Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann Read Free Book Online Page B

really serious.”
    Marlena grins. “Yeah, but it’s not as bad as it looks. The fracture’s nice and small—cast on for four weeks, maybe six.My foot itches like crazy, though. The shoulder—I dislocated it before once in a soccer tournament back in Tucson. This time it popped right back in. Swelling’s going down already. Just hurt like a futhermucker for a few minutes.”
    “Marlena,” Hector says. He narrows his eyes and shakes his head slightly, but Hector couldn’t look mean if he tried.
    “Sorry,
Abuelo
. It’s the painkillers.” Marlena looks guilty.
    Hector chuckles. “What makes you do it the rest of the time, hmm? You must be always on the painkillers.”
    “It wasn’t even a real swear!”
    “It is the intent, not the word, that makes something harsh,” Hector says. “So yes, I agree. In this case you are off the hook.” He turns to Kendall and reaches out. “How are you this evening, Miss Kendall?”
    Kendall walks over to him and takes his hand for a minute. “I’m okay,” she says with a shrug. “At least I’m not in pain like Marlena.”
Or like Nico. He might be in pain too, if he’s even alive.
She glances out the picture window behind Hector to where Jacián continues to work soccer plays. He nails the goalpost, and the ball ricochets out. Kendall sees Jacián yell his frustration, but she can’t hear him. She nods out the window. “Does he do that a lot?”
    “Every evening with Marlena,” Hector says. “It’s his dream to play professional.”
    Marlena eases to a sitting position and follows Kendall’s gaze. “He looks so alone out there. He’s worried.”
    “About what?” Kendall asks.
    “The team.”
    “Yeah,” Kendall says. “Me too. Losing . . . losing Nico. . . .” She turns abruptly to look at Marlena. “Oh, crap. And you. Der. I . . . .” She thinks for a minute, and then her lips part as she realizes. They are down to six players. Their already too small team is now no team at all.
    Marlena presses her lips together and looks like she’s going to cry. “I heard Jacián on the phone with Coach tonight after dinner. He was trying not to yell. Then he went storming out there. It’s been hours.” Her voice quivers. “I feel so bad.”
    “Well, there’s no rule that says we can’t play,” Kendall says, but her heart sinks. “Just common sense. Eight was already too tight. Six . . .” She trails off. She was counting on soccer to bring her out of her misery. If she can’t dance or act, playing soccer is her savior. It’s the only other thing that can occupy her mind enough to stop the whirling in her brain. “Maybe there’s a freshman we can coerce, just to get our numbers,” she says, but she already knows that Coach has begged every eligible kid in school just to get the eight they have—or had, as of a week ago.
    “You know there’s not,” Marlena says, miserable. “Coach is tapped out.”
    They sit together in silence, mourning for different reasons.
    After a minute Marlena says, “How are Nico’s parents?”
    “In front of me they seem fine. Like they’re really trying to be upbeat for my sake. My mom says they’re having a terrible time, though. He’s their youngest kid and the only one left here. Everybody else moved away.”
    “That’s so sad,” Marlena says.
    Neither of them really knows what to say.
    Hector interrupts the silence. “Maybe you can tell us something about Nico,” he says. “Stories always help. Tell Marlena about when you were younger.”
    Kendall sighs, but humors the older man. “Okay. . . .” She thinks for a minute. “Well, so we’ve been neighbors since I was born. Nico is two months older than me. We grew up together, rode bikes or walked to each other’s house every day. Both of us have farms, and our houses are set really far back from the road, like yours here. Riding my bike to Nico’s felt like this really long journey, so I always had to pack a lunch, right?” She smiles a little at