Alone, No More (Harringrove)

Chapter 14//'Till Death do Us Part

Chapter 14//

Steve gritted his teeth as he exited the change room and into the musty smelling gymnasium, where his team stood in a circle in the center of the court. He was late, after staying up all night and sleeping through his alarm; he hated being late.

His team stole glances his way as he approached and settled in between two guys, but a pair of blue eyes lingered. Steve met Billy's lingering eyes, and Billy didn't look away until the coach stormed into the room. 

"Alrighty boys," he huffed, trying to catch his breath, the papers on his measly clipboard threatening to fall off. "First game of the season is this Saturday, and I need all of you to works your butts off!"

Dread settled into Steve's belly, he had forgotten that Saturdays were game days-he'd have to let Eleven and Mike know. The three had planned to go to Hop's house that day, but he knew he'd take almost the whole day to sift through the house and wouldn't make it to his game.

"Harrington, Hargrove!" Coach barked, catching both their attention. "I need you two to be on your a-game. No fighting your team or anything, okay?"

Steve timidly looked back at Billy who was staring back at him, emotionless. They nodded to each other-a silent promise to behave-then looked back to the coach. 

"I will make sure to be on my top game as well, sir!" Tommy piped up, clearly agitated that the coach hadn't addressed him with the other two basketball stars. 

The coach shrugged, looking uninterested, and went back to planning the game's plays out; Tommy's face began to burn with both anger and embarrassment. 

Steve watched as Billy smirked at Tommy who glared back at him. Something about Billy's smirk made Steve's lungs tighten, but he promptly executed the thought from his mind and paid attention to the man in the middle of the circle.

"Okay, now that we're done with that," Coach said, dropping his arms to his side. "Let's get practicing".

He split the boys in half-Billy and Steve on the same team-and ordered them to play against each other and focus on using the techniques they'd use in their upcoming game.

Billy and Steve had fallen into a lucrative routine where Steve would use his agility to get the ball to the other side of the court quickly then pass to Billy who shot into the air to dunk it. This happened over and over, like they were a machine. Their opposing team stood no chance, and in no time, won the game. 

In fact, the coach ended the game early as the opposing team had not gotten one  point and had began to give up. Tommy, who had been placed on the other team, fumed. He had had no chance to prove that he was better than Billy or Steve and it pissed him off to no end; instead he was stuck with a bunch of dead beat team mates.

Emulating their old selves, Billy and Steve hooted and highfived each-other with their win, ignoring the way their team look on with envy and distaste. The fight between the two being put on the back burner, for now.

There was an odd feeling between the two team captains after they celebrated, and when coach corralled everyone to the sidelines, they chose to stand far away from the other.

"Good work Hargrove and Harrington," Coach regarded the two, ignoring Tommy-whose face had become a crimson color, while writing something down on his clip-board. "I expect our first game to be a winner with you two working side-by-side".

Without looking at each other, they nodded in response to the coach. After the meeting, they were free to go. Steve noticed as he walked to the locker room, that Tommy had stayed back to talk to the coach, but he couldn't care less.