Chapter 37

Squib sputtered out of the shower with a towel, looking so mad that Cameron couldn't tell whether steam was rising coming from the bathroom, or his ears.
"What ABOUT R.F.?" he hissed.
"It's just…it's on this…" said Cameron, weakly lifting Ryan's green racket.
Squib's eyes opened wide, and he grabbed it from Cameron, looking as if he wanted to whack him with it. "What are you doing with that?"
"I just wanted to see your guitar!" At that moment, Sébastien walked into the room, just as wet as Squib.
"What happened?" he asked.
"He looked in my guitar case!" Squib took a look at them both, and threw the racket down at the ground. Pulling on some clothes, he huffed out of the door and slammed it behind him.
"Cameron…wha'd you do that for?" Sébastien wasn't angry, just a little sad. He'd heard that Cody was going to leave, but he'd also heard that Adena convinced her to stay. "Didn't you hear about Cody?"
"The pregnant girl? Yea…"
"Well, she told him she was leaving Cascadia. They were going out- and Squib doesn't take bad news well. I guess he didn't hear that she decided to stay." Sébastien knelt next to the racket, slightly bent from the impact on the ground.
"I didn't know…but why's he so protective of that? He could just keep it in a tennis bag, eh?" Cameron joined Sébastien on the floor, and traced the letters etched into the frame. "Who's R.F., anyways?"
"R.F." Sébastien echoed, thinking. "Ryan! Ryan Furlong, his brother. He was supposedly the best player around, but one day…he just died. Squib never really adjusted to that."
"That's terrible…"
Just then, all the girls ran into their dorm room, also soaking wet.
"Séb! Cameron! You gotta come out here!" Cody shrieked, each of them taking an arm and leading them out of the room.
"What? What's going on?" Cameron felt a little tingly in his arm- the one Tanis was holding onto so tightly.
"Squib…something's wrong with Squib. He's just…lying there, in the rain." Tanis choked out.
As they all burst out of the doors, they dashed across the grass, Séb and Cameron in their socks, and stopped at red court. It was lonely, sad, and just a little pathetic. Squib was lying, laid out like the Vitruvian Man just soaking in the rain. They all entered, Adena and Cody clutching each other, followed by Megan and Sébastien, Cameron and Tanis. All of Top Gun, coming to the aid of one friend.
They surrounded him, and then suddenly Cody lay down on the ground beside him. Slowly, mesmerized, the rest of the gang followed. They just stopped fighting for a little bit and let life pass them, just for a little while. Then once the rain stopped and they could see the moon, they realized that life never stops for moment. In that night, they were bonded together stronger than they'd ever been before, one entity yet singular in themselves, bound to a path in life, yet not to travel it alone.

Months passed, Tanis left and returned from the Hamstead, Megan left and returned from the Australian Juniors, and life went on. Cody was six months pregnant, and having trouble fitting into her clothes and her desk. Her stomach was round, and although sometimes she hated feeling fat, she also felt proud, as a mother should. Squib joined her some nights just to feel the baby kick. Another month went by, and the gang was holed up in the girls dorm room. Megan's head lay in Sébastien's, Adena leaned on Dan, Tanis and Cameron stared at each other from across the room, and Squib propped up Cody.
"So I was thinking, we should get a pass and go baby shopping in town!" Adena squealed. "We can get matching outfits!"
"Adena, I don't really think having a colour co-ordinated baby is the most important thing right now." Megan smiled. "But I wouldn't mind going shopping!"
"Hey Cody, can I teach the baby how to box? You know, teach it how to defend itself!" Tanis threw a few punches into the air, grinning as well.
"What if we got tiny boxing gloves? That would be sooo cute!" Adena crawled over to Cody and traced a boxing glove on her tummy.
Sébastien, Cameron, and Squib just stared at each other over the girls heads. "Girls are SO weird," intoned Squib. Just as Cody was about to punch him, she groaned.
"Cody, what's wrong?" Squib leaned over and peered into her face.
"Is it the baby, Codes?" Everyone scrambled in closer to her, closing in a tight circle.
Megan glanced down at Cody's stretch pants, and gasped. "Cody…did your water…now?"
"I..I think it did…we have to go to the hospital." Cody grabbed onto Squib's arm and tried to stand, and instantly eight hands reached in to help her up.
"Whoa hold on what happened?" asked Cameron.
"Her water broke! Didn't you hear?" Tanis cuffed him over the head and hustled to help Cody move towards the door.
"Her water is broken?" Sébastien looked confused until Megan explained it to him, whispering in his ear. "She's going to have the baby? NOW?"
"But it's not time yet! The baby isn't due for two months!" Squib yelled.
"It doesn't matter- it wants out- NOW." Adena's happy-go-lucky face had faded and she was hastily dialling Dr. Myer's number. "Dr. Myer's? Cody is going to have the baby!"