Page 1 of I Blame the Rival

Prologue

1year earlier…

Skylar

I slip into our rival’s locker room.

Ducking my head, I avoid eye contact with the guys wearing orange and black jerseys. It’s the first tournament of the season and Taber University has home field advantage. The rough edge of my poster digs into my hands as I duck past the rows of lockers, my grip on the rolled-up piece of paper tightening until I make it to the safety of Silverwood’s lacrosse team.

At the far end of the locker room, the Sabers are jostling each other, their laughter and high spirits helping to take some of the tension out of my shoulders.

If everyone is in a good mood then maybe today will be okay.

Pushing back the grey hood of my sweater, I nod to a couple of the familiar faces who smile at me. I’ve never been particularly friendly with the varsity team, most of the guys on it are overlyaggressive and use their sport as an excuse to beat the shit out of their opponents.

The worst of them being my older brother.

The tension returns when I come to a stop in front of him, my eyes raking over his body language to determine whether today will be a good day. Calm fingers make quick work of his cleats, the steadiness of his hands and relaxed posture giving me a flicker of hope.

“Are you going to keep it under control today?”

Stark blue eyes glance at me, an amused smile painting his face, “Depends if the Tigers are in the mood to play or not.”

“You promised to be better this year.”

The smile slips, “I red-shirted last year to work onkeeping things under control.” He hisses out the words and the threat in his voice has a few of the Saber players glancing over, “I’ve put in my time, Sky. Stop being such a mother hen.”

I stare back at him, wishing his words were true.

My brother sighs, shoving his shoulder-length blonde hair out of the way, “Look, I’m going to try my best, okay? I can’t do more than that.”

His best is bullshit and we both know it.

I remain silent, choosing to keep the fighting words buried deep inside me. Over the years my silence has saved a lot of pain, and today doesn’t appear to be an exception.

“Baby Vin, would you mind giving our all-star some space? Man needs to get his head in the game if we’re going to slaughter some Tigers.”

The Silverwood player closest to us slaps a locker and I flinch, making him laugh. The dark-haired player has barely caught his breath when my brother stands up and grabs him by the jersey. The locker room goes deathly silent as Silverwood’s leading forward leans in with a snarl.

“Show some fucking respect or the only person being slaughtered on that field today will be you.” Vector turns and flashes his teeth to the rest of the team, “That goes for all of you. The next person who looks at my little brother the wrong way will have me to answer to.”

Shame washes over me as each player mumbles some sort of an agreement. Vector turns back to me with a satisfied gleam in his eyes and nausea creeps up my throat.

He’s just like our father.

Vector drops down on a bench across from where I’m standing. I drop my gaze, not wanting to see the fire burning in his eyes.

Today isn’t going to be a good day.

“Don’t be like that, Sky.” There’s a bite to my brother’s tone, “Can’t you see everything I do is for you?”

Another bullshit excuse.

“Can you at least show me the masterpiece you drew for me?” Vector tilts his head, trying to catch my eye, “I heard you drawing late into the night. I know it’s going to be a good one.”

He’s offering me an olive branch and because I’m weak, I take it. A strong sense of self-loathing washes over me as I hand over the poster and watch my brother carefully unroll it. Delight fillshis eyes as he takes in the carnage I disposed on the black piece of paper.

“It’s beautiful.”

---