Oh Boy! (BL)

8 - Happy Days (2/3)

The following day passed by in a second. Holland seemed satisfied with the information I gave her - including the one about the hostility between Clay and Cooper - and the second unnamed envelope waited to be collected in my locker - alongside my third task: Make him talk to me. I made a face...how was I ever going to make that happen?

Ever since I'd told Clay about my violent past, it had been...awkward between us. Or at least, it felt that way. We talked as usual, but it seemed that nothing we said to each other really mattered. And I swear, if I ever heard anyone say something about the weather in Washington State, I'd lose it. Yes, we had a lot of rain - full stop. So, I didn't really know where we were at, but instead of trying to fix it, I fully devoted myself to tutoring his teammate.

Kenner and I spent the last day studying at the library and met on Friday morning twenty minutes before the exam. My own exam went well and whenever my gaze wandered over to where Kenner was sitting at the other end of the classroom, he also seemed at ease. Which was more of a relief than I would've expected.

Since Coach Simpson was absent to attend the teachers' conference that afternoon, the practice session was more of a voluntary matter. To my surprise, however, all Thunderbirds showed up. Though, most of them just nagged Kenner about his poetry success – not caring that our results would be released in a few weeks. While they kept chatting with one another, I sat down at my usual spot and pulled out the latest issue of BlackZ-magazine, eager to read the interview featuring C. C. Starling.

Or...I wanted to read it.

I'd just opened the first few pages of my magazine when Evans took it from me. "Hey!" I protested when he put the magazine on the bench beside me and grabbed me by the arm.

"C'mon, Kenji-Boy. It's your turn today!"

"M...my turn?" I stammered, feeling like a sheep among wolves when he let go of my hand in the middle of their territory. The Thunderbirds on the field eyed me with narrowed eyes; though, I was the one who had no idea what was going on. At least, until Evans returned with a soccer ball in his hands and placed it right in front of my foot. "Huh?"

"Kick the ball," he signaled from the ball to the empty goal that seemed five hundred miles away.

Shaking my head, I stumbled back...into a wall of muscles. Kenner grinned down at me. "C'mon, you can do it."

I snorted. "This is not a poetry exam...I suck at sports."

He lifted one of his thick brows. "And I suck at poetry."

"We'll teach you how to do it." The last one to speak was Clay. He'd left the group of players on my left to join us. "We'll play two-two. The team that scores first wins."

Evans rolled his eyes but grabbed me almost immediately. "Fine, I'm with Kenji-Boy."

What? "What's a two-two?" I whimpered and Evans laughed.

"Two players on each team. So, me and you against Cap and Kenner."

I made wide eyes. "What?!"

"Relax, Kenji-Boy. We'll kick their asses."

I wasn't so sure about that. Not when Clay and Kenner were bumping their fists and seemed ready to take on the world. I'm pretty sure, Evans regretted teaming up with me the moment I first kicked the ball...right on Clay's foot.

"Sorry," I apologized to my teammate and ran after Clay to reclaim the ball. Most of the time, I was busy running after the others who seemed to have cheetah genes in their bones and I'm sure it looked ridiculous. Nevertheless, Evans didn't stop passing me the ball whenever he could and cheered me on even when it became obvious that Kenner would be as far as I would get since he always got the ball when I got close to the goal.