Page 44 of Game on, Love
I blinked, digesting his words, though something about the way he’d said it made me curious. “Were you close from the start?”
“Not really.” He shook his head, chuckling. “Rihaan ignored me for the first two months. Even when we practised as a squad, he never spoke a single word. Dev was obviously a year above us so we barely saw each other. It wasn’t until our first ‘Chanceto Compete’ match—which is basically where you play against other national secondary schools—that he’d bowled a leg cutter and knocked out one of their top players and ended up getting in a huge fight post match. I sort of help him prove that it was their fault, when Rihaan wasdefinitelyat fault.”
Something between a gasp and laugh spilled out of me. “You didn’t.”
“Oh, but I did.” Oliver chuckled, shaking his head. “We got away with it on the day, but our coach made us do drills every morning for a month straight. Even on weekend. But we were inseparable after that.”
His face was lit with the memories of their time together, and I couldn’t help but watch him in awe.
“What?” He asked when he noticed my stare, his smile still framing his face.
“Nothing,” I shook my head, tucking a lose strand of hair behind my ears. “Just didn’t realise you had this much history.”
Oliver nodded, staying silent. I wasn’t being completely honest, but I wasn’t lying either. The truth was, I had never met someone who shared so easily with someone he barely knew and as I went over his words, a part of me wondered if it meant something more.
“So,” He broke the silence, pointing to the magazines. “I see you’ve started the research part without me anyway.”
I rolled my eyes, my lips tilting up. “I got them before we made the bet. But you can’t expect me to rely on just what you teach.”
“Why not?”
“What if you test me on something outside of the scope?”
“You must really think low of me.”
“No, I just think you really want to win.”
“That’s besides the point.”
“No,thatis mypoint.”
I moved towards my bed and Milo jumped from hold, flicking his tail on my face as he went.
Well,he’shad enough.
“So, in the span of thirty minutes, you’ve called me an outlier and… unreliable.” Oliver frowned, leaning against the wall.
Rubbing my lips with the back of my hand, I swiped away the grin on my face. “I never said that you were unreliable.”
“You implied it.”
I shrugged. “But I didn’tsayit.”
“What if I could prove you wrong?”
“I would… retract my implication?” I asked, confused.
He nodded, straightening up. “Be right back.”
And then, he was gone. My brows furrowed at the space he was just at, as curiosity filled me, but I made my way towards the in-built wardrobe and pulled out a change of clothes before placing them inside my bathroom.
Oliver walked back in to the room just as I closed the door behind me.
“Here,” He offered me a paper, his free hand going behind his neck.
“What’s this?” I asked, my eyes scanning the text. I read the heading before everything in me stilled.
Pitch & Pits