We Come Alive 5

Aftermath

Sunday morning, Mateo and Hurst had called and helped agree with the state and their opponents for the championship to postpone the game a week in respect of their fallen player.

Monday morning, Mateo didn't expect Ricky to come into work, but was surprised to see the Egyptian teenager to walk into the athletic building, right past him, and to the conference room where he worked. No one else got in his way or spoke a word to Ricky, just let him walk into the room with his hood on his head and his eyes sunken in.

Mateo glanced at Victor and Danny who were standing there and even looked back at Sam who just shrugged his shoulders. Mateo slowly walked to the conference room, closed the door behind himself, and walked toward the figure in the middle of the room.

"Do you need a personal day off?"

Ricky shook his head. "No. I...I need something to do."

Mateo stopped right behind Ricky and put his hand on his shoulder. "Ricky, he—"

"I don't want to talk about him." Ricky rushed out his words, walking around the table so he was away from Mateo. "I don't need to talk to anyone, I don't want to look at pictures, nothing. I don't—"

"It's normal to feel this way." Mateo told him. "Baylor was a good person."

Ricky glared back at him. "I never said he wasn't. He didn't deserve it. He cleaned up his life! He was going to college! He was going to move away! But he had to ruin it for him! He shot him when he was begging for his life! Baylor was terrified! He-"

Mateo ran around the table and engulfed Ricky in an embrace when he broke down into tears. "It's okay. It's okay."

Ricky let out a loud sob, falling back into one of the chairs. "He was so scared. He ain't deserve that. Baylor was such a good kid. He was so hopeful."

Mateo put his hand on the back of Ricky's neck as a way to console him as he doubled over crying. When he looked to the door, he saw Danny walking in with a box of tissues. He didn't say a word to any of them, just put them down on the table and walked out. When Ricky looked up at the slightly older man, Danny just gave him a reassuring smile.

~**~

Meanwhile, inside the Grand Ridge high school, word had gotten out about what happened Saturday afternoon. Unlike with the adults and coaches dealing with it, teenagers were a lot more ruthless.

Stephen walked along side Jose and Clover to Jose's locker. When they walked into the locker bay, Stephen stepped in front of Clover when he saw a group of girls looking at them.

"I'm not a child." Clover whispered. "I can see everyone pointing and staring."

Jose gazed up at Stephen then down to her. "I don't think you should've came today. You know how people around here are."

Clover looked across the locker bay to see the group of girls Stephen was trying to hide her from. They were talking to each other and then looked at her, whispering.

"Then why not knock some sense into them?" She argued, throwing off her book bag and stomping towards them. "What?! Got something to say?! Or you wanna keep giggling and pointing like we're some zoo animals?!"

The black haired girl in the middle looked at her taken back. "We're sorry your boyfriend died, but everyone knows what he was into. He-"

"None of you knew Baylor!" Clover shouted. "None of you bothered to even give him the time of day! You were all too caught up in your little lives to understand him, or even talk to him! You all sat around making up rumors and lying about who he really was!"