Here it is! Chapter 16!
Troy fell into the armchair in the living room. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, happy to be home. The phone on the table rang next to him. He opened one eye and looked at the phone. The shrill ring of the phone filled the room before he cut it off, annoyed with the sound. "Hello?"
"Troy? So, how you feeling man?" Troy smiled, it was Chad.
"Pretty good. Happy to be away from that place." Troy heard Chad's laughter on the other line.
"Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker, the guys want to talk to you. All right, say hi guys." Zeke, Jason and Ryan all said hi before Chad started to talk. "Troy, you coming to cheer us on, right? Your dad said your mom didn't want you playing."
Troy could feel his stomach sink. No matter what anyone said, his mother was determined to keep him off the court. Playing in this tournament had been what kept his spirit up in the hospital. "Yeah. Dad doesn't really want me playing either, but he's letting me come. Dr. Andrews said I could play though and you guys know I want to."
"Why isn't your mom letting you play?" Ryan asked.
"She wants me to know how to slow down my heart better before I play, just in case."
"Yeah your dad told us about that," Jason said. "How is it?"
"I haven't had to slow it down yet, but I've practiced a little. I think she's just nervous and doesn't trust the doctor. Chad, you know how she gets."
"Do you have everything packed?" Zeke asked, sensing that Troy didn't want to talk about the tournament.
"My dad packed for me last night. How was school?"
"Ugh. School was horrible, as usual."
"Chad's just mad because Darbus gave him detention," Jason said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Staring at Taylor again?"
Troy pulled the phone away from his ear as Chad yelled, "Ryan, shut up!"
"Oh, look how mad he gets!" Troy chuckled at Ryan's excitement.
"Dude, help me. Come over here and help me beat these three," Chad said.
"I would if I could, but I'm banished to my bedroom until tomorrow, if I want to go," Troy said, wishing that he could go were his friends were.
"Do you have one of those cool bell things?"
"I wish. Do you think my dad would go for that?" He heard a tapping noise, and looked up to see Mack giving him a look. "I've got to go. Princess Mack wants to use the royal phone. See ya tomorrow." He heard a chorus of good byes before hanging up the phone.
"I didn't need to use the phone, but Mom wants you upstairs. She says that you need your rest."
Troy groaned. "I have been resting for last few days! I don't need rest!"
"Troy, she just doesn't want you collapsing again."
"I won't."
"Troy, you don't know that. If you don't sleep-"
"Mack, why does this concern you?"
"I'm your sister!" She yelled. "No matter what may be going through your head, I care about your well being. You scared me Troy. When I heard you were in the hospital, I thought I was going to lose you." She was mad that he even had to question why she cared. "I don't want that to happen again."
Troy got up from the arm chair and walked over to Mack. He pulled her into a hug, something he hadn't done in a long time. He took a deep breath before letting go and walking up the stairs and into his room.
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Mack took a deep breath, knowing what she was doing wasn't the best thing she could be doing. She lifted her hand and knocked on the door, taking a step back so she wouldn't get hit by the door. Just as she did, the door opened and a kind looking woman answered. Her hair was as brown as dark chocolate and she had eyes to match. Her skin was a beautiful shade of tan and her smile lit up her face. When the woman noticed who was at the door, her smile vanished and her face contorted into a look of pure hatred.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was harsh.
"I wanted to tell you that my family would like to apologize."
"Well, we don't want any of your apologies. Good Day, Mackenzie."
"But that's not fair. We are willing to admit that we did wrong and you turn your backs."
"Well sweetie, no matter what your brother may tell you, life isn't one of those fairy tales he stars in." She paused. "Life isn't fair. Besides your family has done enough to my family in the past, so much that apologies can no longer be accepted." The woman started to shut the door.
"Mrs. Boucher, please-"
"Bolton, I'll give you ten seconds to get off of my porch before I call the cops." This time, Mrs. Boucher slammed the door in Mack's face.
Mack turned and walked down the steps, sighing to herself. She sat on the edge of the curb, thinking. What could she do if the Boucher's didn't want apologies? She doubted Troy would want to anyway.
"Mack?"
She looked up and stared into Calum's face. He was accompanied by Teagan and Adam, who both wore a look of hate. Each of the boys held a skateboard in their arms. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize, I found out what happened between our families. But your mom wouldn't hear any of it." She was starting to feel uncomfortable around Teagan and Adam. Calum sat next to her on the curb, placing his skateboard next to him.
"Calum, Adam, Teagan! Cookies!" Mrs. Boucher yelled out the window. Teagan and Adam lunged at the chance to get away from Mack and ran all the way into the house.
"How are your ribs?" Mack asked.
"They're okay, I've learned to live through the pain."
"CALUM!"
"You should go in," Mack said standing up.
"No, come on, follow me." Calum grabbed her hand and they started to run away from the house.
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"Where is she?" Coach Bolton said as he paced through the living room, every once in a while looking out the window into the night sky to see if his daughter was walking up the sidewalk.
"Jack. I'm sure she's fine."
"Elaine, how can you say that? She disappeared. We don't know where she is."
Elaine looked out the window, "I'm sure she's not alone." She turned to face her husband and saw that her comment didn't help.
"If he did anything to her-"
"Jack! How could you say that about Calum? You've seen yourself that he isn't like his family. She might not even be with him."
"How could she not be? We called Bailey and Keisha's houses. Who else would she be with?"
"I'm sure nothing is wrong."
"When she gets home, I'm giving her a long talk."
Elaine turned back to the window. "Jack why don't you go check on Troy. Make sure he's all right and check his pulse if he's asleep." Jack stood up and walked up the stairs, aware that they were suppose to check on Troy in the middle of the night. Elaine sighed, thankful that Jack left. He needed to get his mind off of his missing child. "Mack, please be all right," Elaine said quietly to herself. She heard Jack's frantic footsteps running down the stairs.
Elaine turned around in a panic. "Is he all right?"
"I don't know. He's gone!"
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