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No one overtly says anything to me, but Lake must’ve taken the deal Jacquin presented him with. I know this for two reasons. One, Jacquin doesn’t call him out on the pill popping thing. And two, for a few days, Lake looks seriously sick. I don’t ask, and they don’t offer up an explanation, but the only thing I can guess is that Lake stopped using for now. I guess he wants to make sure he’s on top of his game, so he can beat me.
Too bad for him, but I’m not going to let that happen. I want that coveted peaceful existence more than anything. Don’t get me wrong, I want to beat him when he’s one hundred percent the basketball player I know he can be, but I’ll take it either way. As long as I win my freedom, that’s all that matters.
I don’t know if it’s Jacquin’s idea or not, but for the last couple of weeks, the coaches have displayed who’s on top of the MVP leaderboard. I actually don’t think it’s such a bad idea. We get ranked in our basketball conferences. We’re ranked and seeded in championships. This is no different. It also lets me know where I stand, and also lets me know that Lake is being the best basketball player that he can be. I won the week that he felt like shit. But the week after that, I came in second. Jacquin keeps gently nudging me, telling me it’s close. It’s so close. Dad hasn’t said anything like that to me because he can’t, but I can tell by the way he studies us when we’re in practices that he’s thinking the same thing. I know he won’t be judging my position, but I like to see what he thinks overall.
Across the board, the Ballers are winning their MVP positions so far. It’s not surprising. This is the reason why I wanted to go to RHS. No other school can compare. I don’t know how these five guys found each other, but it was like some cosmic ball players dream. Coach Bradley is so lucky to have not only one amazing player on his team, but five.
Since Lake is feeling better, I’ve made myself scarce around the Ballers for the most part. I’m fine with it because once again, it gives me time to train extra. I do laps in the lake at night. Sometimes, Sloan will come down and do them with me. Other times one of them might come watch, but I think they can tell that I’m taking this very seriously. I don’t want to even think about what might happen if I don’t win MVP. As I said before, he’ll probably want me to leave the rest of the Ballers alone. Now that I’ve crossed the line with them, I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. Then again, they might force my hand again.
They better not force my fucking hand again.
Because the lacrosse team is gone, I still eat with the Ballers. I just usually sit off to the side a little. One of the guys usually keeps me company while the rest of them talk. Don’t get me wrong, I intervene sometimes. When I do, Lake doesn’t bat an eye. He’s keeping his end of the bargain up. He’s not said or done anything to me since he must’ve agreed to it.
One night on the phone, I tell Dawn the deal Jacquin fixed for me. “Oh shit,” she says. “Seriously? Tessa, that’s great. This is what you wanted.”
“Well, I haven’t won yet.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re going to mop the floor with him. You’re going to do just exactly what you did to make the team last year. You’re going to keep your head down and your eyes on the prize.”
She pretty much uses every bad one-liner a coach would use, but she’s adorable when she says it, so I light up when she’s done. What she finds most interesting about our conversation is when I tell her that my dad and Ryan’s mom are moving in together.
“Are you shitting me?” she practically screams.
I have to hold the phone away from my ear to keep my hearing ability intact. “Nope.”
“What are you going to do?”
I chuckle at that. “Not much I can do, I guess.” I don’t tell her that my mom came down to camp and tried to get my dad back. Next time she sees her, I don’t want her to look at my mother any differently. As far as she knows, she’s recuperating from her husband leaving her out of nowhere.
“You seem way too blasé about this,” Dawn quips. “This is Ryan fucking Linc we’re talking about here. He’s like sex on a stick. Holy fuck.” She pauses. “Do you think you’re actually going to end up step-brother and step-sister.”
My stomach twists until I feel queasy. “That better not fucking happen. If my dad thinks I flipped out over them moving in together, he hasn’t seen anything yet.”
Dawn chuckles freely into the phone. “I can imagine Godzilla Tessa coming out. No one wants that hot of a stepbrother. Damn. You can barely even function around him now, what about then?”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I tease.
“You know what I’m saying,” she says, brushing my thoughts aside. “Ryan fucking Linc.”
Exactly. She really doesn’t even need to say anything else. His name is enough. It evokes enough responses in me.
Looking back on that night in the car, I wish I hadn’t stopped us from kissing. Yes, I know his mother and my father, but…I saw him first. It sounds so middle school, but I’m going with it.
A knock sounds on my door while I’m talking to her. I check the clock. It’s not quite curfew yet, so I yell out, “Come in.”
“Who’s that?” Dawn asks.
Sloan walks in. I smile at him. He takes in my lazy sprawl over the bed and then glances at the phone to my ear. “Dawn?” he mouths. When I nod, he says out loud, “Hey, Dawn.”
“Which one is that?” she asks, her voice only a tinge of uneasiness. She definitely doesn’t agree with the fact that I’ve let them all back in my life.
“Sloan.”
“Shit,” she says. “Tell him not to turn on the TV.”
My brows pull together. “Why?”