Don’t Let Go

21. Tyler

21

Tyler

Once the bell rang and everyone was seated, the TV switched on so we could watch the student council give us a report of school events as if they were a real newscast.

My ears perked up at the tail end of the announcements for sports. It turned out the guy who fell minutes before the game ended had rolled his ankle and couldn’t play the rest of the season. I coughed to cover my laugh. Paolo was a few desks away and looked like he was about to stroke out with his red face and trembling hands.

So much for South Ridge making it on the map with the championships.

Like I gave a shit.

After class ended, I noticed how all the students turned somber. They dragged their feet and stopped talking excitedly. They became robots.

Did they truly have all their chips placed on their boys’ basketball team? I mean, I knew pretty much all their sports teams sucked since South Ridge was never on my radar, but this was farfetched. Everyone acted as if someone died.

Rory stood at her locker. I stopped by and stole a quick look around. No Paolo around to give me crap for talking to “his girl”.

I leaned against the locker in front of hers. “Hey. Why is everyone so doom and gloom?”

She laughed, closing her locker after grabbing a book. “Didn’t you hear the newscast? Our basketball team is screwed. No sports team from this school has ever been that close to the championships. I guess there was a promise of grant money if we got into the finals.”

I side-eyed a tall guy with long arms and a thin build. He was a basketball player—it was in his genes. He walked with a shuffle and didn’t dare look around. Who knew something like basketball could hold so much hope for one high school?

I rubbed my chin. “How much money?”

She shrugged. “Not sure. Something about receiving a huge grant from the state and being able to keep some of our programs going. If you haven’t noticed, this is a dying school. We don’t have much.”

The bare brick walls, crappy gym equipment, and old-ass desks already gave that away.

I grimaced. “Yeah. I never saw an overhead until I came here.”

She gave a dry chuckle and hit a locker with her fist. “Wow. We’re that behind? What did your other school have, VR for every lesson plan?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Nah. We have projectors and stream a lot of movies.”

“Sounds fun.” She ran a finger along my upper arm. “You have a tell when you’re nervous. You know that?”

I grasped my neck and squeezed. “What?”

“That.” She touched my arm. “You’re always rubbing your neck.”

I dropped my arms to my sides. “Oh. Thanks?” I didn’t know what else to say.

She giggled, taking a few steps backward as the warning bell went off. “Take it easy. I’m only messing with you.”

I nodded to Paolo coming down the hall. “I better go before someone blows their top.”

Rory looked and rolled her eyes. “As I said, there’s no rest for the wicked.”

She passed me by, playfully bumping into my shoulder.

I walked away, forcing myself not to look back and watch Rory force herself to pretend to be someone she wasn’t.

After fourth period, I was on my way to lunch when the basketball coach waved me over.

“Hey, Tyler,” he shouted.

It was strange that he cared enough to file my name in his brain. “Yeah, Coach?”

He smiled. “Grant. You can call me Coach Grant, son.”

Where is he going with this?

“Okay…?”

He took off his sunglasses. “You still interested in playin’ ball?”

I watched a bead of sweat slide down the side of his face.

Did he rush to catch me going to lunch?

“Yeah. I love the game, but I got no team.”

He looked around before leaning in closer as if he was about to spill the country’s secrets to me. His breath smelled like garlic; the dude was probably mid-lunch when he came to chase me down.

“What if you could be on another team?” he asked quietly.

I raised an eyebrow. “South Ridge’s? I didn’t think I—”

Our foreheads almost touched. You could barely fit a book between us. “The rules can be a bit gray here. You were on a basketball team and changed schools. There’s a small window where you can join the basketball team of the new school, and I’m inviting you into the fold.”

It sounded like I would be joining a cult. I didn’t want Paolo to be my teammate, regardless of how much I missed the game and the roar of the crowd.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know, Coach Grant.”

He patted my shoulder. “Sleep on it and let me know Monday, alright, son?”

I nodded.

“We have practice tomorrow so if you join, bring something to wear. I’ll arrange to get you a proper uniform before the next game.” He strolled off to wherever he came from.

I walked to lunch and got my burger and fries fast since everyone was already halfway through their food.

Do I want to join South Ridge’s team? Help them to the finals?

Lost in my thoughts, I forgot about the fry I put in the ketchup. It was soaked and soggy when I shoved it into my mouth and took another bite from my burger. It was hard to eat with a growing knot in my stomach.

Three guys approached my table. If I remember right their names were Bryce, Christian, and James. People enjoyed saying their names when talking about past games. This school didn’t have much breaking news.

They were all tall, and for a moment, they towered over me. Did they wanna fight? I was about to stand when they took a seat at my table. I clenched my jaw, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I thought I could place the black guy sitting across from me, Bryce something, from the game. He could run the court pretty fast and did some sneaky passes.

“What’s up?” I asked, breaking the silence. I needed them to stop staring at me like I was an alien.

Did they want to scare me so I didn’t join their team?

“Coach told us about you,” James replied, reaching across the table to steal a fry from my tray.

I licked ketchup off my thumb. “Yeah? So?”

“We looked up some of your games at Lincoln,” the boy with short brown hair said. He reminded me a little of Justin Timberlake back in the day, but he had more of an athletic build than Justin. I think he was Christian. His nose wrinkled as if he smelled something foul after saying the name of my old stomping grounds.

“What’s the point of you disturbin’ my lunch?” I broke a fry in half and dipped it into the ketchup.

“Our best player is benched if you didn’t catch that in third. We need another player who can get a ton of points in a limited amount of time.” Bryce looked over his shoulder and then leaned in closer. “We need you on our team.”

I glanced around and laughed. “Am I being Punk’d or somethin’?”

James shook his head. “I’m the team captain, and without a strong player, we’re sunk. We need someone who can kill the scoreboard, and you are one of those players. Don’t you miss it?”

“Of course I miss it,” I said, wiping my salty fingers on my jeans. “Been playin’ ball since I was able to walk.”

Bryce snagged my tray away. “You done?”

I grabbed my soda, taking a quick sip. “Go for it.”

He dug into the rest of my fries like he’d never seen those fried cut potatoes before.

Christian cleared his throat and slapped a piece of paper in front of me. “This is when and where we meet for practice. We hope to see you there.”

They moved to get up.

“Wait.”

They settled back down.

“What about Paolo?” I whispered, stealing a glance behind me for a second. “That guy despises me.”

James hit the table and stood. The others followed suit. “Leave him to me. I’m not going to let him keep us from having a good player and not allow us to finally be in the finals.”

Bryce took my last fry and lifted it in the air like a gesture. “Thanks, man.”

“Yeah.”

I grabbed my phone and thought to text Quincy. He’d probably laugh his ass off thinking of me playing on a team like this.

Then again, Quincy hadn’t reached out to me since that crappy party. Maybe I did need new friends. After all, my old ones seemed to have buried me along with my father and moved on with their lives.

I did miss the game, but would it be worth it to hear Paolo run his mouth?

Maybe. Being on another team, even one like this would help me with college, and I needed all the help I could get now that I was on my own.

That night I sat outside my window again. There were no drive-bys, but the train that drove by a few miles south of here sounded as if it was coming through the house. I stared at the full moon as it glowed softly. My mother once said to look to the moon in times of sorrow or turmoil. It was always there for you and never changed. It would forever be the size of your thumb. Pain shot through my veins when I remembered my mom. I didn’t think I’d live through her death, and now I was reliving the torment of losing another parent, this time one the public wanted to mourn too. I still came across shit on social media about my father passing. Something someone in Congress commented on and it so happened to pop up in my feed. Between being reminded of my father’s death and not having my friends anymore, it was better I went dark online.

The window next door slid open, and a head full of chestnut brown curls poked out. Rory smiled and then looked up to the sky. “You turning this into a habit? You want to be an astronaut or something?”

I laughed. “Nah. I don’t do heights.”

She pouted. “Pity. I think you’d look good in the suit.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and caught myself. “What woke you?”

“Paolo. I forgot to silence my phone. He’s blowing it up. It’s all about the team and crap like that…” She paused as if she wanted to say more but couldn’t. She licked her lips and added, “He’s worried about the finals.” I had a feeling that wasn’t what kept her awake, but if that’s the game she wanted to play.

“The team might still make finals.” A cloud covered the moon. It glowed with a silver outline.

“How? Are they praying for a miracle or getting into the dark arts?” She climbed out and perched on the little ledge, her right leg dangling over the edge. I wondered how often she came out here. I liked the peace, at least when there wasn’t a drive-by or train nearby. I liked how I still had a semi-decent view of the night sky.

“Coach Grant and some guys from the team spoke to me earlier today at lunch. They know how I played at Lincoln and want me to join South Ridge as a transfer.”

She grabbed the windowsill to keep from falling forward and onto the grass below. “Oh. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah. Paolo doesn’t know yet. They want me at practice on Monday.”

She bit her bottom lip. I fantasized about what her lips tasted like. For some reason, I imagined bubblegum, sweet yet never got too old to devour.

“Great. I can’t wait for that meltdown.” She looked at me and winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I hate listening to him whine.”

“He whines more than rich ladies’ purse dogs.”

Rory laughed and then sighed. She glanced up again. “Don’t you sometimes want to disappear?”

“Lately? That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” The moon slipped out from behind the cloud again and highlighted her face. She looked lost yet thoughtful. “Why are you with Paolo again? He’s a total tool.”

“I know. Plus, he’s a dickhead. I’ve been with him for two years. My goal was to finish high school and then dump him. Lately, I feel like I need to make the break sooner, but...” She squeezed her eyes shut. “My life is a mess.”

I let out a breath, making my lips vibrate. “Doesn’t seem worth it.”

She let her other leg dangle. Her toes pointed toward the ground, and she almost looked like she wanted to jump into the darkness.

“Perhaps, but we all end up doing things we don’t want to. I also don’t want to be in band, but there I am, playing each game.”

My eyebrows pushed together in confusion. “Why don’t you wanna be in band?”

She braided a strand of hair to avoid looking over at me. “I share too much late at night. I should get some sleep.” Rory moved to go back inside.

“Sometimes, we need to let the truth out.”

Her body was inside, but her head remained out the window. “What was that?”

“Sometimes, we need to let the truth out. It’s something my mom used to say.”

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Funny. My papà said something similar. He said lies eat you alive, and the truth sets you free.” With that, she closed her window and was gone.

I still couldn’t sleep. The night air was chilly and no longer refreshing. I went inside and grabbed my copy of Hamlet , before hopping onto my bed and opening the book.

To join South Ridge’s team or not join South Ridge’s team, that was the question.