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Chapter 29
Troy carried Mack into the school a few days later. "Troy, this is embarrassing. Put me down!"
"Mack, just yesterday you were complaining that your arms hurt from the crutches."
It was true. Last night, Mack had told Elaine that she needed to stay home from school again because her arms hurt. Elaine had seen right through it because Mack had barely gotten off the couch the entire time she was out. Her ribs were healing and she was still sore, but she could get through school.
Of course, it wasn't school that was the reason she didn't want to go. She could deal with schoolwork, but she kept having dreams of Caleb. She would dream of him beating her and even though she would never admit it, she was scared.
But last night had been the scariest of all her dreams.
"Caleb stop," she cried.
"Oh, is the little Bolton scared?"
Mack had tears running down her face. She nodded, making him laugh his evil laugh.
"Harding!"
She sighed with relief. Calum would save her. After a battle, Caleb left and Calum ran to Mack's side.
"Are you okay," he asked, concern for her written all over his face. Just seeing him made her smile. Then something horrible happened. She saw Calum grow older and look like his father and then shrink back down to the freshman she loved. But, something changed. His whole appearance looked meaner and tougher and his eyes, which had narrowed, weren't huge pools of brown.
They were red.
Dream Calum had laughed just as cold as Caleb had. Calum was her superman, but in her dream he had been possessed by the person she knew was still in his heart no matter how hard he tried to keep him out; his father.
"Hey are you okay," Troy asked. She had tensed in his arms. Mack nodded and looked to the ground as Troy carried her up the stairs to their father's room, her homeroom.
When he dropped her off, some people had already arrived. They gave her sympathetic looks and smiled at her. She hated it. She hated pity.
"Okay, if you need anything, remember that Dad is right-"
"Troy," she interrupted softly. "I'll be fine."
"Dad's got your crutches." He hugged her. "You are so brave," he whispered gently.
"I learned from the best," she told him. He smiled and turned around, heading for Ms. Darbus' room, hoping that he wouldn't be late.
"How are you doing?"
She turned around to see Teagan sitting behind her. "Pretty good," she replied.
"Your cast is pretty full," he commented. "I can't even see my name."
"Well," she said. "When Chad takes up the whole front side with a four letter name, the other names tend to get lost."
"Can you write?"
"Luckily it's the left arm that's broken," she said. "That would be torture if I broke my right arm."
"I don't know, it can't be that bad," Teagan said. "I mean, in second grade when Calum broke his twice, he learned how how to write left handed."
She looked up at him. "I always thought he was left handed."
"Nope," Teagan said. "He kind of converted to his left hand." He sighed. "Of course, that was back when his dad was just starting to get really bad."
"So," Mack asked. "Was it his dad or him who broke his arm."
"Oh, the first time he fell off Adam's swing set. The second time...well, he never told us, but I assume it was his dad."
"I can't imagine what I would do if my dad was like that," she said, looking up at her father who had just entered the room.
"Mack. I'll keep your crutches up here until homeroom's over, okay Princess."
"Okay Daddy," she said.
Jack sat at his desk and looked at some papers. She smiled remembering how she and her father had watched some games of West High that Troy, Chad and Cam had taped.
"Are you going to the game tonight," Mack asked. Teagan nodded.
"Yeah, everyone is," Teagan said. "It's the championship."
Before long the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom. Jack grabbed the crutches and carried them over to his daughter. "Be good," he said kissing her forehead. "I don't want anyone getting tripped."
"Oh, do you actually think I would trip someone," she asked innocently.
"You tripped Chad."
"That's Chad," she said standing up. "And besides, look at my cast. He deserved it."
hsmhsmhsmhsmhsm
"Calum!"
He turned and adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. His team stood in front of him. He thought he had seen the last of them for the season when he played in the championship game yesterday. The Wildcats had beat the Knights 64-62, and Calum had been in the entire time scoring most of the points. Coach Bolton had congratulated him for both himself and Mack, who was still on the couch. He had also told him that he would be playing for varsity next year, the second ever sophomore to be on starting varsity behind Troy.
"We just wanted to say that we were sorry for the way we treated you," Derek said. "It was completely uncalled for."
"That's okay," Calum said.
"Friends," one of the players said.
"Yeah."
"Nice," Derek said. "You going to the game tonight?"
"Do I have a choice, my brother's in it."
The team laughed. "We'll see you there."
"Sure," Calum said. Then he ran down the remainder of the hallways until he reached to front door. He sat down anxiously on the steps. Mack had avoided him all day and didn't make eye contact with him at lunch. He wanted to know what was wrong with her.
"Hi Calum."
He turned around to see Mack, standing in the doorway on her crutches. Even now, her voice was quiet. Taking a good look at her he saw that she had a black eye and a fat lip. He knew her stomach was bruised and apart from her casts, the only other broken body part was her pinky finger on her right hand.
"Hi," he said. She looked down at the ground. 'I hate Caleb for doing this to her,' he thought.
She sat down next to him on the cement. "Calum, I'm sorry, but I'm scared. I know that you'd never hurt me but-"
"Mack I understand," he said. He stroked her face with his thumb. "I'll wait for you as long as you need me too, okay."
"Are you sure," she asked.
"I'm positive, as long as we can stay friends."
"Always," she said smiling.
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It was the last seconds of the championship game and Mack, Calum, Adam, Teagan, Keisha and Bailey were all staring on the court wide eyed. The score was 62-63, West High ahead by one. Coach Bolton had called a time out and was talking to Cam and Chad. Cam had a nasty bruise forming on his face from a foul the West High Center gave him early on in the game.
Jack sent the boys out onto the court with the clock still at 13 seconds. All the audience could see were their names and numbers of Cam, Chad and Jason; Boucher 2, Danforth 8, Cross 23. Zeke was facing the team, having a small conversation with Troy and Ryan who were in the front row directly behind them. The other player, a senior named Johnny Whitburg was standing close to Zeke.
When the game started again, West High had the ball and they were planning on holding it for as long as they could. They would pass it and the hold it for five seconds before passing it again. At 3 seconds, they tossed the ball lazily to the person Cam was guarding and Cam jumped at the chance to change the game.
With the stolen ball, he dribbled down the court with speed. The crowd was silent. One second and Cam let the ball fly from the three point line. As the buzzer sounded, the ball fell through the net, ending the game 65-63 in favor of East High.
Cam dropped to his knees on the court, still in shock of what had happened. Chad ran up to him and lifted him up, bringing him over to the team. The crowd was going wild, and just because Mack couldn't jump up and down like the rest of the fans, she screamed twice as loud.
The West High player stood stone still in their positions aware that their old captain had just won the championship game, for the opposing team.
As the crowd filed onto the court, Mack noticed Cam give the game ball to Troy. She smiled, knowing Troy would appreciate it. The team had all just signed it and Cam had been the lucky guy to give it to him. She saw Cam's lips move, 'you'll always be our captain.'
She finished going down the stairs and stood looking at the scene playing in front of her. The West High players had begun to move and were leaving the gym, giving the Wildcats their time to celebrate. She sat down on the bottom step and continued looking at the court. Most of the basketball players were kissing their girlfriends. Chad and Cam were throwing red and white water balloons at Troy, who was running to hide behind Gabriella as if the balloons hurt. The custodian wasn't going to be happy that water balloons were being thrown, but tonight...well, he wouldn't mind as much.
She looked at her friends. Keisha and Bailey were giggling with Taylor and Meghan, who were laughing at their boyfriends throwing the balloons. The girls soon went their separate ways, Keisha running to another group of girls to talk as Taylor and Meghan walked to Chad and Cam. Bailey walked over to Calum, Adam and Teagan, pulling Adam to the side. They leaned in and started to kiss.
"Wow," Mack said. "Finally."
Calum walked over to Mack. "So," he said. "How about we go to the After Party as friends."
"Hmm...I think I can do that," she said.
"So," he said. "Coming?"
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Troy carried the sleeping Mack up the stairs after the party ended. Calum had carried her home. Troy had laughed, knowing that Calum knew that he could have gotten a ride with anyone.
Of course, Elaine thought it was sweet. Jack shook his head and asked Troy if he was rubbing off on the boy.
"So Mack," Troy said as he placed her on the bed. "Do you like Calum?"
She didn't respond because she was deep in her slumber. He laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, a word of advice. Don't wait too long, you'll only be missing out on a great relationship. Because I can see it in Calum's eyes, he's not going anywhere."
She turned over in her sleep. "Okay, you want me to go. Fine." He kissed her forehead. "Love ya sis."
He smiled as he shut the door behind him and walked down the hall to his own room.
So...that is Chapter 29.
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