Telegraph Ave

Chapter 40: Mending

Stacy's POV...

I opened my eyes as sunlight poured in from the open blinds. The first thing I do, is check my phone for the time, and it's 8:09 AM. My phone floods with notifications, but I place it back on do not disturb. I let out a yawn, wiping the debris from eyes and discarding the tissue off my bed. I remember that today is Monday, and guilt trips me when I realize the girls were at practice.

I've been having trouble sleeping for these past two days, crying myself to sleep Saturday night and last night. I haven't gone outside and hung out with anyone, except I've been talking to my Aunt Carla—about moving down to LA with her. Since Saturday night, I've just felt the desire to leave Oakland. I returned to overthinking as a result of the amount of pain I've felt in my personal life. I haven't returned calls or texts from anybody. I've gone completely MIA, because I don't want anyone to know what I plan to do next—especially my sisters. They get emotional just as I do, and I don't want them to attempt to convince me not to leave.

When I saw Xavier in bed with Angel, that was the last wound I would bear. I've experienced a lot of pain over the years, and I never imagined he would add to it.

But now I know better...

I'll never let my guard down ever again, and my head is set on what I need to do now. My dream is to play volleyball at the University of Southern California, just as my Aunt Daniella did. I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that dream, even if that means to leave my family in the process.

The sound of my door opened and it grabs my full attention. Peaking behind its frame was my mom, she inspects me before entering in.

"Good morning." She mumbles.

"Good morning ma." I sit up in bed with my legs crossed.

She maneuvers her way to my bed, taking a seat on its edge. My eyes began to burn again, and a lump creeps to the back of my throat. "I know you're not going to practice today, but..." She breaks the silence. "...you're going to have to tell Coach that you'll be moving."

I took a deep breathe, and just came to peace with how bad things were going to be. Yet, guilt proceeds to entrap me and my stomach turns.

"I'll be ready to go in a minute."

Xavier's POV...

The boys and I arrived to practice early today, giving me time to gain my composure. I haven't been able to sleep right since Saturday, and football practice hasn't been able to help any—memories coming and going. My head throbs from lack of eating, but we're now in the middle of teams—a practice scrimmage between offense and defense. The coaches determined that we wouldn't practice in full pads until the next week, so for now we were in helmets still.

It's been getting hotter the further we practice in July, but not even the heat can take my mind off of heartbreak. I can't help but to reminisce that everything was out of my control, in that gloomy environment.

Nonetheless, I can't allow my emotions to get the best of me while I'm practicing. Markus and Jordan has been doing there best to console me, including my mother. The boys know the explicit details of what occurred, but I sparred my mom the hard truth.

They let me have my space, but at the same time I couldn't stand being on my own.

Though I wanted to be alone...

"Ready hit!" Jordan shouts his cadence and both sides of the ball commence to compete.

I study the backfield, Jordan hands the ball to August and he runs up the middle. Josh two hand touches him and Coach blows the whistle, indicating the play was over. Only a split second later Edward rams into me, knocking me face first to the ground. I start seeing stars and my headache grows. Before I could get up, I heard my teammates confronting him but I also had a few words I wanted to exchange.