Hailsmith Academy

Chapter 20: That night

I walked out of my math exam, half dejected and half happy. I most definitely screwed it up, but at least it was my last exam for the semester. I was officially free.

There was only about a week of school left before I got to go home for Thanksgiving. I was super excited to see my parents again. What I was not looking forward to, however, was spending at entire weekend trapped in a house with my disgusting brother.

At least in school I could avoid him whenever I wanted to. At home, I'd have no choice. It's the only bad part about returning home every year during holidays or vacation.

Besides all that, now that lacrosse season was getting closer, practice had turned into a different kind of hell. I was ready to collapse just with the thought of going there now.

"Move your asses! My grandma can run faster than you Stevens! Move!"

I cursed Jason under my breath as we ran up and down the field, running the same drill for the millionth time. The winter air had started to come in now too, so we had to practice in the bracing cold outside. I wanted to kill him. At least Coach had been smart about it, retiring inside to his office after seeing that Jason had it under control. Seriously, what do they even pay him for?

After another thirty minutes, Jason finally let us play a match. We split into teams, with Evans and him as opposing captains like usual. Evans hadn't spoken to me the entire time, fully focused on what he was doing. He hasn't said anything to me except for that one text message from ages ago. I had officially made things awkward between us I suppose. That's just great.

We were over halfway through the game when someone passed the ball over to me, and I ran ahead with it. I tried to pass it, but everyone was marked. Steadying myself, I took a deep breath and shot the ball towards the goal.

I missed.

"Use your aim next time Hawthorne! That wasn't even remotely close! Are you blind?" Jason yelled from across the field. He did not just dare speak to me. No way.

"How about you shut your fucking mouth!" I yelled back.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, no one even moving a muscle to continue the game. Jason took off his helmet, walking towards me with the hardest death stare ever. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"I told you to shut your fucking mouth." I retorted. At this point, nearly everyone at school knew what had happened between us. What's even more shocking, is that so many of them didn't even know Jackie and I were together, even though we hung out all the time. That's how stupid people are at this school.

My gaze went towards Evans, but he didn't even meet my eyes. He didn't make any move to try and calm things down like he usually did. He simply stood there, leaning on his stick and glaring at nothing at all. Weird.

"I'm your captain. Think again before you speak to me like that."

"Oh yeah? Or what? You're going to go steal another one of my girlfriends?"

That made him stop for a second, looking at me in contemplation. "Don't bring that crap into the field, you twat."

The nerve of this guy was surreal. How can anyone talk like this after pulling a stunt like that? He knew no bounds at all.

"Then don't bloody talk to me, you sick twisted bastard."

He looked just about ready to start a fight with me then and there. I'm pretty sure it would be one that I'd lose, but I didn't care at the moment. The audacity of this man never fails to astound me.

"So you really want to do this huh? Fine. Could you ever be so delusional to think that someone like her  would ever be interested in someone like you? It's fucking pathetic. Everyone knows that you two don't go together."