Chapter 10
E dmundo
The fall afternoon was sunny and warm, but the occasional cool breeze reminded us that snow was only a month off.
Jogging out onto the pitch, I’d never felt more alive. Not only was I getting to play the game I loved, but Ana was in the stands cheering. Our first few games had been off-property and during the day, so she couldn’t come to watch, but this one was here at Wayward. The school always went all out to make the home games feel special. The marching band played, and their formations got the fans cheering.
For someone who had never been to a sporting event, Ana showed amazing team spirit. I’d taken her into town and purchased what seemed like a million packages of navy and gold streamers, along with other stuff that I couldn’t even name. She made pompoms and handed them out to anyone interested. Now, the Wayward bleachers were a sea of shimmering colors.
I spotted Ana right away, standing in the front row. Her smile almost made me trip over my feet. Fuck she was beautiful.
“Hey, lover boy, did you hear anything I said,” Marcus asked.
“Unfortunately, I did, but I’m trying really hard to ignore you.”
“Funny. You sure you can keep your head in the game long enough to be captain?”
I grabbed his arm, jerking him to a stop before we got any closer to the bench or the rest of the guys.
“I’ve had just about enough of you coming at me about my relationship with Ana. One minute you’re understanding and can’t say enough good about Ana and the next you’re a dick. I’m done. So, two things are going to happen. The first is that you’re going to tell me what the hell your problem is, and second…if you make fun of us again, I’ll knock your teeth down your throat.”
“That. That is my problem.”
He looked over his shoulder, but everyone was still warming up and not paying us any attention.
“Ever since you got serious about her, you’ve changed. Everything is about her.”
Letting go of his arm, I laughed and shook my head.
“Are you fucking jealous?”
“Not like that. I don’t want to marry your stupid ass. But Yulianna is included in all our plans. She’s always there, and when she isn’t, you worry about what she will think. You plan every move of your day around her and her schedule. Every meal is with her and you’re never in your room. We never hang out like we used to. And now every deal with your father is a big secret. What the fuck? I know you want to marry her, but you’ve gone over the edge.”
“You don’t understand,” I said.
“You’re right, I don’t. So tell me.”
I looked down, not wanting to say the words out loud that plagued me.
“Marcus…there is a good chance that her father will say no. I’ve increased my holdings and territory for my family, but in comparison to the Mikhailov wealth, I’m still a small fish. This year may be the only year I get with her, and that fucking terrifies me. So no, I won’t stop. Ana is not just a girl I’m having fun with, she’s my future and the woman I want to marry. Everything that I do is to make sure that these few months we have together isn’t the only time we have. I don’t expect you to understand it, but you will respect my decisions, or we can no longer be friends.”
“Whoa, man. Take a massive pill. I never said I wouldn’t support you.” He crossed his arms. “I’m sorry I’ve been giving you a hard time. I didn’t know. You always act like it’s a done deal.”
“Well, it’s not.”
Fuck, I wanted to cut out my tongue for saying that out loud. All I wanted was positive vibes in the air, and I never wanted Ana to worry. Vadin was impressed at the last meeting with my father, and that meant we were one step closer to asking the question and making a deal. But nothing was final until we walked down the aisle. That was the sad truth of it, and what I’d learned about Vadin didn’t ease my mind. He was ruthless, violent, and vindictive as fuck. One mistake…just one….
“So…stupid question, but why don’t you just knock her up?”
“How about I knock you the fuck out instead,” I growled, getting in my best friend’s face.
“Dude, think about it. Her father is all about keeping her pure, right? He can’t say no if you get her pregnant. He’ll want to keep that shit quiet. Fast wedding and all that.” He shrugged. “Just think about it.”
“I’m not doing that to her.”
“I’m not saying do it to her. I’m saying ask her how far she’s willing to go to seal the deal.” He shook his head. “What the hell did you think I meant? I’m a dick, but not a total douchebag.”
Marcus walked away, and I resisted the urge to jump on him and pummel the ass into the grass. But...I had to admit that there was merit to the idea, even if it went against everything I stood for and wanted for us. I didn’t want to force Vadin into accepting me. I wanted him to see me as an equal, a son, and be proud that I was part of his family. Purposely getting Ana pregnant seemed like a sure-fire way to destroy all I’d worked toward. God only knew what Vadin would do.
“Genovese, get over here,” Coach yelled.
I jerked, realizing I was still standing in the middle of the field by myself. Coach was drawing on his clipboard as I jogged over to my team on the sideline.
“Marcus and William focus on their defenders. Be obnoxious and get them flustered. You think you can handle that?”
“I think Marcus has that down, Coach,” I said and got a laugh.
“Funny. Are you ready to score, Edmundo?”
“Yes, sir. It’s in the bag.” Coach’s lip twitched up.
“Don’t get too confident. That’s when you make mistakes.”
I looked over my shoulder at the opposing team huddled up. “Maybe, but I doubt they’ve improved since the last time we faced them.”
“Hell yeah, we’re going to crush them,” Marcus said, hitting me in the arm.
“Lawrence, you know what to do. Get the ball to Edmundo.”
Coach continued down the roster, setting positions, giving tips, and reminding us about the plays we ran during practice. I tuned him out and focused on the pitch. When I was out on the field, my worries disappeared. It was simple: attack, shoot, score, win. But the moment I stepped outside of the white boundary line, it all came crashing back.
There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Ana. But that didn’t stop me from feeling the weight of what I still needed to accomplish. Thinking about her drew my eyes to the bleachers and my heart swelled, the pounding so hard it blocked out all the other sounds. She was watching me and mouthed, I love you. With those words, nothing else mattered.
The referee blew the whistle, calling for captains, while the rest of the team got into position.
“Hawking Shores calls it,” the ref said.
“Tails,” the captain said as the coin was tossed in the air.
It felt like I was watching a visual representation of my life as it flipped end over end and landed in the referee’s hand. He smacked it down on the back of his other hand and I waited with anticipation for him to reveal the result.
“Heads, Wayward’s choice.”
“We’ll kick off,” I said.
“Very, well. Let’s have an honest game and good luck,” the ref said as I shook the opposing captain’s hand.
Game on.
Thirty minutes in and we were tied at one. Hawking’s attacking had not improved, but their defense was hard to break through. I was also fed up with Lawrence. He was acting like a hot shot and trying to score instead of passing the ball.
“Lawrence,” I yelled as I ran into an open area deep in the Hawking Shores’ defensive zone. He glanced at me but didn’t pass. I watched helplessly as Lawrence got boxed in by two of their players. The ball was stripped away and up the pitch before he even realized what was happening.
“What the hell,” I yelled, holding my arms out to the side. He ignored me, but enough was enough.
Abandoning the game, I ran after Lawrence and pushed him, forcing him to stumble to the side.
“What the fuck was that?”
Lawrence could be a prick, but I’d been a good friend to him. I thought we’d gotten past the jealousy and one-upmanship.
He got in my face, our noses touching as we squared off. I could hear the ref blowing his whistle but didn’t care. This needed to be settled.
“Why the fuck did you push me?”
The ref blew the whistle again and pointed at me as he held up a yellow card. Our team ran over, ready to separate us.
“You know why. Your selfish ball-hogging is costing us this game.” I pointed to where I’d been when I wanted him to pass. “I was wide open, and you didn’t pass. You’ve been doing it the whole time.”
“I didn’t see you. And if it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have the one goal. You’re too busy staring at your girlfriend to score,” he growled and pushed me.
There it was, the root of the issue. I should’ve known. He was fucking jealous of Ana. He either wanted her or didn’t want to see me happy. Either way, he wasn’t a friend if that was the case.
“Fuck you, Collier. You looked right at me and then tried to make a shot when you were nowhere near the goal,” I said, ignoring the part about my girlfriend. I wasn’t going to let him turn this into a personal issue.
“Both of you knock it off,” Marcus said, grabbing our shoulders. “Edmundo is right. This isn’t a solo sport, Lawrence.”
“Lawrence, get over here now. I’m subbing you out,” Coach shouted from the sidelines.
Fury burned in Lawrence’s eyes as he turned on Coach.
“What? Why me? I’m the only one who scored a goal,” he complained.
“Because of your attitude. It’s not Lawrence’s Wayward Trojans. It’s just the Wayward Trojans. Now get off the pitch before you get red-carded and screw over your whole team.”
“This blows,” Lawrence yelled.
“On second thought, go straight to Dean Martin’s office.”
Coach pointed, and I could hear Lawrence swear under his breath.
“Don’t worry. I quit.”
He pulled off his jersey and threw it on the ground.
The ref blew the whistle again and gave Lawrence a yellow card.
Marcus and I shared a look and shook our heads. I’d genuinely thought that Lawrence could be redeemed, but every time I turned around, he did something to break my trust or prove that he was still the selfish SOB he was when we met.
Coach must have had Emmett on the sidelines ready to sub in. As soon as Lawrence stepped off the pitch, he ran over to us. Emmett was a year younger. I didn’t know him very well, but he seemed keen, and I was happy to give him a shot.
Coach pointed to me. “We’ll talk after the game.”
I nodded.
“Now, can we get back to playing soccer and win this game?”
I so badly wanted to say football.
Emmett took Lawrence’s position and the ref dropped the ball in front of the Hawking Shores player. This jealousy bullshit with Lawrence had to stop. It was getting out of control.
Yulianna
“Oh my god.”
Eddie ran up to Lawrence and pushed him so hard that he almost fell on the ground.
“I don’t understand. Why are they fighting,” I asked Paul.
All the players, including the other team, had stopped to watch the drama unfold. Even the bleachers had turned deathly quiet as everyone tried to hear what was being said.
“Because Ed is the main striker, and his job is to score. He’s also the captain, which makes him the most respected player. Lawrence is second striker. His job is to pass the ball to Ed or score if he can’t, but he hasn’t given the ball to Ed this whole game and keeps getting stripped of it. That was an oversimplification, but basically, he’s being selfish.”
“He wants to score himself?”
“Yes, exactly.”
They were in each other’s faces now, but I couldn’t hear. Whatever it was seemed very intense. Lawrence pushed Eddie, and I covered my mouth, expecting him to attack back, but he didn’t.
I hadn’t been here very long, but from what I’d seen of Lawrence, I didn’t trust him. More than that, it felt like he was trying to ride on Eddie’s coattails. There wasn’t a single instance I could point to that made me feel that way, but the small things added up. He was slowly worming his way in, waiting for Eddie until he put his guard down to strike. Like a spy, a sleeper agent, or even a traitorous member of one of our families. To me, they were all the same. You could paint them with a different brush, but they all had the same job. Find a way in, earn trust, and destroy. I’d figured out that was what poked at me and what I saw in Lawrence.
Whatever was happening had gotten heated enough that the Coach had a hand on each of their shoulders. Suddenly, Lawrence stomped away and yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Don’t worry. I quit.”
He pulled off his jersey and threw it on the grass like it was garbage. I didn’t see much of his face before he turned his back on us in the stands, but it was enough to send a shiver racing down my spine. Lawrence might be dangerous as an ally, but he was far more terrifying as an enemy.
Someone else subbed in, and the game resumed. I cheered my heart out, but the fight between Eddie and Lawrence bothered me. I just couldn’t shake the unease that had settled over my mind.
The teams gathered on the opposite sides of the field—halftime, from what Paul told me, and I took the break in play to ask him a couple of questions.
“Do you play a sport?”
“I like baseball, but not enough to play. Skateboarding is more my thing,” he said.
“This may be a silly question, but what is skateboarding?”
“You don’t have that back home?”
I shrugged. “We probably do, but I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t allowed out very much. Most of what I’ve learned about the world is from movies, searching the web or from Eddie. He brought me candies from Italy on one visit.” I smiled as the memory flashed through my mind. “He is always doing sweet things like that. He taught me to play cards, had me stay up all night on the phone with him for a Star Wars marathon, and, in general, has helped keep me connected to more than my bubble. All of this here at school is very new to me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Yulianna. I grew up in a very restricted environment as well. I know what you mean about needing time to adjust.” He took his glasses off and cleaned them as he looked at me. “I think it would be easier to show you what skateboarding is rather than telling you.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“For sure.”
The guys ran back onto the field and set up in what Paul called a four-three-three formation. We jumped up, shaking the pompoms I’d made, and chanted, “Tro-jans” with everyone else.
“Paul?”
He looked at me.
“You can call me Yuli.”
Paul smiled wide and nodded. “I’d return the compliment, but I don’t have a nickname.”
“That’s okay, you don’t need one. One day, you’ll be running this place. You don’t need some silly nickname following you around.” I gave his shoulder a nudge, and he laughed.
“Thanks, Yuli. You and Ed were made for each other.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you’re both strong and kind. We need more powerful couples like you two in the world. I hope your dad signs off on your marriage…truly.”
Blinking back tears, I looked away. “Thank you, Paul, that means a lot.”
Sentimentality was forgotten in the next breath as Eddie raced through the center of the field. The other team seemed to be standing still as he moved the ball from one foot to the next better than I could with my hands. The chanting in the stands got louder, and as he took the shot we screamed and jumped up and down, urging the ball to go in the goal.
There apparently wasn’t anything to fear as their goalie was too slow, and the ball sailed over his fingertips and into the net.
I almost fainted when Eddie smiled and pointed at me like he’d scored that goal just for me and not the whole school. It didn’t matter if he did or didn’t. What mattered were these moments, and I committed every one of them to memory. What was around the corner for us? I had no idea, but I never wanted to forget that we were fighting for our future.