Dead Girl Walking ― Aaron Minyard

37. stay soft

you stay soft, get beaten
only natural to harden up
― mitski

[trigger warnings: riko; implied threat of sexual assault; reference to past sexual abuse; violence]

♦

THE SOUTHEASTERN DISTRICT CHRISTMAS BANQUET was held at Breckenridge that year. Thankfully it was scheduled late enough at night that the Foxes could sleep off the previous night's end-of-semester party, but it still meant seven hours on the bus.

The Foxes were among the last to show up at Breckenridge's court. Mara couldn't sleep the entire drive, too aware of the closing distance between her and another one of her monsters, the dread too high to allow for relaxation. She tried to busy herself with reading a book Laurel had recommended, but focus was hard to come by. 

She stared out the window as they pulled up to the Jackals' stadium, barely holding in a flinch as she spotted the black and red bus. 

Aaron squeezed her hand, drawing her attention away from the Ravens' bus and to him. "You okay?" 

"No," she admitted. "But I can't back down now." 

He looked like he wanted to argue that point, but he didn't. He just squeezed her hand again. 

Wymack shooed his Foxes (and Nicky's date) off the bus, locking it after them. When he turned around again, he snapped his fingers at Kevin and Mara to get their attention. "Look at me." 

Mara dragged her eyes to Wymack, and when he had both hers and Kevin's attention, he gestured between Neil and Matt. "You see these two? If I look your way tonight and you two aren't within five feet of at least one of them, I won't let either of you play a damn game this spring. Get me? They're your shields. Use them. Use me, if you have to. Now give me a, 'yes, Coach.'"

"Mm," Kevin managed, which was more than Mara could give Wymack. 

"Don't worry," Matt said. "He can't do anything with so many witnesses."

Mara gave him a blank look. 

"He got to Neil at the last banquet," Allison pointed out. 

With that happy reminder, they gathered their clothes from the undercarriage and followed a security guard inside. 

Once everyone was in their banquet attire, they headed onto the court together. The place was decorated for Christmas. Poinsettia followed the walls all the way around, and a massive tree stood in one corner. Mara assumed it was fake, because there was no way they could have gotten a tree that size through the door unless they'd brought it in pieces. Heavy blankets under the stand ensured it wouldn't scratch up the court floor, and small presents were piled under it.

Whoever organized the seating chart was smart enough to keep the Foxes and Ravens away from each other this time. The Foxes sat down opposite the Wilkes-Meyers Hornets. Mara ended up between Kevin and Aaron. The Foxes and the Hornets hadn't seen each other since late September. Mara almost expected aggression, since the Foxes had won that match, but with the season over the Hornets were laid-back and rowdy.

After all of the teams had arrived, Tetsuji Moriyama tapped on a cordless microphone to call them to attention. Mara's throat turned into a desert at the sight of him. Someone cut the cheery Christmas music off and Tetsuji surveyed the collected teams with a stony expression.

"The season rankings have been decided," he said without preamble or inflection. It was old news by now—sportscasters and coaches had been adding up points all season—but everyone perked up to listen. "The following four teams have qualified to represent the southeastern district in spring championship games. I will list them in order of ranking, first to fourth. Edgar Allan, Palmetto State, Breckenridge, Belmonte."