Read Online Fire With Fire by Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian - Free Book Online Page B

different story.”
I get a squeeze in my chest. Could Coach Christy somehow
figure out that Kat and I snuck into her office to mess with the
homecoming ballots? I shake my head. Nope. No way. We were
careful. We didn’t leave a trace.
I take a seat near a group of students voting over which
superlatives categories to include this year. Best-looking, most
popular, nicest eyes, most athletic. I force myself to think of a
different boy, a boy who isn’t Reeve, for each one.
    After the meeting, I’m heading home when I hear a shrill whistle
coming from the school pool. Is Reeve is still there? Even though
I know it’s probably not the best idea, I can’t help but be curious.
How much is Reeve improving? Is there a chance for him to
maybe get those football scholarships after all?
    I sneak in and watch him. Reeve’s in the water in his swim
trunks. His big black soft cast is up on the bleachers. The man is
sitting up on the side of the pool, his legs dangling in the water.
He’s not in a swimsuit. He has his track pants rolled up to his
knees.
    “All right, Reeve, now I want you to hold on to the side here
and kick your legs frog-style for fifteen-second intervals for the
next three minutes.” He puts his coaching whistle back in his
mouth. “Set . . .”
    Reeve lets out a groan.
“Unless you can’t do it,” the man adds, teasingly.
And Reeve loses it. He snaps, “Of course I can do it. That’s
    not the issue.”
“Then what is?”
Reeve seethes, “The issue is, I can do it for sixty-second
    intervals.”
“So?”
“So why aren’t we in the gym, putting me on the treadmill?”
The man blinks a few times. “You’re not ready for the gym
yet, buddy. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard as it is. That’s
why you’re in a soft cast, not a walking cast.”
    “You don’t know that. You haven’t even tried to push me.
Trust me. I can be doing so much more than I am right now.”
The man shakes his head. “Son, you need to accept your
injury, not fight it. It’s going to take time to heal.”
Reeve pulls himself half out of the water. Even though he’s
dripping wet and shivering, his cheeks are bright, fiery red. “I
found this article online about a guy who broke his fibula and
five weeks after, he was back running seven-minute miles. That’s
the kind of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ I need you to have. That’s the level
I want you to push me.”
The man sighs. “Reeve, look. There’s no way you’re getting
back on the football field this season. I want you to get that out
of your head.”
Reeve tightens every single muscle. “I know that! I know
I’m not playing this season. But college camps start in February,
man. I need to be able to hold my own. If I can’t, do you understand what that means for me? If I don’t play football, then I
don’t go to college. End of story. It’s a wrap.”
Instead of getting riled up, the guy calmly puts his clipboard
down and folds his hands in his lap. “It’s a process, Reeve. One
step at a time. If you get there, you get there. But you need to
prepare yourself for the if .”
Reeve recoils at the word, and then shakes his head, like he’s
trying to forget he ever heard it. “You know what? I’m going to
do this on my own.”
“Reeve—”
“Did you not hear me? You’re fired. Your services aren’t
needed.” Reeve hoists himself out of the water. He tries to put a
little weight on his leg, but can’t. So he ends up hopping over to
his towel. Under his breath he mutters a few curse words.
The physical therapist shakes his head and packs up his stuff.
He walks out of the pool, right past me in the hallway.
Reeve sits on the bench a while longer, dripping puddles of
water on the concrete floor. I’m thinking he’ll pack it in and head
home, but instead he slides back into the water and assumes the
position at the shallow end. He does the exercise he was told to
do, the frog kicks, but without stopping for a full