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let her get between us before, but now that she wants to run my life, I will.”
    “Think about what people will say,” Wes tried, not even contradicting Malakai.
    “I don’t care.”
    Wes shook his head in defeat. “What about the drama?”
    “You’re not in a good position to talk to me about drama, now are you? After all, with Zoe, you have more drama than the entire team combined.”
    Wes glared at Malakai. “Don’t be an idiot. Think about Andrea. She likes you.”
    Andrea again.
    What did Wes imagine was going on that was just not there?
    He thought Wes might be more in love with the idea of Malakai with Andrea then Malakai liked the girl himself.
    “I’m done with this conversation,” he said quietly. Shaking his head, Malakai walked away. Wes was definitely not the friend he used to be.
    Malakai made his way toward the lobby in hopes Lily would still be there. He wanted to go back to her. For a reason he could not explain, she called to him and made him feel good and happy.
    “Malakai, wait up!”
    With a sigh, Malakai turned around. David was jogging toward him. A few moments later, he stopped in front of Malakai.
    “Dude, you okay?”
    Malakai frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “I overheard,” David admitted, his eyes never leaving Malakai.
    Malakai admired that about the younger player. He was not afraid to look someone straight in the eye when he was talking to them, never mind how hard or uncomfortable the conversation was.
    “Did he send you to try to change my mind? It won’t work, you know. I won’t let anyone tell me who I should or shouldn’t see.”
    “No, he didn’t.” David shook his head to emphasize his point. “My sister’s in the band, remember? And I don’t like it either when people talk about them the way he does. You know, maybe I should tell people about her. Then again, I’m not as popular as you, so I’m a lot more likely to remain under the radar, if you know what I mean.”
    Malakai sighed again and wondered if he would spend the entire school year sighing.
    “It’s sad really,” David continued. “I think Sandra’s a cool enough girl and all, and so are her friends. Actually, sometimes I think they’re a lot cooler than we are,” he added with a frown. “They do all sorts of stuff with the band, and they spend a lot of time together, a lot more than us, I mean. And you can see during the games they’re having a lot of fun, maybe more than we are sometimes. In any case, who’s the girl?”
    “Lily Morgan.”
    “Really?” David asked, raising an eyebrow.
    “Why? You know her?”
    “Of course I do. She’s my sister’s best friend. She lives across the street from me. Wanna visit in the near future?” David asked with a grin.
    “I don’t know,” Malakai said, scratching the back of his head. “I…girls, they confuse me.”
    “Then imagine having a sister, dude. Not obvious. But since I do have one, I can share with you my knowledge. You’ll see; I know quite a lot about giggling, squeaking, PMS, menstruation cycles, and what not.”
    Malakai winced. “I think I’ll pass.”
    “Oh, but it’s very interesting,” David said with a grin. “Anyway, let’s go eat.”
    Malakai hesitated a moment, looked toward the lobby, and then followed David to the cafeteria.

 
     
    Chapter Fifteen
     
     
    LILY
    Two nights later, Lily was exhausted. She had hoped to find the house empty when she got home, but it wasn’t to be so. She had planned to read ahead for her classes, especially since she had such a hard time concentrating, but Beatrice was here, and even if she was in her office with her door closed, her negative and unhealthy feelings plagued Lily and gave her a headache. Keeping her cool with her mother was also becoming increasingly difficult, which made Lily long for her shields, badly.
    Sitting on her bed, she closed her eyes and tried to meditate a moment before trying to set her shields up yet again. Every night since she had lost