Page 14 of #Awestruck

“Things only got worse. People wrote cruel things on my locker. They egged our house almost every weekend. I couldn’t walk down the hallways without being bullied. My sister even got kicked off the cheerleading squad for beating up the captain after she said something awful to me.” It had surprised me that Aubrey’s popularity couldn’t shield me. It wasn’t only Evan who stopped coming to our house to hang out. Everyone stopped coming.

“And if it was bad at school, it was worse online—where there were no adults to step in if things got too out of control. Friends I’d had since elementary school ditched me. As far as they were concerned, I was toxic, and nobody wanted to be tainted by being seen with me. I started having panic attacks and went into a pretty dark depression. It was miserable. My parents had to pull me out of school, and I was homeschooled for the next couple of years.”

I was trying to tell the story matter-of-factly, and I was definitely downplaying how serious it had been, how much my family had worried about me, and how it had taken me a long time to feel like myself again.

“I did go back my senior year, mostly because I wanted to play basketball and get scouted. By then most of my tormentors had graduated, and I’d changed and grown up enough that it wasn’t an issue any longer.”

My plan had worked—I’d received a full ride to the University of Oregon to play basketball for them.

“Did he ever apologize?” Nia asked.

“No. Not while we were in school together. He did try to reach out after he graduated. Sent an email, which I never read. He also tried to message me on Facebook, but I wasn’t interested in his excuses.” And I’d never understood why he’d been so mean. If he hadn’t liked me, fine. If he’d thought I was too young for him, okay. I had thought that, at the very least, we were friends. Who treated their friends like that? Why humiliate me in front of the entire school?

And why stand by and say and do nothing while everyone tormented me?

Nia stood up, took off her long dangly earrings, and laid them on the table. She was muttering under her breath. “Mess with my girl like that? I don’t think so.”

“What are you doing?” I asked and got up to follow her as she left the kitchen. She picked up her purse. “Where are you going?”

“I’m driving out to the stadium, and I’m going to find Evan Dawson, and then I’m going to beat the living sh—”

“Whoa!” I held up both my hands. “While I very much appreciate the support, I don’t need you to fight my battles. I can handle Evan. And if you did something like that, it would get Malik in trouble.”

That seemed to cool her off slightly. “He can afford the fine. So can Evan.”

“True, but I can’t afford to scare off Evan entirely and lose my chance to get the inside scoop from the other women.” Like it or not, Evan was the team captain. He did hold a lot of sway with the other players and, by extension, their wives and girlfriends.

She let her purse drop back on the table. “Okay. Fine. But now I hope you do find somebody he’s slept with.”

“I’m pretty sure I will. But I have to stay calm and keep my wits about me. Because I don’t intend to just get mad. I intend to get Evan.”

CHAPTER FIVE

After spending the afternoon hanging out/strategizing with Nia, I headed home to my condo to have dinner. I reheated some poached salmon and wild rice and ate while I watched ISEN for a little while. Then I changed into my uniform for the game. My intramural team, the Portland Storm, was playing against our number-one rivals in the league, the Portland Pioneers. It wasn’t a playoff game, but the outcome would be a pretty good indication of who would win the league championship in the end.

The Pioneers proved to be worthy opponents, and the game was intense. The score was close, and we were up by only four points. I played center, being the tallest person on our team.

Verity had just passed me the ball, and I was about to pass it off to Eliza on my left when a commotion by the gym doors caught my attention.

Evan Dawson stood by the doorway, surrounded by a small crowd of people.

And I immediately tripped over my own feet and landed facedown on the court.

Pain seared through my skull as the ball rolled out of bounds, giving it to the Pioneers.

“You all right, Ashton?” Verity asked, coming over to help me get back on my feet. I took her outstretched hand.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I was not fine. My head was spinning not only because of my injury but also because of Evan’s unexpected appearance. What was he doing here?

“Come on, we’re still playing,” she said as she ran down the court to set up for defense. I did the same, trying to get my head back in the game. Of course the first thing that would happen when I saw Evan again was that I would fall face-first onto the hardwood floor. Sort of ruining my moment from last night where I’d been snarky and awesome and walked away like a boss. No, the universe couldn’t let me have that. Things had to be balanced by me totally humiliating myself.

And it wasn’t done screwing with me yet. Our coach called a timeout, asking me if I was okay because “you hit your head pretty hard. Everybody heard it.” I told her I was okay, and I was, right up until the moment one of the women seated on the bench directly in front of me sprayed her water bottle the wrong way. All over my shorts so it looked like I had peed myself.

“Sorry!” she said, offering me a towel.

Fan-freaking-tastic. I dabbed at my shorts, but it didn’t do me much good. It was like there was some universal conspiracy to make sure I suffered nothing but complete and total embarrassment whenever he was around.

Although I was supposed to be listening to my coach, instead I was watching Evan make his way from the door to the bleachers. It was a slow progression as he smiled and took selfies and signed autographs for everyone in the crowd who asked.

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