Chapter 3

Darius waited in the hall for the class bell to chime, his eyes watching fellow classmates rush to get to their class. He had a free period and wanted somewhere to relax away from people bothering him about what had happened on Friday. The rumor mill had swirled again in the small rural school; word got around about his confrontation with Chuck.

Some were more mundane, like Was it a yelling match over a girl?, while others were on the fanciful side. His favorite that he heard: Was it a steroid-fuelled fistfight that had to be broken up by the State police, but the school was covering it up so he could help them win State?. That one definitely made him laugh, but he’d grown weary of answering questions about it and just wanted to be left alone.

When the coast was clear, he quickly stepped into the darkened dead-end corridor and pulled open the hidden door to the drama room. To his surprise, the light was already on, and someone was sitting on the couch, laptop in hand.

“About time! I thought you were going to wait out there till the end of the day,” Andrea said sarcastically as she typed away.

“I wanted to make sure it was clear. I didn’t know someone would be in here. Is this ok?” Darius asked, motioning towards the couch.

“Of course! Whatever you want, tough guy.” She smirked while her face was still glued to her screen.

“Please don’t, I just can’t deal with more of that.”

“No, I know what happened,” she closed her screen and turned to him. “What you did was good. People need to stand up to assholes more often.”

“Yeah, I know. It felt good too; but I’ve guys on the team bugging me to square things with Chuck. I guess he’s really pissed about Brittany and Warren hooking up.”

Andrea cringed a little bit when he said both their names, and Darius noticed. He didn’t like getting involved in other people’s drama. He had enough of his own at that moment, but he felt like he had to ask.

“Are you ok?” he said, watching her reaction.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be? I’m just trying to find info on this room situation, but the school’s records are pretty clean.”

Darius fiddled with his big hands, “That’s not what I meant.” He sighed deeply, then asked, “It’s not my business, but what’s the deal with you and Warren?”

“Nothing,” Andrea said quickly, her laptop snapping back open. “There’s nothing going on.”

“Look, I get it. These things can be tough, but if you ever need to talk...”

“What, are we friends now?” she snapped defensively. “I’m not big into the whole team thing, ok? I’m just here because it’s quiet, and I occasionally like to get laid, alright?”

“Hey, woah! I’m sorry for asking, calm down.”

They both went silent, Darius moved off the couch and pushed some boxes out of the way, and sat on the floor. He looked at his feet, head down, and scrolled through his phone. More messages. Why did I have to know so many people? he thought to himself. There was even one from his coach wanting to know what happened, so it doesn’t escalate and cause the team issues before this Friday’s game.

He felt a pit in his stomach as he thought about the game. It was going to be a big one. Coach said a lot of scouts would be there, and every game was life or death now. While he’d received offers from some of the biggest schools in the country, those offers don’t mean much when they can be canceled by the schools. Darius knew that better than anyone, as well as the effects it can have down the line.

He thought about his brother Jamal, that last time they spoke, and wondered if he could have stopped him. It was something he’d mulled over in his brain ever since it happened. Did he miss something? There were signs, of course, there usually are, but everyone thought he just needed time and something new to focus on. ‘Things will get brighter,’ his mom always told them, but it didn’t.

Here, he was on the verge of being indebted to the same system that destroyed his brother’s life, and there didn’t seem to be another way forward. He buried his head in his hands and rubbed his face, pretending he was tired as he wiped his watery eyes. A small foot in old sneakers kicked his new Nikes.

“Not that I care ... But are you ok?” Andrea asked, looking down at the large black man seated on the floor.

“Hm ... yeah, I’m ok. Tired is all. Coach is running us hard before the next game. That’s why I wanted to hide here, besides the Chuck situation, of course.”

“Oh please, you run those drills with your eyes closed, and Madison’s favored by 8 in the spread.”

Darius looked shocked, “What are you a bookie, too? Should I watch my knees don’t get broken?”

“Haha, wouldn’t you like to know. But seriously, what’s up? You look all mopey over here, and it’s ruining my grinding over there.”

Darius looked up at Andrea. Her hair was messy still, and clothes were worn and didn’t fit properly, but she was there. With the exception of Miguel, no one really wanted to be real with him. It was all ‘you’ve got it made’, but they didn’t understand the struggle and pressure he had put on himself.

“Fine. I’m worried about college. I can’t afford to go on my own, and I’m terrified of taking one of their scholarships that they can revoke at any time. I was really hoping to show off at that science fair, but I couldn’t compete with those two crazy chemical nerds or your Skynet program. I just feel stuck, you know? So now, I’ve got to do well in these games so I can still get those free-ride scholarship offers. I just feel like I’m cracking. What if I bomb like last game and can’t dig my way out?”

“Wow! Big Man on Campus has some confidence problems.” Andrea sat down on the floor in front of Darius, which actually made them the same height for once. “I’m not a sports shrink or anything, but sometimes you just have to dig down and PTFO.”

“What?” Darius just stared at her like she spoke a different language.

“Don’t you play video games? PTFO, Play The Fucking Objective. If one thing isn’t working, switch to something else. Can’t attack, then go hard on defence. Just focus on what you can do to help your team win, even if it isn’t flashy. Like defending your flag.”

“Do you ever go outside?” he joked. But she had a roundabout point, at least for gametime. “I thought you didn’t like team stuff?”

“I’ve played with enough noobs to hate them,” she laughed back. “The rest you can’t do too much about, so don’t sweat it. You can’t control or fix every bug in the code, sometimes you have to work around the problem. What did you do to get your mind back in the game last time?”

“This is embarrassing,” Darius laughed, “but Maggie promised me sex, which is how we found this place.”

“That explains that. If you win, I’m sure plenty of girls will drop their panties for you. Worst case, you’ve got five in the Club who’ll gladly do it if you ask.”

“Five?” Darius raised an eyebrow.

“As I said, I’m here to get laid too. Might not always be who I’d prefer, but yeah, I’ll gladly jump on your sword if you need motivation,” she said with a wry smile.

“Thanks, Andrea,” he smiled back. “Don’t sweat that Warren stuff either. You’ve got plenty of options; like Quinn seems to like you.”

“Yeah, he’s alright,” she grinned slightly. “Doesn’t know his way from Honeywood to Darkwood and almost chose the vampire class, but he’s fine.”

“I’ve got no idea about anything you just said...” said Darius looking at her with bewilderment. “ ... but good luck, I guess?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll need it.”