Intertwined

Chapter 10: Co-Captain

Derek’s POV

    “Remind me why I agreed to this again?” Ashley whispered barely loud enough for me to hear her. She was giving me a hard look out of the corner of her eye as we followed behind Peter. I steered her closer to me so there’d be less chance he could hear us. “Look, just go along with the plan,” I told her. “There’s not much we can do or discuss at the current moment. You know the saying...” Her eyes met mine full on and I could tell she was thinking what I was thinking.

    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And right now, I wasn’t sure which Peter was.

    Sure, he seemed like the bad guy, what with all we knew. Him killing my sister, turning Scott, and going around enacting murder. But the Peter we knew before was a different story.

    And besides that, I wasn’t sure I could take him by myself. Scott would try to help me but I wasn’t entirely sure about Ashley. I watched her as she walked down the stairs in front of me.

    Ashley and Peter had a...complicated relationship. One I was trying not to dwell on, and not because I was jealous cause I wasn’t, but because it made me nauseous to remember them before.

    I could make out the sounds of people in the boys locker room as we entered through a back exit. They diminished until only one remained. Scott. Peter turned to look at us. “You two wait here,” he said. He walked through the showers and disappeared around the corner.

    “We’re not going to hurt him, right?” Ashley asked looking up at me. I knew she was referring to Scott. I looked back over to where Peter had disappeared. “No,” I replied then paused. “At least...” I wiped a hand across my face. “At least as far as I know. We’re just here to try to get his cooperation.”

    The locker room was flooded in darkness as Peter cut the power. I nodded over to one side of the showers. “Take your place,” I told her. She swallowed, clearly uncomfortable with this, but headed over to her spot.

    “Danny?” Scott called out. I could make out the faint sound of him flicking the light switch on and off. A red glare caught my eye and I saw that Peter had returned. He was standing in an alcove by the lockers, a lacrosse ball in his hand. He rolled it out onto the floor. It rolled out into the open hitting the lockers before it started to roll back towards the showers, attracting Scott’s attention. “What the hell...” Scott mumbled to himself. The light tapping of his feet across the floor made it’s way to my ears. He reached down and picked up the ball.

    Holding it in his hand he stood back up and continued towards the showers where I was standing. He let out a gasp as his eyes finally make me out in the dark. “Thank god!” he exclaimed, dropping the ball, arms extended in relief. “Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea what’s been going on?” he asked as he advanced towards me.

    Peter slowly stepped out from where he was standing behind Scott, inspecting a lacrosse stick he held in his hands. My eyes shift to him alerting Scott to his presence. Peter continued to stare down at the stick.

    “I really don’t get lacrosse,” Peter commented.

    “It was you...” Scott murmured. Ashley shifted out of her spot and Scott backed up a bit realizing he was surrounded.

    “When I was in high school, we played basketball.” Peter looked up at Scott. “There’s a real sport.” Scott looked between Ashley and me in disbelief. “Still, I read somewhere that lacrosse comes from Native American tribes and that they played it to resolve conflict.” He gripped the stick in both hands bringing it to his shoulder. He paused a moment, “Do I have that right?” Peter questioned himself. “Well...” He lowered the stick back down twirling it. “I have a little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott.” He set the lacrosse stick against the wall. Looking back at Scott he continued. “But I need your help to do it.” Scott looked over at him with indifference. “I’m not helping you kill people,” he told him.