Page 1 of My High School Rebel Boyfriend
Chapter 1
HARPER
THE MESSAGE FROM MADDIEwas alarming: MEET AT MY LOCKER AT FIRST BREAK!!! DON’T BE LATE!!!! THIS IS URGENT!
This was followed by a row of angry orange emoji faces.
It had been sent to me, Bella, Tanchia and Shay. Apart from being friends, our commonality was that we were all seniors in the volleyball team, so my first thought was that our volleyball tournament in three weeks time had been brought forward or location changed, or worst of all, canceled.
It would be such a shame. After making it through to the super sectionals and coming 5th overall, River Valley High’s volleyball team had achieved its best result in twenty years. And we had been invited to attend a one day tournament in Falls Creek, where college scouts were going to be out en masse.
Our coach, Miss Barber said it would be a great opportunity for all of us to be seen, though it was our star players Maddie and Bella who were most likely to be the main focus. Though I’d had a fantastic season, I wasn’t exactly college volleyball material. For starters, at five nine I was considered a tad short, and second, my diabetes probably ruled out any chance of me competing at a higher level. High school sport was one thing, college sport a whole different realm.
We all messaged Maddie back:What’s happening? What’s going on? What’s so urgent?
Butshe never responded to any of us.
I had to come from my photography class, the darkroom practically the furthest point in the school from Maddie’s locker. I made myself run, pushing my way through the hordes who were taking advantage of the ten minute break by congregating in the hallways in large groups. With the rain, nobody was bothering to go outside or wander about.
I was the last to arrive, and immediately pulled out a homemade nut bar. Tanchia was the only other one eating, biting into a chocolate chip cookie, sugar content about 16 grams. My nut bar had a measly 4 grams—enough to tide me over until lunch—and tasted like it. I knew the sugar content of most foods, especially those now deemed forbidden.
Diabetes sucked. It wasn’t totally a new thing for me but I still hadn’t fully grasped the concept about how it was ruling my life. And ruining it.
It had been the end of sophomore year that I’d started to lose weight. At the time I put it down to walking to school and being on both the volleyball and track teams. Mom had been concerned that I was bulimic, because I had been eating more than ever. I swore to her that I wasn’t throwing up. She then seemed to think it must be a growth spurt. It was when I began falling asleep on the couch straight after dinner every night that she took me to the doctor.
To get the diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes shocked all of us at the time. Though Mom admitted to being strangely pleased; her worst fear had been cancer. And delving into our family history it was pointed out that Uncle Clive was diabetic, as was my cousin Fletcher. Apparently it was in our genes, though why I was blessed with it, and not my two older sisters, Nadine and Ryann seemed unfair.
I apologized for being last, but Maddie waved us into a huddle. “This is the worst,” she said. “Miss Barber has said the twins can’t play in the tournament.”
There was a joint gasp, followed by a tirade of groans.
“What! Why not?”
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
Maddie pulled us in closer. “You know how they stayed after training and wanted to practice their serves?” We all nodded—Shavaun and Ebony had to wait for their Mom to pick them up, so they’d asked Miss Barber if they could stay inside, rather than wait out in the rain. “Well, apparently they left the equipment room in a complete mess and as punishment Miss Barber said they’re banned from playing in the tournament.” Maddie’s voice was shaking—losing the juniors would be gut-wrenching, they were an integral part of our team.
“That doesn’t sound right,” Bella said, “Shavaun and Ebs? Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I don’t think that’s something the twins would do.” Shavaun and Ebony Christopher were identical twins, who fortunately wore their hair in different styles, our main way of identifying them. They were high achievers in everything they did. Shavaun was junior class vice president and Ebony was the treasurer, not to mention their involvement in band and debate club.
“Well, Miss Barber spoke to them about it this morning, and it didn’t sound like they denied it.” Maddie was visibly upset, her voice on the verge of cracking. Having an understrength team would harm everyone’s chances with the scouts.
“Have you spoken to them about it?” Tanchia asked.
“No, I haven’t had a chance,” Maddie said, “Miss Barber only just told me. She was furious.” Maddie went on to say how Miss Barber lecturedherfor the twin’s indiscretions, like it had been her fault, and as captain she berated herself. “I should have stayed with them. I should have stayed and locked up instead of leaving them.”
“You know there’s no way Shavaun and Ebony would trash the equipment room,” I said, “Are you sure another team didn’t use the gym after us?”
Maddie shook her head. “Apparently not. We were the only ones who used it last night.”
The bell rang, giving us two minutes to move to our next class. I pulled out my water bottle, took a sip and swirled the water around my mouth—nuts had a way of getting stuck in your teeth and I didn’t want to go through my next two classes looking like a chipmunk. Maddie had us all agreeing to meet up at lunch break.
Coming out of my Geography class, I spotted one of the twins in the hallway. Racing to catch her, I tapped her bag and said, “Hi.”
“Hi Harper.” And she smiled, and said, “Ebony,” knowing I was unsure who it was. I made a mental noteEbony, single braid.
“Hey, Maddie just told us about the tournament. It can’t be true,” I said.
