Alex and I lie in our beds talking. I tell him about meeting Luka, and how cool it was to talk about soccer with him. How exciting it was to watch a game that I bet on.
“He listened to me, you know? He asked so many good questions. About my system and the Lancers and sports medicine. But I guess he was just bleeding information. He was just setting me up.” I search Alex’s face. How can I make him understand? “I felt so smart. So cool. So…respected.”
“You never figured it out?”
“Not really.”
But if I’m dead honest? I close my eyes. The phone, the questions. The car. Concert tickets to a band he doesn’t listen to.
I blow out a breath. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want to figure it out.”
“Dad never asked you about it?”
I shake my head.
He frowns. “And you don’t want to tell Mom.”
“I didn’t even want to tell you.”
“Why? I’m your brother. We’ve always—” He looks at his hands, and his voice gets quiet. “But not so much lately.”
“No. But that’s not why.” I’ve been blaming everyone else so long that the words stick in my throat. Once I start, they pour out. “Look. I met Luka before Gil even got here. What happened…it was my own stupid fault.
“If it means anything, I wish I had talked to you. Maybe I wouldn’t be in this situation. Captain America always saves the day.”
“Captain America?” It makes him laugh.
“Sure. He’s not the coolest superhero, but he always does the right thing.”
“Thanks. I think.”
He stares into space for a few minutes, tapping his fingers on his bed. Then the tapping stops.
“I know how you can get the money.”
“How?”
“Our scholarship account. It has about $15,000 in it, right? Mom will probably find out eventually, but…”
“…but if I got a job, maybe I could put it back before she does!”
Perfect! I could be out of this mess by—
“Wait. Half of that money is yours.”
“You just said you’d put it back, right? So problem solved. Now go to sleep.”
And I think maybe I finally can.
My phone wakes me up before the alarm goes off.
It wakes up Alex too. “Hang on,” he whispers. He gets out of bed and sits beside me. “Put it on speaker.”
“Hello?”
“Jack Attack.”
“Luka. I tried, but—”
Alex elbows me and mouths, “Tell him about the money.”
“B-but I have what I owe you now. All of it.”
“What you owe us?” He laughs. “What about what you cost us?”
“But—”
“Here’s what it will cost you. A broken knee, a fractured skull. Yours or your brother’s. A terrible car accident. It happens. All the time. Maybe your Mama can pay. We’ll collect on her way home some night. It’s extra, like juice. Understand?”
The phone feels cold in my hand. What have I done?
“I will give you one more chance to pay. The game today. Who would your system tell you to bet on? The Lancers. Of course. Everyone says it. So. Make a liar out of your system.” His voice gets hard and cold. “Lose this game. Don’t win. Don’t tie. Lose. Or you will lose, Jack Attack. Something far more precious than a trophy.”
I stare at the phone. There’s no way out. And now—Alex. Mom.
Alex takes a shaky breath and lets it out slowly. “I guess we need a plan B.”