Kiss My Sass [Books 1 & 2]

[book 1] chapter thirty-two: finals

MY PLANS TO hibernate were cut unjustly short when the day of the lacrosse finals rolled around, coming much sooner than expected. After my outburst at Mom, I avoided her like the plague, and it seemed she had no pressing interest to talk to me either. I skipped every stupid family meal following the incident, but she never once chided me for it. The way things worked at our house was we didn't have sit-downs to talk about our feelings, so I was anticipating this ongoing silent treatment to continue until I started college in the fall.

     Although the house was filled with a myriad of tensions, the biggest one was centred around tonight's game. There was a lot at stake for the team, Brenton especially. If the Stone Creek Rangers won today then Brenton would be offered a fully compensated scholarship to his dream school, Birch Mount.

    "How are you feeling?" I asked as I drove. I peered at Brenton out of the corner of my eye, who was obnoxiously bouncing his leg up and down in his seat.

    "I'm so goddamn scared," he admitted.

    I smacked his knee to stop him from shaking his leg before paying attention to the road. "You're going to do great."

    "Can we get ice cream when you win?" Alex asked from the backseat.

    Brenton let out a groan. "Don't talk about food, I feel like I'm going to puke."

    "You'll be fine," I reassured him, silently praying he wouldn't actually vomit in my car.

    The past few days had been really hectic but tonight's game was like a temporary escape from the drama of my own life. As per usual Mom was too busy with work to support her son tonight, which sucked because I thought my lashing out had gotten to her though it clearly didn't. Niko had an exam today and wouldn't make it in time for the game, so it was just Alex and me. 

    Brenton was trying to play it off like he was fine, but I knew he was hurting inside. For his semi-finals game, I was the only one who could go and now for finals, it was just two family members out of the four. It didn't help that the Rollins were inviting their entire extended family, even though it wasn't guaranteed that Holden was actually playing tonight. The coach didn't make an announcement whether Holden and Cade were allowed to play tonight so we were waiting on that. I hated to admit it, but if Stone Creek wanted to win they needed both of those morons.

    When we arrived at school most of the parking lot was full, but thankfully they had a reserved section closed off for the players only. Since I was Brenton's chauffeur for the night we were able to go through and park in one of the special spots. We got out of the car and Brenton had his duffel bag slung over his shoulder while Alex proudly carried his lacrosse stick as we walked him to the locker rooms. Brenton was about to go in when a familiar voice called his name. We turned around to see Niko running toward us, a small bag in his hands. Brenton dropped his bag and sprinted to Niko, pulling him into an embrace.