Fools. I scored twice more before they got tired of it.
On my next possession, Alison wised up. While I was lining up my shot, she sailed into my tube, levering me towards the water. I managed to pass the ball over her head before she upended me. I flopped into the pool with a splash. We were both laughing when I came back to the surface.
After that, the gloves were off. The Beaumonters stopped being afraid of me, and so I had to pass more often than I shot. Then, just before the whistle, the Turner captain flipped me the ball when I was right in front of the net. My hope fairy, dressed in a bikini, did a quick little cheer with silver pom poms. And I slipped the ball into the corner before the oaf knew what hit him.
Game over. Advantage Turner.
By the time it was done, I was waterlogged and panting. I heaved myself onto the side of the pool deck, twisting around to sit up. The Turner captain pushed out of the water right next to me. “Hey, thanks for playing on our side. I don’t like our chances half so well for the real game.”
I smiled. “That’s nice of you to say, but I was working an odd kind of advantage there at the beginning.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I noticed that. How come?”
I cocked my head toward the other end of the pool. “Actually, I could use a favor. That wheelchair down there belongs to me. Do you mind kicking it over here?”
He looked across the room and then back at me. Then he laughed. “Okay, I think I understand.”
I nodded. “People mean well. But sometimes they have to be taught a lesson. Sorry if I was a ball hog.”
He stood up, shaking water off his head. “Honestly, it was fun to watch.” He went off to retrieve my chair.
After I’d toweled myself off, and dried my hair against the January wind, I zipped up my fleece and wheeled myself out of the ladies’ locker room. Beside the elevators, captain Daniel leaned against the wall, arms crossed. When he saw me approaching, he straightened up. “Corey,” he said, his accent making my name sound more weighty. “I’m terribly sorry.”
Shrugging, I pressed the elevator button. “It’s okay. That sort of thing happens to me a lot.”
He shook his head. “Really, I feel like an ass.” The way he pronounced “ass,” was very British. It came out ahs. We boarded the elevator together.
“I hope you’ll come back for our game on Friday,” he said. “We need you.”
I gave him a sneaky grin. “What’s it worth to you?” I was actually flirting with him, and I had no idea why. But it was sort of fun.
“Well,” he scratched his chin. “Let me buy you an ice cream on the way home. I have a little addiction to Chunky Monkey which needs feeding.”
Surprising myself, I said yes.
“Philosophy? That sounds complicated.” I ate the last bite of my cone.
“Oh, it isn’t really,” Daniel insisted. “You get to argue your way through every seminar. What will you choose for a major?”
“I haven’t got that figured out yet,” I told him. “That, and a whole lot of other things.”
“Well then,” he said. “Best to focus on the water sports. Inspiration will strike.”
“That’s my strategy.”
“You got past our goalie pretty well there, Corey. Hopefully you can get past Turner’s on Friday.”
“Turner’s goalie has good reflexes, but he sits too far out of the net.”
Daniel had a pleasantly dry laugh. “That’s a high level of analysis for inner tube water polo. You’re a little scary, Corey. Scary for the other team, that is.” His eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled.
“I used to play hockey. Watching the goalie — it’s what I do.”
“Can’t wait until Friday, then.” He pushed back his chair.
As we left the ice cream shop, Daniel held the door. There was a bit of a slope to the floor that I did not anticipate. I propelled myself into the dark, and nearly ran over Hartley, who lurched backward.
“Whoops.” I said, grabbing my wheels.
“Jesus, Callahan,” Hartley yelped. “Are you trying to kill me?”
Daniel came to stand beside me. “If she was trying to kill you, you’d be dead already. This is something I’ve learned about Corey.”
I laughed, and Hartley looked from me to Daniel to me again, his mouth tightening. “Right.”
“I’m sorry, Hartley. Really.”
Just then, Stacia sashayed out of the adjacent door, where the ATM machines were. “Evening, Daniel,” she said. Then she took Hartley’s hand and steered him toward the library.
Without a word to me, of course.
“Cheers,” Daniel called to the two of them, and I followed him back toward the dormitories.
“I’m invisible,” I said under my breath.
“Oh, that one snubs most everybody. You’re not special.”