I take a slow lap around the roof. From up here, boring Shafer University is surprisingly pretty in the dark, its brick buildings, white columns, and trees in shades of red and gold carved out in warm lights. When I circle back to Reeve, he’s standing in the corner, looking southward to the football stadium. From here we can see directly onto the field.
“Ah, is this where you come to fantasize about past and future football glories?”
“Those aren’t fantasies,” he boasts, but I can see his heart’s not in it.
I follow his unmoving gaze to the stadium, but I can’t see anything special there, just the empty field, green and perfectly manicured withShaferspelled out in red and white at each endzone. Still, there’s a seriousness in his eyes that makes me feel guilty for giving him a hard time about a place that clearly has some kind of meaning for him.
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly. “It is kinda pretty up here.”
“Nah, you’re okay. It’s not that interesting. I guess I just like the perspective from here.” His voice has changed from its usual loud presumptuousness to a low, smooth tone that seems perfectly in tune with the dark night air.
“Is that all?”
He doesn’t look at me, but his expression changes, like he’s hearing me for the first time since we left our study table. “You want to hear about it? You might think I’m nuts after I tell you.”
“Don’t worry, I already do. Your level of self-confidence simply doesn’t happen among the mentally stable.”
“Last year there was a guy on this roof watching me. He totally changed my game.”
My eyebrows go up. “Do go on.”
“I was on the field right as the game started. I happen to look this way and there he is—some dude on the roof waving a Shafer flag. He was there right until the fourth quarter, cheering us on, and we crushed that team. He was there for most of the home games after that, and we smoked every one of them.”
“So Flag Dude is your good-luck charm. And you come here to do what, commune with his spirit?”
“It took me a while to figure out it was the library roof he was on. From down there, the other buildings block the view. But, yeah, I found the spot. I don’t know what I expected to find up here, but I like standing in his place and seeing what he sees down on the field.”
“Not to jinx this guy and his magical flag, but don’t you guys pretty much crush all the teams you play? You’re a top-ranked team; even I know that.”
“Most, not all, but it’s not just that we won. It’s how I played. I was on fire.”
“I don’t get it. You don’t seem like the type to give credit to someone else for your victories, especially not some weird guy on a roof.”
Reeve looks at me, uncertainty in his eyes. I give him a small smile, not sure what I’m trying to encourage except maybe his confidence in me. “Okay, yeah,” he relents. “There’s something else. But this might actually make me nuts, so no running off and telling my stories to Lenni or your other friends.”
I feel myself softening, touched by the fact that he trusts me with a secret.
“When I first saw the guy standing up here, I thought it was my dad.” He gives me a grim look, like he’s just dropped a bombshell in my lap, but I don’t see the significance.
“Oh. Well, was it?”
“No chance. I mean, I knew after five seconds it couldn’t be him, but before I could process it, that’s where my mind went. Boom: Dad.” He sees my confusion and adds, “It wasn’t him. He’s long gone.”
“Oh, Reeve. Is he ... I mean, he passed away?”
“Nah, he’s still kicking. I haven’t seen him since I was four, though. Believe me, my football games aren’t on his radar.”
Ouch. My heart.
I guess the look on my face says it all, because he nods. “Yeah, it sucks. But then, so does he. Not a huge loss.”
“Well, someone raised you right.”
He cocks his head and leans closer to me. I catch the cool, marine scent of his skin as a breeze moves around us. “Excuse me? Jade Kelly, is that you?”
I laugh. “Your mother obviously went a little too hard at building your self-esteem, but she got some things right.”
“Which ones?”
