The bell rings.
"See you at lunch?" she asks, smiling at me.
"Yeah. See you then."
Jackson was right. Rich people don't want to get involved. They want their perfect lives to remain perfect, or at least look that way.
At lunch, Braden is already at the table when I sit down. I don't look at him, hoping he'll ignore me. I saw him in the hallway earlier and noticed he was more alert, like the drugs had worn off.
"I want everyone there at seven," Braden says. "No excuses."
"That's right after regular practice," Wyatt says. He's sitting in Alyssa's seat today. She must be skipping lunch. "We can't do that much practice in one day. We risk getting injured."
"I don't give a shit. You want to win this Friday or not?"
"If you're not playing, it's probably not going to happen," Miles says.
"You can at least not get your asses kicked as bad as last week," Braden says. "Barron's agreed to show up tonight. I just need the rest of you fuckers to be there."
"Just give us the plays," Dante says. "We don't need to go over them."
Braden stands up, glaring at Dante. "Did I ask for your fucking opinion?"
Dante doesn't answer.
"I'm in charge of this team," Braden says. "I decide what we're going to do. Any questions?" He looks around the table. "See you at seven."
He takes off, leaving his tray of dirty dishes on the table.
"I'm getting really sick of him," Wyatt mutters.
"Me too," Dante says. "He doesn't have the authority to schedule a third practice. We should talk to Coach."
"He isn't going to care," Miles says. "He wants us to win. If he thinks Braden can make that happen, he'll tell us to do it."
"When am I going to study?" Kade asks. "I have a test tomorrow and I haven’t even read the damn book."
"Have your girlfriend take it for you," Miles says.
"If I could I'd freaking do it. She'd get an A without even studying."
"What are you worried about?" I ask. "If you get a bad grade, the teacher will just fix it."
"Yeah, I guess." Kade looks at his teammates. "So what do you think? We show up tonight?"
"Show up where?" Alyssa asks, coming up behind Kade.
"Hey, babe." He turns and kisses her.
"Hey, I was thinking we could study at my house tonight." She smiles. "My parents will be gone."
"Can't tonight. Braden's making us meet for practice at seven."
"You already practiced this morning. And you're practicing after school."
"Braden doesn't think it's enough. He scheduled a third practice."
"And you're going along with it?" She puts her hands on her hips. "You're just going to do whatever he says?"
