Chapter 24 - THE GAME
By sophomore year, Tyler Carter was no longer the cafeteria-video kid.
Mostly.
He was Mason's starting shooting guard.
Fourteen points a game.
Good defender.
Bad interview subject.
Coach Knox preferred it that way.
Mason reached the conference semifinal.
National television.
Packed arena.
Tyler's family sat twelve rows behind the bench.
Rachel.
Michael.
Mrs. Alvarez.
Caleb's mother.
Even Coach Brody.
Tyler hadn't known Brody was coming.
When he saw him during warmups, he stopped.
Brody raised one hand.
Not asking forgiveness.
Not pretending nothing happened.
Just hello.
Tyler nodded.
The game was ugly.
Mason trailed by eleven.
Then five.
Then one.
Thirty seconds left.
Tyler drove.
Help defense came.
A year earlier he would have forced the shot.
Instead he kicked to Caleb.
Three.
Good.
Mason up two.
Timeout.
The crowd exploded.
Tyler ran toward the bench.
Then he heard it.
From the student section.
A chant.
“LUNCH BOY!”
Once.
Twice.
Then louder.
The opposing fans had found the old video.
On the arena screen behind them, someone held up a printed image of Michael in cafeteria uniform.
Tyler stopped.
For half a second, seventeen-year-old Tyler came back.
Heat in his face.
Eyes searching the crowd.
Shame arriving before thought.
Then he found Michael.
Michael was laughing.
Actually laughing.
Mrs. Alvarez was laughing harder.
Rachel covered her face.
Tyler stared.
Michael pointed at the court.
Play.
Tyler smiled.
The shame disappeared.
Not because the crowd stopped.
Because it no longer had anywhere to land.
Final possession.
Opponent drove.
Tyler rotated.
Charge.
Whistle.
Mason ball.
Seven seconds.
Game over.
Students stormed the edge of the floor.
A reporter caught Tyler before the tunnel.
“Tyler, opposing fans were chanting about that viral video involving your father. Did that get under your skin?”
Tyler looked toward the stands.
Michael was helping Mrs. Alvarez down the steps.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Tyler smiled.
“Because they got the story wrong.”
The reporter leaned in.
“What do you mean?”
Tyler looked straight into the camera.
“I wasn't embarrassed because my dad worked in a cafeteria.”
A pause.
“I was embarrassed because I was the kind of son who thought that mattered.”
Then he walked away.
May you like
By midnight, that clip had more views than the original.
This time Tyler didn't read the comments.
