Chapter 42

The conversation with Wayne went better than I’d feared. He’d never considered Elijah’s proposition for a second and mostly wanted to be left out of all the drama.

I didn’t blame him. I kind of wished I could be left out of it, too.

But with that, dealing with Elijah, worrying about my dad, and nervous about the next day, I just didn’t have the energy to be social. I bid everyone goodnight, telling Coach I wanted to rest up for tomorrow’s games.

Walking down between the two dormitories we were all assigned to, I passed groups of players from other teams heading back to their rooms. Some nodded at me in recognition from our games today.

Not that there were many people out. The college kids had mostly gone home, and the guys here for the tournament were eating or resting. I was wondering when Li’s mom would get here and if I should try to call Dad to check up on him, not that I’d know where to reach him easily.

I thought about the dream, about what it would be like in twenty years when everyone had phones in their pockets and were always connected. Dream me had found the whole thing vaguely annoying, but right now it would come in very handy.

I turned the corner toward my room, already digging in my pocket for the key card that would let me into the dorm building.

“Well, well. Look who’s here.”

Elijah stepped out from an alcove near the entrance, Jake right behind him. They’d been waiting for me, I guess hoping I’d come after them or something. Or come back on my own. My bad luck.

“This isn’t going to end well, you know that?” I said, trying to stay calm and not escalate the situation, even though the outcome seemed inevitable.

“You know exactly what’s going on,” Elijah said, moving closer. “You have been messing with me all year, and I’m done with it. I’m not going to let you lock me out anymore. I deserve to be on varsity.”

“I didn’t lock you out of anything, Elijah. You did that yourself,” I said, taking a step back.

“Don’t lie to me!” his voice cracking slightly. “I’m not an idiot. And you’ve turned Hunter against me, too.”

Jake positioned himself to my left, cutting off that escape route, saying, “You’re trying to edge everyone out and make yourself the big man.”

“I didn’t edge anyone out. You guys kept trying to big dog everyone else to make yourselves feel good. If you stopped trying to be important and started worrying about winning, you wouldn’t keep getting benched. I mean, throwing games to make someone else look bad. What the heck is that?”

“I’m willing to do what’s needed to set things right. Just like right now.”

“Don’t be stupid,” I said. “We fight and we’ll all get kicked off the team. Is that what you want?”

“What I want,” Elijah said, taking another step forward, “is for you to learn what happens when you mess with people.”

Jake took a step. “Time to settle this.”

I backed up a step, but there wasn’t much room to maneuver. There was a half-wall behind me. I could hop it, but not without turning my back to do it, which would open me up to Elijah, who would definitely take the shot.

“Last chance,” I said. “Walk away, and we pretend this never happened.”

A futile attempt, I knew, but what else was I going to do? Elijah’s answer came in the form of a wild, looping punch aimed at my head.

I ducked under it easily. Elijah was never as fast as he thought he was. His momentum carried him past me, and he stumbled forward into the half wall.

Jake rushed me from the side, trying to wrap me up in a bear hug. I planted my feet and shoved him backward with both hands. He hit the opposite wall hard, the impact making a dull thud against the cinderblocks.

Elijah recovered and charged again, this time coming in lower, aiming for my midsection. He caught me around the waist and drove me back into the wall, my hip digging into the edge.

We grappled, both of us throwing short, awkward punches. His elbow caught me in the ribs. I drove my knee up, but he twisted away and it mostly missed. His fist glanced off my jaw, not hard enough to hurt but enough to make me see stars for a second.

Jake peeled himself off the wall and came at us. I grabbed Elijah’s shoulders and spun him around, using his own weight to send him crashing into Jake. They collided and went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

I stepped back, breathing hard. My ribs ached where Elijah had hit me, and I could taste copper in my mouth. I started to turn to run for it, but Jake rolled out from under Elijah and scrambled to his feet.

His nose was bleeding from where Elijah’s elbow had caught him during their collision. He wiped it with the back of his hand and glared at me.

I stopped and faced him. My hip was killing me, and it was going to be hard to get any speed if I ran.

“You’re going to pay for that.”

He came at me again, but this time I was ready. I caught him with a solid right fist to the jaw as he closed in. The punch landed clean, and Jake’s head snapped back. He staggered backward several steps, his eyes unfocused.

Elijah was getting back up, shaking his head to clear it. He saw Jake stumbling and his face twisted with rage.

“You son of a...”

He rushed me again, but I sidestepped at the last second. As he went past, I drove my fist into his stomach just below his ribs. The air rushed out of him in a whoosh, and he doubled over, gasping.

Jake had recovered enough to function, though he was still shaky. He tackled me from behind, driving both of us to the ground. The concrete was cold and hard against my knees and palms as we went down. My pants ripped, and I could feel the jagged cement digging into me.

With me on the ground, Elijah found his breath and started kicking. His foot caught me in the back, then in the ribs. I curled up, protecting my head with my arms while trying to get my legs under me.

Jake was holding me down, his arms wrapped around my chest from behind. I drove my elbow backward into his stomach, and his grip loosened enough for me to start getting up.