by E. M. Moore
“See you around.”
I walk past them and go into the nearest bathroom as I hear Dawn giving David the rundown of what happened after he asked. The first thing I do when I get into the bathroom is start rinsing my jersey. It also has red and yellow condiments all over it from me yanking it off the doll’s head. That’s probably how the front of my shirt got all messed up too. After I squeeze the water out, I start on my shirt, using paper towels to get out as much as I can. When I’m done, there’s a ring of damp on my shirt, but at least it’s better than dried on ketchup and mustard.
The bell rings overhead, so after checking my face in the mirror, I walk out. The Ballers are all there. Sloan has my bag on his shoulder while he’s carrying only one notebook around for himself. They all eye me when I step toward them, but I just head right past them, going to my next class.
Other than the fact that everyone else was laughing at Rhonda’s little charade, what she did didn’t bother me. I know she’s jealous, and I also know that she’s just a terrible person. What she does doesn’t matter to me. Now, the fact that she used my basketball jersey pisses me the fuck off. Those things are special. They’re everything to me because they represent what I’ve always wanted.
One of these days, I’m going to have all my jerseys throughout the years encased just like my dad, freezing my greatest moments in time.
As long as this jersey doesn’t stain, I think I’ll use this one to remind myself of how strong I am.
9
The rest of the day goes by without a hitch. In gym class, I have to sit out because of my wrist, so I’m only a little surprised when Coach Bradley walks up to me while I’m sitting on the floor, watching the other girls warm up. “You got a second, Dale?”
I look up at him, my stomach suddenly in knots. I know my dad’s already spoken to him about what happened, but I’m just worried how I’m going to react if he asks me about my break. “Sure.”
He calls out to Miss Lyons that he’s taking me into his office. She waves to let him know she’s heard him, and then we walk out into the hallway and then into a small office outside the glass doors to Timothy Dale Court.
The air seems thick when I settle into the chair across from his desk. He plops down, throwing his leg over his knee as he looks at me. His gaze drops to my wrist too, then back up to my face. “I’m sorry about your injury, Tessa.”
“Me too,” I say meekly.
“I also want to apologize for not having your back last year like I should have. I don’t think I handled everything that went down last year the right way. Several of your teammates have come to me over the past week or so to tell me what an asset you are to the team.”
My eyes bulge out of my head. Several? I can guess which several came to talk to him.
“I don’t need to talk about your wrist because your dad sends me regular updates about that. I’m hoping it’ll be fine in time for tryouts, but if it isn’t, I want you to know that I’ll take that into account when deciding on the team this year. I know it’ll heal eventually.”
I swallow the sudden lump in my throat. I’m glad he’s so optimistic. Sometimes I find it hard to be. Who knows what will happen when I get this damn cast off? Sometimes I have nightmares about being disfigured when they finally remove the cast, and then the doctor solemnly tells me there’s no way I can play basketball for the rest of my life.
“I do want to talk about the problem we had with your anti-cheering section in the stands last year. I’ve spoken to the principal about it and we’ve worked out a plan. If you make the team again and the same thing happens, we will take action immediately because even though it’s not technically during school hours, they are on school property, so the Code of Conduct is still in place. We won’t put up with it.”
“That’s good to hear,” I say, thinking back to what just happened at lunch. Someone needs to do something about Rhonda and her crew. They’re out of control.
“Part of this will be on you, too. If I don’t see anything, you need to speak up. I can promise you there will be consequences, but if it all happens behind closed doors and no one says anything, it won’t get better. You understand?”
“I do,” I tell Coach. “And I’ll say something.” If the Bitches get stopped and the Ballers are on my side, this could make for a very great year for me. Lake will be outnumbered no matter what, but this is all providing I make the team anyway.
“That goes for anything that happens. During school, too. I have a hard time believing they just wait until the basketball games to do this.” I squirm in my chair. Coach Bradley hesitates. He lifts a knowing eyebrow. “Did something happen?” Just the way he says it makes me think he already knows what happened.
I clear my throat. My heart starts pounding in my chest. “Yes. During lunch today.”
“Out with it, Dale. I’m going right to the principal’s office with this. These students need to be punished for what they’re doing to others.”
My cheeks turn pink. I can feel the rush of humiliation for having to tell this to my coach. I want Coach to think of me as a great basketball player, not the girl he has to save during the school year because people won’t leave her alone. “It’s kind of embarrassing,” I tell him, staring into my lap.
He brings out a pad of paper and a pen, poising the pen over the other before glancing up at me.
I take a deep breath. “Rhonda Kyle had a blow-up doll. She’d put my jersey on it.”
His cheeks turn pink, too, but then he turns his face toward the desk to write down what I’m saying. “She asked me how many dicks I’ve had.”
His writing stalls for a moment before starting up again.
“She had three hot dogs in front of the blow-up doll on the table in the cafeteria, then shoved the blow-up doll, with my jersey on it, down into the hot dogs. I think you can figure out what that means without me having to explain it.”
“Yes,” he says, rushed. “Yes, I get it.” He writes for a little while longer then looks up at me again. “Do you know how she got your jersey?”
Lake’s face pops into view. It had to have been him. Unless she broke into the gym or the coach’s office. I run a hand down my face. “I can’t say for sure. Do you want me to say who I think got it for her regardless if he plays for you or not?”
His eyes turn hard. “Even more so if he plays for me, Dale.”
“Lake O’Brien,” I tell him. “I don’t have any proof, but he was right next to Rhonda as she did all this.”
He writes his name down on the pad. His expression didn’t change. He had to have thought it was Lake, too. It’s not as if Lake tried to keep quiet about how much he disliked me last year. There were times at practice, at tryouts, too. “I’ll be having a talk with Lake,” Coach Bradley says.
A sense of vindication swallows me, but at the same time, Coach Bradley isn’t as innocent in this as he’s trying to make himself out to be. He was there when everything was happening last year, and sometimes non action is just as bad as acting in the wrong way. He did nothing. I hope he does do something this year, but the jury is still out. I’m not going to hold my breath, that’s for sure.
Coach Bradley leans back in his office chair, clasping his hands behind his head. “I want you to stick close to Hayes this year. I think he— Well, he cares, Tessa, and I’m not sure he’s cared about anything in a long time.”
My gaze automatically narrows. It seems like he knows something about Hayes and me, but how the hell would he know? “Um, okay.”
He sits back upright immediately. “Alright, get back to class.”
I stand from the seat and head for the office door. Pulling it open, I pause when Coach Bradley calls out.
“If you want, I can ask Miss Lyons if you can do something for me during gym. It’s not like you can participate for at least the next month.”
“Okay, yeah,” I say. “That would be cool. Let me know.”
He nods once, then I turn to leave again. When I step ou
t into the hallway, my mind is on Hayes and how Coach Bradley seemed to know something about him…but also something about him and I. I didn’t realize Hayes and the coach were that close. Though, someone must have asked him to drive them to camp last year. I’d completely forgotten about that.
I go back to Gym and sit mindlessly until the minutes tick down toward the end of the day. I didn’t realize how much I would loathe doing nothing. When class finishes, I head out to my locker to grab my bag only to find Ryan there, casually leaning next to it.
I ignore him while I spin the lock, take my books out, and then pull my bag back up onto my shoulder.
“I thought I could drive you home,” Ryan says, almost softly. At least with the end-of-the-day rumpus laughter echoing around us, it seems like he’s speaking low.
“With what?” I ask.
“My Jeep,” he says.
I twist to face him, then cock my head without saying a word.
He sighs. “I had a talk with your dad. If you want, I’ll enlighten you on our way home.”
“To my house, you mean?”
His jaw sets. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go, Tess. Are you coming?”
I nod then. When I turn, he peels my bag off me and starts to walk away. At first, I glare at his back, but then it turns into a smile. Ryan’s holding my bag for me…at school. It’s kind of a statement. I hurry up next to him, and when we walk out, we find the other Ballers next to his new-to-him Jeep Wrangler. The sides are still off, the top is down. Sloan whistles when he sees us approach. “Someone’s moving up in the world.”
“I told him I’d pay him back,” Ryan growls.
Sloan laughs. “I’m talking about walking out of school with this girl, asshole.”
When I peek at Ryan, his cheeks are flaming, the red creeping up the side of his face and into his hairline. At least I know how he’s driving the Jeep now.
“Are we doing anything?” Alec asks. He’s facing me, his green eyes warm and inviting.
“Not us,” Ryan says. He must mean just me and him because he throws my bag into the back of the Jeep and then helps me into the passenger seat. “We have things to discuss.”
Sloan’s brows rise. “What about us?”
Ryan leans toward his friend’s ear and says something. I shrug at Alec who’s still looking at me. Then, I pass over Hayes who looks like he doesn’t want me out of his sight again after what happened at lunch.
“You’ll take the rest of these guys home?” Ryan asks Sloan when he backs away from him.
“Yeah, I got ‘em,” Sloan says. “Bye, Daddy’s Girl.”
Ryan hops up into the driver’s seat and starts it. It turns over easily, even though it’s much different than my Mustang. With a short wave, he pulls out of the school and points the car toward home. I’m still perturbed with him, but I don’t deny that I like the looks we get when I roll out of school in Ryan Linc’s new car. He ignores all the people who wave to him, and then starts to relax once we hit the streets of Rockport.
Despite the fact that he said he would tell me everything, he doesn’t say a word until he pulls up to my house. I wait in the seat, wondering if he’s going to say anything at all. It isn’t until I reach for my bag in the back that his hand slides over my arm. “I’m sorry about this morning. I was shocked. I didn’t know how to act, and I certainly didn’t mean to make anyone mad, but taking this car felt wrong.”
I stop moving, and then stare up at him. His gray eyes are like steel as he recounts things from his point of view that morning. “I’m sorry you felt that way. My dad just wanted to do something nice for you.”
“I know,” he says, annoyance lacing his words. “When he got back from taking you to school, we talked about it. I just told him it wasn’t right. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to explain. I don’t want you upset. I also don’t want to feel like I owe anyone anything.”
“I’m not upset.”
“He told me that, but it’s not you, really.” Ryan swallows. “I’m not used to my mom staying with one guy for very long, okay? It’s like a whirlwind of things lately, and I’m just wondering when the bottom is going to drop out. Soon, we’ll be moving out of this nice house and have to find another place to live because they’re selling our old house. Then, I’ll have to give the car back, too.”
I just stare at him. I don’t know what to say exactly. I know my dad had said before that Ryan didn’t have the best of childhoods. Maybe this was what he was talking about. Maybe his mom had other boyfriends before, and they just didn’t work out. That’s why he doesn’t want to accept anything.
“I’m sure my dad wouldn’t make you give the car back. It’s a gift.”
Ryan shakes his head. “It’s not a gift anymore. We worked out a payment plan. Something that I can afford now, and then I’ll be able to pay back more once I start making real money.”
I bite my lip as I look at him. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I’m not taking advantage of your father. Not because of him, and not because of you. If all this comes crumbling down, I want to still be on good terms with both of you despite what else might happen.”
“Why do you think—?”
“It’s happened before. Okay, Tessa?” His voice is hard, like slivers of ice. After a few moments, he melts. “Just trust me on this, okay? It’s better this way.”
I slide my hand over his arm. He tenses briefly. I almost peel my hands back, but I don’t. I leave them there, tension and all. I can’t keep doing this push and pull thing with him.
“I’m also sorry for not telling you about the party. I’m not fucking perfect, Tess. In fact, I’m the opposite. So, if you’re thinking now that I’ll be some ideal boyfriend, you’ve got it all wrong.”
My breath catches in my chest. “Boyfriend?”
“One of, I guess. Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
He turns to look at me, a challenge in his stare.
“Yes, that’s what we’re doing,” I say. My voice is firm. This is what I want. All of them.
He turns his hand around and interlaces our fingers. “I have to go help my mom with the house.”
“Okay. Avery gave us fucking homework, so I better go figure out how I’m going to do that with only one good arm.”
His other hand moves up to cup my face. “See you soon.”
“Yeah. See you soon.”
I pull my bag around from the front and then step out of the Jeep. Once I’m safely on the ground, I turn back toward him. “I think Coach Bradley is going to deal with the shit Rhonda pulled today.”
“Good,” Ryan says. “I saw Hayes talking to him afterward, so I’m not surprised.”
“Yeah, that’s weird, right? I didn’t know they were so close.”
Ryan laughs, then he gives me a crazy look. “Yeah, I mean they only live together, why would they be?”
My eyebrows shoot up.
Ryan’s face twists. “You knew that, right?”
“Oh yeah,” I say, trying to cover my tracks. “Of course I knew that. Why wouldn’t I?” I step back, my skin buzzing. “See you, Ryan.”
He waves, and then pulls around the loop to leave. My head’s spinning just like the tires on the Wrangler. How the fuck did I not know that Hayes lives with Coach Bradley? Are his parents there too? Where are his parents?
10
My eyes keep going out-of-focus as I stare at my homework. The words blur together. It’s difficult as hell to try to focus on anything. It’s part worry about doing all the homework in front of me with a jacked-up wrist, but I also have Hayes’s face swirling through my brain. I’m a little hurt he didn’t tell me he lived with Coach Bradley. I’m also feeling a lot stupid that I had no idea he lived with Coach. How could I not know?
I keep staring at my cell phone, trying to avoid it, but it’s like it’s calling my name. Fuck it. I throw my pen down then pick my cell phone up. Without second guessing, I bring up Hayes’s contact information and shoot him a
text. Can you come over?
I bite my nails as I wait for his response. I know it’s a tall order to ask. He doesn’t have a car. I know he’ll have to ride his bike. I’d go pick him up if I could, but I can’t drive right now either. I could probably go to town and back without anything going wrong, but my mother would be furious.
Finally, after what feels like a year has gone by, a text comes through. On my way.
I grin at that. Then, I feel terrible that I’m making him ride here. But I need to talk to him. If my mom can’t drive him home later, maybe Ryan can. I shut my textbook then head downstairs. Mom is in the pool, so I sit on a lounger, waiting for her to notice that I’m there. The lounger creaks and her eyes fly open. “Jeez, Tess,” she says, placing her hand over her heart. She takes a hard breath. “What are you doing?”
“Hayes is coming over. Is that okay?”
She smirks. “Hayes is already coming over, but now you’re asking permission?”
I shrug. “I guess so. You don’t care, do you?”
She shrugs in return. “No, I’m happy you have friends now. Will he stay for dinner?”
“Maybe. I didn’t ask him.”
“Ask him when he gets here. I was going to order Chinese, so I’ll order enough for him if he wants to stay.”
She asks me about my school day after that, and I, of course, leave out the fact that Rhonda Kyle was a complete vapid bitch to me. I tell her that I talked to Coach, and she listened intently to that. About fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rings. I get up and start to sprint through the house. “If you’re going to your room, keep the door open,” she yells after me.
“Mom,” I yell back, my voice disbelieving. I mean, not that the idea wouldn’t have crossed my mind, but I’m not sure I could even do anything with a guy with my mom downstairs. I don’t know. I’ve never been in that position before.
I whip the door open and Hayes Irving stands on the other side. His features are drawn in. He checks me as if he’s looking for the slightest bit of ailment I could have.