At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

His eyes met mine again as he drew his hand back to himself. “I can do that.”

And for a second, I wasn’t sure if we were talking about basketball at all.

13

Duke

March 6, 2010

The final game of regular season was always exciting and sad. We were all ready to beat UNC and make our way into March Madness, but it also meant that Lora would be graduating in one month. Brinley and I had already signed a lease for our senior year together, but it wouldn’t be the same without the final member of our trio. It would be like me and Lila without Josie, which we’d actually had to deal with most of our lives and always missed her.

Lora stood at the front of the row with Hilary today, our two graduating seniors. Brin and I were directly behind them. We’d be taking over next year as captain and cocaptain.

And while all of that was on my mind, Derek Ballentine walked out onto the court inside Cameron to a rousing round of, “Hey, Derek. You suck!” from the student section.

I laughed along with everyone else, as they did it to every single UNC player as they were announced. Normally, we just yelled their name, almost welcoming, but no, for UNC, we had to let them know what we thought about them. Not that any of them reacted to it.

“That’s your Derek?” Brin asked as we settled into our first set of cheers.

I didn’t quibble with the phrasing. “Yep.”

“Is it bad to say that he’s even hotter in uniform?”

No. No, it was not.

The game started off like any other rivalry—dirty. Tempers were hot. Adrenaline was high. Neither wanted to give an inch. But it was undeniable that Duke was the better team this year. We hadn’t lost a home game all season, and in the first half, we were up by double digits. I’d never seen anything like it. After three years in a row of losses to UNC here in Cameron, we’d all braced for the worst. Watched some of the UNC guys flash four fingers as they walked in like they were going to conquer our home one more time. But this year, it wasn’t in the cards.

In fact, it ended up being a blowout. Like, never in a million years had I thought we’d beat UNC by thirty points when Derek and I started this bet. Cameron Crazies were literally losing their minds, screaming as the buzzer rang for the end of the game. I hugged Brin, who was crying tears of joy.

The band started playing again, and we cheered and cheered until we were finally dismissed. Most of Cameron had emptied out, but a group of dedicated fans had stuck it out through all of the cheers.

I followed Hilary and Lora out of the stands, still bubbling with joy, when I heard my name.

Brin touched my arm and said, “I’ll wait for you.”

I got out of line and stepped back toward the court. There was a face that I hadn’t seen in a few years. “Amelia?”

“Marley, hey!” Amelia said. She ducked under the divider and pulled me into a hug.

Despite Amelia being Derek’s sister, we actually got along. She’d taken lessons from Miss Alicia for pageant choreography for a few years. Lila and I had hung out with her, and she was cool despite the pageants and being a St. Catherine’s girl and… Derek’s sister. I never brought up seeing Derek throw Chuck Henderson against a wall when he was into Amelia. She never brought up Derek at all.

“What a game, huh?” I asked her.

She sighed and pulled the UNC hat off of her head. “It was brutal. Derek is going to be pissed forever that it was his last regular season game.”

“Can’t blame him.”

She laughed. “For real. What are you doing tonight? Out celebrating? I’m in from New York through the weekend. We should get drinks or something.”

“You could come out with us tonight,” I offered.

“Will I get shit for being a UNC fan?”

I shrugged. “Probably.”

“Let me tell my dad and Kathy. They flew me out for the game.”

“Sure. No problem. Meet me out front after?

“Done!”

I hugged her again and then ran back to Brinley. We headed back to Wilson and grabbed our bags from the gym. I promised to meet Brinley and Lora back at our place before heading out in my black-and-Blue Devils-blue cheer two-piece to find Amelia. Everything had cleared out already, so it was easy to locate her standing with her dad and Kathy.

Kathy about lost it when she saw me. “Marley?”

“Hey, Kathy.”

She pulled me into a hug. “It is so good to see you. It’s been a few years. Look at you on the sidelines.”

Derek’s dad held his hand out, his deep drawl prominent as he said, “Apparently, I’m the only one who doesn’t know you. I’m Doug.”