Chapter Nine:

The First Game

Weeks passed. Trish would occasionally wake up from her comatose state, but she'd fall right back in, as if she was sucked inside by a black hole. Like a dream she couldn't escape.

I started to disapprove of the school, and how they were covering it up. It seemed like only Vi, Jay, Nicholas and I. And it didn't help at all that Nicholas was the one who'd beaten her up.

I acted normal around Nicholas, but cold. I hated him. I hated what he'd done to my cousin, and I kept thinking that if I ever got the chance to do the same thing to him, I would. Just for Trish.

But I never ran into Jay when it was a good time. It always seemed that one of us was preoccupied. I had basketball every day after school, and I dedicated myself to it. What anger and frustration I had against Nicholas was poured into practice. It became my fuel.

So it helped a lot when I found out that our team's first game was right around the corner. I worked harder than ever to prepare for our exhibition game against the Sojourns.

Ellie seemed to notice.

She eventually had to drag me forcefully off the court to stop me from practicing. Ellie sat me down on the bench and looked at me, a curious frown on her face.

"I appreciate how dedicated you are to the team," she started, "but I draw the line when you could potentially kill yourself by working way too hard."

I frowned. "But I—!"

"No way! None of that!" Ellie's firmness turned into gentleness immediately. So there was the "Fair" part my mom talked about... "Look; we know what happened to Trish. All the Paragons do. I know you're blowing off steam, but if too much goes away then you won't be well enough to play the game. So calm down, and take it slow. If not for yourself, then for the team, okay?"

Yeah. Okay then. I'll just try to forget that my cousin was attacked by the guy I probably liked and trusted immediately. No guilt there. "Got it."

"Good job. First lesson on being on a team with a captain; always listen to the captain." Ellie smiled. "We're done practice anyway, so you can head back to your dorm as soon as you change-out. Have a good night, Kayce."

I wished her a good night as well. When I'd changed back into my normal clothes, I walked out of the gymnasium and saw a few Sojourns. They were all female, and I think I recognized two of them. I say, "I think" because I was still a fair distance away.

One looked like Victoria Stafford, a first-year like me. I could probably tell it was her because of her high-heels. The other looked like Elise Fitzpatrick, the third-year who'd been on the train.

It became a second-nature to me to know who was part of which team; the way they held themselves, the way they walked, talked, listened—everything was connected. At first, I hadn't seen the point when I'd been put into the Paragon team simply because of how I walked up to the stage and shook the principal's hand. Now, it made so much more sense.

I passed them without looking at them, but I could feel their glares. That was all it took for them to tell me that I'd be up against them tomorrow.

And the game wasn't gonna be pretty.

I made it back to the dorm fine and started on my homework. It was a Friday, and we were into the year enough for us all to be worried about the pending half-semester report cards.

I also learned that the field around the school to stop anyone unwanted from coming in also stopped our texts to our parents going out. There was next to no way to contact the outside world, so our parents had to trust that we'd be fine. Yeah, until another one of us would be attacked.

A sharp pain suddenly found its way into my palm. I cringed and automatically opened my clenched fist. Nicholas's pendant. I didn't even realize that I'd been holding it. The tip of it had stabbed my hand, and as a result there was blood running down my arm.

"Dammit," I muttered through clenched teeth. "I just can't catch a break…"

I washed my hand and wrapped a long bandage around the wound. I returned to my homework, and only a few moments later after returning his pendant to my pocket, I heard a strange tapping sound.

"What in the world…?" I rose from my bed and followed the sound to the window. I opened it and ended up getting hit in the face with a rock. "Fu—!"

"Sorry!" Nicholas called up, cutting-off my curse. "I just wanted to get your attention!"

Oh, great. It's him. "What d'you want, Nicholas? And why'd you throw a goddamn rock at my face?"

"I-I just—!" Nicholas cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know how else to talk to you. I mean, cell phones are out. I don't know your number, as it is. And it's not like I can go up and knock on your door." He paused as he tried to think about his next sentence. "I was hoping I could take you into town."

I hesitated. I hadn't been into town yet, and since I wasn't sure how the supposedly "Conduit-friendly" town was. No one had really told me about it. On the other hand, Nicholas attacked Trish, and he could be trying to lure me away so he could do the same to me. And I had basketball the next day. What can I say? Sometimes I tend to be a pessimist as opposed to being an optimist. It happens!

"I have basketball tomorrow…" I said, putting on my best fake smile. "I can't. Plus I have homework."

Nicholas smiled. I could see it from two stories up. "I actually had a feeling you'd say that. So, I gotcha this." He tossed up a bottle of Jones soda that I caught, almost clumsily. It was blue—my absolute favourite. "Good luck on your game tomorrow, Kayce. I'll be the crazy guy cheering in the stands."

"T-Thanks…" I didn't think that Nicholas heard me though; he was already gone.

I put the soda on my nightstand and stared at it harshly, despite the stupid smile on my face. I hoped that Nicholas wasn't a seduction Conduit, because (despite what he did to Trish) he seemed to be doing something to me.

A few hours after my encounter with Nicholas, I had gone to bed and then woke up at 10:00am. I'd need to meet with Ellie and the rest of the team at 11:00am, so it gave me plenty of time.

I was downstairs in the living room when Vi came down, rubbing her eyes and yawning in her PJ's.

"God… I do not wanna be up," she grumbled as she fell onto the couch (ungracefully). "Why'd your stupid game have to be so early?"

I shook my head. The game was at 1:00pm. Vi usually doesn't get up on a weekend until 3:00pm.

"You're so lazy."

"Not lazy; just not motivated." She yawned and stood up. "Well, I guess I'd better get dressed."

"You do that," I said, grinning.

I guess I just relaxed on the couch for a while longer before I made my way to the gym. Everyone was there, save for Ellie and Mina. I absently wondered when the soccer team would start playing. I wanted to see Mina in action (mostly because I wanted to see how hard she could kick a ball).

Ellie eventually came in with Mina's clipboard, but no Mina. I guessed that Mina had something important that she needed to do.

"All right everyone, listen up!" Ellie shouted, quickly grabbing the team's attention. "The Sojourns are a good team! They play well together, and they know their strengths. But they don't know their weaknesses, and we have the privilege of showing them just how many they have, and exploiting them!"

I was beginning to think that Ellie had a love for motivational speeches.

A few minutes of speech later, we were in uniform and getting ready to go. I had a few alternate reasons why we had teams at the school as well; if we went up against Human teams, on the occasion we'd win, they'd probably accuse us of cheating. At least, it was a theory.

So, Paragons were wearing white and a light robin's-egg blue (at least, I figured it was) for the trim, and the Sojourns were wearing purple with gold as their trim. I was surprised when our team was announced and I saw the turnout. At New Marias, it was the last few games that got even half of the people who were on the bleachers now. There were at least a hundred people at the game, and there was still room on the bleachers.

Despite the amount of people, that was when I was most reminded of my old school. And I really knew I missed it then. I decided that, as soon as I had the chance, I'd contact mom, dad, Jace, and all my friends from New Marias. Hopefully, it'd be soon.

I sucked in a breath and was thinking about it the entire time the Ms. Thatcher was introducing the teams. I managed to wave when my name was called so I didn't look like a totally oblivious idiot.

I was the power forward on the team, but Ellie was gonna take the ball from the centre. She was the captain, anyway.

The referee threw the ball up into the air, and the game was on.

Elise, the girl from the train, was the centre for the Sojourns. She jumped nearly as high as Ellie, but she definitely wasn't made for basketball. Ellie caught the ball and tossed it to a teammate. The next few minutes were crucial; moral, and the game, could be decided by the first goal. I was thinking strategy when I saw the ball being passed to me. The Sojourns were closing in on me quickly, so I passed it back to Ellie. I ran surged forward now that the attention was off of me, and Ellie passed it back up just as I was jumping. The moment the ball went into my hands, it was out again before my feet had even touched the ground.

Paragons, two; Sojourns, zip.

No time to celebrate. We were playing a half game, which meant that every time the opposing team got the ball, we'd have to give them half court. Well, until the ball-carrier came over half, anyway.

The first half of the game was a pretty even match. By half-time, Paragons were ahead by four points. Elise had a mean three-pointer shot that saved the Sojourns a dozen times over.

"Okay guys," Ellie said as we sat on our bench, "ten minute break. Be back here in ten minutes exactly so we can look over some strategy, but hurry it up."

I used this chance to speak to Vi, who was jumping up and down excitedly, with Jay right beside her.

"I never knew you could jump so high!" Vi screeched. "Were you holding back against me? Or are you cheating?"

I shook my head. "Games just get the adrenaline going better. And I practiced during the summer, remember?"

Jay was grinning at me. "You're doing great. Vi told me about your basketball career from New Marias. Are you thinking about going pro when you get out of school?"

I hadn't thought about it, but now… "People will know I'm a Conduit. They probably wouldn't want me in, just-in-case I 'cheat'." I said the last word with a little emphasis. I guess I was feeling sour about not being able to pursue basketball later.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. I tensed-up immediately as… Okay, suddenly I was spinning around.

"Woah! Hey, you're not well-enough for that!" Nicholas's voice was filled with concern, but I was having trouble wondering if it was fake.

I was placed back down on the ground and turned to face my "assailant".

It was Trish.

The bruises had faded, but her arm was in a sling. Other than that little thing, she looked fine.

"I guess you're right," Trish replied to Nicholas. "I think I hurt my arm when I lifted 'er up."

"Trish!" Vi and I exclaimed, and practically leapt on her.

Okay, scratch-that—we did.

"Gah!" Trish fell back into Nicholas who managed to catch us all before we kissed the gym floor.

"Careful now! I brought Trish down to watch basketball, not football!" The sarcasm in Nicholas's voice made me look up at him. Goddammit he was smiling!

"Thanks, Nick!" Vi said, giving him a pat on the head (but she had to reach). "I was gonna visit 'er today!"

"Actually, I'm not even cleared to be out," Trish whispered, "but Nicholas managed to pull a few strings."

"Did he actually pull strings, or did he kidnap you?" Jay asked, his voice dripping with something I definitely couldn't identify. The change in his voice made me shudder. I'd never heard that tone with anyone.

"Hey! Kayce!" I heard Ellie and immediately ran to the bench after giving Trish one last hug. "About time! I wondered when they'd make it!"

"Eh?" I asked, my head tipping to the side.

She grinned. "Well, you were mopey, so I asked Nicholas yesterday if he'd break your cousin outta that hell-hole they call an infirmary. He was all for it." Ellie's smile started to resemble that of a fox's. "I think he likes you."

God, now I was confused. Getting my formerly-comatose cousin to come to my first game because he liked me? He attacked her!

"Okay, team; last half, and now we gotta make some magic. Kayce, you'll stand by their net at all times when we have the ball. If we don't have it, you'll go after it. You've got the best scoring average of this game, so you've gotta keep it up. But if you know you can't score, pass it. I don't care to who, just do it!"

Ellie debriefed everyone else and we were soon back in the game. We worked hard, but the Sojourns managed to get ahead. There was a girl on our team who didn't especially like passing.

Finally, the Sojourns were ahead by one friggin' point. One. Friggin'. Point. Ellie was kicking it into overdrive, so I followed her example. Goddammit there was one minute left!

The Sojourns passed the half line, and I moved quickly to get the ball. Ellie was ahead of me, so I passed it. She leapt towards the net and shot it—.

But one of the Sojourns rammed into her. Hard. Ellie's shot bounced off of the backboard. On instinct (and a ton of desperation) I leapt, grabbed the ball out of the air, and blindly shot it towards the net as a Sojourn rammed herself into me. I landed on my head and rolled once, onto my knees. My head was ringing like a bitch…

Well, I thought it was my head.

The next thing I knew, my team had dog-piled me. Don'tcha just love it when you've probably got a concussion and have a lot of people suddenly pile onto you like you were a piece of meat?

After suffocating under the mass of girls, I was pulled out and cheered.

Never mind; there was a ringing in my head.