The book of matthew, p.2
The Book of Matthew, page 2
“Fists against bullets lose every time,” Matt said to his team.
“That’s true, Coach,” Malone agreed. “They needed to know they gonna have to take on all of us to get to you.”
“That’s right, Coach.” Coco nodded. “We got your six, always.”
The other players nodded in unison.
“I appreciate that.” Matt gave a head tilt. “Hit the showers, all of you,” he said to his team. He then turned to the student, giving him a good look over. “Are you okay?”
“I'm a’ight. You good?”
“I’m great,” Matt replied with a smirk.
“That’s what you think.” The student nodded. “They’ll find you and you won’t be so good then.”
“Find me for what?”
“Teach you how to mind your own business.” The student turned to walk away. “I’d keep my car out of sight for a week or two if I were you.”
“Hmm, they are in for a rude awakening if they go after my car.” Matt smiled as he reached the student. “Hold up. What’s your name?”
The student stopped then turned to face him. “Why? I’m not one of your star athletes, Coach Lassiter. You don’t need to know my name.”
“You are a student here at Marshall. Therefore, you are one of my stars, athlete or not.”
“Really?” The student smirked. “Name your starting team.”
Matt ran off the names of his starters. “What’s your point?”
“You know their names, but you don’t know mine. Yet you say I’m one of your stars…yeah…right.” The student turned away.
“Point taken.” Matt nodded. “But in my defense, there are 2200 students in this school. My players are with me daily. It would make sense for me to know their names. I’ve seen you around, but I’m not with you every day. So how about you take a step back and try again.”
The student stopped, pulled his backpack off his shoulder allowing it to hit the ground, then stared at him.
“Lincoln MacKenzie.”
Matt nodded. “All right, Lincoln…”
“They call me Mac.”
“Then Mac it is. What code do they want from you?”
Mac put the backpack on his shoulder as he shook his head, then walked away saying, “You wouldn’t understand.”
Watching Mac walk away, Matt chuckled to himself.
“How many times have we heard that?”
“I knew you were around here somewhere.” Matt turned to see one of his larger than life brothers standing behind him.
Luke tossed Matt’s shirt to him. “I hope you plan on taking a shower before you stand before students today.”
Matt sighed. “I don’t have a class today.” He walked towards his office in the gym. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d take you up on the offer to run with your team.”
“That was two seasons ago.”
“It’s never too late to impress young minds.” Luke ran to catch up with him.
“Where did you disappear to?” Matt asked as he continued walking.
Luke who was taller and more muscular than his brother, standing at 6’4” and weighing a solid 215 without a bit of fat on his body, shrugged. “I followed your visitors off the property.”
“Did you threaten them?”
“Of course not.” Luke feigned at being appalled. “Would I do that to children?”
Matt stopped walking to glance back at his all-pro NFL wide receiver brother. “Yes, Luke, you would,” he replied.
Luke shrugged. “Well, I didn’t this time. I called Adam instead.”
Matt threw his hands in the air. “Adam…man, it’s a wonder they made it back to their hood.” He opened the door that led into the gym where his office was located.
Luke walked through the door. “Who said they did?”
Matt stopped as the gym door slammed closed behind them. He glared at his brother’s back until Luke turned back.
“I’m kidding, Matt.”
“You didn’t call Adam?”
“Un…no, I did call Adam. I was kidding about them not making it back to the neighborhood.”
The look of concern must have been marred on his face. Luke walked back grabbing Matt by the shoulders.
“Ease up, man. I was just kidding.”
Matt stared at him for a long moment. “Seriously?”
“Yes, I was kidding, I swear.” Luke turned towards his office. “You still have a shower in your office?”
He could hear the exasperation in Luke’s voice. However, his brother Adam could literally make people disappear with one of his inventions and his brother Joshua, well he would simply blow you up and ask questions later. He didn’t know for sure, but he believed Luke could be just as dangerous.
“Yes,” Matt replied as he watched Luke walked towards his office. “My shower is your shower,” he said sarcastically under his breath.
“Coach Lassiter.”
Matt turned to the door of the gym that led to the hallway of the school. The vision of what he considered pure perfection at 5’6”, 135 pounds of everything in the right place, walked towards him in four-inch heels and a red dress that would make any man drool.
“Principal Ballard. Good morning.” Matt strutted towards her, all smiles.
“I see you’ve been running.” She waved her hand in a circle. “You have that sweaty masculinity thing happening this morning.”
His smile brightened. “You noticed.”
Shaking her head, she chuckled. “Don’t shine those pearly whites at me like that. I’m here on business.”
“That can’t be good,” Matt sighed. “What do you need?”
“I need you to cover detention for a week.”
“For the week?”
“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “Mr. Ball’s wife went into labor last night. Downtown indicates the next substitute will not be available until then.”
“A week?”
She nodded. “I’m afraid so. Come on, Coach. You’re the one always telling me you are more than a pretty face and great body.” Smiling, her gaze moved to the person behind him. “Now’s your chance to prove it.”
Matt looked over his shoulder to see Luke walking out of his office. The expression on her face was one he had become quite familiar with when one of his brothers was around.
“Another Lassiter brother, I take it.”
Luke came to stand next to Matt. “You would be right.” He extended his hand. “Luke Lassiter.”
She laughed.
Another one bites the dust. That was the flirty giggle, Matt thought, as he shook his head. “Luke, Terry Ballard, Principal here at Marshall. Which makes her my boss, so watch what you do or say.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Lassiter.” Terry extended her hand.
“The pleasure is mine,” Luke replied. “Forgive my current sweaty situation. I was running with some of the team members this morning.”
Matt rolled his eyes upwards. “Here we go,” he murmured.
“It’s nice of you to take time out of your training sessions to train with them.”
Luke clapped Matt on the shoulder. “Anything for my brother.”
“It’s good to have a family filled with celebrities.” Terry smiled as she turned to walk away. “The bell should be ringing in about thirty minutes. I have students who need my attention. Thanks, Coach.”
“Any way I can get some of that attention?” Luke pressed.
“Nothing says sexy like a fit body in a pair of grey sweats,” she said over her shoulder as she walked out of the door. “Call me.”
“Number?” Luke yelled after her.
She peeked back around the door. “You look like a resourceful man. Find it.” She smiled then walked out the door.
“Damn! Give me detention with that woman everyday and I will be a happy man.”
Matt shook his head. “I’m hitting the shower.”
“Hey, I didn’t step on your turf, did I?”
“Would it matter if you had?”
“Yes, it matters, Matt,” Luke said to his back as Matt started walking away.
“Yeah…right. When do you have to report to camp?”
“Next month, so I'll be around for a few weeks.” Luke ran up to step in front of Matt to stop his progress. “Look, just listen for a second.”
Matt stopped and listened.
“You and I don’t have that twin power thing between us like Adam and Jade or Timothy and Opal, but I know when something is off.” He shrugged. “So, what gives?”
Matt hesitated. “Now is not the time. I have to get to the detention room.”
“Hey, when we were in school, we didn’t get sent to detention until fifteen minutes into class,” Luke joked. “You have fifteen minutes to talk.” He shrugged. “I’ve been home for a week and you’ve been evasive. Think about it. I have a full-length track in the basement of my house. Do you really think I came by this morning to hang with your team? Man, I came by to see what’s going on with you. I’m a little concerned and so is Sally.”
“You talked to Sally about me?”
“No. She talked to me and I’m not going back to her empty handed,” he said with a shake of his head. “So, talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
Matt leaned against the door leading to the shower. He cleared his throat then spoke. “Everyone’s moving on with their lives and I’m still stuck in the same place since we left college. Samuel, Joshua, Pearl, they are all doing their thing with the government. Diamond and Ruby are married with children. Timothy and Opal are set with the accounting firm, both of them are married. Then there’s Adam.”
Luke sat on the edge of Matt’s desk and smirked. “We’re all looking at his shadow, so take him out of the equation.”
“Yeah.” Matt smiled, then sighed. “Now, Phire. She’s working in the Mayor’s Office and has the man wrapped around her little finger.” He shook his head in thought. “Phire, our baby sister, is on her way up that ladder. As for Jade, we all know she is going to blow up now that she is in New York dancing and you, hell, you just inked a 20 mil, 3-year deal with Washington.” He hesitated. “You are set for life. I look at myself every morning in the mirror now wondering is this it…is this all I have to offer to the world when all my siblings…all eleven are doing big things. What am I doing?”
Luke walked over to him. “You are touching lives, Matt. How many scouts do you have coming here to check out your protégées? You are opening doors of opportunities for kids who wouldn’t have a chance any other way. You are doing the one thing none of us has the nerve to do. As crazy as Adam and Joshua are, they could never take on the daily lives of these kids like you do. You may not be inventing shit, or blowing up enemies of the country, but it’s the one profession that can impact the future. Working with kids in the education system may not be glamorous or have the front page exposure of a major crime, however, the mind of the next leader of the free world may be in your hands. You had a choice, Matt. You were recruited as hard as I was. But you chose to educate children instead. Each mind you touch has the potential to be the next Adam Lassiter, or Pearl Prentiss, or even a J.D. Harrison.” He put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “There is no man I would trust more to mold those young minds than you. The pay is shitty, but every time you see one of them walk across that stage at graduation, with a full scholarship ride into the future, man, that has to be a great feeling. Do you think for one moment I don’t realize it was you, blocking for me that gave me the numbers to make it to the NFL? I know without Matthew Adonis Lassiter, I would not be where I am today. Look, you say the word on whatever you want to do and I’m there for you. Financing, promo, whatever help you need.” He smiled. “You could use a few lessons in the ladies’ department too. And if you’re nice,” he pulled at his beard as he chuckled, “your little brother could show you a move or two on how to eliminate that shortcoming.”
“Ha ha.” Matt smiled. “I appreciate those words, man. And I want you to know while you may have the sweet words to pull the ladies in, if I remember correctly you are the one coming up short.”
Luke did a little two step dance. “But I’ve got the moves on the field and in the bedroom.” He stopped. “Oh, by the way, that 3-year deal is 129 million and if you are nice I might…might share with you.”
“Hmm, that’s big of you, little brother. But I wonder, do you remember the measuring contest we had back in high school?” He watched as Luke stopped dancing around and glared at him. “Yeah, you remember. I can see it in your face.” Matt grinned. “Now, while you can share your dollars from your contract, there is an area you are lacking in.”
“Oh, you going there again.” Luke held his hands in the air as Matt stripped out of his jogging shorts and walked into the shower.
“Try as you may, little brother, but there is no way in hell you can make 7 inches feel like my 8 to the ladies and oh, that’s before the expansion.” He turned the water on as he laughed at the expression on his brother’s face.
CHAPTER THREE
Matthew Lassiter was the coach of the high school football team. Over the last seven years while his larger-than-life brothers and sisters were saving the world, he had chosen to leave his mark on the world one child at a time. He began his tenure as a science teacher, part-time basketball and football coach. It was the latter that demonstrated his strength.
With four state championships, team graduation rate of 92%, millions of dollars in scholarships and the athletes recruited to nationally ranked colleges, not to mention his connections to the top sports agency, the school board changed his position to a full-time coach. The pay wasn’t what any of his siblings were making, but it was a decent living. With his degree in education administration he could very well be running the school. But Matthew liked coaching. He enjoyed the interaction with the students more than the administrators. To the kids on his team he was the bridge to a different life for all of them. Coach Matt, as they called him, took some of their lives which were bleak and turned them into a beacon of hope. The spark in the athletes’ eyes was evident to all they encountered.
Everything Coach Matt required fell into three basic rules. 1. Respect your body, your mind and your parents. 2. Accept responsibility for your actions, but never be anyone’s fall guy. 3. A team is a community within the larger school system. The team operates as one. What you do reflects on the whole. Act accordingly.
To Matt’s way of thinking, rule number one covered everything from drugs and sex, to grades and your overall behavior at home. Number two covered how to handle yourself in difficult situations, be it on school grounds or confronting the street life. Every action has a consequence, be it good or bad. Before you act decide if you can handle the outcome. Number three covered being a part of something larger than yourself. Looking out for not only your teammates, but your school mates and neighbors as well. He believed giving kids a long list of rules was simply asking for them to be broken. Keep it simple, clear, but most of all, lead by example. It was his job to show them how to become a man. Was he trying to replace the fathers at home or the other men in their lives? No. It was his job to prepare them for the future.
Matt smiled at the words from Luke earlier that morning as he worked on the next year’s roster. There were only six weeks left in the school year. The summer months were used for training camp, and team players getting acclimated with each other and him. To begin the process, he had a major decision to make regarding the team captain position. It wasn’t as simple as people thought. Each team member’s well-being had to be considered before making the final decision. What words would he use when instructing the selected captain on how to lead the team. All of this could have a tremendous impact on the next season. This was his fourth captain selection. The last two graduated with honors and were drafted by top ten schools. The first captain went sixth in the first round of the NFL draft. His decisions impacted lives.
It was barely 9:15 am when the first student arrived in detention. Matt looked up from the desk to recognize both of the young men being escorted into the class. For a minute Matt couldn’t believe his eyes. The name of the young man he had just written down as the new team captain was one of the people standing before him.
“Principle Ballard, what do we have here?”
“Well, Coach, it seems these two are having a difference of opinion in Ms. Chambers’ AP Physics class.”
“Coach, what are you doing here?” Coco asked. “You in detention too?”
Matt shook his head at the young man he was considering making captain of the football team.
“Coach Lassiter will be supervising detention class this week,” Principal Ballard explained. “He will give each of you assignments to complete. The reporting of any infractions and the consequences will be administered at his discretion.” She turned to Matt. “Coach Lassiter, they’re in your hands.”
“Yo, why do I have to be here for three days?” Mac insisted. “He was all up in my business.”
“I can always send you home,” Terry replied. “I know your mother. How do you think she will react?”
Matt watched as Mac took a step back, then huffed into a seat.
“That’s what I thought.” Terry turned to Matt. “Coach.”
“I have them,” Matt replied as Terry left the room.
“Coach Matt,” Coco called out. “I was trying to reach out to the brother. Like what you always instill in us, community looking out for community.”
“Who in the hell said I need help?” Mac countered.
“The look on your face when those dudes with the gun was all up in your grill,” Coco replied as he walked up to the front of the room and took a seat. “I was doing what was right, Coach.”
Matt could see from the expression on Coco’s face, he believed that to be true. “I want one of you to tell me what happened in class.”
“I was in my seat minding my own business when this freak walks up behind me talking some Ying Yang about this morning which he didn’t have a damn thing to do with.”
