“COME ON, LADY KNIGHTS!” yelled Elijah, stomping up and down on the risers, causing my head to hurt even worse. I had tried to steer as clear as I could of the sangria monster and Jell-O shots, but my head still felt like it was being jackhammered. It didn’t help that Elijah was the loudest person of all the two dozen or so fans that were occasionally watching the basketball game.
Lakshmi had slept on the couch in my living room, beneath Charlie and an afghan that I found in the closet. Despite this, she was still a whirling demon on the basketball court, launching shot after shot. I could barely stand without help.
Thomas whistled appreciatively from the other side of me.
I had filled both of them in on the developments of the preceding night. We had succeeded beyond our wildest dreams, but a new roadblock loomed.
“The livestream is the key,” said Elijah. “The whole school gets together and watches in the auditorium. It takes like an entire day.”
“The whole school spends a day watching a speech tournament?”
Elijah nodded like this was a completely normal thing. “Only the final rounds are livestreamed, and the school only gets out to watch if we’ve got somebody competing. Last year we had finalists in four events, so it was pretty much the whole day.”
“Eaganville is messed up.”
“That’s not even counting the charter buses that go to the meet. Last year it was in Denver, so it was like a four-day vacation.”
I checked this year’s location on my phone. “Kansas City.”
“There will definitely be people going there.”
“But the other speech kids aren’t allowed to go?”
“I mean, you can go—you just can’t stay in the hotel with the team or participate with the team.”
“So that’s our chance,” I said. “We make sure everybody loses during the livestream in spectacular fashion and take out Sparks at the same time. That way the whole school will see it—”
“And their empire will fall,” added Elijah. “The One Ring will be destroyed.”
Thomas rolled his eyes. “This is more like tossing four rings into four Mount Dooms simultaneously.”
“So we’re all Frodo, then,” said Elijah, nodding.
“Can we do this without nerd references, please?” I begged.
“One problem,” said Elijah. “We need to get you into Mordor first.”
“Guys? Please?”
Thomas agreed. “Before we even get in position to blow up the Death Star, you need to make it into the channel.”
“English!”
Elijah put a hand on my shoulder. “You need to qualify for Nationals.”
I heard Hanson’s silky voice in my mind. You can go to Nationals. I can help you.
“Shit,” I said.
“One thing, though,” said Thomas. “There’s no way we can let Andrew perform his piece on the livestream. Even if he loses. There’s no way in hell he’s getting up there in front of the entire school and talking shit about my playwriting ability.”
“That’s kind of strange that that’s your last straw,” I said.
“Well, that and everything else he does. He needs to go down before Nationals.”
Blaize leaned over us from behind. “Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan. Sydney, can you send me that recording you made of him in the closet?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll take care of him, then.”
The jazz band tried its best to drive the team to victory, but the noodling piano solos and experimental drum sections weren’t having the desired effect. Despite Lakshmi’s best efforts, the team fell behind by ten points, then twenty. Lakshmi had her best game of the season, but it was hopeless. They were outclassed.
It didn’t seem to matter to Elijah, who vigorously cheered her on at every turn, even when she got called for a flagrant foul for elbowing another girl in the chin.
“WOO. THAT IS SOME GOOD ATHLETIC ACTIVITY RIGHT NOW.”
See, I thought, talking to an imaginary Lakshmi in my mind. He’s totally into you. I did note, however, that after one particularly fierce basket, he leaped up and hugged me. I could feel the coarse fabric of his coat, and as I wrapped my arms around him, I felt the sensation of each individual rib poking through his skin. But that surely didn’t mean anything. When he wasn’t standing and cheering, he was bouncing up and down on the riser, annoying the weak collection of parents who were recording everything on their phones.
When the game was finally finished, we gave the players a standing ovation as they exited the court. Elijah’s shoulder connected with mine, and he didn’t pull away.
Lakshmi made her way up the bleachers.
“Next year,” she said, “we’re gonna get some actual fans here. Hailey is going to finish her journaling before the season, and I’m gonna personally weed out any slam poets.” Again she looked up at Blaize. “I know I’ve said this to you before, but I swear to God, I will kidnap a pony for you if you join the team next year.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Really?!”
“I’m not super coordinated—I did ten years of dance, but—”
Lakshmi’s eyes widened. “Done.” She rubbed her head. “Oh man, I slept like eight minutes last night.”
“You did great,” I said. “Seriously, it was like inspirational.”
“Thanks for being here, guys.”
“BIG HUG,” said Elijah, wrapping his bony arms around me and Lakshmi. He strained fitfully and the five of us managed to huddle. Thomas lost his balance on a riser and nearly went tumbling down the side, but Blaize held him up.
“Lakshmi, we’re going. Come on,” said Rani, arriving like a ghost and impatiently tapping her foot. “Auntie is coming over for dinner tonight and Mom says it’s time to go.”
“You can chill,” said Lakshmi, turning her back on Rani. “I’m not done celebrating.”
“I don’t know what you’re celebrating for. You lost.”
Lakshmi’s head swiveled back toward her sister, Exorcist-style. “Excuse me?”
“You lost the game.”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that.”
“You had a failure for a season, so why are you acting like you’re cool with that? I mean, I guess that’s probably why you lost.”
Lakshmi raised up her palm. “All right, hold up.”
“What’s the point of playing if not to win?”
“Well… it’s a team sport, so—”
“So you’re going to blame your teammates?”
Lakshmi held back from throttling the life out of her little sister but just barely. “I’m not blaming anyone. Okay, maybe I blamed some people earlier, but that’s not the point—”
“The point isn’t to win?”
“The point is to have fun.”
“While winning.”
“While competing.”
“Right,” Rani said sarcastically. “But I think if you’re going to celebrate something, celebrate actually accomplishing something. You guys won like two games this season. And we have to come watch this crap. It sucks.”
It’s brutally awkward watching family members fighting in front of you, like you’re paralyzed and your eyeballs have been forced open. Elijah tried to look away, hoping not to be recognized, Thomas was trying to find a reason to look at his phone, and Blaize was staring off into space. I kept wondering if I was going to need to leap in and prevent Lakshmi from tearing Rani’s head off. I also wondered if it would be possible for me to prevent Lakshmi from tearing Rani’s head off, considering that she could do ten pull-ups while I could do negative one.
Rani solved the situation by turning on her heel and heading back to her family.
Lakshmi stood there, shaking. “I thought you were supposed to stop Sparks from melting her brain.”