Crossing the Barrier (14 page)

“What the fuck did you do to her?” David asked, taking two steps toward Malakai, his fists clenched at his side.

Malakai frowned, taken aback by David’s anger, which rivaled his own. He had never seen the center so furious before. “What did I do to who?”

“Lily.” David was turning an interesting shade of red and breathing as if he had run a mile-long sprint.

“What do you mean what did I do to her? I was trying to get to know her, but obviously, I shouldn’t have bothered, seeing as you had your hands all over her no later than lunchtime.”

Malakai could not understand why David hadn’t just claimed her when Malakai had mentioned he liked her the previous week.

“Well, someone had to be there for her after the mess you made. I thought you were different than the others, I thought you liked her. But you fooled me.”

What mess could Malakai have possibly made? He had barely spoken to Lily despite his best efforts to do so. In the last few days she had sat across the room from him in every one of their classes.

Malakai’s short nails dug painfully into his hands.

“You’re just like the rest of them,” David continued before Malakai had time to say anything. “You’re more interested in kissing Andrea and being part of the ‘in’ crowd.”

“Wait! What? I don’t even like Andrea. Why would I be kissing her?”

“You tell me. But don’t you lie to me. Lily and Sandra saw you.”

Then it hit Malakai.

Lily had been short with him on Friday, and had switched seats in class ever since. Friday was the day after Andrea had kissed him, the day when he had tried to tell Lily about his evening and when Wes had interrupted him. He had expected Lily to hear about the kiss, but see him?

Then something else struck Malakai. Could Lily possibly like him back?

“Did she go out on Thursday night?”

“Yeah. My sister and her went out to dinner.”

“Bloody hell!”

“What did you do?” David asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“I think she saw Andrea trying to kiss me.”

Could things get any worse? He might lose his chance with Lily for a girl he didn’t even like.

“Try to kiss you? Dude, how can a girl try to kiss you if you don’t want her to? And how can you think you’re not with Andrea if you go around kissing her?”

“I didn’t kiss her; she took me by surprise. I didn’t expect it. We were talking, and the next thing I knew she was kissing me,” he said, shaking his head as if he had water in his ears. “Listen, David, I don’t like Andrea. She’s cute and all, but…I don’t like her.

“And to be totally honest with you, I think I like Lily a lot. Like,
really
like, like. Like, wow-I-think-I’m-in-trouble like,” he added, scratching the back of his neck.

“Okay. So what are you gonna do about it? I mean, Lily thinks you’re with Andrea, and I hate to tell you this ‘coz I feel like I’m betraying her, but she likes you, you know. I don’t know why, but she does.”

Malakai’s heart completely stopped.

She liked him.

It was real.

He had a chance after all.

“I…I don’t know.”

In reality, Malakai was afraid he would make things worse, which he seemed to be doing a lot of lately, even when he wasn’t doing anything.

“Why don’t you come by Sunday? She’ll probably be at my house, and you can talk to her.”

At the thought, Malakai’s heart began to race. He could easily imagine Lily in a bathing suit by the pool, and that view alone would have convinced him. In the next moment, he felt like a total douchebag to find her so physically attractive when she deserved so much more.

“Okay,” he heard himself say, even though he knew he would try to talk to her sooner. He couldn’t wait four days. He wanted to talk to her, now.

“But listen, dude,” David said, becoming serious again and pointing at Malakai’s chest. “Lily, she’s special. She’s like a sister to me. She has a shitty home life, and she doesn’t need anyone messing with her. She’s not your typical girl, and she deserves a good guy who will like her just the way she is. If you
really
like her, go for her, but don’t you dare toy with her. She doesn’t deserve that.”

“I won’t,” Malakai said seriously.

“Good, ‘coz if you do, I’ll seriously beat the crap out of you, and since you’re a scrawny little thing, and I’m about a hundred pounds heavier, guess who’ll win that one.”

“I guess that hundred pounds is why you play center and I play wide receiver,” Malakai said with a chuckle.

“Well, there’s that,” David said, now grinning.

“Thanks, David.”

“Don’t mention it. But fix this, with Lily, I mean.”

Malakai nodded firmly. He had every intention of doing just that.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

MALAKAI

The next day
when Malakai made his way to his first class, Lily was sitting at the back, close to the window, reading a book. She was wearing a yellow and black school polo shirt, and Malakai never thought someone could make the school colors look so good.

She looked miserable, however, as if she hadn’t slept the previous night, and he hated to think it was because of him. Had he known, he would have done something sooner. A girl like her should always be smiling.

He made his way to her and sat at the empty desk to her right, dropping his bag on the floor and setting his coffee cup on the desk.

“Hi,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

She just looked up at him without seeing anything, as if he were a ghost.

“I’m not dating Andrea,” he said. He grabbed the hotstopper from his cup and began to play with it.

“Really? I could have sworn you were.” Lily turned away and resumed reading.

“No, I’m not.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I don’t like her,” he added quietly.

It was the time now or never to make it right, to tell her he liked her. Now was actually so perfect Malakai could not have created a better time if he had tried.

“I–” he began.

“Malakai!” someone called from the front.

With his jaw clenched to the point of pain, Malakai looked up. Of course he had to be interrupted at this precise moment, this moment when he was about to tell the girl he liked that he actually liked her.

Nathan, one of the defensive linemen, and Lori, one of the cheerleaders, were making their way to him. Malakai would have hit something but took three deep breaths instead.

His moment, his perfect timing, gone.

The newcomers took seats in front of him, and Malakai threw them a nasty glare.

“Were we interrupting something?” Lori asked innocently.

“Yes,” Malakai answered coldly.

“No,” Lily answered lightly at the same time.

Malakai glanced at Lily. She had put her book down and was smiling sweetly at Lori, who was looking at the two of them in quick succession.

“Which one is it?” she asked.

“Who cares?” Nathan said with a shrug. “Malakai, we’re thinking about having a party after the game Friday. You should come this time.”

“Yeah, we’ll all be there, even Andrea,” Lori said with a knowing smile.

Malakai flashed the girl another nasty glare, then looked at Lily when he heard a commotion coming from her desk. In the next instant, she was walking away, to her regular desk in front of the class.

“Did I say something wrong?” Lori asked, her hand against her heart.

“Don’t worry about her, honey,” Nathan said sweetly. “She’s just a band geek.”

Malakai grabbed his own books and was standing up when the bell rang, and the teacher walked into the classroom, beginning his class without so much as a “Good morning”.

Malakai dropped in his seat and stared at Lily for the entire length of the period. Once the bell rang, she immediately disappeared through the door before Malakai had time to make his way to her.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

LILY

On Sunday morning
, Lily woke up feeling like she had spent the night on a bed of peas. She had a lot of homework to do, which she had barely touched all week, and she had no idea how she would get through the day. At least Beatrice was away, for which she was thankful.

The only marginally good thing that had happened since Malakai had last spoken to her was the football game on Friday night. At the beginning, the euphoria of the crowd had gotten to her again, and it was the first time since the previous game she had felt better. Unfortunately, the game had been uneventful and the other team was so pathetically bad the crowd’s euphoria and excitement had died down quickly. Lily found it ironic that of all the games the uninteresting one fell on the week she needed cheering up the most.

It had also been hard to see Malakai play, and to hear everybody saying over and over again that he was dating Andrea, even though he had told her he didn’t like the girl.

But the worst part of Lily’s weekend had happened the previous night. Against her better judgment, Lily had agreed to attend a dinner Beatrice was giving in the hopes of pleasing her, and again, it had backfired badly.

She sat at the dining table, next to Beatrice, smiling like the woman wanted her to. A boy in his early twenties sat next to her. He looked okay, but he was rude and condescending, treating her as if she couldn’t think on her own.

It got worse when he touched her thigh under the table. His thoughts were so loud Lily had no problem seeing what was really on his mind, and it wasn’t pretty. He wanted to sleep with her, that she expected, but he was far from gentle about it. Images of other girls were mingled with images of her, other girls he could have very well done the same to. The horror of the situation was compounded when he sneaked his hand higher up her thigh, and Lily had to abruptly stand.

“Mother, may I be excused? I don’t feel well,” she asked Beatrice, all pretenses at smiling gone.

“No, you may not,” Beatrice answered gently, her perfect smile plastered on her face.

Lily left anyway, running to the refuge of her bedroom.

This boy was the worst one she had been introduced to, or so she believed, but she didn’t know, really. The others had never touched her, and she had never gotten a good feel for what they were really like. She had never seen images like these coming from them either. With her shielding, she had only had a general sense of her guests, and most of them had been bored if nothing else. This one had been downright nasty. He was a ball of lust, violence, and narcissism.

Lily had had enough.

She locked herself in her bedroom and remained there until everyone was gone. Once they left, she made her way to the kitchen to get something to eat. After all, she had left after the soup was served.

Beatrice was in her own bedroom, but Lily’s mistake was to believe Beatrice wouldn’t know she had come to the kitchen.

Lily was eating leftovers when she felt Beatrice approach behind her. The disapproval, the jealousy, the greed, the hatred were choking. There was no coming back from that darkness, Lily realized sadly.

“How dare you?” Beatrice asked.

“This boy,
Mother
, wanted to sleep with me. He had his hand up my thigh and was groping me under the table. Is that the type of man you expect me to marry?”

She had her answer before Beatrice uttered a word. Beatrice didn’t care what type of man she married, as long as he was rich and would get Lily out of her life.

“A man like that is all you deserve,” Beatrice said, a sickly sweet smile on her lips.

Lily’s stomach turned, and she fought hard to keep down the chicken she had just eaten.

“This is the last party I will ever attend, Mother. I’m done. And this time, I mean it.”

She was angry and hurt, and she couldn’t hide her emotions anymore. And she was afraid. Lily hadn’t realized to what point Beatrice didn’t care about her well-being and never would. Beatrice just wanted her gone, and nothing Lily would do would ever change that.

Nothing.

“Oh, you think so, do you?” Beatrice asked, her smile never wavering. “You will do as I say,” she said, the anger distorting her usually pretty face.

“Not anymore, Beatrice. I’m done.”

Tears now running from her eyes at the memory, Lily rolled over in her bed, trying to get more sleep when her phone vibrated. With a growl, she grabbed it from the bedside table and swiped the screen with her finger.

Sandra.

Need help in math. Can you come over?

Lily looked at her alarm clock and frowned. It was ten-thirty in the morning already. With a sigh, she sat.

Be there in thirty minutes
, she texted back.

She really didn’t want to go, but maybe helping Sandra would get her mind off Malakai and her mother, and help her snap out of her funk.