Chapter TwelveKami
The girls’ basketball skills were inversely proportional to their cheerleading ability. Me included. Our school had a reputation for putting out good basketball players, and the guys pretty much all knew what they were doing, but we girls weren’t only flubbing it, we were getting in the way.
“Move,” someone named Richie shouted at me—I don’t think I’d ever seen him in my life—and he elbowed past me before setting up his jump shot.
Taylor was on his team, but he still defended me. “That was a foul!”
“Taylor,” Thiago shouted, “are you honestly going to snitch on your own teammates?” I could tell he was relishing his new position of authority.
“Didn’t you see how he nearly knocked her over?”
He was so protective of me, I was touched, and I ran over to kiss him on the cheek and tell him I was fine. Thiago yelled, “Hamilton, this is a game, not date night.”
I stepped away from my boyfriend and got back into position. Soon enough, our team lost, and we had to go sit on the bench.Taylor’s team had yet to lose a game, and we all took turns trying to beat them. Meanwhile, Danny, on the sidelines, looked like he was about to explode. He kept yelling, “Not that way, dumbass! Over there!” and harassing this poor girl from our art class. She was a skinny, short thing with thick glasses, and she froze every time someone passed her the ball.
“Walker! Drop and give me twenty!” Thiago demanded every time Danny opened his mouth. That was his line—he’d even made me do some, first for jumping on Taylor’s back when he was supposed to be blocking me but instead reached back and tickled me, and second for flipping the bird at Julian, who kept dribbling around me in a circle to piss me off because he knew there was nothing I could do to stop him.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw Danny sweating and grunting. He deserved it—he deserved that and worse. During a water break, I walked over to Taylor and smiled.
“Are you sure you want to be an engineer?” I asked him. He grabbed me around the waist and picked me up. “Because you look sexy as hell out there on the court,” I added.
“Give me a kiss right now, and I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” he said, and leaned in. I couldn’t help but open my eyes as Taylor put his tongue in my mouth, and I was not surprised to see Thiago watching us. And he didn’t seem too happy about it.
“Back on the court!” he shouted, without taking his eyes off me.
Taylor let me go with one last peck on the cheek, and jogged out on the court. I sat next to Ellie on the bleachers. She still hadn’t told me what was going on with her and Danny.
“Hey,” I said, trying to figure out how I could confront the issue without sounding jealous. “What happened with you and Danny at the Halloween party?”
Blushing slightly, she said curtly, “Why do you ask?”
Should I tell her I saw her, I wondered, or just keep asking questions to see if she’d admit it herself?
“I mean, I saw you guys,” I said, deciding to cut to the point.
“Saw us…?” She was playing dumb.
“I saw you kissing him, Ellie.”
She looked over at Danny, who was back in the game, dribbling the ball down the court. “Can’t we just pretend it didn’t happen?” she asked, turning back to me. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and her black lashes made the dark circles under her eyes look more dramatic.
“But why did you do it? Do you like him?”
She hesitated. “You know, Kami, you can’t always control who you fall in love with.”
“You’re in love with him?!” I shouted, unable to help myself.
“Hamilton, that’s ten more push-ups,” Thiago called from the sidelines, turning to face me.
Goddammit!“I didn’t do anything!” I stood and shouted.
“You’re supposed to be paying attention, not gossiping.”
“What am I supposed to pay attention to?”
“The game. Just because your team isn’t playing right now doesn’t mean you can goof off,” he said, completely ignoring the fact that everyone else was talking too.
“I can talk and pay attention at the same time!” I wasn’t in the mood for more push-ups.
