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“You’d better run,” I mumbled, ducking my head to cover the blushing. What was this? “Don’t want to miss it.”
“Yeah, right.” He dropped my hand quicker than I would’ve liked and jogged over to get his backpack. “See you tomorrow, Coach?”
“Be prepared to do lots of laps to make up for missing practice,” Mr. Hart called out with a grin.
Gabriel groaned and then was gone, leaving me to stare at the empty doorway for several seconds. I swallowed hard, shaking the hand that he’d released. Whatever that reaction was, it was lingering like a bad cold. I was pretty sure I’d lost feeling in my fingers. I’d be lucky to be able to hit the right keys for the battle tonight.
The battle!
Snapping out of my haze, I rushed to pick up my backpack. Gabriel wasn’t the only one who had to rush home. There were twelve minutes left until the battle and it usually took me at least ten minutes to drive home. I’d better book it.
“Beth, wait,” Mr. Hart called out as I was about to dart out the door.
I bit my bottom lip hard, feeling the urgency of the moment. What did he want now? Did a lecture come included with your first detention? I wouldn’t know. But as I turned around to face him, I saw him holding out my cell phone. With a sheepish smile, I ran back to him and grabbed it.
“Don’t let it happen again,” he said in a low voice, but I could see the humor twinkling in his eyes. “Or next time, I’ll have you clean out the snake tank.”
I shivered from my head to my toes. “No problem. Won’t happen again.”
“Good.” He winked at me. “Now, get out of my sight.”
I was out of the door before he could say another word. The parking lot was nearly empty. Most of the sporting teams had already finished up practice and gone home. I jumped in my little Chevy and floored it before I even had the seatbelt buckled. Every minute seemed to tick by with unnatural speed. I bounced my left foot on the floor board as I waited at a red light. And when it finally turned green, I was out of there like a shot.
By the time I pulled into my drive, there were two minutes left to spare. Mom and Dad were already home and had a frozen pizza in the oven as I ran through. I shouted my greetings, probably scaring the crap out of them, and ran straight for my room. Tossing my backpack on the floor, I dove for my laptop and pulled up Battlegrounds to login.
Forty seconds to spare! The other team was already in position in the landscape, their characters shifting uselessly on the other side of the arena, waiting for the countdown to begin. I glanced at Battlescar13’s darkened name at the bottom, praying that he would sign in on time. There was no way I could take these two on alone. I needed my partner. He was the only way I was going to be able to get to the final round.
With only ten seconds to spare, Battlescar13’s name lit up. He was here! His avatar appeared next to mine on the screen, his impressive battle ax held aloft.
Battlescar13: Sorry I’m late.
CurrerBFighting: About time. What took you so long?
I couldn’t help it. I was just so happy he was here, the teasing side of me was coming out. He deserved a little prodding before the battle began.
Battlescar13: Let’s just say I was doing hard time.
CurrerBFighting: Prison?
Battlescar13: Worse. Detention.
I laughed aloud. It was kind of great, imagining the expression on Gabriel’s face as he typed in those words. The round was just about to begin. I typed in one last message.
CurrerBFighting: Hope whatever landed you there was worth it.
Battlescar13: She definitely was.
My heart palpitated violently when I read those words. She? Was he talking about me? And what did he mean by saying I was worth it? A million questions went through my mind at once, but I didn’t get time to dwell on them. The first round of the tournament had begun and we both jumped into action, swinging our weapons like mad. My newly acquired weapon at my side, there was no way we were going to lose this battle.
We had to win.
Chapter Ten
I couldn’t get Gabriel’s words out of my head all throughout school on Friday. Was it worth it to go to detention?
She definitely was.
Of course, those were the words he’d sent to CurrerBFighting, not me. He didn’t mean anything. Not really. I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions. And besides that, I had more important things to think about.
