COACH MILES BLEW HER WHISTLE THE SECOND KITTY LED THE team into the gym after warm-ups. “Huddle up, ladies! I have an announcement.”
“More line drills?” Mika quipped under her breath as they jogged over to Coach.
Kitty snorted. “Only if we’re lucky.”
“Got word last night,” Coach Miles began in her usual gruff manner, “that the Northern California High School Athletics League will be sponsoring a tournament this weekend, right here at Bishop DuMaine, with scouts from all the major NCAA programs.”
College scouts? What an opportunity! Bishop DuMaine had one of the premiere girls’ volleyball programs in the country, and Kitty guessed that all the big universities would be there. She held out her fist to Mika, who returned the bump. They both knew this was the chance of a lifetime.
“So that means some of our usual foes,” Coach Miles continued. “Mitty, St. Francis, and Gunn.”
Kitty caught her breath. Barbara Ann Vreeland went to Gunn. Ever since Kitty had accidentally gotten her expelled from Bishop DuMaine freshman year, she’d been hoping for an opportunity to make things up to her. Barbara Ann had been one of the best high school players in the country before she quit the sport, and if Kitty could just convince her to join the Gunn team, she was positive her old teammate would make an amazing impression.
“So we’re doing two-a-days,” Coach continued. “Until the tournament. We’re the reigning state champions, and I want each and every one of you to have a college offer before Sunday dinner, understood?”
“Sir, yes sir!” the team barked in well-trained unison.
“Good.” Coach tooted twice on her whistle. “Water break while I get the new practice schedules from my office, then scrimmage. Ten minutes.”
The girls filed out of the gym to the water fountain, Kitty trailing behind. She was finally going to have a chance to make things up to Barbara Ann. But would she listen to Kitty? The last time they’d seen each other, the night of Ronny’s candlelight vigil, Barbara Ann had looked as if she’d wanted to rip Kitty’s face off. It was doubtful that she’d listen rationally to anything Kitty had to say.
But she might listen to Mika.
“Mika,” Kitty said, as they waited in line. “You’re still friends with Barbara Ann, right?”
Mika shrugged. “I mean, we don’t hang out. But I see her at the Coffee Clash.”
“Do you think,” Kitty said slowly, “that she’d consider joining the varsity team at Gunn?”
“I doubt it,” Mika said, shaking her head sadly. “Sounds like she’s done with volleyball.”
Kitty scrunched up her face, not willing to give up so easily. “What are you doing after school today?”
“Why?” Mika snapped.
Kitty was taken aback. “Sorry, I just thought maybe we could go to the Coffee Clash and talk to Barbara Ann about—”
“Can’t,” Mika said. She moved up to the vacant water fountain. “Got a thing.”
A thing? “Okay, how about tomorrow night?”
“Can’t,” Mika said. “Sorry.” She took a long sip of water, then turned away from Kitty. “I need to change my knee pads,” she said. “For the scrimmage. Later.” And she bounded back into the gym.
Okay, fine. If Mika wouldn’t help her, she’d find another way. Kitty spun on her heel and headed to Coach Miles’s office. Maybe if Coach called over to Gunn, she could get Barbara Ann on the team in time for the tournament? It was worth a shot.
But as she rounded the corner, she stopped dead. Standing at the other end of the hall, heads close together in conversation, were Mika and Donté.
She opened her mouth to say hello, but the words died on her lips. There was something odd about their postures. Donté’s body was tense, and Mika’s shoulders were hunched as she cast a furtive glance behind her. As she turned, Kitty saw Donté reach out and graze his fingers against Mika’s palm.
“Hey!” Kitty cried, marching toward them.
Mika and Donté jumped apart as if they’d just received an electric shock.
“Kitty!” Mika squeaked.
Kitty eyed them both. Mika looked scared, her face pinched and drawn, while Donté was visibly uncomfortable. “I thought you were changing your knee pads?” she asked innocently.
“I—I am,” Mika stuttered, her eyes roaming the hallway. They rested on the floor, then the ceiling, then a spot on the wall over Kitty’s left shoulder.
“I guess I’m interrupting something,” Kitty said, turning on her heel. She felt dizzy and off-balance, as if her world had exploded in an instant. Her best friend and her boyfriend? It was a girl’s worst nightmare come true.
“Baby!” Donté dashed after her, catching her by the arm. “Don’t be like that. You weren’t interrupting anything.” He pulled her into his body and wrapped his arms around her, then lowered his lips to her ear. “I promise.”
Her knees turned to jelly, but a nagging little voice in her head prevented her from melting into Donté’s arms. They’re lying to you. They’re hiding something.
Mika cleared her throat. “I should go. We’ll, um, chat later.” She turned and disappeared down the hallway.
Donté waited until Mika was gone before he glanced down at Kitty. “Are you okay?”
Kitty shrugged. “Sure.”
Donté pulled away and took her face in his hands. “Kitty, what’s wrong?”
I just caught you holding hands with my best friend? “What’s wrong with me?” Kitty asked with a tight laugh. “What’s wrong with you?”
Donté jolted, dropping his hands from her face. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Kitty said, her voice shaking. “There’s something going on. With us. Something you’re not telling me.” She glanced down the hallway where Mika had just disappeared. “If you’re going to break up with me, I’d rather you just do it now.”
Donté’s eyes grew wide. “Break up with you? Are you crazy?”
“Um . . .” Kitty paused. She’d steeled herself against the inevitable “I’ve met someone else” excuse, but instead, he looked horrified.
Donté reached his hand out to her. “Kitty Wei, I do not want to break up with you. What made you think that?”
Kitty tentatively slipped her hand into his, but stared at the floor. “I don’t know. I thought maybe you . . .” Realized I’m kind of a spaz? Knew you could do better?
“Kitty,” he said, wrinkling his lower lip. “I’m so sorry. I swear, there’s nothing between Mika and me. I know it looked weird, but it has nothing to do with you. Or us. Nothing at all.”
Kitty glanced up at him. She knew there was something he wasn’t telling her. “Donté, what’s going on?”
A wave of pain washed over his face. “I . . .” His voice faltered and his eyes flicked away from her face. Regardless of his insistence that his issues had nothing to do with her, he was definitely hiding something. Not just a school or family issue he didn’t want to talk about, but an actual secret. She could see the shame in his eyes, see the inner struggle as he tried to decide whether or not he could share it with her.
“I need to get back to practice,” he said at last.
Kitty tightened her grip on his hand. “Donté, you can trust me.”
“Of course I can trust you.” Donté took a step closer and bent down, his lips inches from her ear. “But right now, I need you to trust me.”
Kitty’s pulse was still racing long after Donté ducked into the boys’ locker room. Her heart ached with a dull pain that reminded Kitty of getting punched in the stomach, and she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was somehow losing her boyfriend.
With a heavy sigh, Kitty peeled her eyes away from the locker room door, and trudged down the hallway to Coach Miles’s office.
The door to the office was closed, but Kitty could clearly hear the sounds of someone typing at the computer. Not wanting to interrupt her cantankerous coach, Kitty peeked through the window to see if she looked busy.
Instead, she found Theo Baranski typing furiously on Coach Miles’s computer.
Without knocking, Kitty flung the door open and watched with some satisfaction as Theo jumped out of the chair.
“Kitty!” he cried, his face red. “What are you doing here?”
I should be asking you the same thing. “I came to talk to Coach.”
“Oh,” Theo said, fumbling around for the mouse. “Right. Sure.” Before he could completely close out the screen on Coach’s computer, Kitty saw that he’d been accessing the school email system. Which was innocent enough. So why did he look so scared?
“I—I was just checking my email,” he said at last, stating the obvious.
“Uh-huh.”
He reached down to the CPU, then popped out of the chair and scurried past Kitty into the hallway, shoving something into his pocket with trembling hands. “I’ve got to go.”
What the hell was going on with everyone?
