Chapter 21
August's POV
After hockey practice, I stepped into the locker room and headed straight for my locker, while my team mates argued amongst themselves. I sat at my locker, pulling at the straps on my pads while my head was miles away from their arguments. Ever since we stepped off the ice, my mind had gone straight back to the shootings from last night.
I shoved my skates into my bag with force, ignoring the laughter and curses flying across the room. Someone tossed a towel, someone else fired back with a string of insults. Normally, I’d throw in my two cents just to shut them up, but not today.
“Yo, August,” one of the guys barked. “You’re being boring as hell.”
I didn’t bother looking up.
“Are you too tired from practice?” another chimed.
“Or maybe he’s scared ‘cause Keiser College has Everett Whyte!” Caleb’s voice was aimed right at me.
I kept my head buried in my locker. If I looked up, I’d see Caleb’s smug face, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. But then, I heard their banter fizzle into an uncomfortable silence.
Now, these idiots don’t just shut up, ever. Something had happened.
I lifted my eyes just enough to see past the row of lockers, and Dona stood at the doorway of the locker room like she’d just wandered into a shark tank. Every single one of the guys was staring at her with their jaws half open, like none of them had ever seen a girl before.
Her eyes locked on mine, and she lifted her brows, impatience written all over her face. “I’m waiting for you,” that look said.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. The faster I got to her, the better. Because knowing my team mates, they would never make me hear the end of it.
I’d barely stepped forward when Caleb moved across the room like a vulture spotting fresh meat. He straightened his jersey and plastered on that cocky grin of his as he strutted toward her.
“Hey,” Caleb drawled, leaning against the doorframe with his arm over Dona's head. “You came looking for me?”
Dona threw her head back to look at him. “You stink, Caleb. Put your arm down, I can smell you.”
“Ooofff!” a chorus of voices echoed behind me.
The room exploded in laughter, guys hollering and slapping each other’s shoulders like Caleb had just taken the biggest L in history. His face twisted in embarrassment, but he tried to cover it.
I pushed past him without giving him the satisfaction of a look. “Move.”
Dona gave me a little nod, like, Finally. Then we stepped out together, leaving a room full of chuckling hyenas behind us.
“Caleb is SO going to take that out on you, seeing as he's too proud to hit a woman like me."
“Thanks,” I muttered, adjusting the strap of my bag. “I'm glad you’re so supportive.”
She grinned and bumped her shoulder into mine. “I mean, maybe your other team mates will have your back. They practically drool over the chance to find your favour. It’s a sport of its own.”
“Yeah? You enjoy watching me suffer?” I gave her a sideways look.
“Obviously,” she quipped.
I rolled my eyes, but when I glanced again, her smile had disappeared. Something worrying was on her face instead, tucked in the corners of her eyes.
I slowed down. “Hey, what’s up with you?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s a lie.”
She kept walking with her arms crossed, like that’d protect her. “Drop it, August.”
But I already knew. “It’s about the shooting, isn’t it?”
She stopped just long enough to glance at me, then shook her head and kept moving. “I said it’s nothing.”
“Yeah, and I don’t buy it.”
She didn’t answer.
By the time we got to my car, she was still oddly silent. I tossed my bag into the trunk, slid into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine. She sat stiffly beside me, her hands twisting in her lap.
Halfway out of campus, my phone started buzzing in the cupholder. I glanced down and saw an unregistered number. Oh, shit!
Dona’s eyes moved to the screen, then up to me.
“Pick it up,” she whispered.
“No way.”
Her whisper turned sharp. “It could be the shooter!”
“Or it could be a scam call. Either way, it’s dangerous.”
The phone kept buzzing, shrill and taunting. Before I could stop her, Dona snatched the phone up.
“Dona!”
“Hello?” she snapped into the speaker.
I groaned and threw my head back. The other end was dead quiet.
Her face squeezed into a frown. “Look, I know you’re there, and listen to me. You’re just a bum-ass coward with a gun.”
I gave her a panicked look. “Dona, stop!”
She ignored me. “You ruined my mother's kitchen, do you know that? You’re pathetic! You’re a fucking waste of molecules! I hope hell has a space for you!"
And then she hung up, flinging my phone onto the dashboard. The car was still rolling, but I yanked it to the side of the road and slammed it in park.
“ARE YOU INSANE?!” I demanded, turning on her.
Her knuckles were white around her bag. “He didn’t answer, August. He didn't say one word. What was I supposed to do? Let him breathe in my ear like the creep that he is?”
I stared at her, stunned wordless. That fury she unleashed wasn’t the Dona I knew. “Where the hell did all that come from?”
She gestured towards the road. “Don’t ask me questions right now. Just drive us home.”
Her head tipped back against the seat, eyes closed like she was done with everything. I sighed, shook my head, turned the key, and merged back onto the road.
Finally, I muttered, “I’m telling my cousin Kade about this.”
“Do whatever you want,” she mumbled, not opening her eyes. “I don’t care. I had to have that moment.”
But I cared, too damn much.