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I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see River slowly walking toward the bathroom area. He looked at me, his frown proving he knew what was going on. He might not have been here last year, but I knew he’d heard about it.
“Would you like to admit anything now before we start?” the detective asked. “It would make your life easier.”
“I have nothing to admit to. I haven’t done anything wrong.” Eli flexed his fingers as he tried to calm down.
The detective began taking everything out of the locker, one item at a time. He looked through everything, making sure nothing was missed. My body was heavy with tension as I waited next to Eli. River was still here, even though he was out of sight. After what felt like forever, the detective looked at us.
“Just because we didn’t find anything doesn’t mean you’re off the hook,” he warned. “We’ll be keeping an eye on you, Mr. Perry.”
“Have fun with that,” Eli forced out through clenched teeth.
The detectives walked out, and Eli stalked forward, throwing everything back in his locker. He slammed it shut and locked it before nearly running to the door. I was on his heels, knowing exactly where he was going. I glanced over my shoulder, not seeing River anywhere.
“You can’t just bust down her door,” I said as we got to the parking lot.
“Fucking watch me.”
I barely got into the car before he peeled out of the parking spot. I thought of ways to convince him to think of this rationally, but one look at his face told me he was past the point of listening. The trouble from last year clouded my mind as he pulled out onto the road.
It had started two years ago. A blog showed up online. At first it was small things, but it focused on our basketball team. Particularly Eli and me. Once it became more personal, we knew it was Kat who was behind it. Especially since it started a month after Noah had gotten arrested. The blog was gossip all over campus since it was all about two founding families.
It was all untrue, but that didn’t stop people from whispering about it. One of the stories was that I was adopted and not a true founding family. Another was that Eli was cheating to pass his classes. At first it was harmless gossip. Annoying, but bearable.
Then she really outed herself. She began talking about how we played. What our weaknesses on the court were. She must have watched our games to figure out some of them. But a few of the things she talked about came from our childhood. How Eli’s biggest struggle was three-point shots. How I got distracted by cheering when I shot foul shots. Other schools began taking notice and used that against us at games. We still won states, but it wasn’t as easy. Our annoyance grew, but our parents were adamant it was a rival team and not her.
Last year, it got more vicious. Stories came out about how we were using steroids. Other teams began calling in complaints, and we had to get tested for drugs. Then it got worse. Calls were made to the state police that we were selling drugs. Always the state police. Because she knew the Braidwood police were in our pocket. One time they got a tip to check Eli’s car, and a half pound of fucking marijuana was found. A few baggies of pills were found in mine.
After the blog had circulated, the drugs made big news, and we had to sit out the rest of the season. Our lawyer was amazing, and the judge was in our pocket, so all charges were dropped. But the damage had been done. Most in Braidwood believed us when we explained we were set up. It helped that we had built respect on campus before all of this happened.
Other schools didn’t look at us the same as before. To them, we weren’t worthy of the state title anymore. This year, we were going to earn it all back.
Richard and my dad were enraged when it all happened but refused to bring Kat back, no matter how many times we argued about it. She covered her tracks well. Whoever helped her knew what they had been doing. That blog, along with everything else, couldn’t be traced back to her. Our dads went with William to question her, not letting us go with them. We had no idea where she was, and we tried finding her but came up empty. It made sense now that we knew she was going by a different name.
We took her little brother from her, and she tried to take the only thing she knew we cared about, which was basketball. Along with making us look bad in our city. And she had almost fucking succeeded.
That was one reason Eli and I wanted her back in Braidwood. At least with her here, we could make sure she didn’t pull that shit this season. I never expected her to start up again now that she was back.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when Eli parked, nearly hitting the curb. I hurried out of the car and caught up to him, grabbing his arm before he made it to the front porch of the girls’ house.
“They all know who she is,” I said quickly when he shoved me away. “You can’t freak out on her in front of her team or it’s going to get back to Richard. Then it won’t just be her we have to deal with.”
Eli paused, his chest heaving as he debated if his dad’s wrath was worth it. Finally, he started walking to our house. I followed him, wondering what was going through his head now.
“Fine,” he said, pushing open the front door. “We’ll talk in her room. Or take her back to ours.”
He raced up the stairs, and I realized what he meant. I caught up to him as he got into our room. We shared the largest room in the house. We both had queen-size beds that were on opposite walls. My desk was at the end of my bed, while Eli’s was shoved into a corner because he always did his homework on his bed. The few things we had on the walls were basketball related. In the middle of the room was a three-person black sofa with a small flatscreen. A mini fridge was next to the large closet. And it had a balcony that faced Kat’s room.
He grabbed a tool that would unlock her sliding door and went out onto the balcony, climbing over the railing to hers. I stood behind him, staring at her closed curtains as he worked on the lock, not excited about the conversation we were about to have. I was pissed. I’d thought this was all past us. She needed to know it wasn’t happening like it did last year.
The lock clicked, and Eli pulled the door, but it didn’t budge. He muttered under his breath, yanking harder. I peered over his shoulder, looking through the glass. I nudged Eli when I saw what was stopping the door from moving. She had put a long narrow metal pipe in the door track. Even when it was unlocked, that door wasn’t opening.
“Either I break the glass, or we go through the front door,” Eli said, still looking at the door. “Which do you think would attract less attention?”
“As long as you can keep your calm when we walk into the house, the front door would work.” I highly doubted he’d stay calm. “If she saw those detectives at the school, then she already knows we know. And she’ll do whatever it takes to not get caught alone with us.”
Suddenly, the curtains were jerked open. Both Eli and I looked up, seeing Kat. At first, she looked confused, until she saw the tool in Eli’s hand. Her stare turned murderous when she realized we had been trying to get into her room. She was still wearing her blue and gold team sweats, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail.
Eli slapped his hands on the glass. “Open the fucking door.”
