Read Crossing the Barrier for Free Online

back and raising his hands in protest.
    “Yes, but you went to see her after practice, didn’t you? Will you see her again?”
    “Probably at school, like the other nine hundred students in our class,” Malakai answered, leaning forward again and grabbing his burger.
    “Malakai, don’t. You don’t need the drama. The team doesn’t need the drama. Besides, there’s Andrea. You and her, you click. You guys are meant to be together.”
    Malakai looked at Wes while slowly putting down his burger on his plate again. That was something Zoe would have said, not the Wes he remembered.
    And if Wes believed it, he was totally blind.
    If one thing was certain, Malakai and Andrea did not click. While Andrea might have felt something for him, he felt nothing for her other than friendship. The spark, the one that would make his heart race, wasn’t there.
    “You’re drama free with Zoe, I suppose,” he said so quietly he wondered if Wes had heard.
    Despite not liking Zoe, Malakai had always tried to be tolerant of her and supportive of Wes. Why wouldn’t Wes do the same for him?
    Before Wes answered, the bell over the door rattled, and Malakai looked up.
    “Hi, Malakai,” Andrea said with a huge smile and a small wave, making her way to their table as Zoe followed.
    Malakai looked pointedly at Wes across from him. He should have known this new Wes would do something like that. This Wes was no longer the friend Malakai could depend on, the one who would want to do something stupid on a dare, the one who would want to hang out with the boys. This Wes only wanted to do Zoe’s bidding, and of course, this Wes wouldn’t have missed an occasion to throw Andrea at him.
    And this Wes was grinning at him as if he were the cat who got the cream.
    “Zoe and Andrea wanted to join us. I couldn’t say no,” he said, sliding over to make room for Zoe.
    After a moment’s hesitation, Malakai moved over to let Andrea sit next to him. The two girls quickly ordered pancakes and began talking.
    All throughout the remaining dinner, Andrea was her usual self: bubbly, fun, light, somewhat interesting, and a little naive. Malakai couldn’t help but compare her to Lily. Lily was fascinating, nice, but not light. Lily would read the Smithsonian like he did but not Andrea. Andrea was not into science and general knowledge like Lily. Andrea had no AP classes while Lily had mentioned she had at least four. Andrea wanted to go to community college while Lily…well, he didn’t know what Lily wanted; he would have to ask her if she would ever want to talk to him again.
    The sun was setting when they finally paid their bill. As they walked outside, Malakai was immediately suffocated by the August heat and humidity of Texas. Despite his eagerness to be gone, he took the time to walk Andrea to her car, like he had been raised to do. Wes and Zoe looked at them with wide smiles on their faces, and Malakai was certain the news of his “going out” with Andrea would be all over social media by the end of the night.
    “You’re going to the party?” Andrea asked, standing beside her open car door.
    “No. We have practice tomorrow morning.”
    “Wes is coming.”
    He shrugged. While Wes may have lost interest, Malakai took football too seriously to follow down that path.
    After final good-byes, Andrea got in her car and drove away.
    As Malakai walked to his jeep, he sighed. This evening hadn’t gone at all like he had hoped.
    He got into his jeep and wondered what to do now. He didn’t want to go to his empty apartment, especially since he had absolutely nothing to do there. If at least school had begun, he would have homework, but no. It would only start in a week. And it was Friday night. What was the chance someone wasn’t going to this stupid party?
    Then he remembered David. The center was not into the party scene.
    Malakai took out his phone, texted the center, and then threw the device on the dashboard. He retrieved his key and turned it in