If the Story Aligns

Chapter 5-Hidden Places

Asher Reed

"Reed goes for the shot with only five seconds left, will he make it?" The announcer yells "This would be a game winning point resulting in Lancaster Highschool becoming second place in this division. FIVE FOUR THREE TWO... AND HE MAKES IT!" This has got to be one of the best feelings, I look to my teammates and they just erupt in cheer. I'm all of a sudden surrounded by 12 sweaty boys cheering ridiculously loudly.

Once we get on the bus home I'm met with a "LETS FUCKING GO!" My teammate, Chase, yells, which is followed by a "LETS FUCKING PARTY!" from Roman. We all get extremely hyped and ready for what comes next, but right now they're all going to go party so they can drink and have sex, but I will probably just go home. Maybe stop by for a bit. Everyone is still so hyped, and the bus is insane. I feel so bad for the driver.

As I look out the window I see a familiar shitty old bike, Rhea. She's on the opposite side of town by herself, I wonder what she's doing there's literally nothing over here. River comes up to me and goes "God Asher, that was insane, you played so fucking good. Dude, you have to come to the party to celebrate."

"Ah I don't know, I may just go back home." I reply

All of a sudden half the team joins in and complains, "Seriously Asher, you just scored the game winning point along with most of the points you cannot go home you have to party." Roman says and everyone agrees. I shrug and then we all change before we head over.

The party is at one of the "popular" girls' houses, and safe to say she is extremely rich, this place is practically a mansion. I am immediately congratulated by a few guys and multiple girls very obviously trying to flirt. I thank everyone and continue to walk around, everyone was here for the purpose of either hooking up or drinking heavily and I wasn't really into either of those things so I just walked around talking to a few friends. The girls that all keep coming up to me are in tiny pieces of clothing and big confidence thanks to the alcohol, they all seem super nice so I just politely turn them away. I used to drink but I realized I didn't like how it made me feel so I stopped.

I see Elysia, the girl I've seen Rhea with a few times, I wonder if she came with her. Surprisingly I see Roman with her chatting up a storm, I walk up to them and notice Roman is definitely trying to get in her pants. I've never seen them talk to each other so this is new, she's arguing with every flirtatious remark he gives her which is extremely funny seeing as he rarely gets turned down.

"Hey Elysia, did Rhea come with you?" I interrupt. "Huh? Rhea? Oh no honestly I don't even have her number, she's a confusing person, she said something earlier about being busy tonight though, with what? I have absolutely no clue there's nothing to do in this town." She's obviously a bit tipsy as she just continues to blab on. "Thank you, I have to go though." I laugh and leave her and Roman.

Another girl comes up to me and I take this as my cue to leave, everyone's already either too drunk or busy to notice. As I'm driving home I see Rhea's bike again but this time it's a little off the road on a weird side of town and I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't paying that much attention. I decide to pull up next to it and she's not near the bike so I get out to check to make sure she's okay. I walk around for a bit not finding anything until I see a door.

Against my better judgment I go to open it and I see it leads to a hall with another door at the end, I hear faint cheering on the other side of it so I go to follow to see what it is. Once I open the door I am met with hundreds of people and a ring in the middle. With two people boxing in it. Why would Rhea be at some weird underground boxing ring? I got closer to get a better look at the fight, for some reason I had a feeling I knew the guy winning, but almost everyone I know is at the party I was just at. The opponent hits the one who was winning right across the face and it looks like it would bruise the next day, just for the other guy to come back around and finish it with a left hook. "STORM for another win, it's his second week here yet he already has defeated everyone he's competed with." the announcer booms. I took that as my cue to leave, maybe Rhea is here with a friend or a boyfriend or something.

. . .

The next morning I woke up and got dressed before my mom usually gets me up, I couldn't stop thinking about the place Rhea's bike was at. How have I never heard of it, I've lived here my whole life. As I walk downstairs my mom is cooking breakfast and Nia is playing a game on her IPAD.

"Asher, I heard about the game last night that's so exciting I'm so proud of you." Mom said.

"Yeah Ashy, mom showed me a video someone sent her, that looked so cool." Nia agreed.

"Thank you guys it felt amazing, my team played well yesterday." I replied.

"Well, have a good day at school today." She waved goodbye.

I was debating on whether or not to ask Rhea about the place last night, but once I walked into class I realized we switched seats to who our pair was, which means I will be right next to her. So maybe I should ask. As I sit next to her she immediately starts by saying "Who do you want to do for our project?"

"Umm, it would be kind of cool if we did an interracial couple, because that was illegal back then, and I am black and you're white so we could use it to show how slavery affected people." I suggested.

"You want to pretend to be a slave?" She confusedly asks.

"I mean it would be good to show the history and no one else in this class is black so it would be pretty original." She laughs at that, I like her laugh she should laugh more.

"If it's fine by you it's fine by me."

"Do you want to meet up at my house after I get out of practice tonight to work on the project?" I question. It looks like she's thinking for a bit before she nods.

"Sure, just text me your address when I should come over." I don't know why but she seems hesitant about this. I'll ask her about it tonight.

. . .