Page 41 of Reckless At Raleigh High
“You don’t need to waste your energy on me, okay. I’m sure you have other things to worry about. I’ve got my shit handled.”
“That why you were fighting with the other new kid last practice?” she asks. “Because you’ve got your shit handled?”
“I was fighting with him because he’sannoying.” Goddamnit. I shouldn’t have to tell her this. If she’s so fucking observant, then she must have noticed that all by herself.
The woman behind the desk laughs softly under her breath. “I’m not trying to interfere in your life, Alex. But it’s my job to help you kids out when I can, right?”
“No. It’s your job to teach us how to play football.”
Coach Foley beams at me, rocking back in her chair. “Excellent. That’s exactly what I’m doing. You’re team captain until I say otherwise. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some things to take care before we kick things off, and we’re both running out of time.”
“I don’t think you’re hearing me—”
“I don’t think you’re hearingme, Mr. Moretti. This is non-negotiable. Principal Darhower wants you booted from Raleigh. You’re an annoying reminder that Jim’s star pupil turned out to be an ugly shit stain on the school’s shining reputation. If he could get rid of Silver, don’t think for a second he wouldn’t. Butshe’sa model student. Now people know what she’s been through, folk in this town would revolt if she was suddenly no longer welcome here. Darhower’s hands are tied. You, however…you’re an unknown entity, covered in tattoos, and youshotsomeone for Christ’s sake.”
“Jake! I shot Jake because he was about tohang—”
“You think any of that shit matters? Really? You could have shot Pol fucking Pot and it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference. One foot wrong and your days at Raleigh High come to an abrupt end. That’s just how it is. So, you get to be captain of the Rebels, and you get to shine on the field and in the classroom, and you get to make me look good by doing it, with a smile on that handsome face of yours. Whether you meant to or not, you ousted the last king of Raleigh High. Now you’ve gotta fill his shoes, or you’ve got to start thinking about all of the amazing jobs you’ll be eligible for once you’ve dropped out and gotten a fucking GED instead of graduating.Now go and put that uniform on.”
It feels like I’m walking to the gallows when I enter the gym. Twenty-eight pairs of eyes bore into me, some of them resentful, some of them confused, some of them outright incredulous. I wanted to keep myself occupied when I decided to rejoin the team. Keeping my mind busy meant less time for me to brood and stew over Ben. I wasn’t looking for this kind of responsibility, though. Most of the team worshipped Jake like he was a god amongst men. They rallied around him, spending the night outside the hospital, boycotting his arrest after he tried to kill Silver. I put a bullet in their glorious leader, and not a single one of them looks impressed by the fact that I’ve now stolen his role as team captain.
Well, actually that’s not true.Oneplayer seems amused by this bizarre turn of events.
“Hope you’ve got health insurance, bro,” Zander says, slapping me roughly on the back. “I’m gonna say the odds of you making it out of this practice session alive are pretty low.”
Zander’s been really, really fucking wrong in the past. He was just about as wrong as he could be when he made the call not to tell me about his connection to my father. This time, though, it kinda looks like he might be right.
He grins his frustrating grin at me through the grill of his helmet. “After you’ve been such an outrageous prick, I should let the wolves have at you, Moretti. Don’t sweat it. though. I got your back.”
20
SILVER
“Oh my god! What happened to your face?”
The library’s closed at lunch for some kind of faculty meeting, so I’ve reluctantly had to settle on eating in the cafeteria. I nearly topple off my chair when I spot Alex walking across the loud cafeteria with a loaded tray in his hand and a vivid, massive purple bruise developing on his jaw.
He grimaces as he sets down his tray on the table, seating himself opposite me. Before he can explain how he ended up with such a huge welt on the side of his face, Zander arrives dressed in a ridiculous preppy sweater and chinos, brandishing a tray of his own. He sets it down next to Alex’s, and my jaw drops even lower when I see the black eye and the split liphe’ssporting. “The football team tried to dethrone their new ruler,” he says, his tone way too chipper given that his lower lip is still oozing blood. “They don’t seem to like him for some reason,” he adds. “God knows why.”
I drop my plastic fork, slumping back into my chair. Alex’s expression confirms Zander’s outlandish comment—yes, he really has been made captain of the football team. “You’vegotto be kidding me.”
“Coach Foley is insane.” Alex glares down at the enormous mountain of food in front of him. “She said it was the only way I was getting accepted into college. Clearly, she wants me dead, though.”
Wow.
Just…wow.
“Hey, Silver. Alex. New guy, whoever you are. Mind if I sit with you?” Suddenly Halliday’s standing next to me, clasping a brown paper bag in her hands, looking a little anxious as she eyes the open space on the bench next to me. A moment of uncomfortable silence hangs in the air where I just stare up at her, so stunned that my brain ceases to function. When that moment because too uncomfortable to bear, I snap out of my daze and shunt over on the bench, making room for her. “Oh. Uhhh. Sure. Yeah. Why not.”
She exhales, her shoulders relaxing, and I realize that she was nervous. She thought I was going to say no. “Cool. Thanks.” She sits, unwrapping her lunch, and Alex’s dark gaze punches holes in the side of her face the entire time.
I kick him under the table. When he looks at me, my meaningful stare passes along a stern message:Hey. Be nice.
“It’s okay. You don’t need to rein him in,” Halliday says quietly.
Damn it. I didn’t think I was being that obvious.
“I was…fuckinghorribleto you, Silver.” Halliday struggles with the words. Her guilt feels like a fifth member of the group, looming over our table, demanding all of the space and leaving none for the rest of us. “I was a bad person. I know that. Things should never have gone the way they did. Kacey was…well, she was Kacey. And I was so selfish. I let myself fear her more than I loved you, and that was…that was…” Her eyes are shining, and the end of her nose has gone pink. I know from experience that it only ever does that when she’s about to cry.
