MAURICE - harrington

v.

ACT ONE, chapter v.

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     Marmee had been overjoyed, to say the least, to see Mars and JJ joking around with wide smiles the next morning. Though, she stayed quiet about it, not wanting to bring back any negative memories from the night before. Instead, she just smiled to herself and basked in the happy atmosphere.

The ride to school had been only slightly awkward, mostly because JJ hadn't argued for her right to skateboard and instead hung her head as she entered the car without argument, the silence remaining until they arrived at school. The two hugged silently before JJ speed-walked to her first class and Mars took a moment to sigh outside.

Later that morning Mars had entered his Gym class dreading the movement — he may have been athletic, but his body was frail and affected by even small amounts of alcohol, and whatever was in the punch at Tina's party had left him with a tinge of a hangover. Just a headache and the faint feeling of nausea, but enough to make him wish he could just sit out.

He didn't know whether to jump for joy or cry when the teacher announced they'd be playing basketball — on one hand, this was his element, but on the other, the teacher was his coach, and would know full well if he was slacking.

As luck would have it, Steve and Mars were teamed together, which seemed to bring a smile to Steve's face as he approached his teammate.

"McKay!" he cheered, slapping the boy on the back. "How's JJ? She get home okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Mars nodded simply, deciding it wasn't worth getting into. His face contorted slightly in thought as his more sober and less tearful self realized something. "Shit, was Nancy at the party last night? Did I steal her ride home?" Mars asked with genuine worry in his eyes until a shadow passed on Steve's face.

"Nah, don't... don't worry about... that..." Steve answered similarly to Mars, and both boys came to a silent agreement that the two topics were not to be touched.

Instead, they let their eyes drift to the team they'd be facing, where both spotted the new boy Billy staring in their direction. Around him, his teammates were chatting his ears off with looks that begged for his attention, but he just gave an indescribable look to Steve and Mars.

"Your new boyfriend's sure got a staring problem," Steve remarked, slightly lowering his voice so only Mars could hear.

"Which one of us is he looking at?" Mars furrowed his brows and matched Steve's volume. Billy had no problem with how openly he was staring, acting completely unfazed that the two boys were staring back.

"Well, you kinda have a reputation," Steve shrugged earnestly.

Mars turned to him with an incredulous look, "So do you, King Steve." Steve shrugged again, this time with a nod. The staring contest was cut off by the whistle blowing, and the boys all fell into play.

And play they did.

It turned from a simple friendly Gym class match into a full-blown game, the kind Mars was well acquainted with. It turned out it didn't matter that Mars and Steve were on one team, because united they barely managed to keep up with Billy's skills. It frustrated Mars to no end. He was a tactical player who had been learning ploys and techniques since he was six years old. But Billy was an unpredictable loose cannon with too much energy and confidence. Mars was covered head to toe in sweat and determination.