FRIENDS DON’T
Kerry M. Kelly
Copyright 2014 Kerry M. Kelly
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
PROLOGUE
Katryn paced from the window to the door and back in her moderately sized bedroom. It was hard for her to admit she was actually dreading volleyball practice. It had never happened before. EVER.
She was gun-shy because of John, and she cursed him for making it so. While she waited, she found herself remembering last season. It depressed her when she realized she would probably never forget John.
He had started out innocently enough. In fact, John had actually been a godsend. When Cal had broken his leg skiing, the EVER READYs were looking at an entire volleyball season playing one man short. Without the fourth man, the team would have to forfeit if any one of the remaining three had to miss any games. Besides, the team was set up in pairs, and it just worked better all around to have the fourth man.
Katryn had immediately called the parks department to see if they could send her the list of people looking to join volleyball teams. Once she received it, Katryn doggedly started down through the 30 names. She had used the list other years, so she knew it probably would not be up to date. Sure enough, the first 24 names yielded nothing. People had moved, joined other teams, were no longer interested, or were not available on Friday nights.
John was the 25th on the list. When he said he was available, and interested, Katryn thanked her lucky stars. The league started in a week, so Katryn’s team was desperate for a player. They did not get a chance to try the man out. There just was not time. John showed up for practice and was immediately accepted.
It took very little time for the team to realize he was a mistake, however. The ironic part was that he did have pretty decent skills. Most any team would have been quite happy to pick up a new man who played that well. No, the problem was not his ability, it was his attitude.
He was arrogant, obnoxious, and a ball hog. He would take shots that were not his, hit the ball over the net rather than set to teammates he considered inferior, and would argue with the ref over every call.
He did not like any of the team, but he spent extra time letting Katryn know what a poor captain she made. She was willing to bet the real problem was that he did not care to be taking orders from a woman - especially not one he could not intimidate, and Katryn stood up to him.
He had tried to take over the team, tried to change their strategy, even tried to talk a couple players into leaving and starting a new team with him. But Katryn fought him on every point, and the team backed her up. Everyone knew he was not happy with the team in general. Only Katryn had to hear, over and over, how much he hated each one of them in particular - especially Julie.
From the very beginning he had tried to get Julie replaced. She was too frail for volleyball, he had argued with Katryn. Her fingers were so weak that at least half of her sets were called illegal by the refs. He complained she had no ball sense, therefore was rarely where she needed to be. And when she did get good hits, John would whisper to Katryn ‘Law of Averages says even the worst player has to eventually get one!’
While John also wanted Katryn to replace Mary and Ed, he told her more than once that if she did not ‘have the balls’ to get rid of all three of them, she could at least think of the team and get rid of Julie.
John had made sure only Katryn heard most of what he said. He always spoke to her after practice, waiting until the others had left. He was polite to his teammates’ faces, so they had no way of knowing how much he really disliked them. Katryn had felt she was forced to listen. She believed it was one of her jobs as captain, and besides, she would rather he tell her and not upset the rest of the team.
One night, towards the end of the season, John cornered Katryn when she was leaving practice. The others had already headed out, and she was alone. He immediately started in on all that he thought she was doing wrong. He wanted Julie removed from the team NOW, and Mary and Ed would have go too - soon. They were so intent, John with yelling and Katryn with listening, that neither of them heard Tom.
Tom had come back to retrieve the volleyball he had forgotten, and was in the breezeway near the front door when he overheard John’s raised voice. He stayed out of sight, wondering what was going on.
He listened quietly for a bit, surprised to hear what abuse Katryn was, and from the sounds of it, had been taking from John. He was a little hurt that she had never told him about John’s outbursts.
After he had heard enough to convince himself that John had to be stopped, Tom came around the corner where he could be seen. He was startled to find that John had Katryn pinned up against a wall, poking her forcefully in the shoulder to emphasize each point he was making.
Tom told John to back off, his tone of voice warning John that he would book no argument. After he sent John on his way, advising him not to go near Katryn again, Tom proceeded to tell Katryn she was never to take anything like that from a team member again. Captain or no, she did not have to put up with that from anybody!
Tom called Katryn before practice the next week. He asked if she could please show up a little early. She had been surprised to find all of her teammates, except John, waiting for her. They had wanted to tell her, together, that they would like John off the team. The men promised they would never miss a game, so barring any accident, the team would not have to ever play short in the games. Anne, Mary and Julie assured her they would rather play short than with John, anyway. It did not take much convincing for Katryn to agree with them.
Though none of them said so, Katryn knew Tom had set up the meeting. He had been pretty upset about what Katryn had been putting up with from John, and he had been serious when he had told her he did not want her going through anything like that again, ever. It helped ease her mind that Tom was watching out for her.
It was decided that Tom and Katryn would stay at the gym to talk to John when he showed up for practice. They knew it would be better if the others left for awhile, returning after Katryn and Tom had spoken to him. Practice would start late, but it was worth it.
With Tom to back her up, Katryn waited for John. He did not take the news well. Her face still burned whenever she remembered what he had called her.
Tom, quiet, non-violent Tom, surprised John with a right cross, knocking him to the floor. It did not stop John’s mouth, though. Katryn had had to hold Tom back when John continued to make remarks on his way out the door. To this day Katryn believed that, if Tom had not been there, John would have become more than verbally abusive to her. Never had she seen such hate in a person’s eyes. And it had been there well before Tom had decked him.
Katryn had felt compelled to watch over her shoulder and double-lock her doors, for quite some time after John had gone.
None of the rest of the team had ever known about the altercation, nor could they guess how worried Katryn had been after John had left. Tom had taken it on himself to make sure she never left practice alone after that, though. Katryn definitely appreciated his concern. It had been a couple months now, but thinking about John still made Katryn a little uneasy.
A car horn honked outside her window, breaking into her reverie.
Katryn shook off the disturbing memories and headed d
ownstairs to the living room.