Scramble
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 45
I grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and headed toward the shallow end where Eduardo and Li were sitting with their legs in the pool. The hotel management had given up trying to control the chaos about an hour ago when Kenneth’s dad handed them a stack of bills and told them the Wheaton families had the place for the night.
Everyone else was already out here having fun, but Coach had made me sit down with the doctor and have my hand looked at again. I guess he was worried I might have some kind of permanent damage, and it wasn’t like Li’s mom could just show up at every practice and game and stab needles into my hand.
Thankfully, the doctor said it was already looking better and as long as I stopped using it a lot for the next week, I should be fully recovered by then.
Since school was out and I didn’t have practice aside from the ones with Coach Moreno, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to get out of chores.
“Blake!” Eduardo called out, waving me over. “We were just talking about you.”
“All bad things, I hope.”
Li splashed water at me with her foot and said, “Eduardo has news.”
I dropped down next to them, sliding my feet into the coolish water. The chlorine smell was strong enough to make my eyes water, but after the stress of the past two days, I’d take any excuse to relax.
“My parents said yes,” Eduardo announced. “I can ride back with Li and her mother tomorrow, instead of with them.”
“That’s great.”
It really was. I hoped this meant they were over the weirdness after Eduardo’s response to her not wanting to go out, and we’d be back to being a friend group, instead of me as the kid communicating between his divorced parents.
Li turned to me. “You should ask Coach if you can ride with us, too. Mom wouldn’t mind.”
I laughed. Coach minded everything.
I turned and saw Mickey cannonball into the deep end, sending up a wave that reached all the way to where we sat. Hunter, Miguel, and Jerry were trying to dunk Joe.
“It’s a school event. I don’t know if Coach would let me.”
“Worth asking, though,” Eduardo said. “The bus ride back is going to be boring. Better to hang with us.”
Calvin popped up from underwater and said, “Y’all coming in, or are you just gonna sit there all night?”
“We’re good,” I said.
He shrugged and fell back, disappearing underwater again, headed toward where Wayne and Tyrell were playing some kind of water basketball with a beach ball and a laundry basket someone had set on the diving board.
“I’ll ask. It’s the best I can do.”
“Okay. How’s your mom?” Li asked. “Have you heard from your dad?”