This chapter goes from 0 to 100 really quick. I hope you have popcorn ready...
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Chapter 87: Too Strong
I walked down the hallway of the sports department and passed framed photos of former basketball teams at Preston Oakes. Grainy photos from the 1970s with some groovy hairstyles and short shorts. I came across last year's photo, with Luke in the center. I guess he was captain his junior year.
This really was a world I didn't know much about. But I guess it was his world.
I heard a voice: "Yes, we can confirm that he will be playing for the Kentucky Wildcats next year."
I stopped walking. Thankfully, no one else was in the hall to notice me.
The gray door to the coach's office was slightly ajar. I recognized Coach Griffith's voice. He was on the phone to someone, so I stayed quiet, listening in.
"I'm glad you noticed. Yes, Luke improved his game in the last quarter... exactly. He's more of a team player. We worked on building that this summer... Talented shooters often have that issue..."
I remember Luke telling me that Coach sent him to be a counselor at Camp Beaver Hill to become less ego driven and more of a team player. Coach thought training kids would have that effect. I like to believe I had a little effect on him too.
My phone vibrated again, and I looked at the screen.
Cearra: Go the weights room NOW! It's Luke!
New text from Cearra: NOW!
What happened? It felt like my heart dropped into my stomach. Did Luke hurt himself? He was at risk. His knee.
I started to run down the hallway at the fastest speed I could muster.
**
I didn't know my school had a weights room. I didn't know where the weights room was. And I was panicking, so I found myself running like a headless chicken in circles.
Running in circles until a guy eating a sandwich pointed the way for me to go.
I headed in that direction and my phone rang in my hand. I picked up on the second ring.
"Where are you, Millie?!" Cearra yelled, "I told you to get over here ASAP, girl!"
"I'm coming," I replied, equally stressed now, "But I don't know where the weights room is! It's like a maze in here-"
"Tell me where you are and I'll come find you," Cearra said.
**
Cearra found me a few minutes later. She rushed over.
"We need to hurry," Cearra told me, her arm locked tightly around mine, "He's about to be expelled."
"What is he doing?" I asked, terrified, "Is he OK?"
My head hurt. Of all days to come into school tipsy, I chose a bad one.
All this terror had knocked the alcohol right out of my system. I felt so sober right now it hurt.
Maybe that's a hangover? Nah.
"Turns out, it's not the weights room. He's in the basketball court," she said, dragging me towards the basketball court entrance via the boy's locker room.
"But I just..." I complained. I had just come from the other side of the basketball court.
I thought I was the only one out of control today. But it looks like I passed on the baton to Luke.
"Is he OK?" I repeated.
"I don't even know!" she exclaimed, "I couldn't get in."
"What are you talking-" I lost my own words as we came up to it.
There was a small crowd gathered in the boys' locker room, but the doors were shut. A few people in the crowd had their arms in the air, filming the scene. Two tall guys with matching basketball hoodies were blocking the doors and telling the crowd to leave.
I had just come from near the basketball court, though I had been by the entrance on the opposite side. From the chaos here, I realized that all other entrances must be locked.
"Come on," Cearra said, shoving me into the crowd, "You need to get in there."
I didn't disagree with this one. Normally I'm way too shy to do anything like this, but if Luke was hurt...
I pushed my way through the crowd, ignoring people cursing at me, and struggled to reach the front, "Can we-"
"We know who you are," one of the 'guards' said, "You're Luke's girlfriend."
"I'm Millie," I corrected him.
He looked at his friend, who nodded, and they let me squeeze in. I dragged Cearra with me, but the crowd pushed forward to try to get in.
"She's my friend!" I exclaimed and they let us both through before slamming the doors shut.
We found ourselves in a quiet environment, nothing like the loud chaos outside. The entire basketball team was sitting, scattered across the stands. They were all looking at center court, where Luke was standing.
I guess he wasn't hurt.
But that's when I saw who he was standing in front of.
Kaden was strapped to a chair under the basketball hoop.
A second later, Austin spotted us standing at the door and came straight over. "Hey," he greeted us, "I don't think you two should be here."
"What's he doing?!" Cearra asked, staring at Luke.
"He took over practice," Austin said, trying not to encourage us to stay, "He's captain. I guess he can do what he wants. You two should really-"
"What's..." I stopped talking when I realized Luke was speaking. I tried to listen.
Luke was facing a scared looking Kaden.
"You call yourself mathletes, don't you?" Luke asked, spinning the ball in his hand.
His voice carried through the large hall and he slowly extended his arm, "Then don't look so afraid."
Luke was taking his time, behaving calmly in this stressed situation. While everyone was on edge around him, watching him, he looked so relaxed.
It made Kaden even more afraid.
Kaden couldn't look Luke in the eye. He lowered his head and his eyes darted around at all the onlookers, silently pleading for help. This was Luke's team. No one was here for Kaden.
"You don't know me, dweeb," Luke continued, "But I have a short patience. And when it comes to Millie, my tolerance for bullsh*t is nonexistent."
The way he said 'nonexistent', made it sound like a threat: that he would make Kaden nonexistent by the end of this conversation.
"She won't like this," Kaden tried to save his own skin, "She doesn't like bullies-"
"Or blackmailers," Luke interrupted.
"Fine, but I'm not the blackmailer," Kaden almost wept, "I swear."
He was tugging his hands, trying to pull them apart, but the rope chafed his skin instead.
"I swear I'm not the blackmailer," Kaden lowered his head to hide the tears in his eyes.
A boy from the stands mocked Kaden for crying and a couple sniggers echoed that.
"Maybe," Luke shrugged casually, "But you are a liar. And one of you, will talk."
He pointed over at Julia, who was sitting on the bench, between two of Luke's basketball teammates. She looked ahead at Luke, sitting frozen in place. She was not tied up and no one was intimidating her.
I wondered how she could just watch while her boyfriend was being tormented like this.
Chad strolled past them both, holding another skipping rope in his hands as if he was about to tie someone else up. "You two tried to feed us lies upon lies UPON LIES."
Was Chad enjoying this?
"And you THOUGHT you'd get away with it," Chad declared, arriving at one end of the hall, before spinning round dramatically, and walking back down, cracking the end of the skipping rope like it was a whip.
He was definitely enjoying this.
Luke said, "Chad, we don't have all day."
"Right, right," Chad nodded, glancing at the door where curious faces were trying to spy through the window.
I'm surprised no teacher had noticed already. If this was the math department, we'd already be on our way to the principal's office.
"You fed us one hell of a story!" Chad exclaimed, not letting go of his dramatic act any time soon, "Telling us that you bought Luke's basketball jersey so your girlfriend can throw a jersey themed party?!"
"Chad's salty no one bought his," Austin muttered with a smile, standing beside Cearra and me.
"And then you said that someone else stole Luke's jersey and opportunistically used it as blackmail?!" Chad repeated, "The coincidences don't add up. And that party sounds so dead it never had a chance to live."
"But that's your opinion," Julia said from her front row seat, "The party was definitely going to happen. I have proof in my phone-"
The guy sitting next to her stopped her from getting her phone. She slowly stopped talking, realizing that these guys weren't playing around. She was trapped there.
"Bring Art to the stand!" Austin yelled out from beside me, keeping the action going.
I only now noticed that Art was being kept on the other side of the court, also seated glumly with two players sitting on either side like guards.
I asked, "Is it ironic that this basketball court is feeling a lot like an actual court right now?"
"I used to think of it like a runway, watching the hot boys play but-" Cearra said before gasping as she remembered Austin was in earshot.
Austin turned his head away, but I saw a faint smirk cross his lips.
Is #Austerra a ship again? I looked back at Cearra with eyes wide open and she mouthed at me I want to die.
"Arturo," Chad called out, waving his skip rope like it was a judge's gavel, "I only have one question for you because I am disgusted by how you sold this entire team out."
Arturo said with sass, "I sold my team, but you bought yours."
The guys sitting on the benches stamped their feet and howled.
"Reminding me of my wealth is not an insult," Chad mocked him, "It's unoriginal. Now answer the question. When Kaden offered to buy the jerseys, what did he say was the reason?"
"He didn't," Art replied, "Because the only question I asked him was how much."
"Art!" Austin called out, "Say something useful."
"You're dragging me out here to be beat up by my own teammates!" Art called back, "I was just trying to make some extra cash. When nerds want to buy some of our sweaty jerseys, what interest do you expect me to have? I didn't know they were sick in the head and f*cking dipping it in cat's blood!"
"Oh my..." I whispered, staring down at my scruffy sneakers, "They all know."
Luke's crusade to take down the blackmailer had brought so much attention to my private affairs. I didn't want the whole world to know about this.
The guys next to Julia scooted further away from her and looked at her like she was crazy.
Julia tried to say she was innocent, "I didn't-"
Luke interrupted her and pointed at a guy in the stands, "O'Conner, what would you wear to a jersey party?"
"Normal clothes," O'Conner replied. "Chad called it what it is. A dead party."
"Answer the question," Luke said.
"Fine," O'Conner shrugged, looking around while he thought about it, "Maybe a Manning brother jersey? I like the NFL."
Luke pointed at the guy next to O'Conner, "What about you?"
"Kyrie," the guy said.
Luke pointed at someone else.
"Pelé."
"Bryant."
"Willie Mays."
They were just naming their favorite athletes...
Luke turned back to Kaden now, who was staring up at the guys on the stands. Kaden looked back at Luke, confused by what was coming next.
"Do you get it now?" Luke said, no longer looking so relaxed. He looked angry, "Even if you were throwing that party, no one would go wearing jerseys that belong to a high school basketball team."
"Ohh," Cearra whistled beside me, "He's smart."
Kaden glanced at Julia, looking very surprised. He then spoke like he was begging Luke to believe him, "I never thought of that."
"Wrong answer," Luke said.
Luke threw the basketball and it dove through the net at an incredibly fast speed, dropping painfully onto Kaden who had been strapped to a chair under it. He tried to shuffle out of the way, his chair toppling precariously.
Kaden flinched and squirmed in pain when he was hit hard by the basketball. He stabilized himself, looking back at Luke with even more fear.
The ball bounced off Kaden's body and onto the floor, rolling slowly towards Luke's feet.
"Try again," Luke said.
This was unnerving.
"I don't know anything more, I swear!" Kaden blurted, "Please man, I haven't done anything to you. I'm sorry for being rude to Millie and I swear I will never look at her or be disrespectful-" something in Luke's expression made Kaden hasten his speech and change topic, "And I don't know what more I can do. You punched me in the stomach already."
He was blabbering. He was desperate.
The guys on the bench cringed at watching him disintegrate. He was being humiliated.
And I guess Kaden knew that no one was going to help him – not even his girlfriend.
Why did Luke have to do this? Why did we have to look like such spiteful people? If Kaden is innocent...
Even if he's not. This doesn't feel right.
"Who made you judge?" I asked loudly, realizing I should probably stop talking before I even started, "And who made this the jury?"
I clasped my hands tightly together because I was afraid. Going up against my boyfriend to defend my ex-boyfriend didn't feel right at all. A large part of me didn't want to.
"No, no, no, no, girl," Cearra tried to pull me back, "Don't do this. Let Luke handle this."
If roles were reversed, Luke would stand by me no matter what.
Even if he thought I was doing wrong, he would stand by me. But I guess that's where we're different. I couldn't stand by.
Luke turned around, surprised to see me here. He looked behind me and saw Austin, who shrugged helplessly.
"Untie him, Luke," I said, walking onto the court.
A guy in the stands whistled at hearing me give Luke orders. A couple people sniggered. I really hated the peanut gallery here.
But I had to do this. Maybe I'll regret it in the future. Maybe this will lead to one fight too many for Luke and me to work through... I don't know. All I knew was that I didn't want to stand by and witness bullying. To me, this was bullying. Straight up humiliation and harassment.
What do we become if we let our own selves down?
I kept walking down the court towards them. They watched me and the silence stretched out. My mind continued to race with thoughts.
I'm sorry I'm not Austin. I'm sorry I'm not Luke. I don't have blind devotion and I don't think loyalty trumps morality.
And I'm sorry, genuinely sorry, if this decision breaks up my relationships.
"Millie," Luke answered, "you have your way of solving problems and I have mine."
As I drew closer to Luke, I felt grateful for not needing to shout across the basketball court. We could talk quietly, more privately. Even if everyone else was looking on, they couldn't hear us.
"I don't want you to solve my problem like this," I said quietly, "I appreciate your help, but I should have some say in how you go about solving it, shouldn't I?"
"OK," Luke said, and tried to explain, "But you can't let people trample over you like this. I love you Minnie, but please don't be weak."
"Maybe you're too strong," I said, "Why turn into a bully to defend a victim?"
He didn't say anything. He looked me in the eye, and I saw the cold blue of his iris. Come on, Luke. Please understand me.
Kaden exhaled a deep sigh of relief, "Thank the heavens for you, Millie. I knew you'd-"
"Kaden," I looked over at him, sitting tied up in his chair, "I'm saying this nicely. Please go rot."
He was in no position to negotiate.
This guy keeps confusing my desire for Luke to not end up in jail with affection for Kaden.
"Luke, you can risk your college scholarship over this," I said, "The school will punish you if they catch you."
Luke turned back towards me and I couldn't help but feel the moment frozen in time. The way he looked at me caught my breath in my throat.
"If you think I'll stand by while my girlfriend gets bullied," Luke replied, "You're dating the wrong guy."
He turned around and slammed the basketball against Kaden's chest with incredible force. Kaden spluttered out and his chair rocked again. He was going to topple over for sure.
I felt the oxygen drain from my lungs for a second.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if I was going to fall apart. This is Luke. We are so different.
"Millie," a boy's voice said behind me.
I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and I noticed the flash of gold from the rolex on his wrist. I turned to Chad and didn't say anything. Austin and Cearra were behind him, looking even more worried.
It's like they knew. They understood what just happened.
A realization that Luke and I stood for completely different things.
The basketball players cheered, and I heard a bang. I turned around to see what happened and saw Kaden knocked over. He squirmed on the floor, still tied in his toppled chair, crying out in pain.
I ran over to him and threw myself to my knees, grazing my knees as I tried to undo the rope tied behind him. My hands were so shaky from the emotions I was feeling. I couldn't look up at Luke because I didn't know how I would feel.
Empty.
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