Hitting the Crossbar

3: See? Fate Hates Me

3

See? Fate Hates Me

Sam put a hand to his jaw, staring at Robert in disbelief.

Next to me, Maddy mumbled, "Oh God" as Robert groaned, shaking his hand from the terrible punch he had just landed.

Sam scoffed, his mouth hard as he glowered at Robert. "Are you kidding me?"

Robert's nostrils flared as he attempted to swing at Sam again. This time, Sam quickly got out of the way, pushing Robert back hard. Robert stumbled as Sam hissed at him, "You thought you were okay to drive?"

Robert adjusted himself, coming for Sam again, but Sam pushed him harder. Robert almost tripped on his feet before he recovered. It didn't matter; Sam was only getting angrier, his green eyes flashing. "And you were going to put her and everyone else around you at risk?"

He shoved Robert to the ground before Robert even thought to retaliate. I winced at Robert falling onto his back with a loud slam accompanied by a deep groan. The sound started to gain attraction from the group of people on the other side of the parking lot. Sam didn't notice as he glowered down at Robert. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

The crowd of people started to move over to our area. No, no, no. Sam didn't cause commotions; he didn't get into fights. He didn't do what he used to do anymore. If someone took a picture or a video of what was happening and it got back to his parents, it would erase all the positive changes he had made since he'd been in his dark place.

"Sam," I warned.

Sam glanced back at me, and I tilted my head in the direction of the group of people making their way over to us. They weren't far now. Sam looked at them but then set his focus back on Robert, glaring down at him. Robert wasn't amused now. In fact, he was breathing hard and fast, waiting, wincing as if Sam was going to shove him again.

"Now leave Maddy alone," Sam said, gesturing for us to follow him to the car. Maddy and I were quick to follow before the group of people reached us. I sighed in relief as Sam glanced over at our friend. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She squeezed my hand. "Thanks for coming. Both of you."

Sam unlocked the car and was about to enter, but not before I reached out to see where Robert had punched him. He'd barely caught him, but the skin near his cheekbone was bright red. "Are you okay?"

When he locked eyes with me, he knew that was a loaded question. Nevertheless, he nodded. "You?"

"Yeah," I whispered, glancing over at the scene in the distance. Robert was still on the ground, the people crowding him. But no one saw us.

"Mads, you staying over tonight?" he asked once we all settled in the car.

"If you don't mind?" Maddy's voice was mixed with the sudden buzzing of Sam's phone in his pocket. "I was going to sleep over at my friend's, but she's probably out right now."

Sam didn't seem bothered, but he did stare down at his phone for longer than I had expected. When he caught me looking, he shrugged. "Telemarketer."

When we entered the apartment moments later, Peter wasn't there. There was a note on the counter stating that his girlfriend wasn't sick of him after all, and he had left to visit her in Toronto a few hours earlier. Leaving Sam in his bedroom to do schoolwork, I joined Maddy in the guest room later that night. She was lying on the bed, scrolling through her phone with the laptop I had let her borrow next to her. "What are you doing?"

"Blocking that guy on everything and deleting his phone number. He can no longer look at my Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr—"

"Tumblr? He had your Tumblr?" I asked her, lying down on the bed next to her and opening my laptop.