Alvarez was a real Ian Eagle today. Hamming it up and making his voice super dramatic and announcer-like. “And here we have our illustrious Lady Stallions volleyballteeaaaaammm. With a stellar 11 and 3 record. Let’s give ’em a roooouuuuund of applause.”
The gym erupted in cheers as our girls sauntered, galloped, and danced onto the floor from the bleachers.
“And ain’t no way Principal Thornbury could’ve known when she first arrived from her redneck roots in Laramie Wy-o-ming that she’d be wrrrrrangled into coaching our girls vol-ley-baaaalllll team? Let’s give it up for Prrrrincipal Slash Coach Thornburrrrry.” Yes, he said the word slash. Clearly, he was going with an elongated R theme. The entire gym roared and stomped their feet on the bleachers.
Christy’s lips quirked. She laughed and stole his mic. “I think what you meant to say was my rrrrrefined rrrrrroots, not rrrrrredneck.” She accentuated the rrrr sound of each word. Another eruption of laughter. “Where I come from—seventy-two-hundred feet in elevation, thankyouverymuch—the air is crisp and clean, the men never tease an upstanding lady, no one has to be asked to repeat what they’re saying, and ‘ain’t’ is a swear word. Go Pokes!” She held her arms up in a W, fists clenched, for the University of Wyoming.
Silas held his arms up, mirroring her in Pokes solidarity. The students roared at that.
“All right, all right!” Alvarez held a hand up, grinning. Everyone quieted down. “Let’s look at some highlights of our Lady Stallions!”
The lights lowered for the third time.
They’d done this for every team so far. Just a one-minute clip. We’d already sat through golf and football. Cross country was up after us. Alvarez pressed a button on the remote and a video began playing on a large portable screen set up at the south end of the gym.
The first was a snippet of Ming’s killer serve, scoring an ace. Everyone cheered. Next was Anna’s first kill, the one where her eyes were closed. Laughter all around. Anna hid behind Brooklyn which made everyone laugh harder.
And then there was a second of gray static like the feed was broken. It glitched and then started going again. It took a millisecond to realize we were no longer watching volleyball highlights.
There was a shot of Christy and Silas, standing on the top of a Wyoming mountain, in hiking gear, his arms around her middle, his chin resting on the top of her head. The room went quiet for a split second until it broke out in guffaws and catcalls. A surge of jealousy and a momentary urge to tackle my brother ripped through me. Knee-jerk reaction. I shoved it back down, trying to figure out what to do. But then the screen changed and I couldn’t force myself to stop watching.
This picture was the two of them at a Pokes football game, matching cowboy hats, bright yellow-orange Pokes shirts, beers in one hand and the other arm punched to the air, fists balled, together forming a W, just like the one they’d both made only moments earlier. Then the pictures started flashing almost faster than my mind could comprehend. Christy and Silas kissing on a porch swing. The two of them asleep on a blanket on a lawn, legs and arms tangled around each other. A professional picture of her entire family at their ranch, zooming in on her and Silas at the end, his arm hooked around her waist.
I felt like I was going to puke.
The students were entranced, jaws open, eyes wide. A few had their phones out, recording. Christy was curling in on herself, panic taking over her face, frozen in place.
I torpedoed toward the screen, no idea what I was going to do, but I couldn’t stand there doing nothing. Silas was gone. Only Lemon remained at the door, composed as usual but fingers pressed against her lips.
Just as I reached the screen one last picture appeared.And all my worst nightmares came true. Me shirtless, leaning into Christy, her fingers spread wide over my upper back, neck bared. It looked like I was sucking her blood, full-on vampire style, and she was one hundred percent in compliance. It wasn’t the same picture as the flyers, but it was the same kiss.
Just as my hand was about to rip the screen from its stand, the video died.
One breathless beat of pin-drop silence and then the gym exploded with laughter, utters of shock, catcalls, and shouts of glee. I turned back for Christy but she was already to me, tears streaming down her face. I pulled her under my arm and escorted her out of the gym. Lemon followed us through the door and into the breezeway.
Christy turned to me, and I let her bury her face in my chest. Lemon, who was undoubtedly the classiest and least jealous woman on the planet, rubbed circles on her back. She and I shared a look. Anna flew through the door, tears in her eyes. Blue was right behind her. She flung herself into Lemon’s arms.
Before the door shut all the way, I heard Alvarez make a lame joke asking if anyone else’s eyes were burning. Idiot. The door snapped shut but through its window, I saw Mrs. Yancy, my old guidance counselor, yank the mic from his hands and silence him with a glare. I always did like that woman.
Silas came jogging up, a scorch in his expression, a slew of expletives burst rapid fire out of his mouth. He called Amber a name she more than deserved. Didn’t even care that Anna and Blue heard.
“Christy?” he said. “Did you disclose our relationship when they hired you?”
She stepped out of my arms and faced him. “No. We weren’t together. You weren’t even an employee yet. The paperwork only asked for people we’re related to who wereemployed by the school district.” She pressed a hand to her brow. “Did you?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Had a long conversation with the superintendent about it. Hopefully, that will be enough.”
“What about the rest?” I asked, wondering what that shirtless picture was going to do to Christy’s career.
He shook his head, lips clamped. “I have no idea. It won’t be good though.” Then he turned to Lemon. “I’m so sorry, babe.” She said nothing, just wrapped her arms around his waist. He pressed a kiss to the top of her red hair.
Then Anna asked the questions we should have. “How did they get those pictures? And how did they tap into the feed? It comes from the AV room right?”
Silas nodded. That’s where he’d just come from. He must’ve taken off the second he realized what the first picture was.
I turned to Christy. “You took all your pictures of Silas off your social media, right?”
Her hands went to her cheeks. “Yeah. As soon as we broke up. But some of those weren’t evenmypictures.”
