Shiny White Heinie

Chapter 1

Bryce

It’s hard not to notice the rousing cheers from inside the arena. Everyone in the locker room seems to be basking in its energy and the adrenaline it brings. And this is only for a practice game, a rare chance to see us get ready for the upcoming weeks. 

“Listen to that crowd.” Coach Carr smirks at us, hands on his waist, feet apart in a proud stance. “You gotta show them why we’re the best!”

“They’re only here for Bryce, anyway, coach.”

“Yeah. I mean, the real game isn’t until tomorrow.”

It’s the end-of-the-season championship game for every sport at the school, and all of them are spending most of their time practicing. The swimmers are spending hours in the pool, the tennis team is under the sun the whole day, and we are almost buffing out all the balls with endless practice.

“Maybe we should just have Bryce do a dance number in the middle of the court.”

My teammates laugh. I know they’re saying all of it in jest. I can’t even deny how much I hear my name standing out from the screams.

Sometimes, I think it’s weird. The girls come up to me during practice sessions with gifts I don’t even know what to do with. It’s great when it’s food; I usually just give them to the rest of the team. It’s the stuffed toys and flowers I have a hard time disposing of. I make sure nobody’s around whenever I toss them in a random trash can on the way home.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the gifts. I do, but it just feels weird keeping them when I already have the greatest gift I can ever have.

“Alright, boys,” the coach calls out.

We start jogging out of the locker room, jeering like rowdy gorillas being freed from a cage. The crowd overpowers our energy. I can barely hear my thoughts as we make our way to the court, throwing practice shots with the multiple balls left on the floor.

“UCL.A. boys! Let’s make some noise!” the cheerleaders scream from their side of the court. They’re practicing too, adding to the deafening noise echoing all around the auditorium.

I see Stacy throw some casual looks at the team. As team captain, she knows all about how to get the crowd even more riled up. She leads the squad into a complicated pyramid, then the guys throw the girls almost twenty feet up into the air before safely catching them in between linked arms.

“Go, Bryce!” Stacy shouts. Everyone else follows. Hearing my name from hundreds of people makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. Not to act humble or anything, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to all this fame and glory.

I try to shake my nerves off and go ahead with making some practice shots. I make three-pointers, one right after the other. I’m so deep in focus, I don’t even notice the rest of the team practically moving out of the way just for me to score some points.

Force of habit, really. It’s just that I’ve been so used to being alone whenever I practice. As a kid, it was only me and my dad playing together. He’s the one who practically locked basketball in as a career for me.

My father used to be UCL.A.’s premiere coach, winning five straight seasons. That’s why I knew I was going to head in the same direction.

The practice goes by in a breeze. Everyone else in the arena heads out as soon as the basketball team does. A couple of screaming freshmen try to push their way into the locker rooms. Luckily, our coach gets to them first and gets them out of our way.

He comes back in with a few notes, more words of encouragement, and a couple of boxes of chocolate—gifts from the girls.

“All of the notes say ‘For Bryce.’”

Everyone laughs good-heartedly. Matt interrupts them, trying to stifle his own chuckles, “Stop teasing, you guys.”

He’s probably the closest friend on the team I have, and I’m lucky he doesn’t take the whole thing seriously too.

“You gonna eat all of that?” he asks, reminding me of how much he likes candy after a good practice session.

“You guys can have it. I’m headed off.”

“Science lab?”

I get no chance to respond as I quickly head out the door, only waving goodbye back to them. He knows me probably more than anyone else in the school; next to Tori, of course. I’m headed to where she is, as Matt correctly guessed.

With me being extremely busy for the week and Tori having her own stuff to prepare for, we didn’t have much time together.

As a chemistry major, Tori practically lives in the science lab. At the end of the year, the chemistry department hosts a showcase for undergraduate research. I don’t know much about it. Sucky boyfriend move, I know, but since we’re always busy this time of the school year, I never really got the chance to ask her about it.

All I know is that this year, it’s that much more critical for her. She’s been working for the same lab since she was a freshman, and now that she’s graduating, she is presenting four years worth of research that will hopefully get her into grad school on a free ride.

I peek into the lab, through the top of the half-frosted glass windows, and see Tori delicately doing something over a set of glass jars and test tubes. Her dark skin glows under the fluorescents, a testament to her beauty, and her hair is tied back. Poking my head stealthily through the window, I let out a loud, “Hey, Tori!”

She screams in terror, almost letting a flask slip from her hands. “Bryce! Get out of here!” She laughs, turning to me.

I raise up my hands in surrender and quickly run to her, hugging her from behind, and completely ignoring her telling me it would be dangerous if I caused an accident. “I just need a hug,” I say.

“Wait for me outside.” She giggles as she pushes me away.

“Okay.” I give her a kiss on the cheek.

She meets me out the hall after only a couple more minutes. “How was practice?”

“Great. Wish you could have been there, though.”

“I think everyone else cheering your name would have sufficed for me not watching one practice game.”

“Who told you?”

“That happens every open practice you guys have, Bryce.” She chuckles.

I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her in closer. “I wish I could have just watched you do your experiments here,” I reply, “Or whatever science stuff you do.”

“No, you don’t.” She laughs and tiptoes to kiss my chin. “This stuff bores you.”

“Hey.” I pout. “Not always.”

She only buries her head into my arms.

“Oh, by the way!” I suddenly remember and dig for something in my bag. “What do you think?” I proudly show off a shirt I got made for the occasion.

“You can’t spell laboratory without Tori?” She slowly reads off the shirt.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“Bryce.” She giggles. “But Tori has an ‘i.’”

“That’s the joke.”

“Okay, then. If you say so.” She kisses me on the lips. “Thank you.”

Chapter 2

Tori

“I can’t believe you dragged me to your house on a sunny Saturday.” Keera groans as she looks out of the window. “Look at how lovely it is! And here we are locked up in your room practicing for the decathlon.”

“I have to be ready, Keera. You know how nervous I get.” The two of us have been friends since we were in diapers, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

She knows how much this means to me. Sure, I’ve done this showcase before and breezed through it my whole whole college career, but I don’t know, I just don’t want to get too cocky about it. The stakes are higher this time.

“I just think it’s crazy how you know you’re going to knock it out of the park—as usual—but here you are, getting your panties all bundled up instead of enjoying the nice day we have outside.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” she concedes after seeing my face. A sad smile slowly grows on her face. “I’m going to miss you, you know,” she adds.

I put up a cheerful look and say through chuckles, “Not now, Keera. It’s still a long way away.”

“Okay, okay.” She takes a couple of deep breaths. “Now, next question—”

We continue our back and forth for another hour; she is convinced we’ve been at it for five more. She quizzes me on grueling questions that I’ve written out for my research. Most of them I’m sure the professors won’t ask, but I want to be ready for them just in case.

“Please,” she says, “I’m begging you. We have to take a break. You know this research in and out, and I’m already running out of questions to ask you.”

“I’m pretty sure there are more—”

“Tori, stop!” she cuts me off and pushes me down on the bed before I can get my hands on my laptop.

She presses my cheeks together with her palms and puts our foreheads together. I grow cross-eyed trying to look straight at her. “You are going to crush this,” she says, emphasizing every word. “I am going to lose my mind. We have to take a break.”

“Okay, okay.” I laugh, conceding to her demands.

“Thank God.” She kneels in prayer. “Thank you, Lord, for knocking some sense into my friend.”

“Cut it out.” I giggle. “You want milkshakes?”

“Are you a mind reader?”

We make our way to the best spot in town, a pre-final favorite that’s been run by the same old man since the 70s. Unfortunately, even my usual order of double chocolate with cookies and cream does nothing to satiate my nerves.

“Tori,” Keera calls me out begrudgingly as she takes notice of me endlessly stirring the drink with my straw, not taking a single sip of it just yet. Her tall glass is already half empty.

“I’m sorry,” I reply with a chuckle. “I’m chill now.”

“You sure?”

“Promise.”

“Okay, then.” She pushes her glass aside and leans forward at me with her hands together. “Now tell me about Chicago.”

I try to act uninterested, scooping my already watery milkshake into my mouth with a flimsy straw. “What do you mean? What’s there to say?”

 “Don’t be stupid.” She hits my hand lightly, causing some of the drink to spill on my top. “Does Bryce know?”

I suddenly feel a lump in my throat. “No,” I reply. “He doesn’t.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“Of course, I will!”

“Well, when?”

“I—” It’s no use. I know I’m going to have to do it sooner or later, but I’m just so scared of how he will react to the news of us spending the next couple of years a thousand miles apart.

Hey, I try to perk myself up. You don’t even know what Bryce’s plans for after college are yet. Who knows? Maybe the two of you can still see each other often.

But that’s also part of the problem, isn’t it? I ask myself. I don’t know what he has planned after college just yet.

“Yes?” Keera snaps me back to reality. “You were saying?”

“I’ll tell him after the showcase.”

“Girl...” She sighs, seemingly tired of me running away from the situation.

I don’t even get a couple more minutes alone with my thoughts before a group of giggling girls comes walking in, making quite a scene inside the tiny shop. It’s Stacy and her cheerleader minions.

“Nasty bitches,” Keera says under her breath, but Stacy appears to have heard as she glances at us with furrowed brows.

Stacy seems over it, silently grabbing her tall glass of rocky road ice cream milkshake with an assortment of syrups and sprinkles on top of the extra layer of whipped cream. But as she makes her way to our table, I immediately sense terror.

She stands in front of us, towering over our table as she looks at me and Keera with disdain evident in her eyes. She takes one long sip of her drink, wipes the corners of her mouth, and slowly pours the contents of the tall glass all over my lap.

It feels even slower to me as my body grows stiff. I don’t even move my arms to try and push her hand away. My chest freezes mid-breath as the cold, creamy fluid dribbles down my pants and makes a mess of my shoes.

“Oops,” Stacy says mockingly.

Keera, always ready to fight, immediately stands up and pushes her down to the slippery, tiled floor. “What the fuck is your problem?”

As if by funny coincidence, but also a minute too late, Bryce and the rest of the basketball team walk into the shop. The clang of the tiny bell above the door makes all of us turn our heads to watch the group of tall, burly, athletes make their way towards us.

“Tori!” Bryce calls, immediately noticing how much of a mess I am. “Are you alright?”

He glances at Stacy straightening her clothes and fixing her hair. And as if immediately sensing what happened, he pulls me away by the arm with a gentle “Let’s get out of here.”

But I’m determined to keep things fair.

“Wait,” I call out to Bryce who’s already halfway out the door.

I grab what’s left of my drink and violently throw it across Stacy’s face. She stands with an open mouth, seemingly dumbfounded as she wipes the milkshake off her eyes.

“Now we can go.”