Page 70 of Foul Line

“Did he hurt you?” Sloan whispers in my ear.

I shake my head. My fingers absentmindedly trace my wrist though. With Jacquin, all I saw was a scared, grieving boy with misplaced affections. No, he shouldn’t have done that, but my heart aches for his loss. To be so young and to have felt that much pain already, what a terrible burden.

Shortly after that, Lake and River leave. Surprisingly, Ryan doesn’t follow. He stays there, and when my father calls me in to give him my side of the story, Ryan goes with me. It’s under the pretense that he walked in on things, too, but he stays so close to me that I also know he’s there for my support.

At the end of the day, both Alec and Jacquin are leaving camp. I fight hard for both of them. I try telling my father it’s all a misunderstanding. However, my father is steadfast. The look he gives Sellers tells me he wants to take him down himself. I didn’t even have to reiterate that part. Jacquin told him the whole thing. He copped to it right away. From what Alec told me afterward, Jacquin feels terrible.

The only one who has no remorse about anything is Alec. He’s glad he stood up for me. He’s glad everything is out in the open about baseball now. Seeing the Ballers take this in is almost as if they’ve lost one of their appendages though. It’s hitting them hard.

When Alec’s mother and sister show up to pick him up, I help him take his things to their car. I know she’s spoken with my father already, but I don’t want her to be mad at Alec for this. “I’m so sorry,” I tell her as soon as we get there, ignoring Roberta’s frantic waves from the backseat.

She tilts her head and a soft smile plays on her lips. “I’ve spoken to my son and to your father, no one blames you, and they shouldn’t. I don’t condone violence, and I’m not mad at your dad for sticking to his policy on this.” She reaches up and puts her hand on the back of Alec’s neck, smiling fondly at him. “But he’s a good boy. I’m proud of him.”

Emotion crawls up my throat. It’s then I realize I didn’t even thank him. Everything settles over my shoulders in that moment. Alec’s leaving. I won’t see him for at least another two weeks, and when I get back, he’ll only have a few short days until he’s busy with baseball. His mom seems to sense we need to say goodbye because she takes the bag I carried up here and turns to put it in the trunk. I turn to Alec. “I’m so sorry.”

He pulls his fingers through my hair. “Stop saying that. I’m only sorry to not be living so close to you for the next two weeks.”

“You should rest,” I tell him, my voice rising. “Before baseball. Let your body relax. You don’t need the strain.”

He nods. “Look out for the guys, okay? Call me if anything happens?”

I can tell he’s worried about their relationship, too. He’s happy to have it out, but he didn’t tell everyone right away for this very same reason. What would it mean for their friendship if they all weren’t defined as basketball players anymore?

His fingers trace over the line of my jaw. “Bye, Tessa.”

He leans down, his lips a whisper over mine that makes my heart melt. It’s parent appropriate, but also deliciously teasing that I know I’ll be thinking about it from now until the time I get to see him again.

A loud cry comes from the backseat. “Are you my brother’s girlfriend?”

“Roberta,” Mrs. Christopoulos chastises.

“They just kissed!”

Alec and I laugh. He rests his forehead on mine. “Bye, Babe.”

As if I could swoon anymore. “Bye, Alec. See you soon.”

He steps away, opening the passenger side door. “Work hard. Do your best. Let me know what happens.”

I step back and nod. I finally wave to Roberta who’s going crazy in the backseat. Alec’s mom waves at me after she shuts the trunk. “Goodbye, Tessa.” She looks so pleased it makes my cheeks warm.

As she backs out of the space and drives away, I still hear Roberta demanding to know what’s going on. Their car disappears, and I turn around, heading straight back to my cabin for the night.

33

Dawn finally gets the opportunity to come visit me, so that next Saturday, we spend the day in the nearest town doing everything the small town offers, which isn’t much. We get ice cream, swim at a local beach, and just walk around the town until she has to leave. I’m glad I’ve gotten to spend time with her and talk everything out that’s been happening in person instead of on the phone. The guys wanted to come with us, but I told them no. I don’t think Dawn is ready to just accept the fact that the guys, who were so mean to me, are now wanting to be with me. Of course, if they keep doing things like Alec did, she’s more likely to come around. Even she looked impressed when I told her that he got kicked out of camp for intervening on my behalf.

Another coach takes over our morning runs from now on since Sellers is gone. My dad doesn’t talk about it much only to make sure that I’m doing okay. I think it’s guilt for liking the idea of Jacquin and I together. My dad takes over the shooting guard training. It’s probably the only thing that keeps me safe from the O’Brien bastards for the rest of camp. It feels natural to have my dad coaching me from the sidelines. He can’t vote in the Shooting Guard MVP race, so this feels like it’s the best idea out of everything to have him coach, and no one can say that he’s not doing the same for Lake and River. He gets on them as much as he gets on me. By the time we leave our position specific trainings, we’re all dead.

Other coaches come by to observe. They switch off between coaching and observing, so they can give us our ranks. Lake and I are still neck and neck. In fact, the last week before we’re about to leave, they rank us the same. We both occupy the same spot at the top of the Shooting Guard leaderboard. One of the other coaches explains that this is going to be the toughest decision for them as we’re both high-caliber players.

I don’t like it.

I don’t want to be on the same line as Lake O’Brien. I want to be kicking his ass. So, for that next week leading to the reveal, I throw myself into training even more. I’m up at night shooting. I talk Hayes into playing defense on me as I try to make shots. He takes it as seriously as I want him to. If I would’ve asked Sloan, he would’ve tried to turn it into a makeout session, but Hayes doesn’t. He plays hard with me, making sure I know he doesn’t give the shot up to me. I have to earn it. With our size difference, he’s one of the most difficult guys I’ve had to play against, but that’s exactly the way I want it.

Ryan is distant for the last week. I think he’s blaming himself for not realizing that Alec wasn’t happy with basketball. He’s still their ringleader after all. He believes he should’ve noticed. He’s also watching Lake like he might just suddenly throw pills back at all times. Lake’s more agitated than he’s been lately, but he seems to be putting it to good use on the court instead of outside the court. For the last week, they break us into three separate teams, and we all play one another in a competition type format. One of the coaches takes Alec’s spot, and for someone who’s aged, no one would even know it. He’s really good. The teams are all really good. I just happen to end up on Sloan’s team, which allows him to be a little more friendly than I would like when we’re doing basketball related things. My dad is eyeing us, and I know he must have questions about how he’s seen me with Hayes, how Alec punched someone for me, and now Sloan who keeps touching my lower back in between plays, letting his hand linger there. Even though we’re in the middle of something important, my focus is on his hand and the sparks he ignites in me. He knows how much it gets to me, so when I turn toward him with a look, he just smiles and winks.

Like he said, nothing else has come out about his father’s affair. Hayes hasn’t blown up and stalked off since that night with the lacrosse players. Alec, I talk to on the phone every couple nights when I’m not too busy with basketball. It sounds like he’s loving the time off he’s getting. He hasn’t had a summer off in years. Ryan, apart from eyeing Lake and catching my eye, is quiet. He’s so damn good, though. I’m trying my best, and I have no idea if I’m going to be able to take him for Overall MVP. It would be a dream come true. This being our last year able to go to camp here, it’s getting crunch time, and by the end of the week, we’re all feeling it. The guys in the power forward position even have a shot at their MVP now with Alec gone. Everyone is on edge. It’s always like this at the end of every camp. There are so many hopes and dreams up in the air. So many attainable goals, but no one knows what will happen. The scholarship funds are dangled in front of our faces, and everyone has their competitive edge to want to win it. Even River, who has to know he doesn’t have a shot, has stepped up his game in the last week. It’s encouraging, and it’s exactly what I like about coming to camp every year. Everyone who’s invited here is good, but you elevate yourself to play among those better than you. I don’t think the Ballers—or myself—would be half as good as we are now if it weren’t for my dad.

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