Rika's Shepherd by Orysia Dawydiak

Author:Orysia Dawydiak [Dawydiak, Orysia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781773660028
Publisher: Acorn Press
Published: 2018-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

When Rika told her father she wanted to go to a Friday night basketball game at a rival high school twenty kilometres away, she did not think it was necessary to mention that boys were involved. Anyway, it wasn’t a real date, just a bunch of friends getting together. Still, he found her request a little unusual; she had not shown much interest in basketball before. The two of them would sometimes watch the start of a game of hockey on TV but rarely the end. Living in the Atlantic time zone made for late-night games, incompatible with the early mornings of dairy farmers. However, with Liz in the equation, he did not ask many questions, just that she be home by ten o’clock. Rika eventually talked him into ten thirty after telling him Liz’s mother would give them a ride, surprising herself at how easy it was to make such a bold lie. Well, not exactly a lie, since Liz’s mother would drop them off at the game. She just didn’t mention that they had other arrangements for a ride home, reasoning that if Papa wasn’t so strict with her, she wouldn’t have to leave out those details. And it was only a basketball game, after all.

Liz was not as enthusiastic as Rika. Although she loved basketball, she did not know much about Adam Wong except that he was a scrawny, awkward-looking boy who hung out with geeks. Still, she agreed to the plan. That’s what best friends did for each other. She also enjoyed the intrigue, since Rika’s father didn’t know about their plans for after the game and Liz had agreed not to tell her parents, either.

They had a good time at the basketball game, though their school team lost. Even Rika was caught up in the cheering and chants, the rhythmic stamping of feet. She began to understand the appeal of watching a live game, felt the energy of the crowd, the connection between packed bodies on the bleachers. The sequential standing up and sitting, the wave of bodies and flailing arms rippling around the court, made her think of the ghostly amoebas gliding on glass under a microscope in class that morning. Errol had been next to her then, too, peering at his own microscope slides. But now he was wedged in beside her on the bench, their arms and legs touching for nearly two hours, the heat almost too much for her. She was afraid to turn her head, worried their faces would touch, they were so close. Liz was on her other side, often grabbing Rika’s arm and screaming as a basket dropped through a hoop, no matter which team made the points. By the time the game was over, Rika’s ears were ringing and she was hoarse. She and Liz laughed as they filed outside, still giddy from all the noise and energy.

It was a short walk from the Montague High School gym to Sheri’s Café. The group of four

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