9
Dad was passed out in the armchair. Will flicked off the TV and tossed a throw blanket over his body. It was early, and his mom and Leah were both still sleeping.
Will went through his morning routine: jog the farmer’s circle, ten minutes of abs exercises, water, shower, and then breakfast. Today he was having scrambled eggs and toast. Two eggs, one slice of wholewheat toast with nothing spread on it. It wasn’t as low calorie as Will would have liked, but he had volleyball later and needed the extra energy.
“You have work.” Mom’s sharp voice carried over from the living room. “Get up or you’ll be late.” There was rustling and then she appeared. Mom wore her work clothes—a plain blouse and black trousers—but a few strands of hair had fallen out of her usually pristine bun.
“Good morning,” Will greeted.
“Don’t talk with food in your mouth,” Mom muttered, making straight for the kettle. While waiting for it to boil, she eyed up the pan he’d used for the eggs.
“Do you want me to make you some?” Will offered, swallowing his food first. “Eggs on toast.”
“No.” She poured her coffee. “Thank you for offering.” As she passed by him, she gave his shoulder a tight squeeze and ducked down to kiss his cheek. “You get yourself to school on time.”
His mom went to the living room and began talking to his dad.
Will gnawed on the crust as the hushed voices from the living room grew louder. His parents' arguments followed a pattern: Mom would get angry with Dad, Dad would pretend not to notice her tone, Mom would push too hard, and Dad would explode in a sudden fit of anger. Those explosions used to terrify Will when he was smaller, and he’d cower behind his mom when it was directed at him. Even now, Will didn’t know how Mom was brave enough to stand up to him.
He was just getting his bag packed up when Dad’s voice rose into a yell. He snagged the keys and escaped the house as fast as he could. They were lucky nobody lived near them. Otherwise, they’d be dealing with noise complaints and gossip.
*
“Wait by the door as you come in,” Gabriel told them. “I have a seating plan.”
There were a few groans, and Will was doing his best to stifle a smile. He’d worried that maybe someone was just messing with him with those texts, but apparently not. Cassie linked her arm with his. “We could end up next to each other,” she whispered.
Surprised she was still talking to him—given the whole Dune thing—he inclined his head. “I think he knows better.”
Gabriel put Cassie at the back of the room, and Amanda came to his side as they waited. “I got a weird text from Eileen.”
“I get several of those a day,” Will answered. “What was yours about?”
“She’s under the impression you quit the football team.”
Birch came in and joined them. He gave Amanda a warm smile and offered Will a shy one. Will greeted him before turning his attention back to Amanda, who was waiting for him to answer…and also giving him a dirty look. Immediately he was annoyed. Will had no control over whether Birch greeted him. “Gale probably told her.”
Amanda’s eyes widened. “Seriously? That’s why you were so dopey yesterday? What happened?”
Will frowned. Dopey?
“What’s going on?” Birch asked.
“Will quit the team.”
Birch’s brows crinkled together. “Weren’t you telling me if you lost another member you wouldn’t have enough players?”
“The soccer team, not volleyball,” Will explained.
“Will,” Gabriel called. He tapped the desk right in front of him. It was a welcome distraction from having to deal with Amanda’s dirty looks.
Will smothered a smile. He’d put him at the desk right against his. But Will couldn’t complain. He’d shown Gabriel how hopeless he was at math. It made sense to put him up the front.
Will laid out his homework and settled down for study. He was very conscious of Gabriel. Each time Gabriel walked by, Will watched. While Gabriel explained a theorem, Will noticed that his hair was extra wavy today. While Gabriel showed them an example on the board, Will wondered if his hair was wavy because he’d taken a shower. Will ended up thinking about Gabriel taking a shower.
Sweet dreams.
God, Will needed to get out of his own head. He stared down at his copy and worked on the sum. Gabriel moved into his peripheral vision as he sat at his desk, giving them time to work.
It was too distracting. Will peeked up and saw Gabriel on his phone. Seeing the curve of his lips inspired Will to do something that would probably get him detention. Quietly, he snuck his phone out of his pocket.
Will: The tutor put me up the front of the room. So lame.
As soon as Will hit send, he turned his attention to the sum and played the innocent student as best he could. His phone vibrated.
Gabriel: This student is sitting in front of me on his phone. So lame.
Will: That is lame. Maybe he’s following his tutor’s example? You know how students are.
Gabriel: …you got me there.
Gabriel: You want a desk buddy?
Will: Oh no need. I’m practically sharing with you already. ;)
Gabriel got up, and Will shoved his phone into his pocket with a feeling of mortification. The winking face was too much.
Gabriel rested his hand on Will’s shoulder and bent over him. His breath rustled Will’s hair. “How are you getting on?”
Will, thankfully, had done some questions marked out. One, anyway. Gabriel tapped the page.
“I’m sure I did it right.” Will leaned into Gabriel’s hand.
“You did,” Gabriel said. “Keep going with a few more.”
He squeezed Will’s shoulder and moved on to the other students. Will peeked back and couldn’t help notice that Gabriel didn’t touch their shoulders when he checked their work. Cassie caught his eye and mouthed lucky to him. Gabriel caught his eye and mouthed work , though his relaxed expression took any severity out of the command. Will reluctantly turned back to his copy.
*
“Everyone pair off, work on your digs,” Riley called. His voice competed with the basketballs bouncing around them, the shouts of other trainers, and the shrill whistles that blew every few seconds. They only had a third of the court for volleyball, but it was better than nothing.
“Jack.” Will got his attention and repeated Riley’s order, signing it. Jack nodded and turned to Birch and started a lesson on digs. Amanda was with Eileen, and Will was pair-less. This didn’t happen before Birch. Will was missing the soccer match and now that Jack—despite their talk before—was only paying attention to Birch, Will was feeling abandoned. It brought back memories of starting school when he had no friends. Had he slipped back into old habits without realizing? Had he become the old Will that nobody wanted to hang out with?
He swallowed down his apprehension and approached Eileen and Amanda. “Mind if I join?”
“Sure,” Eileen chirped. “We can make it a threesome.”
Amanda let out a dramatic sigh as if the world was ending.
Seriously, since when did she decide he was the worst? Will fought back a scowl. It wasn’t making him anxious. It was just annoying him. Eileen rolled her eyes at Amanda.
“Will,” Riley called. “Do some serves. Nicolas wants to practice receiving.”
Will paused. Riley had introduced Nicolas to them at the start of the training session. He was Riley’s friend from college, and he trained a volleyball team of his own in Dublin. He was a compact man, short, but in shape. He smiled at Will as he brought him a bag of volleyballs—a bag that Will knew their club didn’t have. Nicolas must have brought his own. “Don’t hold back.” Nicolas clapped his shoulder.
“I won’t.” Will set himself up at the end of the court and waited for Nicolas to get into position. He stood in the court's centre, a little toward the back end. He was in a low, loose stance. “I’m starting.”
Serving, when he did it right, was one of Will’s favourite parts of training. It had taken him months of pathetic attempts to even get it over the net—which had been embarrassing because Jack was there to see all of it—but he’d gotten over that part. Next came aim. Control. Then, power. Jack was better than Will in all aspects of volleyball, but with serving, Will could get a lot more strength into it.
At least if Will was getting anxious about everything, he was confident he could do this well.
Nicolas received the first serve as if Will had passed it to him, and the second, and the third.
Will’s confidence wavered. He spun the ball on the palm of his hand and examined Nicolas. He returned to the central position where he could dart quickly to any spot. Will imagined he was in that position. Running backward was much harder than running forward.
Will took a few steps back and changed his stance.
Nicolas grinned. “Here we go.”
It took two jump serves for Will to get the timing right, and then another two to get the ball curving to the ground in-bounds. By that point, Nicolas had to lunge and dive to save them. It was even for a while. Will would score one. Nicolas would save one. But then Will really got into it.
He stopped thinking at all and just let his body do the work.
“Damn, Will.” Eileen came up to him after the third set of serves. She offered him a bottle of water, but he was breathing too hard to drink any.
Everyone was lingering by the bags. Will checked the time. It was ten past seven. Training was over. Slick with sweat, he picked at his shirt, stuck to his torso. Eileen raised an eyebrow. “That’s a good look.”
“I feel very disgusting,” Will replied. He finally took long gulps of water.
“Don’t drink too much.” Nicolas joined him, and Eileen offered a second bottle of water. “You’ll feel sick.”
Nicolas was breathing hard too, though not as bad as Will. “You paced yourself well, kept your strength up right to the end,” he complimented.
Will hadn’t been pacing himself at all, and he was feeling the effect on his muscles already. But it was the kind of tired that felt good.
Riley came over. “We’re being hustled out.” He beamed at Will. “Best serves I’ve seen from you yet.”
“Thanks, Coach.” Will walked back with Eileen to their bags. The group was down to just Jack, Amanda, and Birch.
“Nice serves.” Jack handed him a towel.
“I don’t know how that guy could get any of those,” Birch said. “I could barely follow them from the side.”
“Thanks.” He ignored Amanda’s eye roll. He wiped his face with the towel and crinkled his nose at the smell. He didn’t like the idea of sitting in the car with everyone while he was this sweaty. “Would you guys mind waiting ten minutes? I want to hop in the shower real quick.”
“No problem.” Jack nodded.
Will dug out the keys from his bag and tossed them to Jack. “I won’t be long.”