Page 31 of Trick Play

“I can’t think of anyone who would want to get us in trouble, either. No one on the team would risk the punishment, and I can’t see why anyone would try to get us kicked off.”

“I don’t know, man. If we were in high school, it would be easy to write it off as a rival prank, but I don't think that’s the case.”

He dropped his chin in his hands. “So what are you thinking?”

I didn’t want to say it. I hated pointing the finger at our friends, our teammates, but it was the most logical explanation. “One of the guys hid it here. Maybe they didn’t want to get caught themselves and figured we would be the last to get checked?”

He stared down at the carpet for a few moments. “Should we call Benjamin?”

It was either that or Coach. I wasn’t going to take the fall for this, and I wouldn’t let Reid either. This wasn’t ours, and we needed to destroy the evidence.

“We should pour it out.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “What if we need the proof?”

“It’s not worth it. Take pictures, but then we should get rid of them. I don’t want to take any risks.”

He nodded and held the bottles up so I could take pictures before recording him pouring the liquor out into the small sink in our bathroom. I didn’t want there to be any way for this to come back to us.

But that was only half the problem.

He thought it was mine. Why? What made him think I’d be sneaking liquor into our room? I wasn’t that selfish or stupid, but something made him consider it as the most viable option.

I already told him and Haley where I’d been when I went missing for hours and why I’d been so distant, but apparently, that wasn’t enough to make them trust me.

How else was I supposed to prove myself?

“I’ve got to get to class.” I turned around and picked up my backpack. I had an hour, but I didn’t want to hang around here with him.

“Sorry, man.” His voice reached me before the door closed behind me. “I’ll deal with it.”

Yeah, sorry. I shouldn’t hold this against him, but how much could one person take? He was supposed to have my back. Reid was my best friend. We survived so much together, yet he was ready to believe the worst about me.

I found an empty bench near the art building and pulled out my laptop. I still thought going downtown and walking around would provide all the inspiration Kennedy and I needed. So I pulled up a map of Pittsburgh and made a list of ideas. The bridges, Duquesne Incline, the Andy Warhol Museum, any of the parks. There were plenty of beautiful spots to photograph and then we could come up with a parallel to our lives.

She didn’t want to go with me though. Just another person that didn’t trust me. Who would want to set me up? Who would betray me like that? But it wouldn’t just be me that got in trouble. Reid would share the blame.

I couldn’t think of a single person that would want to get us in that kind of trouble. This was no simple prank. Drinking was one of the top rules of the team. It had the potential to ruin our careers.

No, there was no use wasting time thinking like that. It would be too easy to spiral into a hole of self-pity, and I had too much to do. I nearly chuckled to myself. That was the definition of being a college student. Even on the brink of a meltdown, you pushed it away to deal with later because you didn’t have the time.

“Ethan?”

I glanced up at the sound of her voice.

“What are you doing?” Kennedy paused with her hand on the backpack strap over her shoulder.

“I was looking up places downtown we could photograph.”

She dropped her shoulders. “I told you I’d come up with something else.”

“Do you have any ideas?”

“No,” she snapped. “But I will.”

I turned my screen out to face her. “I was thinking about—”

“Ethan, I can’t do this.”