ANMELDENLUKE'S P.O.VDre stares at me like I’ve slapped her. For a second, the only sound is her ragged breathing and the distant howl of a dog two blocks away.“She knew?” Her voice rises, cracking. “All this time, when I was trying to set you two up, when she was telling me how much she loved you, pouring her heart out to me, she knew you were in love with me?”I drag a hand through my hair, frustration and shame twisting together. “It wasn’t like I sat her down and spelt it out back then. She saw the way I looked at you. The way I’ve always looked at you.” My voice softens, but the damage is already spreading. “Then, eventually, I told her. I told her I couldn’t see her anymore because I had feelings for you. I owed her that much.”Dre presses the heels of her hands against her eyes, fresh tears leaking through. “You let me play matchmaker, Luke. You let me push her toward you while you were in love with me?” She lets out a broken laugh that sounds nothing like her.“Fuck, Luke...this is b
LUKE’S P.O.V“I am so fucking sorry,” I say, squinting into the dark car.“What do you want, bro?” The guy snaps.I step away, giving the girl a moment while she scrambles for some clothes.“Can I borrow your phone? Mine’s not here. I need to make one call, then I’ll be gone.”He grumbles, but passes his phone through the cracked windoW“Thanks,” I say gratefully while I dial Dre’s number.I press the phone to my ear, waiting impatiently as it rings out. “Well?” The guy calls through the window. I look over my shoulder to see both him and the girl, sitting in the back seats with their arms crossed angrily.“Let me try again,” I beg. “I’m so sorry.”The girls cheeks turn to a light shade of pink as we make brief eye contact. She leans in to whisper something to the dude.I face away from them, eyes slightly closed. “Please pick up, Dre. Please be okay.”But Dre doesn’t pick on the second ring either, making my suspicion grow more.I look over to the couple, the girl's fac
LUKE’S P.O.VWho knew saying the words, “I love you,” could fix everything? Or so much as a kiss and hug could change the way I play on court. Her words, “I love you”, hit me harder than any punch I ever threw into that locker. I’ve said it over and over, reminded every day since the field that I love her. And now she’s finally saying it back, even better on her own accord. I can die.Her hands still cup my face, those steady brown eyes still burn into mine like I’m still worth something. My split knuckles are throbbing, my chest feels like it’s cracking open, but even still, I know it’s all better now. Everything's better with, Dre.Her raspy tiny words is a thousand times louder than every time Vincent, Coach and anyone could yell. I pull her in again, burying my face in her neck for one more second. She smells like everything good.“I love you, Dre,” I rasp against her skin. My voice sounds wrecked, but I mean it with every broken piece of me.She believes in me even when
DRE’S P.O.VThe second half starts with the usual burst of energy, but something is wrong. I can see it from the first possession. Luke isn’t here.He moves rigidly, runs slower, and takes a while to follow the ball. Every fifteen seconds, his eyes flick towards the section where his father is sitting. Mum and I moved away from there. Luke knows we’ve moved seats, but his eyes keep returning there.He is going through motions instead of dominating as he did in the first half. He barely looks at the ball before passing, and when Malik cuts hard for a give-and-go, Luke doesn’t see him in time. They collide mid-court, causing Malik to fall face-first on the floor. The whistle blows sharply, and that gets Luke’s full attention. The whistle signifies turnover. The Summit Wolves capitalise immediately, and the lead starts shrinking. The Eagles' defence is strong, but the offence, now that Luke isn’t performing as well as he used to, is what I’ll call, rather, the guys sitting behind m
LUKE’S P.O.VVincent is pacing up and down the locker room like a wild animal, yelling at anyone who needs to be yelled at. He’s been the captain for the whole of senior year, so we're pretty much used to this. It’s far better to hear than coach’s yelling, who’s stuck upstairs with the scouts. Vincent has stepped into full captain mode.Guys are slumped on benches, chests heaving, towels draped over their heads. We’re up by eight, but you’d think we were down twenty in the second half. But my mind is somewhere else entirely.He's here, sitting in the bleachers. I only caught the quickest glimpse as we jogged back through the tunnel, but it was enough. And worse, he was sitting behind Dre and Halle.“Luke? Yo, earth to Luke.”A heavy hand lands on my shoulder, staring at me, brow furrowed, still breathing hard from the court.“You good, man? You’ve been zoned out since we got in here.”I blink, trying to drag myself back. Vincent is still going off on someone about defensive la
DRE’S P.O.VVincent steers Luke through the tunnels. Just before he’s gone, I can swear I see his entire face shift, from excitement to something else.My throat is raw, shredded from screaming and cheering for my boyfriend the entire first half, but it’s worth every painful swallow. Luke played so well, I've never been more proud. He’s working quite well with Malik. They played so well, you would think they’ve been playing together from day one— at least that's my opinion. They were completely in sync with each other.Luke barely looked to the bleachers while he blurred across the court with a ball in his hand. He was that focused, and so were the scouts who I was keeping an eye on them for him like I’d promised. They scribbled on their clipboards whenever a ball went through the hoop, but their faces gave away nothing. I studied them anyway, hunting for any flicker of approval or doubt, but still nothing. Well, Luke did warn me they would be hard to read.Mum is on the phone bes
DRE’S P.O.VIn school, I look out for Luke.Every day since he left my room, I’ve looked out for him. For the first week, he didn’t come to school, he came the week after that, and every other day since then, but I barely saw much of him at all. Just the back of his head in the hallways, which I no
DRE’S P.O.VWhen my bladder is full and I’m busting to pee, that’s when I force myself awake.My eyes are glum and swollen from last night’s tears and from the lack of sleep I’ve had. I tried to sleep, but sleep barely came. Each passing day, and every hour after Luke left, I’d wake up. I’ll look t
LUKE’S POVI don’t let go of Ruth’s hand as we push through the cafeteria doors and into the hallway. The bell is ringing; students spill out everywhere, but I don’t slow down. My grip stays firm, pulling her away from the noise until I spot an empty classroom at the end of the corridor. The door
DRE’S P.O.VI give Luke one last pleading look, then focus my attention on Ruth, who’s now in the seat next to him, both of them sitting opposite me. “Hey,” she greets me, then turns to smile at Luke. He barely acknowledges her, still staring at me instead, like I’d betrayed him. In a way, I have,







