Souls in Peril (17 page)

The first two rounds, no one passed him the ball. He ran faithfully up and down the court, but no one bothered with him.
Max worked with JD, refusing to allow him to quit, no matter how disheartening it seemed.
All the while sweat poured off his body.

It
’
s okay
if
you
don
’
t get the ball,
JD,
this is still good exercise. Besides, no one is being mean, right
?
You can do this.
Max repeated his pep talk a dozen times.

The whistle blew and they switched again. Now he played opposite Jeff, his old teammate, and he could tell by the look in Jeff
’
s eyes this would not be good.

And he
was right—Jeff took every opportunity to shove and elbow Max in the back, rib cage, and even his forehead. Never once did the coach call a foul. Max
continued to
encourag
e
JD, telling him to ignore Jeff, but
slowly,
JD
pulled away
, retreating. Soon Max no long
er
felt
JD
’
s presence
at all. He
’
d completely disengaged from the game, retreating into some safe place inside himself.

Max almost welcomed the departure
. To not have the heavy burden of self-hate
, the unyielding doubt,
hanging about his neck made taking the abuse easier. But
i
t
also
meant JD
wasn
’
t
learning
, growing, becoming stronger.

After a particularly cruel elbow to the back, Max wanted nothing more than to turn and punch Jeff in the face. But
with
Jeff being a big-shot on the ball team, and everyone blaming JD for his family
’
s deaths, Max decided punching Jeff might not be a good idea.

He
did his best to avoid Jeff
after that
.
Then
the whistle blew. Jeff grabbed the ball and hurled it hard at Max
’
s head.
“
That
’
s for killing my friend.
”
It hit Max square in the face and he fell backwards onto the ground. Blood spewed everywhere. Max wiped under his nose, trying to clear the blood off his face, but it just kept coming.

Coach Mather casually jogged over to Max.
“
Do you have any idea how much paperwork this is going to
require
?
”
He dropped the towel he
’
d been using to wipe the sweat from his brow onto Max
’
s face.

“
Who wants to walk Lumpy to the nurse?
”
he asked with a chuckle. No one volunteered. As the coach
approached
a large group of kids to ask, Max got up, and with the dirty towel pressed to his nose,
took
himself to the
nurse
’
s
office.

“
Oh dear
, JD.
Not again.
”
Nurse Ratched, a short
plucky
woman, took Max by the elbow and led him to a small room off to the side. It contained nothing more than two small cots covered in white sheets. Max thought it a bit depressing, but again, it wasn
’
t meant for partying. She pointed
to the cot on the left and Max laid down.
She returned
a few moments later with an ice pack and placed it on his face.

“
Thank you,
”
he muffled out beneath the bag.

“
Normally, I wouldn
’
t worry about this because you come in quite regularly with a bloody nose, but since you
’
ve just gotten out of the hospital
,
I
’
m going to be more thorough.
”
She took his pulse and blood pressure and listened to his heart with a very cold stethoscope Max knew came straight from the freezer. She also shined a small flashlight into his eyes, checking his pupils.

“
So what happened? No, never mind. Let me guess.
You can
’
t remember
, right?
”
She shook her head.
“
I don
’
t understand why you won
’
t ever tell me. The kids who pick on you need to be punished, JD.
”
She brushed the hair from his forehead.
“
Rest. I have to fill out the paperwork for this. I
’
ll check on you in a few minutes.
”
Max heard her shoes tapping on the floor as she walked to the door. The clicking stop
ped
and she added,
“
You didn
’
t hit your head
,
did you?
”

“
No,
”
Max assured her.

“
Alright. Just take it easy. If you feel sick to your stomach, let me know. I
’
m guessing you don
’
t want me to call your mom to come and get you, correct?
”

“
Correct.
”
Max knew that without a car, she couldn
’
t come anyway.

He
lay with the musty smelling ice bag on his face, wondering why JD didn
’
t want to tell
people
about the abuse he went through. Did he not trust anyone? He wouldn
’
t tell Coach about his mom
’
s boyfriend
beating
him, and now the nurse and all his bloody noses.

“
Oh, no,
”
said Nurse Ratched from the office.
“
Take her straight back.
”

Max twisted his head around as Bo, the school
’
s quarterback, carried Emma into the room. Max sat up and spun his legs to the floor. His heart beat so hard it almost hurt.
Em, only a few feet from me.

“
Put her right here,
”
the nurse said. Bo set her down roughly and her ponytail bounced.

“
Sorry, Em,
”
he apologized, stepping back.

“
I
’
m fine.
”
She brushed it off.
“
It
’
s just a scraped knee. I told Ms. Ringer I didn
’
t need to come here,
”
she insisted to the nurse.

“
You were trying to do the pyramid again, weren
’
t you?
”
Nurse Ratched didn
’
t wait for a reply.
“
Someone
’
s going to get killed doing that, mark my words. Come along, Bo, back to class.
”
She stormed out of the room, dragging the 225 pound football player with her.

“
She
’
s right, you know. You shouldn
’
t do them. It
’
s not worth the risk.
”
Max said boldly.
Intimidation flooded JD
as
Bo set Em on the cot next to him, but Max
’
s desire to protect Em surged stronger.
He
’
d
begged her a million times not to do those stupid stunts. He
’
d seen her fall and get hurt way too often.

“
JD?
”
She leaned back a little.
“
Sorry, I didn
’
t see you there. What happened to your nose?
”
Her eyes narrowed
him as she spoke
.

“
It collided with a basketball. No big deal. Can
’
t hurt this ugly mug.
”
Max laughed disparagingly. The thought was not his. It came straight from JD.

“
You shouldn
’
t say things like that about yourself, JD.
It
only make
s
you weak.
”
She shook her head slightly.

Nurse Ratched interrupted their conversation, frustrating Max. He lay back on the bed and put the ice bag to his nose again.

“
This is going to sting, Emma,
”
the nurse warned. Max heard Em suck in air as the nurse wiped the wound with an antiseptic wipe.
“
Sorry, hon.
Let
this dry before we put on a bandage. I
’
ll be back.
”
Max listened as the heel clicks grew dimmer.

“
JD, can I talk to you for a second?
”
Emma asked in a near whisper.

Max sat up abruptly, knocking the ice bag to the floor.
“
Sure, Em. What is it? Are you in pain? Should I get the nurse?
”

“
No. I
’
m fine,
”
she insisted.
“
Look,
I
’
m not supposed to tell anyone this yet.
”
Em
glanc
ed around as if to make sure no one else could hear her before leaning in closer to
him
. He fought the u
rge to reach out and touch her.

“
My dad finished his report about the accident last night. It bothered him that no one could figure out why Mr.
Sánchez
veered off the road
at the Widow Maker.
He
went back to the site after talking to you at the hospital and searched the area again. This time he found a dead deer in the woods
,
about
2
00 yards from the curve. He believes the deer was clipped by Mr.
Sánchez
’
s car, and then wandered into the woods where it later died. He immediately went over to the
impound
lot to see if he could find any of the deer hide on their car. He was about to give up when tucked way underneath the wheel well he found a small patch. He had it analyzed and it was a match to the dead deer back at the accident site.
”

R
elief wash
ed
over
Max
. JD didn
’
t kill his family.
Though
i
t was only
an accident, Max doubted few at Port Fare High would
have
care.
JD would
have been labeled a murderer. Max smiled.
“
So I
’
m not responsible?
”

“
No. My dad figures the deer shot out in front of you both. Mr.
Sánchez
swerved and most likely clipped it, then veered off the road and hit a tree, which flipped the car. He figures you
over-corrected t
o keep from hitting either the deer or
the
Sánchez
’
s
and ended up going
through the windshield
when you drove
into the ditch. It was all an unfortunate accident, JD.
”
Emma closed the small gap between them with a squeeze to Max
’
s shoulder.

Max thought back to that day. He remembered sitting in the back of his parent
’
s car thinking about how great his life was.
So much for that idea.
He remembered his dad turning on talk radio and his mother complaining, saying,
Dear
. Max
now
realized he
’
d mistaken her
comment as a
complaint
.
Most likely she w
as
pointing out
the deer.