Eli...

"We aren't playing outside are we?" Kyle asked from the passenger seat of my car, staring out at the snow-covered ground.

"There's no way we're doing that in this weather," I said, eyes still on the road. "We're going to an indoor court."

It's been a few days after Christmas dinner with Kendra and her family. I was a bit scared of how Kendra's mother would react to me, wondering if she was one of those women who thought no man was good enough for her daughter. But she was nice and seemed to really like me. I enjoyed the entire dinner, and I wouldn't mind doing it again next year. Hopefully, by then, I'll be more than just her friend.

But, as much as I enjoyed it, the pressure of my secret was still very present. It was hard talking about my family without letting any incriminating information out. I even stumbled with my words a few times. But at the end of the night, they seemed none the wiser and my secret was safe.

Now, I was on my way to a country club to play some basketball with Kyle. Kendra had finally taken me up on the offer to help her out with Kyle. According to her, his behavior hasn't gotten worse, but she simply wanted him to be a lot better. Knowing how much he liked the sport, I thought it would be good to let him play and let off some steam. Maybe then he'd be a bit more open to talking.

Some minutes later we arrived at the Springwood Country Club. It was one of the most expensive and exclusive country clubs in Washington. Given who my father was, it wasn't difficult to get a membership here.

After flashing my membership card at the front desk and getting changed, Kyle and I found ourselves in the indoor court. The wooden floor was shining, with the Club's large logo in the middle. I could almost see my reflection in the thing.

Kyle's eyes widened as he looked around. "This place looks so cool."

"I know right," I agreed, "How about we do some warm-ups?"

After a quick warm-up, both of us started a game of one-on-one. This boy may be a whole foot shorter than me, but he was amazing.

"Yes!" He yelled after throwing the ball over my head and into the basket.

I turned just in time to watch the ball go through.

"The hell?" I said to myself in frustration and he laughed.

Here I was thinking I would purposely let him get some shots in so he could feel better about himself, but he was holding his own and kicking my ass. This boy has a lot of potential, and the NBA doesn't seem like such a far stretch for him.

"Ok, I think we should take a break," I said, hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath.

"You tired old man?" he teased.

I straightened up. "Did you just call me old?"

"I mean, you are old," he shrugged.

"I'm gonna tell your mom," I said going over to the bleachers. He chuckled following behind me.

As we sat and cooled off, I thought it was the right time to start a conversation.

"How's basketball going?" I asked.

"Awesome," he grinned, "Did mom tell you we won the championship?"

"Yes, she did. And she told me you got MVP too."

He grinned proudly.

"And how about school as a whole?" I asked

"Good, I guess," the excitement left his face as he shrugged. He looked down at his sneakers, fiddling with the string attached to his water bottle.

"You guess?" I questioned.

He stayed silent and continued to fiddle with the bottle.

"It's ok if you don't want to talk about it. But I'm here if you need to," I said.

I knew it might take a while for him to open up. The least I wanted out of today, was that he knew he had someone other than his mother he could talk to.

He kept quiet for another few seconds before speaking.

"There are these boys at school who always mess with me and stuff," he finally opened up.

"What do they do?"

"They make fun of me and punch me and stuff," he said.

"And what do you do about it?"

"I try to beat them up too," he answered, "but there's two of them so it's hard sometimes."

The playful energy between us was now gone. The boy sitting in front of me was hurt, lost, confused.

"Want some advice on how to deal with these bullies?" I asked.

"Are you gonna teach me how to fight?" He looked up at me, eyes pleading.

I was going to say no, but hey, why not?

"Definitely," I said and he cheered, "But there's more to dealing with bullies than just fighting."

He sat up and turned his body to me, signaling he was ready to listen.

"When they start picking on you and calling you names, the first thing you do is ignore them."

"But they're gonna say I'm a wimp for not fighting them."

"That's what they want you to think," I said, "These boys are poking fun because they want a reaction from you. They want to piss you off and see what you do. Don't give them the satisfaction. Just walk away."

"But that's hard," he groaned.

"It is, but it's one of those things you gotta do. The moment you see them in the hallways or class or wherever just shut them out," I said, "You look away, shut them out, and just walk right past them with your head up."

"What if they push me when I walk away?" He asked.

"That's when you engage."

"I beat'em up?" His eyes widened in excitement.

"No, not yet," I shook my head at him, "All you do is tell them to stop. You tell them once, maybe twice, but you never let it get past a third time. If it does..."

"I beat'em up?"

"You beat'em up," I confirmed and he grinned, "One thing my grandmother always told me. You don't start any fights. But if someone else starts one with you, you better finish it."

He nodded, taking in all the information. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he processed it all. He then asked a question I wasn't expecting.

"Why do kids bully other kids?"

The easy answer is to say they're mean, and just plain old bad kids. But we all know that it's much deeper than that.

"Some kids, and even adults, aren't very happy. Maybe somebody hurt them, or they don't really like themselves that much. And to make themselves feel better, they go after people they think are weaker than them and are mean to them."

"Ok," he said before smiling up at me, "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome," I said, "And don't tell your mom I told you to beat up kids. Before school reopens, I'll take you to a kickboxing place and teach you some moves."

"Cool," he nodded but then his eyes widened in fear, "What do I tell mom when you have to teach me to fight?"

"Just tell her we're playing more basketball."

"You want me to lie to mom?"

"You know what, I'll tell her."

"Ok."

"Wanna go start another game?"

"Yeah," he dropped his bottle, jumped off the bleachers, and headed to the middle of the court.

He grabbed the ball and started dribbling. Why does this kid have so much energy? I took a stance in front of him, waiting for him to make a move. But instead of trying to run past me, he asked another unexpected question.

"Do you like my mom?"

I stood up straight in shock. How was I supposed to answer that?

"What do you mean like?" I asked, trying to buy some time to come up with an answer.

"Do you like her?" He stressed on the like.

Do I tell him the truth? What would he even think about me liking his mother in that kind of way? Would he approve? Or would he want his mother all to himself? Now was the time to find out.

"Uh, yeah," I finally answered.

"The kind of like where you want to kiss her?" He asked, brow raised.

I bowed my head to hide the cheesy grin on my face. I didn't have to say anything for him to know the answer.

"Ew," he said, backing up a bit.

I'll give him a few more months, a year tops, for the thought of kissing to not be gross anymore.

"Why did you ask that? Did she say something? Did she say she liked me too?"

I was turning into a teenage girl who wanted to know if her crush liked her back.

"No," he answered and I frowned, "But grandma thinks she does. She thinks you guys should be boyfriend and girlfriend."

I knew there was a reason I liked that woman.

"What did your mom say about that?"

"She just rolled her eyes at grandma and went to her room."

"Do you think she likes me?" I asked.

I was doing way too much, but I needed to know.

"Yeah," he answered and I grinned.

"If I asked her out on a date, do you think she'll say yes?"

"Mhm," he nodded, "If you do take her out on a date, don't buy her any shrimp. She hates shrimp."

"Noted," I said.

"Can we play now?" He asked. He was probably annoyed with all my questions.

"Sure."

With that, we started playing again, and as usual, Kyle was making me work for it. But about halfway in, he started pulling back. He seemed distracted by the loud father-son duo that was on the other side of the court. At first, I thought he was wishing he had a dad. But the father on the other side of the court didn't sound like the kind of dad you wanted. The man was not the nicest to his son. "Loser", "punk", "weak", who calls their son that? Then I noticed the kid looking back at us too. Maybe he and Kyle knew each other.

"You know that kid?" I asked, pausing our game.

"Yeah," he nodded

"Is he your friend? Want to go over and say hi?"

"He's not my friend," Kyle stressed

"Then who is he?"

He took a moment before he could answer. "That's Myles, one of the boys that mess with me at school."

Now knowing who he was, I expected to see some sort of fear in Kyle's eyes. But I didn't see that. Instead, I saw pity and sympathy.

"You wanna leave?" I asked as I heard the man's voice get louder and more ruthless.

He nodded without saying a word. We headed over to the benches, got our things, and headed out the door, but not without Kyle taking glances back at his bully. Once we were out of the court and heading to the front desk, he took the chance to ask me his third unexpected question of the day.

"Remember how you said people are.bullies because they aren't happy?" He asked and I nodded, "Do you think Myles is a bully because his dad is mean to him?"

I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but it was hard not to. This man was disrespecting his kid in a public place. Imagine what it would be like in their home?

"Maybe, Kyle. Maybe."

Hey there awesome readers. I'm finally done with school!

I finished my first term of Med school all while surviving a pandemic. I feel like I should get a prize for that.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading. I hope you liked it. Don't forget to vote and/or leaving a comment telling me what you think. Now that I have have some free time, I'll try to update weekly. So look out for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. If I start slacking, don't be afraid to call me out. 

By the way, I'm very grateful that you all got this story to 20k reads. I honestly wasn't expecting it to get this far. Hopefully, we can get to 50k soon. 

Until next week guys. Stay healthy and safe!