Playing With the Rich Boys | ✓

Chapter Thirty-Three - Team Spirit

Chapter Thirty-Three – Team Spirit

IT WAS THE FIRST GAME OF THE BASKETBALL SEASON. Somehow, Elaine had convinced me it would be a good idea to volunteer as part of the first aid team. That was how I ended up filing into the school gym with Logan and Elaine by my side on a Friday night.

Surprisingly, over the course of the week, Elaine was yet to murder Logan. He'd made it to eight stamps over the week, and I wasn't quite convinced that he was ever going to finish it.

"So how many stamps are in that thing?" I asked Elaine. She slurped the last of her coke.

"A hundred," she grinned.

"Doing well," I said sarcastically, turning to Logan. He rolled his eyes.

"I can give stamps, and I can take them away," Elaine threatened playfully.

"Oh. What was that? I think the team's calling for me," Logan said, jogging off.

"They absolutely weren't!" Elaine yelled as he disappeared through the double doors that led to the locker rooms.

Ms Markowicz, the school nurse, had already set up the little first aid tent, hidden next to the towering bleachers. She gave us a friendly smile as we set our things down. "Thanks for helping out tonight girls," she said.

"No problem. Thank you for having us," Elaine replied.

"We're not expecting many injuries. Touch wood," Mrs Markowicz said, playfully tapping against the wooden frame of the bleachers.

It was the first game of the season against our biggest rivals. The two cheerleading teams were on the court, each singing their respective chants, waving around pom poms and doing flips. Clarissa caught my eye and I quickly looked away.

The teams made their way onto the court and Holden stood in the centre waiting for the jump ball. Along the wall was the banner that me and Parker had spent the afternoon making. The random specks of paint looked like they were intentional, but I knew better than that. Looking back, maybe that was when it started. The paint had not washed out from my blazer.

The sound of Elaine dropping the first aid kit shook me from my thoughts. That was when I saw Parker jogging onto the court. The back of his jersey read 'Lennox' with the number 7 on it. Last I knew, he wasn't even on the team. Logan was not too far from Holden. He spotted me and Elaine, giving us a small wave. Just as I waved back, I could've sworn Parker had been looking at us. It was either that, or he was working out where to go if he got injured.

The whistle sounded and Holden leapt up just as his opponent did. Holden hit the ball and it flew towards our goal side.

"Didn't think he'd make the jump," Elaine remarked.

By the first half, we were leading by one. The guys went back to the bench to get water.

"Hey there," Holden said, stopping by our tent, chugging from his bottle.

"Hey," I replied.

Elaine was giving him the stink eye, but he kept talking anyway. "Loving your banner. The abstract art is...inspiring."

"Thanks." The thing was, we hadn't spoken since their families had taken off on the business trip and their inner circle had uploaded that video.

"I'm sorry I didn't do anything earlier. I didn't think anything would happen after Clarissa took down the video," Holden said. "I think you'll notice that Danny is no longer on either the basketball or football team." I glanced back out at the guys and indeed, he wasn't there. He was the guy who'd played the video of me at Clarissa's party. "No one messes with my girl, well my ex-girl, and gets away with it. We're not the top four for nothing," he winked.