Crossing the Barrier (13 page)

“This is not good,” David said, next to him.

“No, it’s not,” Malakai agreed, his jaw clenched. He threw his hotstopper into his empty coffee cup and stood up, grabbing his keys and jacket.

“You’re angry.”

“You bet your arse I am. I understand they wanted to party, but they should have known better. They all knew we had a meeting this morning.”

“I think you should talk to the team.”

“What?!”

David glanced around the room, and Malakai did the same. Most of the players had long faces, and none of them were moving fast, even though they had been dismissed. David was right; the team needed some cheering up.

Malakai hesitated, then walked to the front. “Guys, listen up,” he said.

His teammates stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

“I know Wes and the others have been suspended, and I know it’s going to be hard on all of us,” Malakai began quietly.

He usually hated speaking in front of a group, but these were his fellow Warriors. He used his anger to find the right thing to say. Now that he was interim captain, he owed it to them.

“But let’s look at it this way. All those players have alternates, and you guys know these alternates are also good. Well, alternates, now is your time to show everyone what you can do,” he said, looking at the four boys in turn. “It’s your time to prove to everyone you should have been the ones on the starting string because you’re not second best, and your heart is in the game, not at some stupid party. It’s your time to show Coach he needs to reconsider his decision. You have to show us all you’re the best and make no mistake, we’ll help you. And together, as a team, we will win this game! We will show everybody we
are
Warriors and we
are
to be feared!”

“Yeah,” the players shouted, shaking their fists in the air and standing up.

“Warriors, what’s your profession?” Malakai called.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” the players answered.

Slapping one another on the back, they stood up and began to trickle out of the meeting room. Malakai was about to follow his teammates out of the door when David approached him with three of the alternates.

“Hey, Malakai, got a minute? You think we can practice tomorrow?”

“We’re not supposed to practice on Sundays.” Then, as he looked at the three alternates in front of him, one of which was the sophomore quarterback, Tristan, an idea came to him. “But nothing prevents us from holding a friendly game of seven on seven,” he said with a grin. “Can you find enough volunteers?”

“Oh, between all of us, I think we can have enough people,” David said, returning his grin. “I happen to know a player or two on one of the other high school varsity teams. Maybe we could have enough of them meet us. It would be fun to play against another school.”

“We would have to keep it on the down low,” Malakai said, becoming serious again. “I’m not sure Coach would appreciate it a whole lot if he was to find out.”

“Yeah, I agree on that one,” David said. “So, where and at what time?”

“Well, how about tomorrow after lunch, around one? Let’s not meet here though.”

“How about Beckendorff?” Tristan suggested, shifting from foot to foot.

The dirty-blond boy with brown eyes looked so nervous Malakai questioned whether he would be ready for the game the next weekend.

“Far enough away for no one to really know us but close enough for us to get to,” Malakai approved with a nod.

“Okay, let me call my cousin, and I’ll text you,” David said. “Oh! And let’s bring white shirts. Let’s have the other team figure out another color for themselves.”

“Why not our football jerseys?” Tristan asked.

“Incognito, remember?” Malakai said. “Beckendorff’s too close. But our yellow practice shirts should do. After all, we are who we are,” he added with a grin.

The others chuckled.

“I’ll ask some of our guys so we have enough players,” Tristan offered with a relieved smile.

“Yeah,” David agreed. “Make sure they can keep it quiet.”

Their plans set, Malakai left the meeting room and made his way to his jeep. He looked toward the empty parking lot where Lily usually practiced with the band and wondered what she was doing that morning. Thinking of her made him sigh. His simple desire to want to know her had created all sorts of issues for him, all of which had been brought on by one person.

Zoe.

As he got to his jeep, he couldn’t help but think about Wes too. His friend had changed so much Malakai suspected he was in way over his head with Zoe, and she was the bad influence behind his deteriorating behavior.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his keys and unlocked the door.

“Malakai?”

Malakai turned around, startled. “Wes, what are you doing here?”

“I…” Wes looked at the ground. “I think I screwed up.”

“You think?!” Malakai said, his teeth clenched. “What’s wrong with you, Wes? You would never ever have done something so incredibly stupid last year. Now you’re paying for it, and so are we.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, you better be. How did you get yourself into such a mess anyway?”

“Well, Zoe had these shots–” he began.

“Zoe? Zoe again? Wes, you’ve changed so much I don’t recognize you anymore. Look at what she’s made you do. You drink. You smoke. You listen to what she tells you when she decides people aren’t good enough for you, and you don’t give a damn about what it does to people around you but Zoe.

“Get your act together, Wes, and get it quick. This week, you’re hurting the team, but if you don’t get your head in the game, you’ll be hurting your chance to play in college.”

At that, Wes looked up at him. “You think?”

“No. I’m sure. If you do this again, Coach will kick you off the team. What do you think the colleges will do then? Is that what you want?”

For his only response, Wes shook his head, his eyes fixed on the ground between them.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get groceries.” With that, Malakai turned around and climbed into his jeep.

Chapter Twenty-Five

LILY

After spending the
weekend at Sandra’s trying to work on her homework and talking at length to her best friend about Malakai and his dating Andrea, Lily had made her way to school wishing all of it weren’t true.

But it was.

She had seen them kiss with her own eyes.

She had seen them talk after the game.

And it hurt.

A lot.

She had sat away from him during the last two days because being so close hurt her more than being away. And being away was like an open, festering wound to her soul. She craved his presence so much all she wanted to do was cry, like she had done at Sandra’s the previous night.

By lunchtime, her need had turned her stomach into a ball, and her head was pounding as if the school were full of drummers playing a discordant beat. All she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed for the remainder of the week.

But she had to be in school.

She wasn’t the first person to suffer a broken heart, and she would survive. Besides, she wasn’t even dating Malakai, only liking him too much for her own good.

As Lily made her way to the cafeteria to get lunch, she became less and less in control of her nerves. The emotions of the few students in the corridors were assaulting her already raw mind, and more than once, she had to stop and lean on the wall so she wouldn’t collapse. Her head hurt something fierce from the effort of pushing all these feelings away, and she was afraid she would pass out. She wished with all her heart Sandra was there, but she had a group assignment to complete and couldn’t meet her.

She was still a few yards away from the cafeteria when the feelings slammed into her like a tidal wave. She took a step back and leaned against the wall, her hands on her thighs, pushing with all her might against the assault. But it was no use.

Keeping all of it at bay was like trying to hold a wave with her bare hands. She should have known better than to believe she could manage the cafeteria without Sandra. She hadn’t been able to do it on a good day. What had possessed her to believe she could do it now that her heart was bleeding so badly?

“Lily, are you okay?” David asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

It was her luck he happened by just as she was about to collapse.

“No,” she answered, David’s contact finally allowing her to get her mind under control.

“What’s wrong?”

Brotherly concerns washed over her, and she took comfort in the feeling.

“Too much going on,” she answered. “Too much, too soon.”

“You’re not making sense,” he said, pulling away.

The moment he did, Lily was hit again. Quickly, she grabbed for his hand.

“Oh! Emotion overload,” he said, slowly nodding.

A flash of anger accompanied his understanding, which surprised Lily. She wondered what had him so worked up but didn’t ask. It was one of those times when it was better for her to let him have his privacy.

“I need to get lunch,” she said. “Can you…can you come with me?”

“Sure.”

Lily pulled from the wall and, with David’s hand on the small of her back, made her way on shaky legs into the cafeteria. At the food counter, she quickly took a few fruits, a salad, and a container of milk, and made it to the cashier, all the while shadowed by David, his hand subtly touching her at all times. She was so grateful she could have cried.

Once she paid, they walked to the hallway. A few yards past the door, Lily turned to David. “Thank you,” she said and gave him a hug. “You’re the best.”

Something Lily couldn’t identify was mingled with his brotherly concern. She also felt a lingering anger she could not explain.

“I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Where’s my sister?” he asked, with a raised eyebrow. “She’s always with you at lunch.”

“She had to finish a group assignment at the library.”

“Want me to come with you then?”

“Nah. I should be okay now.”

“Okay, well, if you need my help again, text me, okay? You know I’m here for you.”

“Okay.”

Lily watched him walk away, wondering again why he was so angry.

Chapter Twenty-Six

MALAKAI

“Oh! Isn’t that
priceless,” Zoe said, gleeful about something that was going on behind Malakai’s back.

He was sitting at his usual lunch table with a few other players, and they had been talking about the last game, the wrapping from his BLT long forgotten on the table in front of him, when Zoe interrupted him by tapping his shoulder.

“She definitely likes to play the field, in every sense of the word.”

Malakai followed Zoe’s glance; David was escorting Lily to the serving line. What struck Malakai the most was the way David was continuously touching her, his hand on her lower back, her arm, or her shoulder.

That was the way Malakai wanted to touch her. And he saw red.

He would have stood up and pounded on the center, but he remembered who he was with and swallowed his jealousy. Zoe was still behind him, entirely too satisfied, and Malakai couldn’t let her walk away without a response. Doing so would be the equivalent of losing face, and he would have none of that with this girl, especially not with his teammates around, teammates who were now looking at him with different degrees of confusion. Zoe would pounce on something like that like a jackal, and she would never let him live it down.

“David’s like a brother to her,” he said, sporting a smile he hoped looked sincere.

“Well, brother or not, they do look rather cozy,” Zoe said with a smirk.

Malakai decided he had made his point and returned to the conversation with his friends.

“You know her?” Luis asked. “She’s cute.”

“Yeah. I bumped into her at the beginning of the year,” he answered before turning the conversation back to their last practice.

Once the conversation was going again, Malakai glanced toward Lily. She was paying, David by her side, still touching her. Malakai clenched his fists under the table and felt like someone had punched him in the chest.

Maybe David was not the friend Malakai had believed him to be after all.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

MALAKAI

Practice later that
afternoon had calmed Malakai’s temper only to a degree. He had been the last one off the field, working himself as hard as he could, and the last one in the showers. He was zipping his bag when the door to the locker room burst open. David walked in, and Malakai ground his teeth at the memory of the center walking into the cafeteria with Lily.

The way he had been touching her…