Gym Candy

The next morning, there is an article in the high school sports section of the paper about Mick’s performance. Mick had broken the records for yard in a game, touchdowns in a game, and yards per carry. At school, everyone congratulates him, including Kaylee, who says she was there to cheer for him. After, one of Kaylee’s friends, Natalie, tells Mick that he had better come to the first volleyball game that night to support Kaylee, since she had supported him. He promises to be there.

That evening, he does a workout at Popeye’s, but finds that Peter has drastically cut back on his program. Peter says that now that he is off the drugs, he can’t lift as if he is someone who is still using. Mick disregards his advice and does more work than Peter prescribes, but his drop in strength and stamina is obvious. After, Peter tells him that he has an injectable drug called XTR that would help Mick even more than the D-bol did.

Mick realizes that he has worked out for so long that he has missed Kaylee’s game. When he gets home, his father has left a note for him to check out the den. The article from the newspaper is displayed ona formerly-empty spot on the wall. Mick is overcome with the urge to sob and realizes that he is feeling the depression Peter warned him about. 

Mick tries to keep lifting as much as before, but finally has to admit that he can’t do it without the steroids. That Friday, his team plays Garfield. Shilshole wins 41-20. Afterwards, a trainer shows Mick the stat sheet. In the past two games, he has scored more touchdowns and gained more yards than Drager had in the previous season. The next morning, there is another article in the paper about Mick and his performance. 

During the week, the team trainer, Mr. Stimes, asks to speak to Mick. He says he has been reviewing Mick’s stats and asks him if he is using steroids. Mick denies it. Stimes asks where he is working out and who is training him. He tells him Popeye’s, but does not give him Peter’s name. Mick leaves his office, beginning to feel panic. 

Mick goes to Popeye’s and tells Peter about the conversation with Stimes. Peter is immediately hostile, demanding to know if he told Stimes anything about him. He says that it’s illegal to drug test high school athletes in Washington, so Mick will be fine unless he says anything. But he warns him not to say anything and Mick senses that he is being threatened by Peter. During the rest of the week, Mick is worried that Stimes is watching him, but they don’t speak again. Drew invites Mick to a party, but Mick declines, saying that he has to work. After Drew leaves, Mick realizes that Drew is his only friend, and not even he can get Mick to do anything social. 

In the next game, Carlson calls fewer runs for Mick. He feels that they have sent the message, and that now teams will be prepared for him, which will give their passing game a greater chance to succeed. Mick studies his stat sheets and sees that his progress is slipping, game by game. They win against Roosevelt 27-6, but Mick does not feel like himself during the game. His father tells him that he looked sluggish on the field, and Mick knows that the drugs are gone from his system.

Against a team called Ingelmoor, Mick plays his most average game yet. After, he goes to Popeye’s. Peter is helping another client, and Mick leaves without speaking to him, or lifting. Instead, he calls Drew and they go miniature golfing together.

That Friday, against Juanita High School, Mick breaks free and scores a long touchdown, but it is rescinded because of a penalty on the play. Mick is disappointed and feels heavy and unmotivated for the rest of the game, although his team wins easily, and Dave Kane plays well. The next day, Mick has been invited to the birthday party of a girl named Heather, but he doesn’t go. Instead, he drives around alone, wondering if he should take XTR.  

The team’s next game is against Woodinville, who have a record of 4-1. During practice that week, Carlson tells Mick and Kane that he’s going to try something new. Kane will play in the first quarter, Mick in the second. Whoever impresses him the most will play in the second half. When practice ends, Mick drives to Popeye’s and asks Peter about XTR. Peter gives him four vials for twenty-five dollars. However, as soon as Mick leaves, he decides he doesn’t need it. He knows that he’s better than Kane. He just needs to prove it. He goes back and forth about using until the day of the game. He takes a vial of XTR on the bus with him, but when the game starts, he still hasn’t used it.

Kane does not play well in the first quarter, but Mick wants to send a message to Carlson that Kane doesn’t deserve to play again at all. He goes to the locker room and gives himself an XTR injection. When the second quarter begins, Mick quickly scores a touchdown. When the first half ends, the score is 14-14. In the third quarter, the XTR kicks in and Mick knows that he is stronger than everyone else. By the mid-point of the fourth quarter, he has scored enough to bring the score to 41-21. With one minute left, he breaks through the line for a ninety-four-yard touchdown run. The previous record was ninety-one yards, held by his father. However, there is a penalty by DeShawn on the play. Mick is enraged that his record-setting run is being taken away: “I was going to smash him, pulverize him, and tear him to pieces, the way a hurricane pulverizes a house” (256). He sprints towards Deshawn, but manages to calm himself down before reaching him.

At home, Mick is too excited to sleep. He takes the Jeep to Golden Gardens Park and walks on the beach. He stares into the water and wonders what it would be like to swim out until he was so tired that he couldn’t make it back, and sink. After several minutes of dark thoughts, he drives home. 

Mick isolates himself at school that week: he wants to avoid emotional highs so that he can’t lose control of himself. After Thursday’s practice, he finds Drew looking in his duffel bag, which is holding the XTR and its injection kit. Drew is only looking for a piece of tape to bandage his forearm, which is bleeding from a hit during practice. Drew notices how urgent Mick is to get the bag away from him and loudly asks what he’s hiding. Some of the other team members overhear and start to watch. Mick tosses the tape to Drew, takes his bag, and leaves quickly. 

The next game is against Liberty High. During the week, Mick promises himself that he will not use the XTR for the game; nonetheless, he takes the vial to the game. He injects himself in a locker room stall, then exits, only to see Drew watching him. Drew says, “Let’s crush these guys” (261) after they watch each other for several moments, before taking the field. During a timeout on the sidelines, Mick sees Drew and Deshawn laughing and worries that they’re joking about him, but he tells himself that he’s imagining it. At halftime, Liberty is leading 3-0.

Mick scores two quick touchdowns in the second half, giving Shilshole a 14-3 lead. Liberty scores almost immediately, and it is 14-9. With four minutes left, Mick breaks free and is nearly to the end zone when someone pokes the ball away from him from behind and recovers Mick’s fumble. The player smirks at Mick after the play is over. Mick rushes at him and tackles him as hard as he can. The referee ejects Mick as the player writhes in pain on the ground. Mick is sitting alone in the locker room when Stimes comes in and tells him that they won. Stimes says that Carlson doesn’t want Mick in the locker room when the team comes in and sends Mick to the bus alone. On the drive back, no one looks at him or talks to him. When he gets home, his dad is waiting for him. He asks, “What was that all about, Mick? Have you lost your mind?” (268). He sends Mick to bed after telling him that there’s nothing else to say. 

On Monday morning, Mick is taken out of English class for a meeting in the library with Carlson. He says he admires Mick’s work ethic and talent, but is suspending him for one game. Mick will not play in Friday’s game. During the week, he sits on the sidelines at practice in his street clothes. He is relieved that the paper didn’t report on his ejection, which means his mother won’t find out. On Wednesday, he tells her that his ankle is sore, and that’s why he isn’t playing. Mick adds, “[b]ut once I told that lie, she kept asking me about my injury and I had to lie over and over” (270). 

Carlson requires Mick to watch Friday’s game against Bothell from the bleachers. Mick sees Kaylee and her friends in the crowd, but decides that he wouldn’t be welcome with them after skipping Heather’s party. He is discouraged to see that Kane plays well and Shilshole builds at early 17-0 lead, but at halftime,the score is 17-13. When the fourth quarter begins, Mick’s team leads 20-13. Mick paces the top row of the bleachers, desperate to play. Bothell scores with thirty-one seconds left and Shilshole leads by 20-19. They manage to win and will now face Foothill again. 

Mick expects to work hard all week in practice and have a meeting with Carlson, in which he’ll be told he’s back on the team. Carlson calls him in for a meeting on Monday afternoon, and says that he’s back on the team, but whether he stays on it is up to him. However, when practice starts, Mick is relegated to the second team, while Kane is the first-team running back. Drew reassures him that he’ll be playing—he believes that Carlson is merely testing him to see if he can keep his cool. Mick isn’t so sure. 

On the night of the big game, Mick and his father throw the football before Mick prepares to leave. Mickputs the XTR in his duffel bag, even though he isn’t planning on using it. In the locker room, Carlson makes a fiery speech and the team gets excited. Mick feels like so much is riding on this game that he can’t go without the XTR. He goes into a bathroom stall and injects himself. When he opens the door, Drew is standing there, demanding to know what he’s doing. Mick promises him that he was only using the bathroom. It’s obvious that Drew doesn’t believe him, but he says nothing else before they take the field. 

Kane starts in place of Mickbut doesn’t perform well. When the first quarter ends, Foothill leads 7-0. During the next series of plays, Kane fumbles the ball, leading to a Foothill field goal and a 10-0 score. Carlson puts Mick in the game and calls several plays in a row for him. At halftime, the score is 10-6, Foothill. The third quarter is a struggle, and neither team scores. With seven minutes left in the game, Shilshole leads 13-10. If they win, they will go to the state playoffs. Carlson calls four runs for Mick, who gets the team a first down as the clock runs below five minutes. But then Drew throws a pass that is intercepted, and Foothill scores a touchdown. Foothill now leads 17-13. Drew has been tackled hard enough on the play that he is injured. As he goes to the locker room with a trainer, he is replaced by Tom McGinley. McGinley gives the ball to Mick on every play, and with less than three minutes remaining,Foothill stops Shilshole until it is fourth down. Mick receives the ball on their final chance and collides with the linebacker who had stopped him the year prior. This time, Mick powers through him and scores a touchdown. Shilshole wins. 

In the locker room, Carlson announces that they are going to a pizza place called Chicago’s. The booster club is paying. Drew starts to ask Mick a question, but is interrupted by the coach’s announcement. The team leaves in small groups. No one talks to Mick or asks him to join them except for McGinley and a couple of other second-stringers. When he gets home, he looks in the duffel bag for the XTR and the syringes. They’re gone. Then his phone rings. 

Drew says they need to talk and Mick agrees to pick him up at his house in five minutes. Before he leaves, he takes the gun from his father’s box and brings it with him. Together, they go to Golden Gardens Park. While they’re sitting by the pond, Drew says, “You’re using steroids, right? The syringe and all that?” (295). Mick admits it, then says, “I use steroids because I have to. I use them because without them I’m not good enough” (295). Drew says he has no choice but to tell Carlson. Mick tells him that he can’t, and when Drew refuses to back down, Mick pulls out the gun and points it at him, but can’t make himself pull the trigger: “The fear went away. I put the revolver to my temple, felt the coldness of the muzzle there, took a deep breath, took another one, and pulled the trigger” (298).