Worth The Trouble

Saturday Night - Oct. 25, 1986 - 10:18 PM - The Dance Floor

 

EVERYONE IN THE GROUP turned toward Ty.

 

Brent nodded toward the place Marcus had left. Ty started to move closer before he stopped himself.

 

“You mean go with y’all?”

 

“What do you think I mean?” Roger said.

 

One of the other guys laughed. Ty almost laughed with him. He kept his eyes on Roger.

 

“I’m asking.”

 

“Yeah. Go with us.” Roger glanced at Brent, then back at Ty. “You coming or not?”

 

Ty could say yes and figure the rest out later. He’d done that at the punch table without even asking where they were going.

 

Brent was still leaving room for him. Ty stayed outside the circle.

 

Ryan’s words came back first.

 

He could’ve beat all four of ’em and he didn’t even want to.

 

Then Kim standing in her crooked crown, telling Roger what she thought of him.

 

My boyfriend doesn’t need three friends behind him to have a conversation.

 

Ty looked around the group. Brent was watching him now. Diego cracked his knuckles. The other guys waited with Roger.

 

They were talking about driving to Edna to jump one guy. Seven on one, maybe more. And they thought that made them tough.

 

“You really think you’re gonna fix this by trying to jump him again?”

 

Brent stopped smiling. Ty hadn’t meant for it to come out quite like that, but Roger had heard him. He waited for an answer.

 

The music kept pounding. Couples danced twenty feet away. None of them turned toward the circle.

 

Roger raised his eyebrows. “And what’s your problem, Hensley?”

 

Ty had a finger behind his tie and made himself take it out. “No problem. Just wondering how jumping one guy with seven people makes you look tough.”

 

“He embarrassed us,” Roger said.

 

“No.” Ty shook his head. “He embarrassed you. And he didn’t even touch you to do it.”

 

Brent laughed once, then stopped. One of the other guys stared down at the floor. Nobody spoke.

 

Roger took a step toward Ty. “You trying to be funny?”

 

“No. I’m just not gonna stand here and pretend you didn’t get owned by some guy from Edna. Without him even throwing a punch.”

 

Roger’s face went red. “You better watch your mouth.”

 

“Or what?” Ty held his ground. “You and all these guys are gonna shut me up too? That your solution for everything?”

 

Roger stepped closer. Ty could smell his cologne now.

 

“You think you’re tough now?” He had dropped his voice.

 

Ty looked into his eyes. “I think you’re scared.”

 

Roger didn’t answer.

 

“You heard me. You’re scared Kim was right. That this Matt guy is better than you. So you want to get a bunch of guys together and jump him to make yourself feel better.”

 

Ty had seen his face do that once, in the booth at Whataburger. The guys around them watched, but nobody moved between them.

 

Ty didn’t move either.

 

“This is crazy,” Brent said. “Let it go, Rog. You can’t do this here anyway. Teachers are everywhere.”

 

A few of the other guys nodded. Two of them shifted their feet.

 

Roger kept his eyes on Ty. He didn’t answer Brent.

 

Ty’s tie pressed against his throat. He’d been messing with it all night, but now he couldn’t leave it alone. He hooked a finger inside the knot and pulled it loose, then slipped the tie from under his collar. He folded it once and put it in his pocket.

 

“I’m done with y’all,” he said.

 

He turned and walked back into the crowd of dancers. He didn’t run or push anyone out of his way. He kept going until Roger and the others were behind him.

 

“Fine,” Roger called after him. “We don’t need him anyway.”

 

Ty didn’t turn around.

 

Matt hadn’t asked Ty to do any of this. He hadn’t even said one word to him. All he’d done was walk past, straighten his collar, and leave. That head shake in the hallway had stayed with Ty all night.

 

He put a hand in his pocket and found the tie. The end of it was sticking out. He pushed it down and kept going.

 

Ty walked into the crowd.

 

The music took over again, some pop song half the gym was singing along to. Colored lights crossed the dance floor. Around him, couples danced and people crowded together for pictures, the same homecoming that had been going on before Roger called Matt into the bathroom.

 

Ty stopped near the edge of the dance floor and tried to figure out what to do next. Then he spotted Jenny across the gym talking with some friends from her English class. Her dress caught the lights when she moved.

 

Ty walked over, weaving through the dancers.

 

Jenny was laughing at something one of the girls said. He waited beside them until she finished.

 

“There you are,” Jenny said when she saw him. “You left me standing by the punch table.”

 

“Yeah. I did. I’m sorry.”

 

“You said a minute.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I went looking for you.”

 

“I should’ve come back,” Ty said.

 

Jenny let him stand there for a second. Behind her, one of the girls started toward the dance floor and called for her to come on.

 

“You still wanna dance?” Ty asked.

 

“Are you gonna stay this time?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

She held out her hand. “It’s about time.”

 

They moved onto the dance floor. Ty put a hand at her waist and tried not to step on her feet.

 

“You okay?” Jenny asked as they swayed to a slow song.

 

“Yeah. I am.”

 

Jenny tipped her head. “You’ve finally quit looking over my shoulder.”

 

Ty looked over her shoulder.

 

Across the room, Roger’s group was still in its corner. They were talking again. A few of them kept turning Ty’s way.

 

Ty faced Jenny.

 

Let them drive to Edna and make fools of themselves.

 

“Guess I did,” he said.

 

The slow song ended. The first beat of “Two of Hearts” came through the speakers. Jenny threw both hands up and pulled him farther onto the dance floor. Ty laughed as he followed.

 

They stayed through three more songs. Ty got them both punch, talked to friends from his classes, and stood beside Jenny for a couple of pictures.

 

“You want to get some air?” she asked during another slow song.

 

“Sure.”

 

They walked toward the doors leading to the courtyard. When they passed Roger’s corner, Ty caught fragments of the conversation. Something about next weekend. Something about showing Matt who was boss.

 

“Hensley,” Roger called behind him.

 

He kept walking beside Jenny.

 

“Was that Roger?” she asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Jenny slowed down, but Ty kept going toward the courtyard doors. She caught up beside him.

 

“You don’t need to go talk to him?”

 

“No. I’m coming out here with you.”

 

Outside, the October air cooled his face. A few other couples stood around the courtyard talking while the music came through the gym walls behind them.

 

“Much better,” Jenny said, leaning against the brick wall.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Ty looked toward the parking lot. The lights washed out most of the stars, but he could still see a few above the school. Edna was somewhere past them. Matt Garrett might already be halfway home.

 

Matt had walked away from the homecoming queen, the crown, and everybody inside that gym. Ty had watched him stop at the doors, look back once, and leave anyway.

 

“You ready to go back in?” Jenny asked.

 

“Yeah. Let’s dance some more.”

 

They walked into the gym together. The music still pounded. The colored lights still moved over the dance floor. Roger and his crew were in the same corner, planning whatever they were going to do next.

 

Ty walked past them with Jenny.

 

This wasn’t worth the trouble.

​
 

That night changed Ty Hensley.

But there was one thing he never learned:

Why did Matt Garrett really leave?

​

Discover the other side of that night in Beyond the Goalposts: Junior Year.