Games of the Heart

Growing Pains

True to Anthony’s words, Eliza returned to her old self the following day.

Though she didn’t know the conversation that transpired between Marco and him, she forced herself to wear the brightest smile to school and made sure it stayed all day.

She was aware that she was still worrying Alex. And though Anthony didn't seem like he was worried for her too, she knew he was. It was unusual for him to buy her a bar of chocolate, her favorite brand even, yesterday. And it was even more unusual of him to not laugh when she answered wrongly in class. So she told herself that she had got to snap out of last night.

Eliza wasn’t one to dwell on grim thoughts, not if she could help it, and she was tried to return back to being her usual cheerful self. And so far, she was doing well.

“Do you feel it coming?” Alex asked as the three of them made their way to the auditorium. Afternoon classes had just ended and all of the Grade 11 students were directed to go for a short assembly.

“Yes, I feel it,” Eliza sighed happily, adjusting the straps of her backpack over her shoulders.

“Feel what?” Anthony scowled. He still hadn’t forgiven her for waking him up after last period ended.

“I am so ready for it,” Alex declared instead of answering him. She saw the amusement in his eyes then. He didn’t look quite through baiting Anthony.

“Of course you are,” she commented dryly, keeping up with his joke. “I’m so excited for it too,” she ended with a clap of her hands.

“Excited for what?” Anthony snapped, clearly at the end his patience. “What the hell are you two talking about?”

Eliza laughed. It was fun teasing Anthony. But teasing him too much had dire consequences so she decided to stop it.

“The upcoming high school intramurals, dummy,” she answered him.

Anthony looked at her with horror. “The intramurals?” he repeated. “We still have that?”

“It happens every year! What do you think is the reason why we’re being summoned to the auditorium? We’re going to discuss about it.”

“Hell if I know. I was asleep when you suddenly dragged me out.”

Alex grinned and patted his head. Anthony immediately slapped his hand away. “You know, Eliza is jealous of you because you can sleep during class while she can’t,” he informed him.

“Coffee has been a close friend of mine since the school year started,” she sighed. “And I’m not jealous. I already told you I’m going to be an exemplary student this year, remember?”

“Exemplary, my ass,” Anthony grumbled, glaring at a student who was blocking the way to let him pass. “Didn’t you get a D for last week’s History exam?”

“I got a C,” she corrected.

“Same difference. That is far from my definition of exemplary, loopy loo.”

“Hey, don’t be mean to her,” Alex patted her head this time and she giggled, swatting his hand away. “She used to get a D on History and Literature all the time because she claims the subjects are boring and sleeps instead. C is a vast improvement if you ask me.”

“I’m not sure if you just complimented or insulted me,” she said, losing her smile.

“Take it as a compliment because it comes from me,” he grinned.

“And definitely take it as an insult if it’s from me.” Anthony pushed the auditorium doors open. “Because I definitely won’t compliment you.”

Eliza made no response but frowned at him as the three of them filed inside the auditorium. Anthony chose to sit near the back and though Eliza would have wanted to sit near the front, having been accustomed in class and because the high school intramurals was one of her favorite topics of discussion, she opted instead to sit next to Anthony, to his annoyance. Alex, of course, followed them.

The room was becoming packed with Grade 11 students. Eliza saw Marco enter, looking around to find a seat. Immediately, a group of girls waved at him for him to join them. He was hesitating to join them, she noticed. Before he could decide to sit with them however, Alex raised his hand.

“Marco!” Alex called out. “There’s an empty seat here!”

“What the heck, tallass?” Anthony hissed at him, leaning around Eliza to glare at him.

“Come on, Anthony. It pays to have more allies.”

“I don’t even want to know what you’re talking about.”

Eliza shushed Anthony and glanced at Marco who was making his way towards them. Unbeknownst to her, the same group of girls Marco had rejected was giving her the stink eye.

“What took you so long?” Eliza asked. Marco had told them he had to go to the toilet first.

“I got a call from home,” he answered, taking the seat next to Alex.

“Nothing bad, I hope?”

“No. Just a few errands that I need to do when I get back.”

They spoke no more because their grade representative started the meeting about the school intramurals. Anthony was quick to fall asleep while she, Alex and Marco listened attentively. It was the same discussion every year, actually. Still, as class president, she should definitely pay attention.

The high school Intramurals was a one week event, highlighting the value of teamwork, sportsmanship and talent. Students from each grade would be required to participate in the games and performances, such as the cheerleading competition, and would begin their practice as necessary.

As practiced every year, the Grades 7 to 10 classes would set up a booth of their choice. In between the scheduled games and competitions, these booths will provide entertainment value to the visiting students from other schools and their families. The winner of the most popular booth was also going to receive an award.

It was a relatively irrelevant thing to be concerned about since the award was merely a trophy. But everyone was still fired up to win the position of the “Most Popular Booth.”

Each class’s president was required to give their choice of booth by the end of tomorrow’s class to the faculty office. Eliza was already racking her brain up for a nice idea for their class’s booth but knowing her classmates, getting their votes would probably take some time again since they liked to fool around. And it had always been so hard for her to lead the class by herself. But, even though it was going to take a lot of work, she couldn’t wait for the intramurals to arrive.

When the meeting was over, Anthony was quick to wake up. He bounded out of his seat before the rest of them could even move.

“So long, suckers,” he mumbled before he disappeared in the throng of other students who were also heading out.

“You still have basketball practice right?” Eliza asked Alex as they also made their way out.

“Yeah.” Alex held her shoulder and made her walk in front of him so she would not be crushed by the students eager to go home. “I heard you don’t have club today?”

“No.”

“Where will you wait?”

“Dad’s taking me home, don’t worry.”

Marco was listening to their conversation, she realized with a start. How did it sound to him? Odd, for sure. It was unusual for a high school girl to have to be walked home by her father when home was just a walking distance away, right?

“We’re going grocery shopping,” she rushed to explain to Marco.

Alex gave her a confused glance. Her mother was the one who usually shopped for groceries every Saturday. Then it cleared and he looked at Marco. Eliza sent a silent prayer to the heavens for his quick wits.

“It’s hard being the eldest sister,” Alex told Marco.

Marco nodded. “I understand that perfectly. I’m the eldest too.”

“Oh?” Eliza leaned towards him with interest. He’d never talked about his family much. “You have a sibling?”

He glanced away, hiking his bag over his shoulder. “I have a sister,” he answered softly.

“The coach is waving us over,” Alex suddenly said before she could ask more. “We need to hurry if we don’t want to do laps. Text me when you get home, Liz.”

She smiled at them. “Have fun.”

They gave her a wave before rushing to the gym. She stared at them, smiling to herself. The friendship between the two was developing and it was nice to see. Although it hadn’t been long since the two met, they were growing close. It was because of Alex, she figured. He always had the way of making people at ease with him and made them want to be his friends ever since he was little.

Eliza looked at the screen of her cell phone and decided to go to the toilet first since her father hadn’t messaged her yet that he’d arrived. On the way out of after doing her business however, she was waylaid by three of her classmates, Sheila, Sarah and Jennifer.

Sheila and Sarah were glaring at her. Jennifer just watched her solemnly behind them. But the last girl’s silence didn’t comfort Eliza. Jennifer was known to be the meanest girls in school.

“You’re chummy with Marco these days, Rosa,” Sheila said, her voice filled with derision before crossing her arms over her chest.

Eliza blinked at them. This didn’t give her a good feeling at all.

“I… am?” she quietly spoke.

“You always talk in class,” Sarah pointed out.

“We’re seatmates. It can’t be helped.”

“I heard you went to the cove with him.”

Eliza’s vague sense of alarm intensified.

“With Alex and Anthony. It was Alex who invited him to come,” she answered again, wringing her hands together. And how did they find out anyway?

“Wow, you really are one impressive girl,” Jennifer started clapping her hands, “Please. Do tell me how I could be just like you.”

She bit her lip. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t act coy. We know that you know exactly what we mean,” Sheila snapped at her. “God! You and Maxino are really pissing me off. No wonder you are friends. You deserve each other.”

This can’t be.

This can’t be happening to her again.

Eliza clutched her right arm and exhaled shakily as she started at the three hostile girls in front of her.

No.

“He’s Alex’s friend,” she tried to reason. A lump formed in her throat and she was afraid she was going to retch. She swallowed it down with difficulty and went on, “They’re both in the basketball club remember?”

Sheila pursed her lips. “Well. That is true.”

Jennifer didn’t look mollified however. “You certainly know a lot.”

“She’s Alex’s best friend,” Sarah said, sarcasm dripping in her tone. “Of course she would.”

“Wait, why do you look like you want to cry?” Sheila suddenly asked, laughing. “Hey. You’re making it seem like we’re bullying you.”

Eliza swallowed again and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. Her hand around her arm trembled and looking at her, Sheila lost her smile.

“Let’s go,” Jennifer muttered darkly to her friends. “Before someone sees and assume we’re the bad guys.”

They left, but not without sneering at her, mumbling under their breaths about what a baby she was. As soon as they were out of the girl’s toilets, Eliza sank down on her heels. She pressed her face into the tops of knees, shutting her eyes tight.

Breathe, she told herself. Just breathe.

Jealous girls were scary.

Jealous and angry girls were terrifying.

And God, she knew exactly what happens when jealous and angry girls do something about it.

She had already experienced the worst of it.

**********

Practice was tough as always with a very dedicated coach who kept shouting at the rookies. Add in an outlandish captain who kept making them do senseless drills and it was quite an exhausting situation if one wasn’t used to such an environment.

Nevertheless, it was enjoyable and Alex couldn’t help but grin when his shot went perfectly into the hoop for the seventh consecutive time.

“Your form was off, Fernandez!” Adam shouted from across the court.

“It’s your eyesight that’s off, captain!” he hollered back.

“Get out of my court if you won’t accept criticisms.”

“I’ve been eating criticisms since I stepped inside the gym that I don’t even have any appetite for dinner tonight anymore!” Alex wiped the sweat off his forehead with his wristband. “And this is not your court, you punk.”

Behind Adam, Daniel gave their captain the middle finger that made Alex burst out laughing. Adam turned around to see what made him laugh and Daniel was quick to drop on the floor, pretending to do push-ups.

While Adam was distracted with him, Alex decided to take a break. He went to the bench and saw March resting there too.

“Are you alright?” he asked, grabbing his water bottle from the bench and drinking from it.

Marco removed the towel from his head. He did look quite harried but how the guy could still look good even when he was tired and sweating was beyond Alex and the other club members.

“Yeah,” Marco mumbled in answer. “It’s just been awhile since I was this… physically active.”

Alex chuckled. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you about our slave drivers,” he gestured to their coach and captain. “They take things way too far sometimes. Especially Adam.”

“I’m not complaining,” he shrugged. “It’s been fun so far.”

“You won’t be saying that when Adam gets a hold of you and tries to mold you into the perfect basketball player.”

He winced. “I’m trying not to get his attention,” he said. “Because that’s exactly what I heard from the other guys.”

Alex sat down on the bench and stretched out his legs. “I heard from Anthony that you were worried about Eliza yesterday,” he said, changing the topic. It had been on his mind since yesterday.

Marco’s lips twitched. “Was that how he said it?”

“No.” He grinned. “He told me you were being nosy.”

“He doesn’t like me, does he?”

“He doesn’t like everyone, including us. But don’t mind him. He really is a good kid.”

“I didn’t like how harsh he was with Eliza yesterday,” Marco admitted, bending down to tighten the laces of his shoes.

Alex studied him for a brief moment.

Then he asked, “What do you think of Eliza?”

Marco’s gaze swung to him as he straightened. He was silent for awhile, seemingly pondering the question.

“As cliché as it may sound, she’s not like any other girl I know,” he muttered. “In fact, you, Eliza and Anthony are unlike other people I’ve met.”

“Is that a good thing?” Alex asked him curiously.

He nodded.

Alex would have asked him more questions, specifically about Eliza, but Adam had spotted the two of them resting.

“Hey, you lazy bums! Return to practice now!”

Marco stood up and put his towel down on the bench. “Let’s go, vice captain.”

Taking a deep breath and with far less enthusiasm, Alex rose and said, “Let’s go.”