Page 76 of Spring Awakening

“And Mosi,” her dad chimes in, moving over to them. “I’m Mosi.”

“Hey,” Ezra replies, like a child who’s been forced to interact with his parents’ weird friends since the dawn of time.

“We belong with that one,” her mum says, pointing over at her. Mali waves. Ezra’s eyes dip to where her hand is clasped with Zach’s. She does not blush.

“You’re Mali’s parents. Cool. Did you like the shirts?”

“Very much so. We got these a few years ago,” her dad says, spinning to show Ezra his vintage Adebayo shirt. Her mum spins too, and Ezra smiles when he sees his and his sister’s T-shirts together. Or he’s smiling because he’s polite.

“Tight. Frank, come see this!”

Mali squeezes Zach’s hand, because he’s still holding her hand. He squeezes it back.

It’s the best moment of her life.

Mali watches as Zach falls onto the ball, but it’s over the goal line, so everyone in the stands cheer. It’s a bad goal, but no one cares. Not even Carl, the referee, who gave up on calling obstructions hours ago. It should have been a penalty the moment Kai caught the ball.

She knows better than to shout it out, though. Mali called Carl out earlier, and she’s sure he’s about to give her a whistle and make her do it.

Frankie catches the foul, though, throwing her clipboard to the ground and running over. To be fair to Carl, it was supposed to be a cute family game. That was four hours ago. Now, it’s just Mali, her parents, Miriam, and a tired rugby team running drills.

“Mal,” her dad says. “We’re probably going to head out. You want a lift?”

Mali smiles, kissing all three of them on the cheek. “No thanks, Dad. I’ll walk with Zach.”

“Okay, sweetie. Tell him we said bye!” Miriam says. “And I’ll text him when I’m home. We’re going to get a snack.”

“Okay.” She smiles. “Bye, guys.”

Mali watches them leave. Her family. And Miriam, who she thinks of as her family. Zach would be her family, even if they stayed best friends forever. She thinks he might like her back. She wonders if it’s crazy to kiss him without figuring out if their dreams are too different. She doesn’t know how to have thatconversation without sounding like she’s crazy. He hasn’t kissed her yet, but is hesurehe doesn’t want children? Definitely crazy.

“Mal, come here,” Frankie shouts, with a wave of her hand. Mali skips over. “Right, stand here. Now, run the play again.”

“What?” Zach scoffs.

“You won’t let her get hurt, so figure out a way to stop Toby. Kai, stop obstructing him.” Frankie blows the whistle, and everyone but Zach moves back into position.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Careful, Azan,” Frankie warns. “I’ve got benchwarmers desperate for you to get kicked.” And Mali had thought they were starting to get along.

“Zach,” Mali starts, grabbing his hand. “You need to fake a left and pass it to Kai. I know you can score—everyone knows you can score—but you need to pass it to Kai. Then you can take Toby down.”

“I’m not doing this.”

“Toby is not going to hit me, and I’ll dodge him if he tries, but honestly, honey, you’re not going to let him. So, just give it a go, and then, I promise I’ll go back on the sidelines.”

“You could get hurt.”

Frankie blows the whistle, and play starts regardless. Toby charges at her. The ball gets tossed to Zach and he fakes left, throws it behind to Kai, and takes Toby out at the knees.

Her knees shake a bit. Toby was never going to throw her to the ground, right? He doesn’t like her, and that’s become more obvious since she started outwardly flirting with Zach in the office. But she puts on a brave face, smiling when Zach stands up.

“Off.”

“Nothing but bossy,” she replies. “If I get off, will you teach me some runs after practice?”

“Yeah, anything. Now go. Please.”

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