Sidelined (Game On 3)

Jesse nodded. “As long as she lets someone be there for her, I’m cool.”

I gave him a small smile, glad he chose me. “I’ll do what I can.”

When I reached Kayla’s door, I knocked gently. “Kayla? It’s Bree. Can I come in?”

Silence. I pressed my ear against the door and heard a shuffling sound, like she was unwrapping herself from her comforter.

“Kayla?”

“Come in.”

Kayla sat on her bed, legs crossed, face tear-streaked. Her hair was scraped back the same way as mine, in a messy up-do, and she forced a smile even though her eyes were glistening.

“What’s wrong, honey?” I asked, sitting down beside her.

“Nothing.”

“Look at me.” I gently rested a finger under her chin and turned her face to mine. “You wanna talk about it?”

She shook her head, tears spilling over. My heart hurt to see so much unhappiness on her face. She was usually vibrant, confident. She sat with her back perfectly straight as if trying to show she didn’t care about whatever had happened, but there was no ignoring the river of tears.

“Come on, Kayla, talk to me. Is this about the party? Did someone hurt you?”

“No, it’s not that. I… I can’t go to school ever again.”

“Why not?”

“Because everyone will laugh at me.”

She fell against my arm and I wrapped her into a hug while she cried into my shoulder.

“Why would people laugh at you, sweetie?”

“Because I did something stupid! There was a guy at the party. A guy I liked a lot. He’s a year older than me but I didn’t think it mattered since one of my friends is dating one of his friends. I thought we could go on double dates and stuff. At the party, he asked me to go upstairs with him where we could be alone.”

Instinct made me force her – carefully – away so I could see her better. “Did he hurt you?”

Kayla shook her head again. “No. No. He didn’t… he didn’t make me do anything. We were making out and he asked me if I’d-” she stopped, her cheeks colouring. “I can’t tell you. I’m such an idiot.”

I got the horrible feeling I knew where this was going and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear, but she was afraid. I needed to know why. And whether I needed to alert the police to keep her safe.

“Kayla, come on. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

She stood up and walked to her window seat where she picked up one of her cushions and hugged it to her chest.

She stared out of the window and I waited. Jesse was right to call me because Kayla did want to talk, but in her own time. I shuffled backwards on her bed, my back against the wall and my feet dangling over the edge. While I waited for her, my eyes drifted around the room. Above her desk she had a pin board crammed with brightly coloured post-it notes, letters and photos. Up in the top le

ft corner I spotted a newspaper cutting of Jesse. A photo of him in a white football strip, the only word visible on the folded page was “Warriors”. The clipping had faded slightly, and I guessed it was the news report from when Jesse first got signed to Westberg. Sweet. Kayla would never have admitted it out loud, but that one item amongst all her other things showed her pride for her big brother.

“He put my hand down his pants,” Kayla said, making me snap my head towards her. “Damon. He put my hand down his pants and… I was sort of okay with that but then he asked me to… he wanted me to-”

“I get it,” I interrupted. “I won’t make you say it. Did you?”

“I didn’t know how.” Her forehead thudded against the window. “I get the theory and everything, but I didn’t want to do it wrong. He laughed at me. Called me a tease and a slut. I touched him a bit, that’s all! I didn’t really want anything more to happen. I was happy with kissing.”

A tease and a slut? Okay, that didn’t even make sense. I wriggled off the bed and stood beside her.

“What did he do next?”