Chapter Eight

"Today's the day." Axl complained, lying on his sofa with his head on my lap. I was twisting my fingers in his curls as he lay there with his eyes closed. I hummed as I wasn't really paying attention because the television was on and I was easily distracted.

"He hasn't said anything about letting me play, no hints whatsoever." He sighed. "I guess I'm not playing." He then opened his eyes and noticed I wasn't paying attention. "Are you even listening?" He asked, sitting up and pulling me closer.

I snapped out of my t.v trance and looked at him with an open mouth. He chuckled before closing it for me.

"I'm going to take that as a no."

I looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have put the t.v on if you wanted me to listen you know what I'm like." I hugged him around his waist as I caught a glimpse of his dad looking at the two of us with slight remorse. I wondered what it was about but then realised he probably felt bad about not letting Axl play.

An idea hit me.

I gently extracted myself from Axl. "Bathroom." I said in explanation before getting of the sofa and walking over to Mr Heck.

"Hey Mr Heck, can I talk to you for a second, in private?" I was nervous about this, I didn't want to offend his parenting style or anything like that. He walked with me into the kitchen, I looked to make sure Axl wasn't watching before I started talking again.

"Mr Heck I don't want to get in the way or anything, but is there maybe something Axl can do so he can play in the game tonight?" I hoped against hope that this would work. "It's just he's really upset, this is the last game of the season and he may not tell you but he feels really bad about what he did and he'd do anything to play."

Mr Heck looked at me for a second. "I've been dropping hints all week for him to pick up on but that boy is a lost cause when it comes to subtlety."

A smile broke out on my face. "So you'll let him play if he picks up on one of your hints?"

Mr Heck narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, but you can't tell him. He has to figure it out on his own otherwise my parenting skills are completely useless and he won't learn his lesson."

"Of course not Mr Heck, but could I perhaps hint at the hint?" I asked hopefully.

Mr Heck gave this a second of thought before nodding. "Just don't be too obvious." I nodded.

"I won't, thank you Mr Heck." I peeked at the living room to make sure Axl still hadn't seen us and when I saw that I was okay, I walked back over and resumed my previous position.

Axl immediately lay back down with his head on my lap. I smiled down at him, I would get him into the game if it killed me. I started stroking his hair again as I slipped back into the tv coma, even though I tried my best not to.

"So anyway I was saying..."

Over the course of the day, Mr Heck and I had a system going. If there was something Axl could do Mr Heck would hint at it in a way I was shocked Axl couldn't get but he just wasn't having any of it. He completely ignored anything Mr Heck had to say and that included chances to redeem himself.

It came to the point that it was time for the game. I had spent the entire day with Axl trying to help him out but he was so depressed at this point that I decided that if it was going to happen, it already would have.

Mr Heck called Axl to the kitchen, I followed because Brick was giving me funny looks while holding one of his books to his chest. It was starting to scare me a little, and you know it's always the kids that get possessed in the scary movies. I had a feeling Brick would come after me.

I did wonder what I did to annoy him.

In the kitchen Mr Heck was standing by the sink. "If someone were to, oh I don't know, put this plate in the sink for me, someone might think better of someone else and allow them to do something someone wants to do." Mr Heck himself didn't seem to understand what he had said but he rolled with it, hinting heavily at the plate. "I mean it's practically in there already, if someone were to just move it two inches."

But Axl still wasn't getting it. "Argh." He groaned. "Why would I want to help you! I've been sending you hints all week that I don't want to talk to you, how obvious do I have to be!" He stormed off leaving Mr Heck face palming by the sink.

"I told you." He sighed. I nodded and ran off to find Axl.

"Hey." He looked up at me from his place on the sofa. "Maybe you should, um, move the plate?" I winced and waited for the explosion and he didn't disappoint.

"I can't believe you're on his side!" He shook his head. "No, you know what? He's already ruined one thing for me I'm not gonna let him ruin another."

"Yeah but Axl, you don't get it-" He cut me off.

"I don't want to talk about him any more, come on I need to get ready." He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into his bedroom. Thankfully he got changed in the bathroom, he was dressed quite smart for a basketball game but he was representing the school as well, even though he would just be on the bench.

I felt a little under-dressed but I wasn't on the team so I wasn't as bothered. He pulled me off his bed and pecked me on the lips. I could tell he wanted some comfort so I pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry Axl, I have a feeling everything is gonna be okay." I stepped away and smiled at him.

I hoped what I thought was going to happen would actually happen.

As we walked out into the hallway I could tell that his mom and dad felt terrible for what they were doing, I think everyone could, everyone that is except Axl.

We climbed into the car in silence, Sue and Brick were left at home because there wasn't enough space in the car with me there, I felt a little bit guilty but Axl had insisted that I come with him and his mom and dad didn't want to upset him any more than they had.

The ride there was awkward, the tension could have been cut with a knife and I could tell that it was only my holding Axl's hand that stopped him from bursting with anger. His grip on me was a little tight but he needed this.

"Axl?" I whispered but he just shook his head, clearly he didn't want to talk right now. Mr Heck parked the car and we walked in silence into the school, Mrs Heck was making comments to people she apparently knew as we walked through. To be fair they were giving the two parents dirty looks.

Axl was the star player it seemed.

We paused in front of the gym, I could already hear the crowd screaming as the cheerleaders worked the crowd. I could just get a glimpse of Brittany and Ashley as they pranced around.

"If you would have just moved the plate into the sink I would have let you play!" I turned around when I heard Mr Heck shout, apparently in the two seconds I'd looked into the gym Axl and his dad had managed to get into an argument.

"Well sorry! If you want me to figure things out for myself, you have to tell me!" Axl shouted back, but Mr Heck wasn't listening to that.

"I heard 'I'm Sorry', go play." He dead panned.

Axl looked so confused. "But I wasn't apologising."

"Shut up!" I shouted and pulled him into the gym where the crowd noise immediately doubled. I left him to it as he went to get changed. I walked back over to Mr and Mrs Heck and we found seats together.

And it was together that we watched Axl beat his dad's record. Unfortunately they lost the overall game but that didn't stop them from celebrating.

After the game I ran down the bleachers, standing on the sidelines I waited for Axl to notice me which didn't take long at all. He jogged over to me and gave me a long kiss, it would have embarrassed me if it didn't go right down to my toes and linger as he pulled away. The rest of his team catcalled, but we ignored them.

"Congratulations." I smiled.

He gave me another kiss. "Thanks."