Downfall of the nation's hero

Chapter 2

I don't even have a proper time to settle in when someone knocks on our door. I shoot a questioning look at Sophie. 'Are you expecting someone?'. She seems just as clueless as I am but still gets up to answer the unexpected intruder. I can see the surprise in Sophie's posture when she opens the door. She doesn't let the person in, instead, she blocks the entrance with her body. It means trouble. I want to get up to show whoever's there, that I got Sophie's back, but then the familiar voice keeps me seated on my bed.

"Is Matonis home?"

I figured avoiding her would be an impossible task for me, now that we go to the same college together, which also makes us teammates, but having to confront her twice a day in such a short period of time hasn't been on my bucket list. What was I expecting though? Ren Martin has been my number-one rival since forever and life is so ironic that it shouldn't surprise me that it brought us together here.

"No." Sophie lies and I couldn't be more grateful for her ability to know how to read the room so well. "What do you want, Ren?"

There's a hint of regret in Ren's voice when she says: "You really are protective of her, Soph."

I can tell Ren knows about my presence, but she decides not to question it. This whole game gets a weird vibe. Sophie is trying to deny my whereabouts, Ren is talking to me through her, and I am listening to it all, wishing for Sophie to say something that makes sense.

"I am." Sophie confirms Ren's observation. "Look, Ren, I like you. You're one of my closest people in the basketball world. That's why I wasn't surprised when you de-committed from USC to attend Minnesota. But when it comes to picking sides, I'll always choose Audra. And there's no changing that."

"I'm not here to pick another fight." Ren starts explaining. "In fact, it's quite scary how fast the news spread and how many posts about our little confrontation are already online..." Her mentioning this makes my heart beat faster. Great, that's it for making a good first impression and starting a new chapter. "I guess I came by to say I'm sorry. It really must suck when the whole world knows your life inside out."

Sophie's body shifts uncomfortably. Please, don't tell her, Sophie, please.

"I'm sorry, Ren, but you don't know anything about her life. No one does. Her parents may have done great work by selling her personal stuff to the public, but there are still parts of Audra that are hers and hers only. And if you're lucky enough, she might let you in." Sophie then pauses and I swear I can see the smirk on her face when she adds: "But I guess you fucked up your chances when you ended her Worlds with that punch."

"Y'all are never letting that go, aren't you." Ren sighs.

"Because it was fucking dangerous, Ren!" Sophie raises her voice at her. "There's a reason why it's illegal to punch someone in the back of their head, even in martial arts."

If there's anything I wanted less than to see Ren twice today, it would have been talking about the punch again. The memory of waking up totally dizzy and with no idea where I was will haunt me for the rest of my life. More than the excruciating headaches I was having for the next month. It was so bad that even my parents didn't agree to share any private information about how I was feeling. So yeah, it sucked.

Ren's voice gets firm when she continues with the disagreement. "I got fucking overprotective, okay? The whole game, she was trash-talking my teammate whose dad passed away the night before the quarterfinals. And I couldn't shut her up because she was playing like a god as always. So she continued talking and I saw red. I'm really sorry about it, I didn't mean to hurt her. I even visited her at the hospital, but she was totally blacked out."

I get up from my bed to walk towards the door. Sophie notices me coming so she doesn't say anything else. Instead, she moves to make some space for me. I feel horrible for not knowing about the situation. It's starting to make sense why Ren wasn't suspended, but also why she didn't play a single game after the accident. Fuck, am I this wrong about her? We've been going on and off against each other for years. There's no way she can be a nice person, right?