Private School Kings

Heavy is the Head Pt. 2

It turned out what Tim had in mind when he said go over stick skills was breaking into the school gym at 12:00 at night. I'd gone with him, because what else could I do?

It wasn't exactly breaking in. Tim had the keys because of course he did. He turned the lock with a look on his face that was so proud and cocky I almost laughed out loud. Luckily, I managed to hold it in. I wasn't used to the gym. Coach Keller made us practice outside, even if it was raining or freezing because we might have to play games in bad weather so we better get used to it.

Naturally, it was beautiful, like everything else at Pruitt. The room was wide and decorated with banners for every year we'd won a state championship in any sport. There were a lot of banners, more than I could count, painted blue and white like the Pruitt colors. In the center of the room, on the floor, the Pruitt hawk was painted. It looked as commanding as always, but the most striking thing about the gym was the smell. It just smelled clean. Which is not what I would expect from a highschool gym, and this wasn't the clean of swimming pools and chemicals. It smelled lemony and pleasant. I took a deep breath in as Tim pulled on a pair of gloves.

We'd stopped at the locker room on our way so we both had our sticks. One look at Tim's and I could tell it probably cost more than anything I'd ever owned. For the first time in a while, I didn't really care. I was still better than him, and now I had a chance to prove it.

I ran my thumb over the ball, the cool feeling of the rubber was grounding. Then, I threw it up in the air, watching it spin, and caught it in the pocket of my stick.

It was easy to focus on the stick and the ball. Those were things I was used to. They were what I knew. Being around Tim on the other hand, that was actually new... and scary. Luckily, on our walk over he hadn't pushed any conversation. I was surprised by that, Tim had sort of seemed like the kind of person who would be uncomfortable with silence. He usually had so many people around him filling in the space, keeping things interesting. But he'd strolled quietly, with his hands in his pockets, occasionally filling the silence with a low, melodic, whistle. Now though, we'd reached our destination, and the pressure was back.

Tim held out his stick, waiting for the ball, and I gave him a light pass. He smiled, catching it and twirling his stick it to show off.

"Yeah, I don't see a problem," He started to say, but I was already darting forward, smacking my stick against his and sending the ball bouncing to the floor.

"How about now?" I asked. His eyes flashed, suddenly filled with a fervor I hadn't seen before. It was a mix of anger, and intrigue, and something else altogether... The look of a predator.

Tim rushed forward with a surprising burst of speed, charging towards the ball with his stick down, but the ball was closer to me and once I realized what he was doing I dipped forwards, scooping it up before he even had a chance.

I darted back, and he pivoted, his sneakers squeaking on the vinyl flooring as he turned to face me with his nostrils flaring like a bull.

After seeing what those boys were doing to each other on the field and knowing what I did about Tim I should have been scared, but I wasn't. I just wanted to win. I waited until the last second before speeding away. Tim was going too fast to turn and when he tried he almost fell over, but he managed to stay upright, skidding to a slow stop.

As he breathed hard and straightened his body to his full 6 foot something, he smiled, but it was a strange smile, not his regular movie star one. This smile was twisted, a little angry, a little confused, but the most genuine one I'd even seen on Tim.

"You're better than I thought." He said. His eyes scanned me like he was seeing me for the very first time. I felt like maybe he was talking about something other than lacrosse but I couldn't tell what. So, I just gave him a small smile, trying to remake Heather's trademark grin from memory. I couldn't tell if it worked.