Page 7 of Blitz

“Micah.”

“It’s just a sprain! I slipped on some black ice. I’m fine. But I can’t train the way I need to right now. And if I don’t train…”

My heart aches for him even as my brain spurs into motion.

“What happens if you don’t declare?”

“Then I come back for fall term and play a final season.” He sighs. “Provided my grades stay up. I don’t know that I want to do that. I really think this could be my year, Mase.”

My heart is in my throat. “What classes do you need help with?”

He laughs. “Like, all of them.”

“Mic…”

“I can drop my stats class and add in another kinesiology class, but then I won’t be on track to graduate,” he says. And it will kill our mother if he doesn’t graduate on time. If he goes into the NFL, he has a good reason not to finish his degree right away. If he doesn’t… he’s going to need that expensive piece of paper to get a job next spring.

We both know Micah is in school to major in football and girls. He’s way more slutty than I am. He parties far more than I do. The education he’s supposedly receiving is just a side benefit. He’s an amazing football player, and he’s destined for the next level.

“I don’t know how much I can do from here,” I start slowly. “I’m taking statistics this semester, too, so I can try to tutor you, but we both know it won’t be that easy. Math has never been my friend.”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “I know. This is on me.”

“I’ll help you however I can,” I promise. “You need to talk to me. You and me, we’re a team. We can get you through this.”

“I don’t know that even you can get me through it,” he says, and my heart breaks at the frustration in his voice. “I’m failing, Mase. I’ve never failed anything before. Not one damn test.”

“How did this happen?”

His laugh is bitter. “I’m not like you. School isn’t easy for me.”

“No, but you’ve always done fine before. This isn’t like you.”

“I was fine last semester. I was fine.” His voice breaks. “I can’t handle this, sunshine. I need help.”

“I’ll help you any way that I can.” I’ll do anything for him. He’s my twin brother, my other half. If he needs help, I’ll help him, because that’s what you do for family.

“But you’re not here. How can you help when you’re all the way in—” He cuts off with a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

“Take a deep breath.”

He does.

“Okay, so we’re going to talk this out. We’re going to come up with a plan,” I tell him. “We’ll get you a tutor if you need it. You’ll drop this impossible class and sign up for something else before the deadline. We’ll make this work, Mic. You’ve got this. We can do this.”

Chapter four

Tucker

I don’t know why I’m here. The indoor track’s bleachers are sparsely populated. I probably stick out like a sore thumb. I don’t want to be here, and yet, I couldn’t stay away. I don’t know why.

That’s a lie. I know why. Mason. It all comes back to her. At least I dragged Barrett with me so I don’t have to be here all alone.

Barely anyone has shown up to the first track meet of the calendar year. That rankles. The stands are packed at football games even when our middle of the pack team plays poorly. They should have just as many supporters here as we do. They work ten times harder than we do on the field. And it’s indoors! They aren’t even sitting out in the cold and the snow! Why are more people not here?

Barrett sits beside me, no doubt texting with Diana. How they make their friendship work long distance, I’m not sure, because all of mine have fallen by the wayside. I haven’t talked to my ex-best friend, Micah Prince, since the breakup. We grew up together, we were inseparable from the day we met. Now all of that has fallen by the wayside. On my few breaks at home in DC, I don’t hang out with the kids I grew up with. I stick close to the house with my two moms and spend as much time with them as I can. Sometimes my brother comes home. Sometimes we go to him.

Jamal is moving on to bigger and better things. He’s a rookie in the NBA, riding the bench more than anything else, but still—he made it. He’s living his dream. He paid off our moms’ house and cut a check for the balance of my tuition, the half my athletic scholarship doesn’t cover. The same half I’ve had to take out loans to pay for, because my moms are cash strapped enough to worry about my school fees on top of everything else they’ve done for me.