Give Me Courage (Give Me Series #4)

17 - Scrimmage

The lacrosse ball soared through the air, narrowly missing the goalie, and scoring the first point for Devenford Prep. As their fans jumped to their feet cheering, I threw my hands up in the air, annoyed that they were the ones to score the first point of the night. My sight of the field was cut off by Coach as he passed by in front of the bench, grumbling under his breath about how much he hated the opposing team.

"Coach, move!" I waved my hands out in front of me, gesturing for him to step out of my way, frustrated.

He incoherently said something under his breath about how I needed to respect my superiors. With a swift roll of my eyes, I waited until he moved out of my way to rediscover my friends on the lacrosse field, sighing in relief when all of them were accounted for.

My eyes narrowed on player seven on our team, lip curling in disgust. If only Garrett had been the one to eat all of those cookies. He was the one that paid for the keg at the party, which meant he was the one to have the hidden dagger in the bottom on his lacrosse stick. Right now, because of him, all of the people I cared about on the team were in danger. That gave me plenty of reasons to hate him.

Coach almost threw his clipboard to the ground when he saw the number change to '1' on the opposing team's score. The two teams jogged back to their positions. The two captains, Scott and Brett, crouched down at the center of the field over the ball that the referee set down.

"Brett," Scott lowly spoke to the player across from him. "I know you guys feel, like, you owe Liam some payback for what he did, but could you just hold off for one night? Trust me. One night."

I easily eavesdropped on their conversation. Maybe Scott would be able convince Brett to go easy Liam tonight, something we desperately needed, considering our new beta was a bit of a ticking time bomb. His temper would make it harder for him to control his shifting.

Brett nodded his head once, readjusting his grip on the handle of his lacrosse stick. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Really?" Scott asked, sounding a tad surprised.

"No," Brett chuckled in amusement.

I rolled my eyes at his comment, muttering under my breath, "Asshole." My attention quickly shifted over to Greenberg, who abruptly leaped up from the bench a few feet away, arms wrapped around his stomach.

His face was unusually pale. A loud groan emitted from the back of his throat. "Coach, I--" Greenberg stumbled away from the bench, deserting the few remaining laxative laced cookies on the plate near his own lacrosse gear. "I don't feel so well..." He broke out into a sprint, headed back to the school, groaning every few seconds.

I covered my agape mouth with my hand, quickly figuring out what was going on with him. Those laxatives were not that fast-acting, but seemed to have surely gotten the job done. None of the other players were running for the bathroom, leading me to believe Greenberg practically ate the whole plate by himself. Part of me honestly felt guilty for bestowing that issue onto him, yet I couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out of my throat.

"Greenberg!" Coach screamed at his retreating figure. His hand waved at the teenage boy that ran, like, his life depended on it. He glimpsed down at me on the bench. "What the hell was that about?"

I simply shrugged my shoulders, pretending I was just as clueless as he was about the whole situation. The whistle blew back on the field, bringing both of our attentions back on the game. Brett scooped up the ball from the ground and sprinted for their goal, avoiding being attacked by our team. My fingers threaded together in my lap as I watched Liam chase after him.

Two other Devenford students joined together behind Brett, standing side by side. They slammed their shoulders and lacrosse sticks against Liam's chest, forcefully sending him flying backward in the air, landing flat on his back. Brett scored another point. He purposely glanced back over his shoulder, quietly chuckling at Liam on the grass. My eyes widened with worry as Liam jumped back to his feet, ripping his helmet off of his head, heart beating erratically. He was furious.