I knew it was the carrot-top kid again who called me a pussy.
I was aware that I was not on the right side of town, and this was not my territory. But I felt my blood run up my head, and I didn’t hesitate to turn around and walk back to the group of juveniles who had clearly underestimated me.
“If I beat your ass, you’ll do my every bidding for a week, you understand?” I said crossly, darting my glance to the boy with red hair and pale, freckled face.
He was shocked for a moment, but then he smiled at me widely. “Sure. But be warned. Nicholas plays on my team, and he’s pretty good. You, on the other hand, not sure your pretty fingers can even hold the ball for five seconds,” he shot back. He turned to the rest of the group, giving me no chance to smack his face.
Good! I play better when I’m pissed off.
Nicholas stood beside me. When I looked at him, he was shaking his head. “Now, you’re in big trouble,” he said.
“Why is that?”
“Because you’re playing against me, and I don’t like to lose.”
“Ha! You don’t have to like it, but that doesn’t mean it’s never gonna happen.”
He stood in front of me. “Okay, Clarke. Let’s see what you got.”
I took my jacket off and tossed it on a nearby bench. I made a couple of stretches before I jogged across the court. Nicholas and I would go on opposite teams. The carrot-top kid was on his team, and the boy who first greeted us when we came was on my team. I learned that his name was Nathan.
I stood across Nicholas as each member of our team jumped for the ball.
“Pssst,” Nathan called me. I turned to him with a raised brow. “Are you sure you can play?” he asked. In all fairness to him, I knew he didn’t ask that because he was trying to get on my nerves. He sounded genuinely concerned that he’d lose because I was on his team.
Instead of replying, I gave him a wink and a smug smile.
The referee threw the ball upward, and the guy from our team managed to toss it our way. Nathan got a hold of the ball, and the game officially began. We ran to our court. Nobody was guarding me. Clearly, they weren’t sure I could play well or even at all. Nathan had the ball again, and he was being triple-teamed. He could not get an opening.
“Nate!” I shouted at him.
His face was full of uncertainty, but he didn’t have a choice but to throw the ball my way. I caught it with perfect precision, dribbled once, and poised for the goal. I saw carrot-top desperately running toward me when he realized that I was at a perfect angle to make that basket count.
Too late, kid!
The ball left my hand in the air and went through without even touching the rim.
Carrot-top kid shouted in frustration. He looked at me, his face full of shock. I gave him a wink and then blew him a kiss in the most charming way I could manage.
We started moving toward the other court. I was guarding carrot-top. When he had the ball, I decided to annoy him relentlessly.
“Hey, kid, I think Bugs Bunny is hunting you. He’s running out of carrots to eat.” Of course, I had to make sure only he could hear me.
He retaliated by cursing under his breath and blabbering endlessly.
“Hey, kid, you talk too much! Do you know what’s orange and sounds like a parrot? Ah-ha! A carrot!” I teased him mercilessly. “Tsk, tsk, what’s up, doc?”
He was murmuring something under his breath. I couldn’t understand the words, but I could only imagine those were incomprehensible swear words.
Nathan passed the ball to me. Carrot-top kid was guarding me more persistently this time. I dribbled it under my legs, turned a three-sixty, and maneuvered out of his way. I ran fast toward our court. I could feel carrot-top kid and Nicholas on my heels. But I was faster. I jumped and managed to make that fast break count.
When I landed on the ground, carrot-top had the ball in his hand. Even Nicholas couldn’t seem to believe I managed to outrun him.
“Better luck next time, girls!” I said in my most obnoxious tone and then turned to run to the other team’s court. Nathan met me halfway and gave me a high-five.
By the end of the third quarter, our team was leading by five points. When the carrot-top kid had the ball, I continued teasing him. “I’m not scared of you even though you know martial arts. You know… carrotee! Hi-yah!”
I think he got really pissed off because he stopped dribbling the ball and continued cursing at me. I didn’t hear what he said. I just took the ball from his hands; he practically gave it to me. I ran toward our court, and just when I thought it would be another easy, fast break, I saw Nicholas running beside me, guarding me. He was a lot taller, so I knew if I jumped in front of him, he would just block the ball, so I had to trick him and maneuver my way closer to the basket.
“Okay, Clarke. You’ve proven your point. You can play basketball. Now, stop getting on these kids’ nerves,” he said to me. “I want to get out of here alive, and I don’t want to have to avenge your death against a bunch of troubled teenagers, okay?”
“Sure, dearie,” I agreed as I continued dribbling. “Just let me score this one first.” I side-stepped, turned around, ran past him, and dunked for the basket.
Nicholas ran past me in his attempt to block that shot, but I was already in the air. When I let the ball go and started my descent, I felt something hard on my lower torso. When I looked down, I realized that Nicholas was too close to me, and a collision was inevitable.
I prepared myself for the impact of both the ground and Nicholas’ body. I felt something wrap around my waist as I continued my fall toward the hard court. I thought I was going to fall face first. This was going to hurt good time. But then I felt Nicholas’ arms tighten around me. I felt him turn slightly as he maneuvered our bodies so that his back hit the ground first, and I landed on his body.
The world stopped for a moment. I could feel Nicholas’ labored breaths underneath me. I was on the ground, unhurt. However, I could not imagine how much pain Nicholas must be in.
I raised my head to look into his eyes. He was watching me intently. “You okay?” he asked.
“Are you okay?” I asked him as if he was out of his mind.
He took a deep breath. “I’ll… I’ll let you… know later.”
I planted my hands on either side of his body and pushed myself up. Nicholas remained lying on the ground catching his breath.
“You okay?” I don’t know, but I was suddenly concerned about him. I shouldn’t care, but I felt quite guilty because he got hurt trying to break my fall.
He took a couple of deep breaths, and then he nodded. I reached out my hand to help pull him up.
“You sure?” I asked again when he was up on his feet.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“No kidding?” I insisted.
He ruffled my hair playfully. “Yep. You’re not the heaviest thing on Earth, you know.”
“Thank you very much!” I said sarcastically, and then I ran toward the other side of the court.
The other team managed to catch up with us. By the final minute of the game, they were leading by one point, and we managed a few futile attempts to make a goal. Then by the final ten seconds of the game, when all hope seemed lost, carrot-top kid let the ball loose. I was fast that I managed to snatch it from him. Before the buzzer sounded, I jumped from the three-point line, releasing the ball in the air. The ball went through flawlessly, making us win the game by two points.
My team celebrated. Nathan gave me another high-five. “You rock, dude!” he said to me.
“Thanks!”
We all turned to Nicholas. I smiled at him smugly. “Looks like lunch is on you, bro.”
He rolled his eyes, trying his best not to look impressed.
We ordered pizza at Nicholas’ expense. The kids lightened up to me. I realized then that this side of town was not as scary as I first thought.
“How did you know these kids?” I asked Nicholas when he sat down beside me after finishing his pizza.
“I did community service once,” he replied.
I raised a brow at him. “Voluntarily or involuntarily?”
He laughed. “Yeah, you got me. I got in for some crime when I was a sophomore in high school.”
“What crime?”
“Vandalism,” he replied, his face looking amused as he recalled the memory. “You know that long wall that covers the beachside in the city?”
I nodded. “The great white wall.”
“Some of my friends and I thought it would be nice to give it a facelift. So, we worked overnight on some graffiti and gave it all sorts of colors. I have a talent for street art, so I did most of the job. And then, when the cops came, we ran. I was the youngest then, the smallest. I was the one who got caught.”
“Did you rat out your friends?”
“To this day, no.” He smiled proudly. “I was too young. I was what? Fifteen? Instead of sending me to juvie, I got hours of community service. Here. And I guess it sort of grew on me. I made friends. I came back even after my time was up. These boys were very young when I first met them. Some were not even born yet. My friends here have their own families now. Some are still here, and some moved to the other side of town. You know what, it doesn’t matter which side we live in. I have friends in both. It’s good that I live outside of town, so I’m close to all of them.”
“Where’s your family?”
He fell silent for a while. “I was seventeen when my parents separated. My mother moved to London and took me with her. My father’s gone. He left me that house and the lot I live in now. His idea was to have a glass house overlooking the town. I just improved on his concept after he died. I studied Architecture at UCL. I was lucky enough to get a full scholarship.”
I raised a brow at him. UCL was one of the top three architectural schools in the world.
And he got in on a scholarship?
I guess he really was smart.
He grinned. “What? You don’t believe I got a scholarship in UCL?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t believe you could read at all, to be honest.”
Instead of taking that as an insult, he actually laughed. “Don’t let the hot looks fool you,” he said smugly. “I was told I’m pretty smart.”
I smirked. “Funny. Most stupid people go to lengths just to look smart. This is the first time I’ve heard of a supposedly smart person who walks around trying to look stupid.”
Nicholas grinned. “Can’t let people know I actually have everything. That would be cruel, wouldn’t it?”
I stared at him from the corner of my eye, and then I finally gave up.
How do I get into this guy’s nerves, anyway?
“After I graduated from college, I came here more often to visit my father. Two years ago, he died and left me the only valuable thing he managed to acquire in his entire working life—that house by the hill.”
Suddenly, I remembered what I said to him when we left his house.
“What do you do with your winnings aside from building a slut-magnet house to bring your one-night stands to?”
Shit!
I was way out of line there. I didn’t mind insulting Nicholas, but to speak ill of the memory of his father? I felt ashamed of what I had said.
I wanted to say sorry, but I just didn’t know how to. In spite of spending the morning with Nicholas, we were still not friends. I still considered him my enemy, and apologizing to him would be the last thing I’d do.
Suddenly, we heard the voice of a woman from the entrance of the court. I looked up to see a hot-looking girl calling one of the boys.
“Nathan!”
Nathan groaned and said goodbye to his friends. He turned to us and said, “See you later, guys!”
I nodded at him, and Nicholas gave him a salute.
The woman looked in our direction, smiled, and waved at Nicholas. He gave her a small wave, and then he turned away. Her glance lingered on Nicholas.