received more than thirty invitations in his locker.

He came home later and later.

One party at Greystone went completely sideways. Someone had brought clear malt coolers and cheap wine drinks that tasted harmless until they were not. Nolan drank more than he should, but not enough to stop knowing what he was doing.

He woke the next morning beside Naomi and Amy, both eighteen-year-old seniors from the party. Rose petals were scattered across the sheets.

His body did strange things with alcohol. Some people drank too much and collapsed. Nolan drank too much and apparently became energetic in the opposite direction.

Whatever had happened had been reckless, adult, and mutual. All three remembered enough to be embarrassed and amused when they woke. That only made his headache worse.

According to Flea, who claimed to have witnessed the aftermath from a safe distance, Nolan had been "insane."

Fortunately, his teammates covered for him. Katherine did not suspect much beyond ordinary end-of-year stupidity.

The next day, Nolan attended Katherine’s graduation ceremony from start to finish and took several precious photographs with her in cap and gown.

After that, she insisted he attend the school prom as her date.

It was public. In a way, it acknowledged them in front of everyone.

Nolan agreed.

At the prom, beneath slow music and lights polished soft by the hotel ballroom, Nolan danced with Katherine in rented formalwear that at least fit better than the cow suit ever had.

Katherine wore a formal lake-blue gown, earrings that caught the light, and careful makeup that made her look like a Disney princess who had learned how to glare.

They stepped on each other twice. Their timing wandered. Somehow, they made it through the whole waltz.

They were also, without real competition, the most striking pair in the room.

By the time votes were counted, Katherine had been named prom queen and Nolan prom king. Someone produced cheap crowns. Someone else began humming the wedding march.

Adam applauded from the crowd with a date beside him.

Then some lunatic shoved a soda-can pull tab into Nolan’s hand.

The student host, seeing an opening, dropped into a mock-minister voice.

"Do you, Nolan Callahan, promise to love, comfort, honor, and protect her..."

The crowd lost its mind.

"Say yes. Say yes. Say yes."

Katherine blushed hard, but she still extended her hand.

Nolan slid the pull tab onto her left ring finger.

"Later," she whispered, "you owe me the newest one. The best one. The most expensive one."

"Of course," Nolan said. "I will put the most expensive ring in the world on your hand."

They embraced in front of the whole room.

Below the stage, Flea handed Ford fifty dollars. Apparently he had bet Nolan did not have a girlfriend.

Several underclassmen looked heartbroken.

They recovered quickly.

Katherine had graduated.

And tomorrow, Nolan would face another important moment.

The postseason bracket would be announced.

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