I was going to their basketball game.
I knew they weren’t playing, but they would still be there. I was going, even if I sat alone. Then again, maybe I would sit in the opponent’s side. I longed for that anonymity again.
Since Mark played for Fallen Crest Academy’s basketball team and they had their own game that night, I knew I wouldn’t be successful in rallying anyone to go as my guest. Though I considered Becky, she informed me after class that she had to wear her uniform for the entire weekend. Someone snickered as they walked past us, but she placed her hands on her hips and stood tall. She stood proud. “It’s a hazing practice, but I’m happy to wear this uniform. I will even sleep in it.”
Becky was out.
Parking was packed around Mason’s school. It was a large building with a large parking lot, and I didn’t find a spot until I was six blocks away. As I walked by myself, the cold air swept past me and I shivered. I was glad for the bulky sweatshirt Mason had given me and dug my hands into the pocket. My teeth were clattering against each other by the time I arrived at the front door. A group of students dressed in their school’s colors, red and black, dashed in front of me. They threw the door open and a burst of warm air blasted me.
I gasped with relief, though I hadn’t realized how cold I really was until then.
The line inside was long and took twenty minutes before I was able to pay for my ticket. I was handed a program and then skimmed the concessions lines. The ticket wait was nothing compared to those. It would’ve been forty minutes before I got the only thing I wanted, a soda, so I ducked inside the first set of doors and stopped in amazement.
Both sides of the gym were packed. It didn’t look like there was any open seating on their stands and then a roar went over the crowd. It wasn’t difficult to find where Fallen Crest Public’s cheering section was located. They were across from me, on the other side of the gym, which meant I was beside the opponents. I didn’t care, but another cheer went over the crowd.
Ethan Fischer had entered the gym. The cheering section hooted, hollered, and laughed. Some of the girls called out his name and the guys started a chant that wasn’t audible. Ethan grinned and ran a hand through his messily rumpled hair. He had baggy jeans on and a tight black tee shirt, but he loped towards his friends with his hands shoved down in his pockets. He went slow and smirked when more people called out to him as he passed. As he drew near, his friends separated and he got a seat smack in the middle.
I let out a breath I’d been holding. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding it, but goodness. If that was his welcome and he wasn’t on their team, I couldn’t imagine about Mason and Logan’s arrival.
“Hi, Samantha.”
I jumped backwards and landed into the person who spoke to me.
“Oh, Helen.” I gave her a shaky smile as I scooted backwards. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
She waved it off with a gracious smile. “That’s okay. You weren’t expecting me. I wasn’t expecting you as well. Do the boys know you were coming tonight?”
I blinked at her. The niceness that came from her made me pause, and I didn’t realize I was staring until she chuckled in a soft manner. Her golden hair was down. It framed her face and with the pink cashmere sweater she wore, giving her an angelic image. She glanced down and I did as well. She wore jeans that I already knew were custom-fitted over a pair of pointy shoes. They were black, but I knew they were from a designer I had never heard of.
“Sam?” She gave me another soft grin. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” My head ducked down. I must’ve looked like a fool. “I didn’t…anyway…”
She chuckled again and gestured to the bleachers behind us. “Should we sit?”
I looked where she pointed. “There are no seats.”
She pointed higher. “I paid for that box when Mason was a freshman. It’s reserved for any of their family members, but no one knows that. I don’t think Mason and Logan even know that I did that. Would you sit with me? I came alone.”
“Me too.”
“I know.”
I felt another blush coming and rolled my eyes. Why was this happening?
Then she touched my arm. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Sam. Mason told me you’re a loner, of sorts.”
“Oh.” Then why did I feel stupid because of it? “Yeah.”
“Come on. Let’s go up.”
A security guy took her elbow and led the way. We were taken behind the bleachers and into another a narrow hallway. The walls touched each side of my shoulders as we trudged down it to a small door that led to a small stairway. As we went up, I could hear the roars and chants from the gym beside us. The wall was thin and it shook from whoever was on the other side, in the bleachers beside it. The security guy opened another small door at the top, and we stepped into a small box set above the gym. We were encased in hard plastic all around us with a desktop that stretched from one end of the box to the other. There were folding chairs at one end with some upholstered chairs at the other end. When Helen sat in one of them, I took the other.
The security guy took one of the folding chairs.
We were above the rest of the chaos in the gym and no one glanced at us. Not once.
Helen touched my arm again. “Would you like something from the concessions? I was thinking of getting some popcorn.”
“Oh.” She was going to the concessions? I jerked my head in a nod. “I’ll take a diet soda.”