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ignore him,” he says.
    His car dings a few times after he opens his door. He drops the keys in the cup holder and motions for me to come on. I might not be able to ignore Micah forever, but I can for now.
     
    My towel drapes over my shoulders as I stagger out of the bathroom and toward my stone slab. A hot shower didn’t do much for these aches and pains. Coach Bennett may be all about fundamental basketball, but Terrence’s cousin and his friends play hard and dirty.
    Terrence looks up from his cell phone.
    “You okay?” he asks. “You look a bit worn.”
    “I’m good,” I say, stretching out on my bed. “That was tougher than practice, though.”
    Terrence laughs and nods toward me.
    “Your phone’s been buzzing,” he says. “Maybe it’s…Sam. You know, seeing what your plans are for the weekend.”
    I don’t have to check my messages to know damn well that it’s not Samantha. Micah’s worse than a needy girlfriend. He’s blown up my phone more today than Samantha has in the last month. It makes me feel kind of sick because I like the attention.
    I force myself to sit up, grab my phone, and flip through the new texts. I feel Terrence’s eyes on me the entire time, so I keep a stone face, as much as I can anyway. I should’ve silenced my phone while I was in the shower.
    The hollering down the hallway pulls me away from my attempts at a reply. Aaron pushes through the door to our room, talking too loudly about some girl’s tits. That idiot Zach Perry follows him inside.
    “I can’t believe you missed that lay-up today,” Zach says, instantly hovering over me. “That was the easiest shot all day, and you fucked it up.”
    For someone who comes into practice every day with a hangover, he has no room to talk about anyone’s game. He’s slow on the court, clumsy with his shots, and undeservingly arrogant about everything.
    He moves over to Aaron’s bed, sits, and changes the conversation to something about beer and the river. It’s like that’s all his life revolves around. I wish he’d fucking jump in the river and drown. Then Aaron says something about condoms, and I wish I’d just stayed in the shower until I drowned.
    “You staying here this weekend?” Aaron asks.
    I glance up, but he’s looking at Terrence, who says he’s staying with his cousin.
    “What about you, McCoy?” Aaron asks, shifting his eyes toward me. “You’ll have the room to yourself. I’m crashing at Katelyn’s.”
    Zach laughs. “I’ll be here. I can help you work on those lame ass shots of yours. You need all the help you can get.”
    I look at the empty text message on my phone. There’s no way I’m staying here.
    “I’m going home this weekend,” I say.
    I ignore Zach’s comments and type up a reply to Micah.
    Game on! Is it cool if I come Friday night and stay the weekend? I don’t feel like going home but need the hell out of here.
    It takes about fifteen seconds for his reply to buzz through.
    Def cool! See you then!
    His reply makes me crack a smile. He’s worse than a girl, sitting by his phone waiting. I think Terrence is wrong about the lanterns. But I’ll take my chances with them over Zach Perry.
    “You tell Samantha you’re coming home?” Terrence asks, obviously reading my facial expressions.
    I nod. “Looks like I’m going to be stuck with Sam all weekend,” I say.
    “All weekend?” Terrence repeats. “You can handle that?”
    I shoot my eyes toward Zach and then back at Terrence.
    “Anything’s better than here, right?”
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    I grab my gym bag and pack enough clothes to get me through Sunday. The Indian Horse is tonight, the one that will obviously engulf me in his culture worse than before. I’m not thrilled about it, but I need out of here.
    Terrence left an hour ago, after he wished me luck with “Sam” and told me to text him if I needed to escape. I throw my gym bag over my shoulder and instantly regret it. A searing pain shoots in multiple directions