Page 51 of Aftertaste

I smiled at her, leaned back in my seat, and asked, “What was it like when you went to college?”

Her lips slowly lifted, her eyes glassing over with memories. “Insane.” She laughed, picked her fork up, and side eyed me. “Totally insane.”

I Need Your Help

Storm

I flicked my wrist, feeling the rough material of the basketball scrape against my fingers then bounce from the tips. It flew through the air, but I didn’t need to keep looking to know it would make its way into the middle of the basket.

I’d practiced the exact shot thousands and thousands of times. The first time I made it was when I was six years old in my backyard, my dad at my side, cheering me on.

It was different now though. There wasn’t a celebration when it whooshed through the basket, instead it was a given, viewed like a person walking down the street. It wasn’t the pressure of making the shot that flowed through me every time I lifted my arms to make it, but the pressure to not miss it. My team and coach relied on me to make the shots no one else could, at least not over and over again like I could.

“Storm?” a deep voice called, and I whipped my head around to Coach who was on the sideline, his clipboard in hand and his red well-worn cap on his head. He’d been wearing it every day for as long as I could remember.

“Coach,” I greeted, jogging over to him.

“How’s the shoulder?” His gaze flicked to my shoulder that I’d had taped up at the start of the week. It was only a niggle at the moment, but I knew how fast it could become more than that.

“Feels good.” I rolled my shoulders back as if to show him I was good.

“Make sure it stays that way.” He held the clipboard in the air. “Big game tomorrow.” He didn’t need to remind me of the game. Lakemere may have been our rivals, but they were nothing compared to the second highest team in the state, Douston Prep. They had the same resources as we did, and some wicked players to boot. Too bad for them that they would stay second.

“I know, Coach.” I stood to my full height, taking the pressure on my shoulders yet again. I was used to it, had been since I made my first basketball team when I was a kid. “We’ll beat them.”

“Good.” He raised a brow. “Keep the boys in check. Last thing I need is for one of them not able to play because of their grades.”

I knew exactly who he was talking about. Cory hated schoolwork and did everything and anything not to do it. He was the second-best player on the team, and also the guy I relied most on when we were on the court. “On it,” I told Coach.

He grumbled something under his breath then blew the whistle to signal the end of practice. Everyone gathered around him, listening as he told us the schedule for the game tomorrow, but my attention was on Cory. I knew he was struggling to keep his grades up, and without the minimum GPA Coach specified, he wouldn’t be able to play. He needed help, and luckily for him, I knew the right person for the job.

As soon as Coach finished talking, we all headed back to the locker room. I made a beeline for my locker, pulled my cell out, and shot off a message.

Storm:I need your help.

Sage:Okay. Doing what?

Storm:Do you tutor?

Sage:Yes…

Storm:Good. I’ll pick you up Saturday at 2 :)

Nothing To Stop Us

Storm

I could hear her voice from the other room as she tried to explain to Cory how to work out a math equation. Even talking about a subject that I hated, I couldn’t help but be enthralled with her tone and the patience she had with him.

“I don’t fuckin’ get it,” Cory groaned. “I’m gonna fail.”

“No, you’re not,” Sage told him. “You got that one right. You’re just stuck inside your own head.”

I grabbed three bottles of water from my refrigerator and headed into the living room that looked out onto the pool in the back yard. Sage glanced up at me as soon as I stepped inside the room. Her smile shot across her face, her gaze not moving off me as I came closer to her.

“You’ve been at it for three hours now,” she said to Cory, but she wasn’t looking at him. When we were in a room together, there may as well have been no one else with us. I only had eyes for her. “Maybe we should break for the day.”

“Thank fuck.” Cory cracked his knuckles. “My head is spinning from all this schoolwork.”

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