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On Monday morning, the school was abuzz with excitement. Both teams had just returned with double victories over Gould. But most people were talking about the fact that Hailey had scored 34 points on Saturday morning, which was a new school record.
As Julie, the office administrator, read the game stats over the intercom, Emily handed back papers, so she had the perfect vantage point to catch Sydney rolling her eyes at the announcement and congratulations of Hailey’s accomplishment.
“Is that some jealousy I see?” Emily said softly, so no one else could hear.
“No, my back just hurts from sleeping on the stupid gym floor.”
“I’m sorry your back hurts, but eye rolls are not a typical response to physical pain.”
Sydney rolled her eyes again. “I’m not jealous. But now all anyone is going to talk about is her getting her thousand points her junior year. It’s just annoying.”
Emily gave up and moved on, handing a paper back to Victoria, who was sitting there motionless and emotionless, staring at the floor in front of her.
“Are you OK, Vic?” Emily asked.
She looked up, seemingly surprised to find Emily standing there, and then nodded. “Yeah. Just tired, I guess.”
“I bet you are. I don’t know how you guys keep up this pace. I’m exhausted just hearing about it.”
The day flew by, and soon it was lunch.
Kyle popped his head into her room seconds after the bell. “Mind if I eat in here?”
“Come on in. I’ve already eaten though. Just grading papers now.”
“Ah, just give ’em all B’s.” He laughed at his own joke as he pulled up a chair and took some leftover Chinese food out of a paper bag. “Don’t blame you, though. If I had fifth period prep, I’d have already eaten too.”
“Chinese food? Smells like someone’s been off the island.”
“Oh, absolutely. Every chance I get.”
“Well it beats a protein bar, I suppose.”
“That it does. Egg roll?” He held out his offering.
“No thanks.”
“Suit yourself. So, how are things going?”
“Good. Great, actually. Though, I’m thinking of going to the mainland myself soon.”
“Good for you!” He shoved an entire chicken finger into his mouth.
“Tomorrow night, the kids play Camden Christian. I thought I’d go check it out.”
“They’ll have home games, you know,” he said through a full mouth.
“I know, but won’t it mean more if I go to an away game? And it’s the closest away game, by a long stretch.”
He nodded, twirling his chopsticks busily. “That it is. That’s a long ferry ride for a basketball game though. And you’d have to spend the night.”
“I know. Still, seems like it might be a fun adventure.”
“Your kittens aren’t going to like it.”
“They’re cats. They’ll be fine.”
“You want some company?”
She looked at him. “You just said it was a bad idea.”
He shrugged and smiled mischievously. “You’re talking me into it.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come, of course, but you should know, I’m also going to ask James to come along.”
“Oh, of course you are.”
There was a knock on the open door. Emily looked up to see MacKenzie standing awkwardly in the doorway. “What’s up, MacKenzie?”
“Can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Of course!” Emily started to get up, but Kyle interrupted.
“No, no, stay. I’ll get out of your way.” He got up and left the room, smiling at MacKenzie on his way out. But he only took one container of food with him, so Emily figured he’d be back soon.
“What’s up?” Emily asked again.
“Um ... well ... I just wanted you to know because I figured you would’ve heard by now, about what Milton told Hailey to tell me ...”
Emily flinched, still not used to the players calling their coach (not to mention their phys ed teacher and athletic director) by his first name. “What did he tell Hailey to tell you?”
MacKenzie looked at the ceiling and blew her blonde bangs out of her face, a mannerism that made her look so young. “Well, he told Hailey to tell me that he didn’t want me talking to you anymore. Like, I can still talk to you about English, but that’s it. No other stuff. See, my teammates have been asking me questions about all this Jesus stuff, and I’ve been answering them, so well, so now Milton blames you. Sorry. He thinks .... he says, you’re a bad influence on me.”
“OK,” Emily said slowly. “I hadn’t heard any of that yet.”
“Well, you would’ve eventually, there are no secrets on an island, not really, so I just wanted to be the one to tell you, so that I could also tell you that I’m going to ignore it. You know, I think it’s kind of stupid.”
Emily waited for her to say more. When she didn’t, Emily said, “All right then. Thanks for telling me. I appreciate your wisdom.”
MacKenzie gave her a wide grin, turned and bounced out of the room, her burden obviously lifted. Kyle reappeared instantaneously.
“Did you catch all that, snoop?”
“Oh yeah. There’s no secrets on an island.” He smirked and slid back into his chair. “Don’t let it bother you.”
“I won’t.”
He looked skeptical.
“No really, I won’t. I’m done letting Milton bother me.”
––––––––
That night, Emily called James from her landline. She didn’t do this often, as he wasn’t much of a phone conversationalist. He didn’t seem to mind long, empty pauses, gaps in the conversation that drove her nuts, and then she would rush to fill them and end up saying something embarrassing, something she would agonize over for hours to follow. It was simpler to just avoid the phone. But she really needed to talk to him this time. She wanted him to go to Camden with her.
“Hullo?”
“Hey, it’s me. I was wondering if you wanted to go watch the teams play against Camden Christian tomorrow?”
“They’re playing away.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
“So, they’ll have home games, you know.”
“Yeah, people keep telling me that. I still want to go.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s December. On a ferry. It’s not a short trip, you know.”
“Yeah. I’ve made the trip, James.”
“Well, if you want to go, go. But I don’t want to spend three hours on a ferry, in the winter, to go watch us slaughter a Christian school.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I meant that Christian schools are even smaller than we are, and so their teams aren't very good. The score is going to be a hundred to two. Besides, where are you going to spend the night?”
“I thought I’d get a hotel.”
There was that awkward pause.
“I’m not asking you to get a hotel room with me, James. You know what, I’m sorry I asked. I’m going to go. I’ll talk to you when I get home.” Maybe, she thought, as she hung up the phone.
