A Game Worth Watching (25 page)

Sure,
in theory it all sounded great. College scholarship. Leaving home. Not being
left behind when everyone else started the next chapter of their lives. But in
reality nothing ever went as planned, and Emma refused to get her hopes up,
knowing she’d only get hurt in the end. “And what if I don’t want all that?”

He
raised his eyebrows in question. “Don’t want it or don’t think it’s possible?”

She
looked away. “What difference does it make?”

“It
makes a huge difference.” His emphasis on the word huge and the way he crushed
her hand confirmed his frustration. “Em, sooner or later, you’re going to have
to figure out what you want. Not what you think you do or don’t deserve, but
what you truly want.”

“I—”
But her words ended there. Truth be told, she wanted the life he envisioned for
her. She wanted to go to college and play basketball and learn about the world
and what it had to offer. She wanted to spend holidays with Riley and the guys
laughing over what it felt like to be freshmen all over again. What she didn’t
want was to set herself up for failure, abandon her family, or give her dad
another reason to hate her. For her, the cons way outweighed the pros. Riley
wouldn’t understand, so she told him the next true thing.
“I don’t want to hold you back. I don’t want you
constantly worrying about me. You deserve to go to college and become rich and
famous without me weighing you down.”

She
expected him to protest and tell her she had it all wrong, but he didn’t. He
grew quiet and still, hardly breathing. She figured silence would engulf them
again, but Riley wasn’t finished. He threw a quick glance in her direction
before dropping his gaze to their interlaced fingers. “I think about you,” he
confessed. “I lie awake at night and wonder if you’re warm enough or if you had
enough to eat for the day or if your brothers are giving you a rough time. I’m
afraid a time will come when something will happen to you and I won’t be there
to protect you.”

It
should have been the role of a mother or father to protect their daughter from
the harms of the world, so why was Riley filling the void in her life?

Because
she didn’t have anyone else.

“You
can’t save me from everything,” she said, her tone more serious than she’d
intended.

He
nodded. “I know, but everyone needs a wingman, right?”

Thinking
back on how the last time he’d claimed to be her wingman he’d allowed her to be
kidnapped by the girls, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, well, I think your
wingman skills need some work.”

He
laughed with her, and for a moment it was as if nothing had happened between
them. She didn’t care how much time they had left. As long as they got to spend
it together, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad.

“Can
I ask you a question?” he asked when their laughter faded.

“Of
course,” she said, hoping it was a question she could handle.

He
looked at her with worried eyes. “Kissing me. It wasn’t like kissing one of
your brothers, was it?”

“Ew.
Gross.” Her laughter resumed. Of all the questions in the world to ask. “No, kissing
you was definitely not like kissing any of my brothers. Far from it.”

His
smile stretched across his face. He released her hand and crushed her into a
hug. “Good.”

Hopefully,
her comment hadn’t given him false hope that they had a future together as
anything more than friends.

***

Two
days later, the doorbell rang during breakfast. Lenny got up to answer it. The
Wrangtons weren’t exactly the kind of people who had visitors, so any time the
doorbell announced one, it was usually a friend of Lance’s or Logan’s or
someone trying to sell something. Emma wasn’t prepared for Riley’s voice to cut
into her morning meal.

Whatever
his reason for showing up unannounced so early in the morning, Riley couldn’t
wait to greet her or her family properly. After saying hi to Lenny and stepping
over the threshold into her house, he shouted to Emma from the living room.
“Have you seen it yet?”

“Riley?”
she asked, scooting her chair back from the table and standing to intercept
him. “What are you doing here?”

A
newspaper was folded under his arm. He whipped it out and slapped it on the
kitchen table. “It’s an awesome article all about you and the team. Well,
mostly about you.”

“What?”
she asked tentatively. She was vaguely aware of how everything in the kitchen
froze: the coffee cup halfway to her dad’s mouth, Logan’s mouthful of food,
Lance’s scowl, Lenny’s fist mid-flight to hitting Lucas on the head. She
grabbed the paper with shaking hands and gazed at the black and white face
staring up at her.

Her
face. Her picture.

The
photo captured Emma in full uniform smiling into the camera, which must have
been strategically placed in the stands near Riley during one of her home
games. Another photo featured her suspended in midair, surrounded by defenders,
with her arm extended toward the hoop and the ball on her fingertips. No doubt
her final shot against Evergreen. Words couldn’t describe how Emma felt. Her
face, her name, in the caption beneath the photos. Spelled right and
everything. It was a mistake. It had to be. She’d never been in the paper
before. The headline stood out in bold black letters:

HS Senior Gives
Losing Team Hope

Emma
scanned the black print. It described Bradshaw’s losing history, coaching
changes, and the team’s struggle to find players. They introduced her as the
basketball powerhouse of the league and made her out to be some sort of
basketball superhero who saved Bradshaw from another year of shame. Talk about
pressure. Coach talked about her being the thread holding the team together and
how privileged she felt coaching such a talented athlete.

She
continued to scan the article, her head shaking in shock. During her interview
with the reporter, never once had she mentioned the guys or growing up with Mr.
Ledger as her coach, so she couldn’t figure out why she was reading the details
of her life in black and white. At least not until her eyes settled on the
quote from the one and only Riley Ledger. “When it comes to basketball, Emma’s
a superstar.”

“How
did this happen?” she groaned. Didn’t people understand basketball was a team
sport? Emma didn’t want, nor did she deserve, the spotlight.

Riley
laughed. “When a newspaper reporter asks you a bunch of questions, it usually
means they’re writing an article about you.”

“Emma
got interviewed by the paper?” Lenny asked. It was the first time he’d ever
shown interest in her.

Her
dad leaned over her shoulder to look at the article. “When did this happen?”

Her
mouth opened, but no words came out. What could she say? Two weeks ago, after
one of their games, Coach had asked her if she would mind answering a few
questions for some reporter. Two weeks. It was long enough to answer the
questions and forget about it. Until now.

“Why
didn’t you tell us?” Lenny asked.

“I—I
don’t know,” she stuttered, still in shock. Since when did her family want her
to tell them anything? “I mean, I knew they were doing an article, but I
thought it was about the team. I didn’t think they’d do an exclusive on me.”

“Why
not?” Riley exclaimed, slapping her on the back. “You’re the star of the team
and the league, and from the sound of it, you underestimated the impact you had
during the game against Evergreen. Man, I wish I would’ve been there.”

Emma
didn’t want to talk about the Evergreen game. She wanted to know why a reporter
singled her out, printed a photo that would surely take the cross-town rivalry
thing with Evergreen to a whole new level, and used quotes from people she
trusted to aid in her destruction. “I see you got yourself a quote in here
too,” she said, glaring at him.

“What?”
Riley’s hands, palms up, shrugged along with his shoulders to portray
innocence. “They asked me what I thought about my best friend tearing up the
court, so I had to be honest.”

“Uh-huh,”
she said. No way was she going to let him off the hook for not telling her
about his part in this whole conspiracy. She was just glad she hadn’t said
anything she’d regret when they asked her about the team. Thank goodness they
didn’t twist her words to sound awful.

Lance
threw his own paper onto the table. His chair groaned when he scooted away from
the table and stood. Casting Emma and Riley a scowl, he exited the room,
breaking whatever bond her family had shared.

Emma
glanced at the clock, knowing if she didn’t leave now there would be another
tardy on her record. She snatched the paper, grabbed Riley by the arm, and said
goodbye to her family.

During
the ride to school, Riley tried to convince her how great publicity was for her
future. How college scouts looked for this sort of thing, how other teams
feared this sort of thing, and how best friends loved this sort of thing. Emma
didn’t say much. She let Riley ramble while she stared out the window. Sure,
part of her was ecstatic about seeing her face in print, but the other part of
her dreaded what it meant. Would people expect more from her? Would her image
of greatness shatter when people realized she didn’t come from a family of
money? Couldn’t she just play basketball without having to worry about fame and
publicity distorting the season?

Unable
to look at the article anymore, she threw the paper in the back seat.
Hopefully, no one at school had seen it. Seriously, how many high school
students actually woke up early enough on a school day to read the paper? She
sighed. Two more blocks and she’d know. At least the kiss with Riley seemed a
thing of the past and hadn’t left them with awkward moments of silence. With
Riley by her side, she could endure anything.

Or
so she thought.

Riley’s
appearance at her breakfast table was bad enough, but then she caught Tom and
Jerry posting copies of the article all over her locker with a handful of
gawkers reading over their shoulders. So much for thinking no one read the
paper.

She
pushed between them and ripped the papers from the wall. “What do you think
you’re doing?” she snapped.

Tom
nonchalantly leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, while Jerry grinned
at her. “Now do you believe me?”

“About
what?”

He
grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “About you being a superstar.”

She
closed her eyes, forcing herself to count to five before she erupted. “I’ll
give you ten seconds to get out of my sight.”

Jerry
released her shoulders and gave her a one-two punch on the arm before flashing
his grin and disappearing with Tom, a stack of newspapers secured under their
arms.

“Don’t
be too mad at them,” Riley said, pleading their case. “This is one of the best
moments of the year. Seeing our Emma in the paper.”

“Best
moments of the year?” she asked. Was he crazy? She may not have been an expert
on best moments, but she knew all about worst moments, and a newspaper article
with her face in it was nothing to celebrate. It put her front and center in
the spotlight she so desperately tried to avoid. Brick by brick, she felt the
pressure of expectations piling up on her, weighing her down, and she wasn’t
the type of person who could carry the load. Sooner or later, she knew the
blocks would fall and she’d be left worse off than when she started.

“Emma,
did you see it?”

One
second Riley’s face was in her field of vision and the next she was nose to
paper with her black and white photos again. Emma would know Ashley’s voice
anywhere. She ripped the paper from Ashley’s hands and glared at the kid
standing beside her.

“Isn’t
it great?” Ashley asked.

No
longer did Emma’s anger and irritation phase Ashley. The kid just stared up at
her all wide-eyed and beaming, rejoicing in Emma’s fame. “No, it’s not great,”
Emma snapped.

Riley
put his hands on Ashley’s shoulders in a big brother sort of way to protect her
from Emma’s wrath. “Don’t mind her, she’s not used to being a celebrity.”

Ashley
giggled. Between the freshman and the guys Emma was ready to punch something.

The
first bell rang, causing kids to scurry to class. Ashley waved goodbye and was
swept away by the current of students going in the opposite direction. Riley
walked with Emma to first period, his arm secured around her shoulders. Kids
she barely knew waved to her as they passed, complimenting her on the article.
She cringed every time.

“Since
when do high school students even read the paper?” She knew for a fact ninety
percent of the kids in her sophomore World Issues class had failed every weekly
quiz because none of them watched the news or read the paper to catch up on
current events. High school couldn’t have changed that dramatically in the past
two years.

“It’s
the sports section.” Riley shrugged. “Everyone reads the sports section.”

They
approached her classroom and saw Tom and Jerry posting another article outside
the door. Spotting Emma, both guys took off before she could reprimand them,
giving each other high-fives as they ran.

Ripping
the article off the wall, she focused her energy on Riley. Her clenched fist
held the crumpled article up to his face. “Did you put them up to this?”

“Of
course not,” he said, his hands held up in innocence. “But I’m with them. It’s
about time something good happened to you.” He grabbed her shoulders and, with
a smile, shook her. “Em, you’re in the paper. Relax and enjoy it. Jerry’s
right. You’re a superstar, and there’s nothing you can do to change it, so deal
with it.” He squeezed her into a hug, pressed his lips to her forehead, and
then walked backward toward his class. Looping his thumbs through the straps of
his backpack, he gave her a smile. “Later.”