Chapter 5: Chapter 5

The soccer match between Braidwood High and Rymer is soon to begin—The real reason behind Mia’s extended stay at school.

Rymer High has been their school’s arch-nemesis for generations, spawning a gamut of pranks that have become a tradition over the years. This rivalry beckons the entire school to assemble against a greater foe.

Mia locates a seat close to the field. The stands fill quickly with the green-blooded throng, sporting the colors of the home team with posters and banners in hand.

A random boy eases down beside her.

She glances at him askance. He swipes the mop of muddy locks from his face.

“Hey—”

“No,” Mia interjects flatly.

The boy scurries off immediately. Not long after, the stands teem with ecstatic fans.

The cheer squad comes prancing on the verdant field with the soccer team in tow, strutting to the center.

The squad opens up the game with their routine while the team huddles up for the last game talk, encircling the coach, arms draped over shoulders.

The boys of Rymer High make their entrance, a succession of daunting black and red, a dark contrast to the white and forest-green uniform of the home team.

The Braidwood boys break, and the opposing camps stare each other down, electrifying the air with tension as they all take their positions on the field.

The crowd is abuzz. Shortly the shriek of the whistle is like a blaring horn that commences the battle, initiated by a kick-off by Rymer, already starting strong.

Mia’s eyes fasten on Akin, prominent dark skin against the white, darting figures. Mia has never cared to watch any matches, but this is the first time she is watching Akin play.

~And he has God-tier talent~.

The best players on the team are the star captain Alister King, Brett Taylor, and Akin himself.

Ethan lofts the ball overhead.

Akin chests the ball to the ground, streaking across the field with the ball rebounding between the top three as a roar sweeps up from the crowd. His coordination and footwork are executed with flawless precision.

Akin kicks the ball to Brett, who scores them their first goal in record time.

The stands bellow thunderous applause, sharing a round of whoops.

Mia observes silently. The game proceeds and the intensity goes from fierce to ferocious. Rymer picks up their slack, biding their time just to make a powerful comeback.

Over half an hour later, they are locked in a tie. Akin swoops in with the graceful artistry of a skillful thief, stealing the ball from a hopeless adversary and making his play to the post.

Out of nowhere, a flash of red slides in, knifing his legs and sending him to the ground.

The offender rises with his teeth visible from the stands—grinning. Brett charges at him, taking them both to the ground with brute force.

The coach runs from the sidelines to break up the fight. The referee stalks the altercation with the whistle in his mouth, rewarding both boys with a yellow card.

Outrage pokes at Mia.

Other teammates help Akin up. He thanks the two of them with a quick clap on their shoulders. During the remainder of the game, the Braidwood Leopards tear the Rymer Ravens apart, racking up scores tenfold.

Alister hands the final feat to Akin, who makes a legendary score. The crowd erupts and the entire team drains from the corners of the field, racing toward Akin.

Ethan jumps on him dramatically, hops off, and the team hoists Akin up into the air for a victory lap.

Mia cracks a small smile, rises, then descends the stands.

***

Mia barges inside the steam-engulfed locker room.

She strides forward without care or recourse. Half-naked soccer players nudge their fellow teammates to nod at her, snatching their attention as they trade smirks and chuckles.

Brett emerges out of nowhere, planting his hand against a locker, his arm acting like a barrier. His eyes rake her down ravenously.

“You do know this is the boys’ locker room, ey?”

Mia cocks her head to the side.

“Really? Looking at you, I would’ve never known.”

A burst of ~oohs~ fills the room.

Mia ducks under his arm, marching on until she spots Akin with nothing but a white towel wrapped around his hips. His back is to her, rippling muscles bunching together as he slips into a sleeveless tee.

Sensing eyes on him, he whirls around.

“Mia,” he breathes.

It snaps her out of her daze, suddenly overcome by nerves.

“Oh, jeez, sorry, I can go—”

“No,” he says too fast. “Don’t please, don’t go. But, like, what are you doing here?”

She looks away from him bashfully, shielding her eyes with her hand. “Uh, I wanted to talk to you.”

“I can see that,” he says, his smile coloring his tone. He glances at his towel. “Maybe I should get some boxers and pants on before we talk, yeah?”

“No.” She slaps her forehead. “No, I mean yes! No, we shouldn’t talk when you don’t have—I’ll just leave now.”

Mia walks out briskly, confidence obliterated. She waits outside. Brett and a few others waft by, throwing backward glances.

Akin reappears, stepping out in a pair of sleek Air Jordans with gray sweatpants on. He dazzles her with a pretty-boy smile, adjusting the strap of his duffel bag on his shoulder.

Without a cue, they embark on an aimless stroll through the hallways.

“So…”

“I watched you play,” Mia prompts. “You were…incredible.”

Akin, unable to hide his surprise, swallows hard. And nods too many times.

“Brett’s better.”

On the brink of a retort, Mia thinks, ~Akin is faster~.

“I’m sorry if I seem weird this just…feels weirder.” He brings them to a stop, and he stares at her like he’s trying to remember who she is. “It’s like I’m looking at a ghost from my past.”

Mia quirks her brows. “I’m not that pale.”

He dismisses her with a chuckle, gleaming white teeth blinding against his star-shadow skin. “Not what I meant. I mean that we haven’t spoken in forever.”

“Yeah…”

“You’ve blown me off for years, and now you want to talk?” Suddenly hostile.

Mia arcs a brow at the bite in his tone. “What?”

Akin smiles without humor. “You’re going to act coy? I’ve texted you, and the others, a million times and you guys ghosted me. Each time.”

“Didn’t think you’d care, Mr. Popular,” she blurts.

“If I didn’t care, why would I reach out?”

Something simmers underneath her flesh.

“I didn’t come here to argue.”

“Yeah, I know how you like to deal with things,” he mutters, severing eye contact.

She gapes at him, disheartened and offended. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t deal with it. You bury it.” His hands fly to his shoulders. “I can’t bury it. I unpack it. I need the person—the people I cared about most in this world—to know they hurt me. I’m not afraid of my feelings.”

She whips around, only to wheel on him hotly. “You think you’re the only one hurting, star boy?” She throws a light jab at his shoulder. “I lost my best friend—”

“She was ~our~ best friend—”

“—then my dad left me and my world nearly crumbled.”

This silences him completely.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t nurse your feelings. During the worst time of my ~life~, the people I needed most weren’t there—I survived, barely, but I survived. Sometimes I resent that.”

Akin’s gaze sinks to the floor. “Yeah…”

He looks away, searching the hall like he’s looking for someone.

“I have to go. Victory party at Brett’s place, and he’s sort of my ride.”

Mia frees a short, maniacal laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I bare my soul to you and your first worry is a ~party~?”

“That’s not what I meant! I can’t do this!” he yells, eyes bulging with wild anger.

“I thought I wanted this—I needed this—but now I remember why we decided to keep away in the first place. I look at you and I remember. But I don’t want to remember.”

Akin edges away, hands covering his face, imminent tears burning behind his eyes.

“We can’t run from it anymore.”

His hands jerk from his face, his eyes reddened but dry.

“Ironic from the girl who shut the world out.”

“Deep down,” Mia continues, undeterred, “we all knew he would come back for us.”

Akin’s hand finds his mouth, fear clouding his eyes. He shakes his head fervently.

“Do you think I want to believe it?”

Mia grabs his hand and steers him to the closest classroom, opens the door to check that it’s empty. She pushes him inside and closes the door behind her.

“Don’t say his name,” he murmurs, soft-spoken like a child reliving his nightmare. “Never say his name.”

“It’s not a he—it’s not even an it.”

“Is this why you cornered me? To talk about that night?”

“Yes, and no. He must’ve taken her the same way he took Erin.”

“I’m not going to talk about this, Mia.”

He pivots to leave abruptly. She catches his wrist. And he wrenches it from her hold with a harshness that makes her flinch. He parts his lips to say something, decides against it, and bolts out of the classroom.

^INTERLUDE: The Great Oak^

^10 YEARS AGO^

Savio swerved into the school’s driveway, pulling up at the curbside.

He looked down at his daughter and couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Want me to walk you in? You used to beg me to do that.”

Mia gave him a rebellious look. “I think I can manage to walk to the entrance, that’s like seconds away, on my own.”

Savio feigned a wounded look. “It hurts that my baby girl thinks she’s not my baby anymore. Hate to break it to you, kiddo. You will always be daddy’s little girl.”

Mia rolled her eyes at the melodrama, lifting her huge bag from her feet to her lap. “Byeee, Dad.”

“Uh-uh, ~amore mio~. Where do you think you’re going without my kiss?”

He attacked her with a swarm of tickles, fingers like tentacles making her squirm with squealing laughter. Mia ducked, using her school bag as a shield, her head slanting toward him in the driver’s seat.

He stopped to plant a quick kiss on the crown of her head.

“Okay, now you can go.”

She straightened up, smiling goofily. He extended his pinkie finger. She curled her tiny one around his. “Love you,” they say to each other simultaneously.

Then he offered his other one to her and the other little pinkie looped around his bigger one. “In a hundred lifetimes and a thousand different realities.”

They both leaned in toward each other, and he rested his forehead against hers for a heartfelt moment.

He went upright, releasing her pinkie fingers. “’Kay, go on.”

She flashed him a smile and popped the door open, scrambling out of the car.

“~Amore mio~,” he called out.

She turned to look at him.

“Never forget papa loves you.” His fingers exploded. “As big as the sky.”

Mia nodded and shut the door, securing the bag to her back and running up the steps.

There were still ten minutes before school began and the group always congregated at the same spot before school and during recess. Always. Even the other kids knew that it was their territory.

Mia hurried to the playground and crossed the open field to arrive at the rear, near the fence, where a towering oak stood tall. A great tree, soaring and strong, with the sturdiest of branches that never wavered or broke.

The gang was already there. Erin sat at the highest point, her back resting against the trunk, legs bent on one of its many limbs. Keila and Opal shared a branch beneath her.

Akin sat in solitude on the opposite side. Aries was on his own at the foot, leaning against the trunk coolly.

Mia approached and even from a distance, she could tell something was amiss. They were a rowdy bunch when they were together, loud voices and booming laughs, but that day all was morose and shrouded by something mournful.

“Hey,” Mia said warily, exchanging glances with them all.

Some mumbled a greeting, others didn’t. Erin didn’t even look at her.

“Okay,” Mia said in a bossy voice. “What’s going on here? What happened?”

“I’m going to punch his teeth in is what’s going to happen,” Aries said.

“Aries,” Opal rebuked. “Stop it.”

“What?”

“You can’t even reach his teeth,” Akin pointed out.

“I can reach yours,” Aries snapped, tossing a glare up at him.

“Erin,” Mia called out. “What happened?”

Erin looked down at her wordlessly, but her eyes bellowed pain.

“It’s her father—stepfather,” Keila amended. “He hurts her.”

Mia’s face fell. “Did you tell your mom?”

“She wouldn’t believe me even if I show her the bruises. She’d blame it on my clumsiness at school or something.” Erin’s voice was tight from holding back tears.

“She’s in denial and she’s stuck there. Aba took care of us. Now Leonard takes care of her. She needs him.”

Silence returned, this time more unyielding.

“How about you sleep over at my place this weekend?” Mia offered. “And then we can…figure something out.”

Erin nodded desperately.

“Are we invited as well?” Aries asked with a cheeky grin.

“I’ll ask my parents, but it should be good.”