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Karen shrugged. Derrick shook his head, his lips pursed. Others around us became disinterested in the game altogether and were talking to each other. Maybe they were wondering the same thing.
I wasn’t sure if North or Silas cared one way or another about the football games. I understood they wanted the team to do well in general, though. Would it be bad if they lost one or two? I supposed any team could have an off game. Did the almost-fight between Rocky and Silas shake everyone else up?
Crowds around us were talking and I wasn’t paying attention, but I heard my name and turned my head.
Karen and Derrick were turned to a group sitting a couple of bleachers up. Karen was saying something, and one of the kids responded. With the noise going on, I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
And then I recognized Mike and Jer amid the group, paying attention to Karen. Mike’s freckled face changed and he looked at me. He grinned and then started to walk around the rest of the group.
My heart started racing. He wasn’t going to start the proposals again, was he?
Jer joined him. They were both in jeans and with different sport T-shirts. Mike was twice the size of Jer. Were they best friends? They slid into the empty bleacher seat behind Karen.
“Hi,” Mike said loudly. His pudgy cheeks bunched as he smiled.
“Hi Mike,” I said, trying to be nice.
Jer did a short wave. “How’s it going?”
“Okay,” I said. I sensed this was something other than a greeting. They were checking to make sure I was fine with them talking to me. They were trying to test the waters? Did they think I was mad at them? Or didn’t care to talk? Karen used to tell me with the Academy boys around me, I seemed to be inapproachable.
“Hands off, Mike,” Karen said, pulling herself out of the conversation with other kids and turned around in her seat. “Silas will get you if you propose to her.”
Mike and Jer started to laugh.
I leaned into Karen to whisper to her. “You knew about that?”
“What?” she asked, a curious look on her face.
“He did that to me the first of the year,” I said.
“Oh,” Karen grinned and then nodded. “Yeah, he does that to everyone.”
Well that wasn’t so bad. Did he pick up the other girls, too?
“But she’s so pretty,” Mike said with a teasing smirk.
“Yeah,” Karen said, and in a strange tone like she was trying to agree with him and then was tiptoeing around something. “But Silas is bigger than you. He hears about you coming after his girl, and you’ll have the whole football team to deal with.”
“Shit,” Mike said. He turned to Jer. “I can’t mess with her anymore.”
“You heard what Rocky said.” Jer shrugged.
Derrick drifted up to sit beside me, but turned around toward them and started talking to Mike and Jer over my head. I was nudged closer to Karen while she started talking to other people. They pointed out players on the field, identified Rocky and Jay and a few others I didn’t know the names of. There was loads of gossip, usually things that were uninteresting.
I was stuck in the middle, and was a bundle of nerves, trying to figure out what to do. I was having trouble following any conversation because people were talking on either side of me, and with the noise of the game, I couldn’t focus.
I wanted so bad to go sit next to Nathan. Where was Gabriel? Or Luke? I itched to check my phone, but I didn’t want to pull it out from my bra in front of everyone else. I sat on my hands to stop them from shaking.
The group shifted around us, and suddenly there were students all over. Karen and I were at the center. What was going on?
I stopped panicking when I focused on one of the other students. It was the red-skinned kid that had tried to stab himself with a needle. He was a little less red, still sun burned, but it was fading. His eyes were clear – a nice blue. He was back with his friend, talking to him. They were on the other side of Karen, so I dodged around her to watch. I tried to focus on what he was saying.
Now that I knew about the JH14, it puzzled me to see him. He didn’t appear to be the type to do drugs at all. Would he try it again now that he’d been sick? His friend must have forgiven him, because they were talking again.
Suddenly the boy shifted, as did his friend. They turned to the game, focusing on the field. I followed what they were watching.
There was a kick, and Ashley Waters claimed possession of the ball. The teams lined up, waiting. They smashed together. Rocky caught the ball and was looking for someone to throw it to.
The mass of bodies crunching into each other suddenly shifted. One of our own team members broke free, running full force at Rocky. He chucked his helmet to the ground, and looked like he was going to head-butt Rocky in the gut.
“What the hell is he doing?” Karen asked.
Rocky must have realized what was going on. He dodged, but the boy kept going after him. Some of the team members turned around, aiming to tackle.
My heart lunged into my throat. I was worried it was Silas or North. From the distance, I couldn’t tell and from the almost-fight earlier, I wondered if this was what North had been hinting at.
“Isn’t that John?” Derrick asked.
His identifying who it was hit me with relief, until I realized North was one of the ones trying to tackle the now wild John.
I sucked in a breath when it hit me: John? Wasn’t he the one that had kept putting his hands on that girl in class? How was he allowed to play when he had been such a mess earlier?
Rocky made a circle, holding onto the ball and then knelt to keep possession. Referees blew whistles. Coaches were waving arms and shouting.
All the students around us stood up, their eyes riveted to the field. John never stopped. He ducked down, taking Rocky with him. He smashed his head into Rocky’s padded chest like he could dive right through it. Rocky caught him, and fell over, losing the ball. North and a bunch of others caught up to them and grabbed at John, yanking him off.
“Okay,” Karen said, “I don’t know all the football rules, but I know that’s wrong.”
“They kind of look at you bad if you’re trying to tackle your own team mate,” Derrick said.
There was a commotion on the field as the Ashley Water’s coach and some team members ran out. North and another player carried John off, struggling with him as he fought them, clawing and biting and looking like he was trying to lunge after Rocky again.
Acting crazy.
I snuck a look back at Nathan while everyone was looking at the field. He was focused on the game, following along with everyone else.
“I should go find out what’s going on,” Karen said.
“What?” I asked. She was going to get into the middle of that?
“I have to,” she said. She started walking off, toward the steps. “Stay here.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to investigate on her own. Why was she so persistent? And then I remembered her with Mr. Hendricks, and waiting in the office for him. Maybe she kept tabs on students because he told her to. He was casting was really wide net: Karen, Wil, me...
I knew how wild John had been earlier. I should warn her. Mr. Blackbourne had said not to tell anyone about the drugs, but couldn’t I trust Karen?
Karen was already halfway down the bleachers. I reached out for Derrick, grabbing his arm to get his attention. He would understand.
“What?” he asked.
“Can you follow Karen and tell her that John may be high?” I asked. “There’s some stuff going around.”
“There’s always something going around,” he said.
“This is bad, though. Mr. Blackbourne...”
“Hang on,” he said, backing his head up. “Wait a second. Are you supposed to be telling me this?”
“But she may get hurt if she gets involved,” I said. “There’s a ... synthetic. JH14. John might be high on this stuff and if he has more, she needs to stay away from it. It makes people cra
zy.”
Derrick’s eyes darkened. “Sounds bad.”
“Yeah. Could you go with her? Make sure she’s okay.”
He grimaced and nodded. “Even when I’m not in the Academy...” he trailed off as he walked away.
I hated to ask him. I didn’t like to involve him either, especially if Karen was mixed up with Mr. Hendricks in some way. I also didn’t want to be alone with this group around me. Maybe I should have sent a text to Nathan to help, but he was supposed to stay near me.
The game was paused while coaches and team members tried to carry John off, check that Rocky was okay, and figure out what happened. I could feel the waves of gossip flying around. People were making guesses.
I glanced again at the red-skinned boy. He was staring off at the field with everyone else, but now Karen wasn’t in the way so we were technically sitting next to each other.
I checked back with Nathan, who had his cell phone out and was typing something into it.
He was right there. If I was doing something wrong, Nathan would come in and tell me so.
I sidled up beside the red-skinned kid. This seemed like a good idea, but I didn’t know how to start. I could ask him where he got the JH14. Would he tell me? Should I just say hello? How do you start a conversation with someone you don’t know?
“Crazy game, huh?” someone asked, and I turned to meet the red-skinned boy’s eyes.
My heart did a nervous flip. My mouth wanted to stay glued shut, but I forced myself to start talking. “Yeah. Can’t believe John would do that.”
He checked around me and then up and down the bleachers. “Karen left?”
“Yeah,” I said. How many people knew Karen? “She went to see what was wrong with John.” I paused. How do I bring this up? “There’s a rumor he’s on drugs or something.”
