Max

Devon, Delia, Adam, and I all gathered under a tree during break. I bit into an apple as we worked, knowing I probably wouldn’t have that much time for food as the day went on. With a schedule like mine, I had to eat when and where I could.

I squared my shoulders as I pulled out a printout of the debate schedule. I had called in Sonya and Adam to keep them in the loop with the schedule. It was just an unofficial meeting, so nothing too extensive, but I wanted to make sure they both knew what was coming, even if Adam had already seen the list earlier in the day.

“The first two matches are between Bellevue and Westlake,” I explained as I pointed out the debate lineup.

“What does that mean for us?” Delia asked.

“Bellevue should be an easy warmup,” I said, and Adam nodded from next to me, telling me he agreed. “Westlake has a tough new team member.”

Delia looked between Adam and me. I could see in her face that she was picking up on something. “You two met without us,” she said.

I was immediately embarrassed to have been caught. It was stupid to think that people on debate—a team where body language and cues were everything—wouldn’t pick up on the fact that Adam and I were on the same page. It was obvious we’d both heard the same information. And there were only so many possible explanations for how that could’ve happened.

“It wasn’t like that,” I said, my cheeks feeling hot. “We both got the information at the same time.”

“I was captain at Woodlands. I still have my contacts,” Adam said with a shrug. He didn’t sound defensive at all, unlike me. He clearly didn’t have any concern over if other team members would take something like us looking at the schedule before them personally.

“Well, you aren’t team captain here. You don’t get to meet behind our backs,” Devon said, and I had to resist rolling my eyes. He was always more than willing to ramp things up to one hundred.

“Hey, dial it down,” Adam said, and I turned to look at him. In a flash, I could see the blunt communication that had gotten him his captain title at his other school. There was a firm, confident look in his eye, and his jaw tightened. “We weren’t sneaking around. We just happened to get the information at the same time. I’m not trying to stage a coup.”

“No one said you were,” I said sharply. I shook off the feeling in my chest that seeing Adam so assertive stirred up. I was actually the one in charge here; Adam shouldn’t be addressing the group, even if it was for my benefit. “If either of you has a problem with my leadership, just tell me. We can’t have any bullshit interpersonal drama while we prep. We need to focus.”

I looked between them, giving them a silent reminder to not mess with me on this.

“All right, all right,” Devon said quietly.

“Fine,” Adam said.

Adam might’ve been leadership previously, and Devon might think he was leadership, but I was the one actually in charge.

“Here is the list of subjects for our first practice,” I said, handing out sheets of paper to everyone. “Get ready.”

***

I pulled up to the lower campus and stopped in the pick-up lane. Lucy walked over to the car to get in, her eyes practically glued to her phone. She only looked up when it came time to buckle her seatbelt. A beat later, Adam drove by in his old Datsun.

She cringed. “Who drives that and why?”

“Hey, don’t be that way,” I said, not liking hearing something like that out of her mouth. I could hear my dad’s influence in her words. I’d done everything I could to try to fight against a lot of the biases he’d taught us. It hadn’t been easy, and I still slipped up—my conversation with Adam was exhibit A of that—but I’d gotten better because people pointed out when I said shitty things.

“What?” Lucy asked, looking disgusted that I’d even try to challenge her on it. “The car looks nothing like the rest of the cars in the lot. It needs a wash too.”

“There’s nothing wrong with an older car,” I said. “And it belongs to the new kid in my class.”

“The one Daddy said he hated?” Lucy asked.

“Dad doesn’t hate Adam.”

Lucy looked skeptical. She turned to face me, her eyebrows raised. I knew she was going to call me out for saying something like that—my dad was many things, but he usually wasn’t the warmest or most inviting person. It especially made sense when considering that Adam was competition to being the best on the team.

I tried to find a diplomatic way of approaching the situation. It wasn’t that I thought my dad was wrong or that I even really wanted to defend Adam to my family. I just wanted things to be neutral. No enemies, no fighting to the top.

“You know how Dad can be, Luc,” I said as I pulled away. “He just gets like that sometimes. He can be a little intense about things. He wants us to win, and he’s not shy about saying it.”

Lucy sighed. “But he always wants us to win,” she said.

Her words struck a chord in me. It had never felt so obvious that my father worked Lucy and me the exact same way. All of the things he put me through—the long nights, the quizzing, the pushing to be better—she was either dealing with already or about to be. It’d always been pretty bad, but it became worse now that high school was our direct path into college. There was no room to mess up. We had to be perfect for basically four years straight.

My chest tight, I turned and looked at her. “You want to go get ice cream?”

Lucy’s face lit up. “Do we have time?”

Adam’s words to me earlier bounced around in my head. I glanced up at his car. “Believe it or not, I can make time for fun,” I mumbled under my breath.

Lucy stared at me strangely. She looked at Adam’s car and then back at me. “If Dad doesn’t hate Adam, do you?”

***

Adam

After school, I met up with Miranda and some friends from my old school. There was a pool hall that we all loved to go to. I was glad we could still keep the tradition going, even now with me at a different school. It felt good to be around my friends again. I was getting myself settled at Cypress, but new friends just didn’t feel the same.

“I figured you’d be all tied up with your new debate team by now. I’m glad you could make it,” Miranda teased.

I grabbed her soda and sipped. “Max just gave us assignments for now—practice doesn’t start for a couple of days.”

Miranda sighed dreamily. “How hot is Max? I can’t even imagine seeing him in a leadership position. I’d let him take charge of me whenever and however he wanted.”

“All right, all right,” I said.

“Any idea which of us should make a pass at him first? Have you picked up on any clues?” she asked.

I thought about how Max was wound so tight he was booked up every moment of every day. There was no room in a schedule like that for dating, or even casually fooling around. There was barely even time in there for him to develop a crush or a connection with someone enough to want to go out with them.

“I sincerely doubt either of us are getting to him,” I said. “No matter what his sexuality is, it’s obvious his calendar is his one true love.”

Miranda sighed. “Damn. That’s too bad. A waste of a beautiful boy. I guess we’ll just have to keep admiring him from afar.” She stopped. “Well, I guess I’ll admire from afar. You can at least try to make a pass at him while you’re in class. Or at debate team practice. Lucky you, getting to be in such close proximity to all of that hotness after school. Maybe you need to coordinate something after after school.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Not a chance,” I said. I tried to imagine him not only making time for me after school, but even wanting a distraction while in debate. There was no way Max would entertain any kind of attempt at flirting when he was such a man on a mission.

“Promise me you’ll at least try to shoot your shot,” Miranda asked with a slight pout. “You have to. Take one for the team. I just need to know which one of us is missing out.”

I laughed. It wasn’t like I was holding back, because I wasn’t into Max. He was handsome. And smart. And driven. I knew I could never compete with his future, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun to at least think about what could be.

“All right, fine. If the time is ever right, I’ll do it,” I said.