A Song for You

The door to Nelson’s room is slammed open for the second time that day. Nelson sighs and looks up to find Nathan standing there, glaring at him.

“Why the hell would you do that?” He demands. “Take Lincoln into our team? He’s no good!”

“Have you seen him play?” Nelson asks, going back to the documents he was studying. “Coz I have and he’s a damn good player.”

“basketball is a serious game, Coach!” Nathan exclaims. “He has no practice in playing with a high school team-”

“He plays great underground and I’m sure he’ll be equally good in my team,” Nelson says curtly. “If you have a problem then it ain’t my problem.”

Nelson’s tone is authoritative and final. There will be no more arguments on this and Nathan is furious. He storms off towards the boy’s locker where the other players are changing into their clothes.

Lincoln is there as well, already changed into his basketball jersey. The Coach also assigned him a number: 10.

Nathan storms into the locker room and charges right at Lincoln. Lincoln stares warily at him as they come face to face. Everyone else goes quiet as the two most popular boys of the school face-off against each other.

“Quit the team!” Nathan demands. “This isn’t your place.”

“Are you gonna decide where I belong?” Lincoln sneers. Nathan steps closer so that no one else can hear his next words.

“Should I really remind you where you belong?” he whispers. 

Lincoln’s eyes flare up and he is about to hit Nathan when several of the players come up to stop him.

“Don’t even dare to hit him, Wright!” One of the players warns. “He’s the captain of the team.”

Nathan smirks at Lincoln. “If you won’t leave on your own, then I know ways to make you leave,” he coolly states. 

“I will not leave and you can do whatever the hell you want!” Lincoln snarls. “Besides, I didn’t start this. You did. You’re the one who vandalized Halsey’s locker this morning. You and your friends!”

Every word he speaks is filled with venom for Nathan. Nathan raises an eyebrow. Vandalized a locker?

“Think whatever you want but by the end of the week, I’ll make sure that you’re out of this team!” Nathan vows and walks away. Lincoln fumes in anger as the other players follow suit, leaving him alone.

He hadn’t planned to enter the team but after seeing how Nathan had targeted Halsey, Lincoln couldn’t stay put. Seeing her cry only makes him feel bad and he wants to teach Nathan a lesson. By entering the team, he’ll be defying Nathan’s threats.

But what if Nathan decides to reveal their secret? What’ll happen then?

“I’ll have to keep an eye on him,” Lincoln mutters. “No one can know this secret. No one.”

…

The rest of the day went by without any more events. Halsey’s locker had been cleaned by the janitor and the lock was changed. She did not face any harassment directly but the students were staring at her during lunchtime and Lydia had passed by, giving her a smirk. Halsey got uncomfortable by the attention and ran to the library.

Lincoln found her there and consoled her by making funny impressions of their teachers. He is quite good at it and Halsey managed to laugh with him. The whole episode is still plaguing her mind but being with Lincoln calmed her down. 

Nathan skipped practice that day and so did a bunch of his friends. The Coach was not happy about it and decided to duly punish him later. Lincoln had to go through the process of trying out for the team and he passed with flying colors. Nelson is impressed by his agility and performance, thinking of how to utilize his natural skills on the field.

Once the classes end, Lincoln meets up with Halsey.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna complain to the principal?” He asks as they head for their part-time jobs.

“No,” Halsey says, shaking her head. “It’s not worth it. I can’t handle all this right now.”

“Hales, they trashed your locker!” Lincoln exclaims. “You must take action otherwise-”

“What’s gonna happen if I do?” Halsey asks warily. “Someone else will pick on me tomorrow. It’s best to ignore it. They’ll stop eventually.”

Lincoln is about to argue but Halsey adds, “Besides, I don’t wanna be a burden on Charlotte. She’s going through some issues in her lounge and she’s already stressed. This’ll freak her out and I don’t want that. Can we please forget about today?”

“Fine!” Lincoln groans. “But if it happens again, we’ll tell the principal. Got it?”

Halsey winces. She secretly vows not to let Lincoln find out about any more such incidents because fretting over them isn’t worth it. 

“Fine,” she lies. “I will.”

“By the way…” Lincoln dramatically pauses and says, “I’ve joined the basketball team!”

“You what?” Halsey gasps in surprise. “Oh my god! Congratulations!”

She throws her arms around him and hugs him tightly. Lincoln is overjoyed to see that his friend is happy for him.

“This calls for a celebration tonight!” Halsey squeals. “I’ll tell Charlotte and we’ll all order pizzas!”

“Alright!” Lincoln says. They have reached a crossroad.

“I’ll see you tonight!” he adds, waving at her as he heads off towards the comic store he works part-time for. Halsey waves him back and goes the opposite way where Charlotte’s lounge is. Charlotte is not there but her assistant Maddie handed Halsey an acoustic guitar to deliver.

“If I didn’t have to go over to the bank, I’d have gone with you,” Maddie says, faking an apologetic tone. “But you’ll have to do it on your own.”

“No worries!” Halsey claims. “I can take it to the Antons’ house on my own!”

She picks up the guitar and goes off to deliver it to the Antons’ home on her way to her babysitting gig. 

Halsey slowly walks along the pavement, quietly enjoying the warm sunny day. The Antons live a few blocks away from the lake so the view there is quite pleasant. Her eyes fall on a deck at the lake which is isolated at that time of the day. There is no one around so she slowly approaches the deck. 

Looking around once more to make sure she isn’t seen, she sits on the deck and unzips the guitar bag.

Halsey carefully takes it out and positions it. She isn’t that good at playing a guitar but she secretly practices it at Charlotte’s lounge when no one is around. Halsey likes to sing when she’s alone, sometimes by the lake. She’s too embarrassed to sing in public.

What if they hate her? What if she’s a terrible singer? These thoughts plague her mind. She’d rather sing alone in peace.

She takes a deep breath and starts to sing while softly playing the guitar.

“Under the bright sky

I sing a song for you, oh my!

When I look into your eyes, 

I feel so nice

My love for you is divine 

But I don’t know why

You’re so far away

Your heart has gone cold

And your feelings don’t unfold 

But I still sing for you

With all my love I-”

The rustling of leaves makes her startle and she nervously looks around. To her shock, a tall figure steps out from behind a tree. 

It’s Nathan.

“I was wondering who disturbed my sleep,” he slightly sneers. “So it’s you.”