Free Playing Defense (Corrigan Falls Raiders) by Cate Cameron Page A

for the bell to ring. But even then, I realized, I’d been staring at the other kids, watching them as they played. I hadn’t been comfortable with them, but they’d intrigued me. Annalise? She’d been living in her books, always.
    I’d gone through school with the same kids year after year, and they’d eventually stopped asking me to play their games. I’d never really been picked on, not more than an occasional eye roll or something. We’d all just sort of peacefully coexisted, without any real interaction. I’d made friends with Oliver before he came out but when he was clearly working through it all, and he’d just wanted somewhere quiet to think and watch the world from. We’d been a good pair, together in our solitude. Just like me and Annalise. That had been my life, and it had been okay.
    But now, it was like some sort of chain reaction had started. Tutoring Chris had led to making friends with Karen, which had led to forming the Sisterhood and letting Chris join, and somehow, only a few days after the first event of the cycle, I was making plans to go to a hockey game. A hockey game .
    “Life is strange,” I told Oliver as I leaned against the locker next to his.
    “There’s no possible chance that Jesus loves me despite all my sins, is there?” Oliver asked. I was used to his drama and his non sequiturs, so I just waited him out. “Chris Winslow,” he finally explained. “The most charming, most gorgeous creature in the world. There’s no chance he’s gay and was sent to me as a gift from the Baby Jesus? Is there?”
    “Uh…that’d be a weird gift from a baby,” I managed.
    “Okay, leave Jesus out of it, then. Is there any chance Chris Winslow is gay?”
    “I guess there’s a chance,” I admitted reluctantly. The idea was kind of startling, but I tried to approach it from a cool, scientific angle. “I mean…ten percent? Is that still the statistic?”
    Oliver rolled his eyes. “I’m looking for some more inside information here, not general statistical probabilities!”
    “Well, I don’t know. He’s never said anything one way or another. I’ve seen him with girls…”
    “You’ve seen me with girls, too. I’m with a girl right now.”
    I thought back, then shook my head. “No, I’ve seen him with girls. Like, not full-on naked or anything, but—” Oliver’s eyes bugged out a little when I mentioned Chris being naked, and I admit I was a bit thrown by remembering him with other girls, so I gave us both a chance to recover before saying, “It definitely looked more intimate than me and you right now.”
    “But it could have been one-sided. Girls hang off those hockey players all the time. Doesn’t mean the players want them to.”
    “Okay, fine,” I said grumpily. This was not what I’d come down here to talk about. “I don’t know if Chris Winslow is gay. I have no evidence one way or another, but statistics suggest he’s straight. How’s that?”
    “He seems very comfortable with himself. Very relaxed and happy.”
    “Relaxed? That doesn’t begin to cover it. He’s a lazy slug.” Which was a little strong, probably, but I was inexplicably annoyed by the thought of Chris being gay. He was my distant crush-toy, not Oliver’s! “And what’s he got to be unhappy about?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe his teammates wouldn’t accept him if he came out.”
    “Why do you think he’s gay?”
    “I don’t know. I just…wouldn’t it be perfect if he was?”
    “No!” I almost yelled.
    And Oliver, that manipulative bastard, smirked at me. “Oh. It wouldn’t be? Why not? You’re not homophobic, are you? No, I don’t think so. I think you want him to be straight because you want him for yourself , you greedy girl.”
    “Oh my God, was this whole thing a setup? You just wanted me to admit to— Do you even like him?”
    “Well, I barely know him. But, damn, I have eyes. If he were gay, I would be more than ready to get to know him, you know?”
    “But do you