Lacrosse

10- Schools and Fools

Josh

After a fifteen minute ride full of singing along to the radio and Kendall trying to dance, I pull my Ford into the school parking lot nearest the lacrosse field. Usually this particular lot is empty except for days when we have games, but today it is swarming with cars and students crowding around the gates that separate the turf from the bleachers and concession stand. Kendall and I exchange a confused look, wondering what is going on.

I step out of the car and shut the door behind me, walking around the other side to open the door for Kendall.

"After you my lady," I joke, bending down in to a bow.

"Thank you sir," Kendall says with a giggle, curtsying. I close the door behind her and drape my right arm around her shoulders. She turns and nudges her head in to my neck for a second before we approach the crowd of students.

"What's going on?" I ask a scrawny boy that I recognize from my math class. He shrugs his shoulders slightly and I start elbowing my way through the crowd, dragging Kendall along with me.

Once we're at the front of the group, my jaw drops open at the sight of our top quality field. Right smack dab in the center of the field is a massive hole at least eight feet in diameter and who knows how deep.

"Josh?" Kendall questions through clenched teeth. "Did you ever lock the gate after we left last night?"

"Scott and Amanda are going to kill me!" I shriek. How could I have been so stupid? I knew that those Pittsburgh Hills fools were at the field but I was too focused on just getting Kendall out of there that I didn't even think about locking the damn gate.

"Josh!" Kendall cries.

"I'm sorry but I just wanted to leave," I explain.

"We're so screwed when practice starts," Kendall groans.

The crowd of students begins to disperse as the first bell dings, indicating the beginning of school. I start to walk in the direction of the building, my arm still wrapped around Kendall.

We enter the building, a burst of air conditioning surrounding us.

"See you at lunch," I say, leaning down and kissing Kendall's lips before we go our separate ways.

"Thompson!" somebody yells from behind me. I turn around to see Andrew Brown walking towards me, backpack hanging off one shoulder and his brunette hair spiked up in the front.

"Brownie!" I call back.

"You see that hole in the field?" he asks, catching up to me and falling in to step as I start towards our shared first period Algebra II class. I nod. "Who do you think did it?"

"Who do you think did it?" I question sarcastically. I think it's pretty obvious who dug it even to the people who weren't being watched by them.

"Pittsburgh Hills," Andrew mutters and I nod my head.

As we continue walking down the halls, I notice that some of the metal lockers lining the walls are marred with a red target spray painted on to the gray exterior. At first they appear to be at random, but then I figure out the pattern.

"They marked our lockers," I gasp. Each marked locker belongs to somebody on the lacrosse teams. The first one I saw was Destiny Simmons, then Rachel Simmons, then Andrew's, and the rest are players too.

"I guess they're trying to prove a point that they're targeting us or something," Andrew suggests stupidly.

What else would a target painted onto every player's locker mean? That they're going to bake us cookies and leave them there for us to pick up after school? No. They're obviously trying to make a statement.

We know who you are and we will crush you.