Play The Game Page 21

  When Brynn had asked me earlier if I was nervous, I lied and told her that I was perfectly excited to participate in the tournament. My sister was forthcoming with her own feelings for once, telling me that she had never felt this nervous over a basketball game. I sympathized with my younger sister because I understood that there was too much on her mind. For example, if she wasn’t involved with her personal relationships, then she was worried about her most recent basketball performances, and I was well-aware of the reasons behind those lackluster efforts. Thankfully, most of them would be left behind while we traveled for the tournament. But there was still Jonathan, the younger basketball player who had broken Brynn’s heart and spirit. My sister hated him with an anger that I could hardly fathom, but at least she had learned how to manage that rage.

  However, before we left school that morning, Alex had decided to accompany Brynn despite her reservations. They had shared a quiet conversation together, but as soon as Jonathan arrived, a possessive arm wrapped itself around my sister’s waist in defiance of her ex-boyfriend. Moreover, as I continued to observe the hostile interaction, I noticed that the vehement look in Alex’s eyes could rival the one burning across Brynn’s narrowed gaze.

  I shivered at the recollection, and I looked across the aisle because my sister was sitting alone, leaning against the window while studying the darkening countryside. I wanted my sister to address her problems and concerns before the tournament officially started. Because my sister had worked hard for a moment to shine at the right opportunity. There would be dozens of college recruiters at these games, and they would be looking for the best players to join their teams. After all, Brynn’s dream was to play basketball in college, and she was determined to impress everyone.

  “You’re thinking.” Ryder’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Are you not tired?”

  “Exhausted,” I said, unconsciously craving his additional warmth.

  “Just close your eyes,” Ryder said. “Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

  “It feels like it’ll never be enough,” I said because I wasn’t trying to hide anything from him. He had gotten awfully good at figuring me out.

  “What’s bothering you?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet. I suddenly registered just how silent the bus had become, and I wondered if everyone else was suffering in the same way.

  “There’s a lot,” I told him, and it was comforting when I realized that he cared so much. I wasn’t used to feeling that way, like I had finally found someone who was trustworthy without the risks of exposing your heart to another person.

  “You’re worried about everyone but yourself,” Ryder remarked with a sigh. “But that’s just how you are, so I’ll have to worry for you.”

  “I don’t want you to worry about me.”

  “If I don’t, then who will?” he asked.

  “I’ll only promise to take better care of myself after you promise to do the same.”

  Ryder frowned, and I hated the unpleasant crease between his eyes. “Am I not?”

  I closed my eyes as he had suggested. “You stayed up until three in the morning to finish an essay. You’re obviously not worried about yourself.”

  “You just pay too much attention,” Ryder grumbled. “You’re not supposed to notice these things.”

  “Then don’t have me stay the night,” I teased him.

  “I want you to stay. I sleep better with you,” he said. “I think it proves that I care for my well-being?”

  “That you’re willing to keep me around?”

  Ryder held back his laughter. “Fine, I’ll try to do better.”

  “Thank you for easing my conscience,” I said. “My eyes are closed now.”

  “Good,” he whispered back. “Try to sleep.”

  I tried for him because he was most definitely worth the effort.

  ***

  I wasn’t surprised when we were winning by halftime since the higher seeds always held the advantage in the first round of tournament play, but it was bewildering when Miranda remained so adamant about benching Brynn. My younger sister had not played a single minute during the first half of the competition. As a result, everyone else on the team was either talking about our success or how Sydney had seemingly replaced Brynn as the starting point guard.

  “Don’t listen to them,” Nicole told Brynn, turning her back against our other teammates, including Skyla. “They have no right to talk about you.”

  Unfortunately, it seemed like it was everyone on the team versus the Starr sisters and Aria Nicolai, and that sort of division was an enormous obstacle for a team looking to win a championship. But at least it didn’t interfere with our first tournament game. We beat our opponent and it left Miranda in good spirits, allowing our teammates the opportunity to return to the hotel instead of waiting for the conclusion of the men’s game. I took advantage of the opportunity, and I sent Brynn back to the hotel with Aria while Nicole and I stayed behind to support Beckett and Ryder. My sister deserved a quiet night, and since most of our team decided to watch the game, she would find peace away from our other team members.

  Thankfully, over the course of the following two weeks, things would start to turn around for both Brynn and for our team. After the first round, we managed to play through the next two games successfully, securing a spot in the championship finals against the number one team in the state. The men’s team had also found similar success and we were both set to travel to the capital for the state championship. Thereafter, Miranda had decided to give Brynn another chance, and my sister did what she was exceptionally good at accomplishing, which meant that she took an opportunity and made the most out of its potential. As a result, my sister had reclaimed her old spot as point guard, even if Sydney wasn’t as ecstatic to lose her brief moment of fame.

  But things could always change, and the day of the state championship was rapidly approaching. I felt the anticipation everywhere, especially when Miranda made us watch countless hours of our opponent’s game footage, and they were intimidating in every aspect. I also discovered that the men’s team would be playing an intimidating combination of competitors from my former private school. “I’ll get revenge for you,” Ryder said, and I never imagined that his words would carry any weight beyond that one comment.

  However, I got the call while I was still at home, quietly reading alone in my bedroom. It was Nicole on the other end, and I answered with a familiar lazy greeting. I was feeling tired again, and even reading something as mundane as my math textbook failed as a sedative. Actually, when I really considered those circumstances, I finally realized why her words didn’t exactly register at first. In fact, it required Nicole’s direct mention of Ryder’s unexpected trip to the hospital for the hazy fog surrounding my brain to completely fade away, leaving me feeling both shocked and agitated. Subsequently, I threw on whatever clothes I could find and took my mother’s car from the garage since Brynn had borrowed mine. I also drove in a weird kind of numbness, like a blanket had been set on my shoulders but its warmth was more oppressive than comforting.

  I was completely unsettled when I found Ryder sitting on a hospital bed, appearing relatively unscathed. A huge sigh of relief escaped me before I ran to his side and threw my arms around him, only realizing moments later that I had started crying when I felt the tears against his shirt sleeve. It suddenly made sense why Nicole looked so appalled when she saw me. “Why are you crying?” Ryder asked, voice slightly scratchy.

  “You’re okay?” I pulled away to look at him, wincing at the bruise surrounding his left eye.

  “I’m offended!” He tried for a smile. “You didn’t think that I could handle myself?”

  “What?” I asked and he picked up on my confusion.

  “Nicole didn’t tell you,” he stated somberly. “I got into a fight.”

  “A fight?” I questioned, shaking him a little from where I gripped tightly to his biceps. “What happened?”

  “I ran into your old boyfriend,” Ryder admitted whi
le refusing to meet my eyes. “We didn’t get along very well.”

  “This isn’t funny, Ryder,” I said sternly, even as I grew cold at the mention of Andrew.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head in disbelief, trying to grapple with the fact that Ryder had gotten into a fight with anyone, let alone the additional surprise that it was my previous boyfriend. “Did he provoke you?”

  Ryder frowned. “He said some disgusting things about you. I saw red and I don’t remember much after that.”

  “Where were you?”

  “I went to the store with Beckett and Nicole after practice. She pointed him out and he came over to us and asked Nicole about you. I told him that you were dating me and he asked what it was like to sleep with his leftovers.”

  I felt my hands unconsciously clench harder around his arms, a nasty sensation rising in the back of my throat. “So you attacked him?”

  “I couldn’t let him get away with the things that he did to you,” Ryder said, finally forcing himself to meet my eyes. “The things he said about you made me so angry, and I couldn’t control myself....I don’t regret it, even if you tell me that I was wrong.”

  “He needs to regret it,” a new voice said and I turned around at the sound of approaching footsteps. It was Beckett, and he glared at Ryder with narrowed eyes. “Coach suspended Ryder from playing in the championship game.”

  His revelation wrestled a strange sound from the sobs I was choking down while angry tears blinded my vision. “You got suspended?”

  Ryder looked worried, reaching for my hands and squeezing them tightly in his own. “Don’t worry about it, Rose.”

  “Don’t worry about it?” I repeated incredulously. “Ryder, this is your final semester, and college recruiters will be at that game! This is a big deal.”

  “Are you mad at me?” he continued as if choosing to ignore my concerns. Instead, he tugged me closer with a pleading look. “I promise you that everything will be fine.”

  I pulled my hands free from his, unable to process how calm he seemed despite the fact that he might have thrown away his future. And for what? A meaningless fight with a stupid boy who isn’t worth anything to me anymore? “Of course I’m mad at you! Is this really worth something that happened in the past?”

  “It’s preventing you from moving on,” Ryder tried to argue, reaching out for me again. “I could barely tolerate just being around him knowing what he did to you.”

  “But I was moving on, Ryder,” I said, startling us both. “I was moving on with you, and I’m learning how to accept what happened in the past. I’m trying to move on because I don’t want him to ruin my life anymore. Why can’t you understand how I feel? I never wanted my problems to interfere with your chances!”

  “I’m sorry, Rose!” He apologized again. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Ryder!” I hiccuped around his name, and I discouraged the ever-present desire to just fall to my knees and cry my eyes out in front of him. “The problem is that you didn’t think, but now look where you are! I never wanted any of this to happen.”

  Ryder appeared absolutely distraught, forehead creasing, lips trembling, and eyes watering at the corners. “Are you going to leave me?”

  “Why would you think that?” I sighed, and I reluctantly allowed him to take one of my hands. I watched as he cradled it tightly against his chest. “It won’t make any of this better.”

  Ryder nodded. “I’ll apologize to him.”

  “I’ll talk to your coach,” I said, ignoring the sudden strain on my arm.

  “Don’t worry about the suspension. I’ll take care of it.”

  I hesitated because I knew that the truth might allow his coach to sympathize with my situation. Yet, I still followed Ryder’s gaze to where he was watching Beckett who stood behind me. Beckett nodded in reassurance, and I let out another deep breath. “What if it isn’t enough?”

  “Trust me,” Ryder quietly whispered as if he was asking me to do something as simple as breathing.

  “I do trust you,” I told him, even though it was still sometimes hard to accept. But I also knew that it was time to start trusting again. Because it was nice to have that kind of reliability.

  Ryder smiled through the worried creases aging his handsome profile. “Do you forgive me?”

  I studied him, and I admired the look of affection in his gaze. “Of course.”

  Ryder’s shoulders dropped, and those marks of stress started to smooth out again. “I’ve learned my lesson, Rose. I know better than to worry you.”

  “Thank you,” I said quietly, hearing the faint sound of the door closing.

  “Stay with me for a little while?” he asked, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I completely surrendered to the look of love that he reserved for me.

  Nicole

  I wasn’t a stranger to the paradoxical combination of excitement and insecurity that surrounded tournament play, but the possibility of actually winning a tournament and becoming a champion was entirely foreign. The whole school had been talking about it all week, especially during the days leading up to the championship game. As for the players themselves, we were dealing with the mixed emotions surrounding the monumental opportunity. For example, I had not slept properly since the start of the spring semester, sometimes worrying in my bed for hours over possible outcomes. My insecurities often involved the most critical minutes of gameplay when the team might depend on Nicole Starr for the coveted final shot, only to turn against me when I was unsuccessful. In the end, I couldn't be the player who determined the game-winning buzzer beater because that player also experienced the most pressure. As such, I was quite content to be the guard who contributed more on defense rather than offense.

  In any case, when the day of the championship game finally arrived, I was quite displeased when my coach refused to allow my teammates the advantage of skipping classes leading up to our scheduled lunch period. I figured, at the very least, Miranda would allow her players an extra couple hours of sleep. After all, most of our performances would be determined by how well we managed ourselves during the long duration of time leading up to the dreaded tip-off. I mean, shouldn’t we take advantage of an opportunity to rest instead of concerning ourselves with school? The state championship was a highly regarded occasion, and the final outcome would follow you for the rest of your life, even if the game ended in defeat.

  Of course, schoolwork became Rose’s way of coping and my sister spent countless hours hunched over a textbook, her eyes scanning the pages without much comprehension. Brynn was the opposite: struggling to keep up with schoolwork while every instinct urged her to spend extra time at the gym. She and Aria would discuss plays like they were religion, debating about whether or not a zone defense would be more effective when it came to a team that dominated inside the paint.

  Actually, V found it amusing whenever Aria would argue so passionately in defense of her opinions. Because Aria never talked this much during our group discussions. An unusual collection of characters that, quite surreptitiously, encompassed the Student Council, the Starr sisters, and Aria Nicolai. It made for one hell of a surprise when it came to discerning the reactions of our classmates as they observed our newfound closeness.

  It also created an interesting dynamic between me and my sisters whenever we interacted with the other students. Our classmates were suddenly inclined to act passively, talking to us with a certain amount of respect that I certainly appreciated. However, I could tell that Brynn and Rose weren’t quite as accepting, and they complained that the students treated them less as friends and more like idols. Needless to say, I couldn’t share in this sentiment because I found it profoundly rewarding to receive this treatment from our peers, including a reluctant Sydney Black and Heidi Delacruz.

  They watched us from afar when I finally sat down to lunch before our scheduled dismissal for the game, and I found myself joined by Aria and our elected Student Council representatives. Of course, I understood
that V was only trying to appease Aria, but his girlfriend liked to spend time with me, and I felt honored to have been so graciously accepted. On the other hand, Alex and Chrystian claimed that they were only around because of V and Beckett, but I recognized their deceit when it came down to our more secret exchanges. Like when Alex would pull me aside next to the dining hall, asking me questions about my older sister. Or, when Chrystian would make room for himself at the end of the table and interrogate me over the text messages he had sent to Brynn. Subsequently, I took my role as mediator very seriously, never allowing either boy to gain some sort of advantage over the other. I also made sure that Brynn heard about every interaction, laughing each time she gave an eye roll in response.

  As for Beckett, well, he had started to hang around more often than usual. It was nice because he seemed more relaxed around me, often reaching under the table to wrap his hand around mine. He walked me to my classes, offered me a ride home after practice, and frequently invited me over to his house. I insisted that it was because he liked to have someone equally as entranced with his video game collection. But that didn’t account for the moments when Beckett would take the controller away from my hands and he was suddenly much more invested in how much oxygen I really needed to breathe.

  He hadn’t quite managed to put a label on our relationship, but I understood the place where he was coming from. If I had learned anything from my sisters, then it was how to be more patient. I would give Beckett all the time in the world because I was willing to wait for him. I also knew that he appreciated my efforts in the form of those familiar smiles he would give me in the hallways, or the looks we tended to exchange in the class we shared together during the mornings. In actuality, it was like we were a part of our own little drama, and on the day of the state championship, all the cast members were claiming their regular roles once again.