“Will you at least talk to me?” Chris asks.
“Defense, Carter!” Coach yells.
I focus on the ball and attempt to steal. Not quick enough. He gets around me and goes straight for the hoop, only to pass it to Jackson, who’s open at the three-point line.
“Grant!” Coach shouts for Hailey.
Hailey runs over. Her fingertips graze the ball as it leaves Jackson’s hand, changing its course.
The ball goes flying. I go running. I catch it.
Chris is behind me, the only thing between me and the hoop. Let me clarify—my butt is against his crotch, my back against his chest. I’m bumping up against him, trying to figure out how to get the ball in the hole. It sounds way dirtier than it actually is, especially in this position. I understand why Bridgette missed shots though.
“Starr!” Hailey calls.
She’s open at the three. I bounce-pass it to her.
She shoots. Nails it.
Five to zero.
“C’mon, boys,” Maya taunts. “Is that all you can do?”
Coach claps. “Good job. Good job.”
Jackson’s at the baseline. He passes to Chris. Chris chest-passes it back to him.
“I don’t get it,” Chris says. “You practically freaked out the other day in the hall. What’s going on?”
Garrett passes to Chris. I get in my defensive stance, eyes on the ball. Not on Chris. Cannot look at Chris. My eyes will give me away.
“Talk to me,” he says.
I attempt to steal again. No luck.
“Play the game,” I say.
Chris goes left, quickly changes direction, and goes right. I try to stay on him, but my heavy stomach slows me down. He gets to the hoop and makes the layup. It’s good.
Five to two.
“Dammit, Starr!” Hailey yells, recovering the ball. She passes it to me. “Hustle! Pretend the ball is some fried chicken. Bet you’ll stay on it then.”
What.
The.
Actual.
Fuck?
The world surges forward without me. I hold the ball and stare at Hailey as she jogs away, blue-streaked hair bouncing behind her.
I can’t believe she said . . . She couldn’t have. No way.
The ball falls out my hands. I walk off the court. I’m breathing hard, and my eyes burn.
The smell of postgame funk lingers in the girls’ locker room. It’s my place of solace when we lose a game, where I can cry or cuss if I want.
I pace from one side of the lockers to the other.
Hailey and Maya rush in, out of breath. “What’s up with you?” Hailey asks.
“Me?” I say, my voice bouncing off the lockers. “What the hell was that comment?”
“Lighten up! It was only game talk.”
“A fried chicken joke was only game talk? Really?” I ask.
“It’s fried chicken day!” she says. “You and Maya were just joking about it. What are you trying to say?”
I keep pacing.
Her eyes widen. “Oh my God. You think I was being racist?”
I look at her. “You made a fried chicken comment to the only black girl in the room. What do you think?”
“Ho-ly shit, Starr! Seriously? After everything we’ve been through, you think I’m a racist? Really?”
“You can say something racist and not be a racist!”
“Is something else going on, Starr?” Maya says.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” I snap.
“Because you’re acting so weird lately!” Hailey snaps back. She looks at me and asks, “Does this have something to do with the police shooting that drug dealer in your neighborhood?”
“Wh-what?”
“I heard about it on the news,” she says. “And I know you’re into that sort of thing now—”
That sort of thing? What the fuck is “that sort of thing”?
“And then they said the drug dealer’s name was Khalil,” she says, and exchanges a look with Maya.
“We’ve wanted to ask if it was the Khalil who used to come to your birthday parties,” Maya adds. “We didn’t know how, though.”
The drug dealer. That’s how they see him. It doesn’t matter that he’s suspected of doing it. “Drug dealer” is louder than “suspected” ever will be.
If it’s revealed that I was in the car, what will that make me? The thug ghetto girl with the drug dealer? What will my teachers think about me? My friends? The whole fucking world, possibly?
“I—”
I close my eyes. Khalil stares at the sky.
“Mind your business, Starr,” he says.
I swallow and whisper, “I don’t know that Khalil.”
It’s a betrayal worse than dating a white boy. I fucking deny him, damn near erasing every laugh we shared, every hug, every tear, every second we spent together. A million “I’m sorry”s sound in my head, and I hope they reach Khalil wherever he is, yet they’ll never be enough.
But I had to do it. I had to.
“Then what is it?” Hailey asks. “Is this, like, Natasha’s anniversary or something?”
I stare at the ceiling and blink fast to keep from bawling. Besides my brothers and the teachers, Hailey and Maya are the only people at Williamson who know about Natasha. I don’t want all the pity.
“Mom’s anniversary was a few weeks ago,” Hailey says. “I was in a shitty mood for days. I understand if you’re upset, but to accuse me of being racist, Starr? How can you even?”