Page 28 of Game On

Alec’s jaw ticks. I know I’ve probably taken it too far because we’re in the middle of “trials”, but some things just need to be said. They need to know that I’m never going to forget what they’ve done to me. And not just with this shit here, in camp, too.

Alec looks at me so long that I start to shift from foot to foot. His eyes are so intense, they’re almost scraping my insides, like he’s intent on knowing what I’m thinking inside. If they knew what I was thinking inside, they’d make me run suicides. After a while, he just walks away. “See you on the bleachers,” he calls out over his shoulder.

Shawn helps Matt to his feet. Matt tests the weight on his legs then swipes his hand through his hair. “About those candy bars?”

Shawn and I laugh, then help Matt walk toward the football field. Maybe today won’t be so bad with these two on my side.

16

There’s actually an area roped off just for the basketball team in the stands.

After buying Matt his candy bars from the concession stand, we head up there, sitting in the last row designated for us. When I see Dawn strolling up the bleachers, I send her a quick text telling her I have to sit with the basketball team. She looks up from her screen, and when she sees me, she comes over. “Hey. You okay?”

I shrug. I can still feel the sting of everyone’s laughter from yesterday, but right now, I have basketball to focus on, so it helps. “I’ll be fine,” I tell her with a smile.

“I gave—”

“Chase my number?” I guess. “I figured that out. Thanks.”

She bites down on her lip. “What? You don’t like him?”

I can feel Matt and Shawn’s eyes on us. I trust them for now, but that doesn’t mean I want any basketball players to know my business. I’m sure the Ballers could make them talk and use this information to their own advantage. “Can I talk to you about it later?”

“Of course,” she says. She turns to look around at the bleachers that are filling up. “I’m going to sit over there. I think.”

My stomach drops. I wish I could sit with her but sitting here with them is a part of the trials or whatever. It’s non-negotiable. It sucks that she won’t have anyone to explain the game to her. Hopefully, she’ll be just as satisfied ogling David’s ass the entire game instead of learning about the actual game. I give her a small wave and she walks off. I watch her until she sits at the far end of the bleachers.

“Your friend’s pretty hot,” Matt says.

I turn toward him. “Don’t get your hopes up. I think she’s dating David Russell.”

“Yeah, I saw them at the dance together.”

My face flames. If they were at the dance, they no doubt saw my embarrassing picture. Matt realizes what territory he’s walked into, so he just turns away. At that moment, the rest of the Ballers and their female entourage are coming up the stand steps. A different girl is hanging off Ryan than I’ve noticed before. It’s not even Rhonda who helped decorate our float. I stare at them incredulously, but neither one of them seems bothered by the fact that his arm had just been around Rhonda. If that’s the way they act, I probably couldn’t even be a part of that even if I wanted to. I can’t imagine having them and then seeing them with another girl. Hell, it sucks just seeing them with other girls, and they don’t even like me.

Other members of the basketball team follow behind them up the steps. I haven’t spoken to any of them yet, but Matt and Shawn slap hands and say hey to a few of them. They glance over me, none of them even saying anything. It makes me want to cower.

Lake is last to come up. He has a very pretty brunette on his arm that sneers at me. She makes a several fist pumps toward her face, simulating sucking cock. I just look away. I have zero ground to stand on here. If I tell her to get fucked, I’m sure the Rock Ballers will be all over me. Instead of ignoring me like I’m ignoring them, Lake stops right in front of me. “You need to sit back a row.”

I look up, my jaw clenching. Sitting back a row will mean I’m not even in the basketball area, but whatever. I get up and start to move.

Shawn and Matt follow, but Lake says, “Just Dale. You two can stay.”

Matt and Shawn hover just over their seats. They’re stuck between not knowing if they should follow me to make sure we’re a team or to do what Lake says. I sit back one, my ass hitting the cold metal.

“I mean it,” Lake says, looking at them through slitted eyes. “Stay.”

I just stare straight ahead. The message is loud and clear. I’m not really with them, am I?

When the other two sit, Lake finds his seat next to the other Ballers. Ryan and Sloan turn, just casually observing my outsider status. Alec turns to look, but he faces forward again right afterward, his shoulders bunched. A girl has her head propped on his shoulder. She keeps cuddling into him like she’s trying to get him to put his arm around her, but he doesn’t. He just stares straight ahead. Hayes never turns, and he’s the only one who doesn’t have a girl by his side. He props one leg up on the seat in front of him and places his elbow on his knee. He stares out lazily like he doesn’t understand why he’s at the game but doesn’t make a move to leave either.

I notice a lot from here. Lake seems to be the only one who’s actually into the girl he’s with. The others are content for the girls to stroke their arms or cuddle into them. Lake, though, is making out with his until Ryan says something to him. They immediately pull away from one another, and then she’s like a wet blanket draped over him, whispering into his ear, smirking into his neck. I can say for certain that he’s the only one I don’t get jealous of, and I don’t think it has anything to do with his latest cruelty toward me. He just always seemed darker than the others. Even though they did the same things, he seemed to take pleasure in it more or sought out things to do. I can’t put my finger on it, but the others were mean for a different reason.

I just need to trust myself when I say that none of that matters when the outcome is the same.

Everyone gives me a wide berth from that point forward. Matt and Shawn don’t look around once. The family sitting to my right even has an empty space between me and them like they’ll catch my Baller outcast cooties. The marching band, dressed in blue with gold trim, marches out onto the field. As more and more people find seats in the stands, the tension rises around us. The game isn’t as well attended as the basketball games, but there are quite a few families and a lot of students have shown up.

To the right and down, I see my dad walk in. He always sits in the bottom row right where everyone walks in. Sloan elbows Ryan and juts his chin in the air toward my dad. Ryan looks over and sees him too, then nods.

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