Ellie turned bright red and responded in an acid tone, “Not in your wildest dreams. The person you should be asking thatquestion is Kami. Ask her who she’s in love with. I bet you’ll be surprised.”
She walked over to the rest of the cheerleaders, who were waiting for her on the court.
Goddammit, Ellie.
Why did you do that to me?
Every ounce of amusement had disappeared from Taylor’s face as if by magic, and I felt an ache in my chest.
“What was all that?” he asked. I’d never before wanted so badly to be able to read someone’s mind and know what they were thinking. I tried to put up a wall so he couldn’t see inside me, but I don’t think it worked. When I didn’t answer, he asked again, “Who are you in love with, Kami?”
I shook my head. “No one.”
“I thought you’d say me,” he replied, and I could see a deep sadness in his eyes, deeper than my own. A sadness accompanied by disappointment, anger, and a sense of betrayal.
“I do love you, Taylor,” I said, and I wasn’t lying.
“What was your best friend talking about, then?”
“I don’t know. We were having an argument, and—”
Taylor interrupted me, taking my face in his hands. “Kami. I’m in love with you. Are you in love with me?” he asked calmly.
I hesitated as Thiago appeared in my line of sight, watching us from a distance. Did he wonder why I was crying? Could he see my tears from across the gym?
I shouldn’t have looked at him. That was a mistake. Taylor turned to see what had distracted me, and all of a sudden, he understood everything. And so did I.
“I knew it,” he said, looking down at the ground.
“Taylor, I—”
“Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“No, of course not!”
“I knew it,” he said again. “I knew it wasn’t just Thiago. I wanted to believe otherwise, that it was all on him, but I knew. Were you ever going to tell me? How long did you plan on lying to me?”
“I wasn’t lying to you!” I said quickly, knowing that, too, was a lie.
When had I become such a horrible person?
“I’ve got to go warm up,” he said, his voice so sad and dejected it broke my heart.
“Taylor, wait!”
“I’ve already waited too long.”
I didn’t see the look on his face when he said that because he was already on his way to the court. He knocked shoulders with Thiago as he walked past. Thiago looked at me, and I didn’t know what to say.
Fortunately, not many people had seen; we didn’t need to give them yet another reason to gossip. But then, in the end, it didn’t matter, because Taylor made sure his name would be on everybody’s lips that night.
The game started off as always, with Thiago telling our guys which plays to make before the two teams faced off. But Taylor was a disaster. He was distracted, the ref stacked him with several fouls, and when Thiago called time-out to talk to him, they started arguing.
Nobody understood what was going on. Thiago grabbed Taylor’s arm and guided him away from the bleachers, but Taylor jerked away and shouted at him. At least the cheerleaders were in the middle of their routine. Between their chants and the music, nobody could hear what the two brothers were saying.
Then Taylor’s arm flew out, and his fist struck his older brother’s face. At that point, you could have heard a pin drop. I stood, as did many others, waiting on what was to come.
Thiago didn’t move. He just touched his face and glowered.
