Higher (East Knights book 1)

Margot

December 16th, 2019
Monday 6:50 pm

"Oh thank god you're here!" I shout as I see Arlin walk through the gym doors. He doesn't look like his normal self.

"Are you okay?" I add as I walk over to him.

"Where's coach?" He asks ignoring my question.

"Locker room." I say and he starts towards the doors. "But Ivy said she has your stuff. Arlin what's wrong?"

"Nothing I'm good." He says as he walks through the doors to the locker room. One perk of being a team manager is that I can follow him without getting into any trouble.

"Arlin," I shout after him.

"I'm fine go get the scorebook or whatever you need to do." He yells walking into the team room.

"The fuck is his problem?" Monty asks as he puts his jersey over his perfect body.

"Fuck if I know." I respond.

"Well, is he playing tonight?" He asks, turning towards me.

"He got here before shootaround. So, I don't see why not." I say, picking up the away jersey that he dropped on the ground. "Here," I mumble handing it back to him.

"Last game, Jameson, you excited!" Coach Allen yells as he walks out of the team room. Arlin follows behind him, but he looks upset.

"Last game?" I question looking between Coach and Monty.

"Didn't tell you. Jameson is graduating early. Won't be back after Christmas break." Coach adds. When he walks back into his office pulling Arlin in with him I turn back to Monty.

"You're leaving?" I ask bringing my eyes up to his.

"I'm still here for a while. But yeah, going to Flordia early. For spring training and stuff." He says casually as he tucks his jersey into his basketball shorts.

"Maggie, scoreboard?" Matt asks as he walks into the locker room. "Game time in T minus 20 minutes." He adds sarcastically bringing me in for a side hug.

"Right, yeah, no I need the scorebook too." I reply back to him pointing towards the team room doors.

"I'll bring it up, at shootaround." He says taking his shirt off and replacing it with his jersey. I shake my head.

"Can we talk after?" I ask Monty before heading out of the locker room. I don't wait for his response.

Monday 7:23 pm

"Scorebook." Matt says which causes me to turn to look at him.

"Thank you." I plea.

"You and Monty good?" He asks as he sits down next to me.

"Don't you have a game to get ready for?" I ask ignoring his question.

"You gonna answer me?" He adds before getting back out of the chair.

"I don't know we haven't talked that much, it's fine." I say as he pulls me in for a hug before running onto the court.

Monday 9:34 pm

"Galvez, good game." Coach says as we all walk back into the locker room. "All of you good game." He adds. "Anything to add?" He questions looking at me.

"No, um. No." I say nervously as the whole team's eyes are on me. "Good game." I say and half of the team blurts out into laughter.

"Thanks for the encouragement Mags." Monty says as he pulls me in for a hug.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow at practice." Coach says before waving Arlin towards him. They both disappear into the team room together.

"Is he okay?" I ask Matt as I set the scoreboard on the Coaches desk.

"Probably. I don't know he's been distant since his mom left for her business trip or whatever." He says.

"You wanted to talk." Monty says as he puts his bag on his back.

I look at him before walking out of the locker room not saying anything else. It's not until I hear the doors open and close again behind me before I turn around.

"You're leaving?" I ask nervously, hoping not to ruin the good energy between us.

"In a couple of weeks. Yeah." He says adjusting the straps to his book bag.

"What about us?" I ask dropping my head down to the floor.

"Is there an us. I thought we were just having fun?" He asks sincerely. I guess he's right. Ever since we broke up, for real I guess this time, we've just been hanging out. Fucking occasionally. Which I hate myself for.

"Well, I thought we would at least have another semester to get closer before you left." I mumble keeping my eyes glued to the floor beneath me.

"I know, I was kind of hoping you'd figure out what you wanted before then though." He says. He puts his hand under my chin and forces my eyes up to his.

"I want you." I say truthfully.

It stays silent between us until the rest of the team barges out of the locker room. Most of the guys say bye to Monty as they make their way down the hallway.

"What about you what do you want?" I ask hoping for an honest response.

"I want us." He says. "But not the recent us. I want what we had before everything that happened to me. Before my parent's divorce, before the drugs, before you hooked up with Sammy." He adds dropping his arm back down to his side.

"Okay," I say and I'm ready to do whatever it takes to make our relationship work. Especially before he goes off to college.

.........................................................

Thoughts?

What do you like? What don't you like?

This story is slowly coming to an end. This is the 30th part, originally I wanted to do 50, but I think 35 is going to be my cut off. Maggie and Monty will definitely be characters in both Arlin and Ivy's books and Matt and Kevin's book. So look out for them there. I might also do another book with them later down the line. I don't know yet. Let me know what you guys want.