Hailsmith Academy

Chapter 30: Vicious Piranhas

"Come on, boys! Haul ass! Get on the damn bus. MOVE!"

I mentally cursed Coach as I dragged my duffle bag up the stairs of the bus, which was going to be taking us to our away game. I managed to find an empty seat around the middle, next to where Daniel was already sitting. I gave him a small smile.

"Hey, this seat taken?"

He grinned back. "It is now."

"Thanks."

I stuffed my bag into the compartment above our heads, plopping down in my seat once I was done. Coach stood up at the front of the bus, ready to address us.

"All right, boys. This is an away game, so you know what that means. It does NOT mean a time for drinking, smoking or gambling. It does NOT mean goofing around all night. It most certainly does not mean any other illegal activities. Is that clear?"

"Yes Coach!"

"Don't worry, Coach. Let's do this!"

My brother's exclamation was met with cheers as Coach shook his head and sat down, knowing that his words were all but in vain. The bus soon started to move, and we were off.

I turned towards the back, where Jeremiah was sitting along with Jason and a few other guys. They were all joking around and hollering, laughing at inside jokes. Jeremiah laughed too, smiling with Jason's arm thrown over his shoulder. Seems like one of us is having fun at least.

I still hadn't mentioned the whole "His mother threatening to end me if I didn't stay away from him' thing that happened at the gala. I knew it was only going to aggravate his already barely existing relationship with his mother to a whole other terrible level, and frankly it was a conversation I did not want to have. I knew I should probably tell him, but for some reason I couldn't quite bring myself to do it. 

I turned back to the front of the bus, leaning towards Daniel. "Hey Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"What the heck is going to happen tonight?"

Daniel grinned at that, leaning closer to me and whispering. "It's going to be pretty fucking epic, dude. All the guys always throw a massive rager on away games. Last year, I heard that Connor got drunk and took a piss on top of a cop car and ran away. He ran smack into a fence and had to get six stitches."

"Yikes."

"Yeah. Don't worry though, I'm sure it won't be that crazy this year."

I nodded and looked away, but I had to admit I was a little nervous. A bunch of drunk teenage lacrosse players all in one hotel? What could not go wrong?

We reached after a two hour long drive, all of us standing around in the hotel lobby while Coach gave out the room assignments.

"Evans and Novak, you two are rooming together. Hawthorne brothers, you two in a room."

Why me?

Jason turned to glare at me, and I glared right back. It was bad enough that I had to share a house with him, but sharing a room? I'd rather jump into a tank full of vicious piranhas.

Jeremiah caught my eye, giving me a look. Yeah, yeah. I know.

We took our stuff and went up to our rooms, Jason walking like a hundred feet ahead of me. We reached the room and he swiped the key card, opening the door and walking in. He dumped his bag on the bed by the window. Of course, he had to steal the better bed.

I ignored him and put my duffle bag on mine, pulling out some clothes so I could take a shower. I'd just spent the last two hours in a sticky bus ride and wanted to get out of these clothes as fast as possible.