Page 21 of Brick Wall
“Hey, man! Don’t blame me,” Ryan says while backing up and putting his hands out in an act of surrender, as if he’s the innocent victim here. “You can stay in there anddo itas long as you want.”
“The only thing I’mdoingis locking you in this closet instead,” Sebastian retorts.
“Hey, hey! Not necessary. Here.” Ryan opens the door all the way and gestures for us to come on out, which we don’t hesitate to do.
Sebastian grunts in reply and walks away in the wrong direction. I can’t blame him. I would do it, too, if I could.
Chapter Ten
Annie
“Anyone want to tell me why my afternoon schedule changed?”
“Too hot,” Ryan says simply, without even looking at me. He’s at his desk in the corner of the rec room, his makeshift office that my brothers hardly ever use.
“Too hot to play football in the summer at a summer sports camp?” I question again.
“Over ninety degrees today,” Ryan says, like the rest of the country doesn’t put up with hotter weather on a regular basis. I don’t bother telling my brother that, though. I would be wasting my breath at this point.
He still hasn’t made eye contact with me yet, and he continues working on his paperwork, or whatever he’s doing. I’m sure he’s pretending to be busy to avoid this conversation.
I decide to leave it. He thinks he’s so clever, cancelingsomeafternoon practices but not others. My afternoon practice of beach volleyball was not canceled, but the afternoon footballpractice conveniently was.
The football players have practice at a nearby high school to use their football field since there aren’t adequate facilities directly at the camp. We usually host easier sports on site, like volleyball and swimming, but they added football this year to the lineup.
It’s probably because my brothers realized they could partner with a pro if they added it. It worked out well. Football was the most requested sport for the camp this year. We also usually have more female campers than male, but the ratio is pretty split this year, which is awesome.
Because the football kids are off site so often, I haven’t seen Sebastian too much since Sunday, the day we got locked in the closet together. It’s now Wednesday, and I’ve only seen Sebastian a few times from a distance, and we never made eye contact once.
It’s probably the main reason my brother canceled practice this afternoon. There are only two more days of camp where Sebastian works here, and time is ticking for them to get us together.
Not that I want them to get us together. Pssshhh, of course not. Why would I want them to succeed in their matchmaking efforts? It would go to their heads too much.
I wouldn’t mind spending more time with Sebastian, though. I enjoy seeing him around the summer camp.
However, this makeshift schedule change is kind of a pain. I now have triple the kids I usually do for volleyball this afternoon. I’ll have the football coaches to assist, but I have way too many kids for beach volleyball, or any volleyball, really. I’ll need to improvise, and I have just the idea.
* **
I’m filling up water balloons by the water hose on the back of the building, facing the lake, when I hear footsteps approaching.
“Wow, you’re keeping busy over here,” that familiar deep voice says from behind me.Sebastian.
I turn around and notice his eyes drop to my hands, where I just pulled a balloon off the hose. “Oh, crap. Water balloons. I need to make sure I stay on your good side, huh?”
“Definitely. I have to get creative for this afternoon. Did you hear about the change?”
“I think?” he says with a question mark. “I thought we were playing volleyball this afternoon, but…” His sentence slowly drifts off.
“We are, but I have way too many kids for beach volleyball or even regular volleyball, so I need to improvise a little.”
“What do you need me to do?” he immediately asks with no hesitation. He looks down at his smartwatch and adds, “We have ten minutes before lunch is over.”
“Okay, great, if you can start filling up these water balloons here, I’ll tell you my plan.”
A few minutes later, several dozen middle-school-aged kids make their way over to the sand where four volleyball courts are lined up in a single row. A few of the football campers notice the water balloons and chant in excitement.
The campers are all clumped up, mainly football players to one side and volleyball players on the other, without interacting with each other.
