Free Box Out by John Coy Page B

north, always true north. He searches for the Little Dipper coming off the North Star. Those stars are tougher to identify with everything else so bright, but he looks closely and finds them.
    Coach Kloss is hard to figure out. He told Liam to come down and talk anytime, but then he didn’t seem very willing to listen or explain things. At least he said he’d check it out.
    Liam walks past empty vodka bottles in a fire pit where kids have been partying. He ducks in among the tamarack trees, but the cold penetrates everything. He’s not dressed warmly enough to be out here and his feet are tingling. He scrambles back down to the car, where the clock says 12:07. He drives out the shortcut, but the road is washed away. He has to back up and go out the other way.
    â€œWhere have you been?” Mom’s stretched out on the couch in her flannel robe with Dizzy curled up on top of her.
    â€œWhy are you still up?” Liam takes off his coat.
    â€œI couldn’t sleep.” Mom marks her spot and closes her book. She sniffs, rubs her nose, and sneezes. Dizzy flies off her like she’s been blasted out of a missile launcher.
    â€œBless you.”
    â€œThanks.” Mom takes a tissue from her pocket. “Why are you so late?”
    â€œAfter we got back from Tintah, I wasn’t ready to come home. I needed some time to think.” Liam kicks off his dress shoes.
    â€œYou can’t think here?”
    â€œI needed some space, some time to myself.”
    â€œDid you talk to Coach Kloss today?” Mom pats the couch and Dizzy warily climbs back up.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhat did he say?”
    â€œThat praying in the locker room is fine.” Liam grabs grape juice from the fridge and pours himself a glass.
    â€œIt’s not.” Mom shakes her head.
    â€œCoach said he’d check it out.”
    â€œWith whom?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Liam wipes grape juice from his lips.
    â€œYou didn’t ask?”
    â€œCoach said he’d take care of it.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œI don’t know, Mom.” Liam looks at the clock on the microwave: 12:41. “Maybe it was a mistake to talk to him.”
    â€œIt wasn’t a mistake, Liam.”
    â€œWe’ll see.” He climbs the stairs and unbuttons his shirt. She doesn’t realize how hard it was for him to talk to Coach. She doesn’t realize what he’s risking. He only played four minutes tonight. She didn’t even ask him about the game.
    The next morning, Liam turns on the computer to see if he has mail from Mackenzie. Finally. He clicks her name.
From: Mackenzie Kost
    To: Liam Bergstrom
    Date: February 2
    Subject: intense
    sweet liam,
    so intense around here. sunday some friends took me over to montpellier. walked around awhile before we found a cozy little café. ate cerveau. afterward they told me what it was. calf brains! yuck. :-p the french eat all kinds of gross stuff! stayed late talking and drinking wine. btw my french is better when i drink! everyone says so. got upearly to get back to school in time. jeanbaptiste drove like a crazy man. jk he’s really a good driver. everyone here drives like a maniac. took a nap as soon as I got back from school. went shopping today by myself and bought a sexy black dress. ;-> tres paris. can’t wait for you to see it.
    whats up with u? how’s the team?
    pix of my house and school and friends.
    <3
    lyl
    x o x o kenz
    He clicks open the pictures. An ancient-looking two-story house with no yard. The school’s old, too—a brown building with huge trees in front. Her friends are three guys and two girls crowded onto a couch with five wine bottles on a table in front of them. The girls are thin and gorgeous and are smoking cigarettes. They’re sitting in the guys’ laps. The guys are good-looking, too. They look older, like they’re in their twenties.
    One of the guys has curly hair and a