Micah Johnson Goes West (Get Out, #2)(11)

“I’m Jane, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. That’s a great kid you’ve got there.”

“Well, he’s good at putting on a front sometimes.”

Micah knew that better than anybody. “Sometimes you need those defence mechanisms. Listen, if you don’t mind, do you want to give me an address where I can arrange to send him stuff from the store?”

“Really?” Jane asked. “You’d do that?”

“Hey, he’s my number one fan. He deserves special treatment.”

He wanted to say that Carter gave him hope like he supposedly gave Carter, but he didn’t want to sound mawkish. He had the feeling Jane got the gist anyway.

Carter was watching them, and Micah gave him a final wave. Carter responded excitedly, and Micah and Jane laughed.

“You have a friend for life there,” Jane said.

“Good! Who doesn’t need friends?” Micah grinned, and walked away to join Daril. He noticed a few boys slink away again, but chose to remember Carter’s wide smile and happiness at having a role model of his own. Sure, Micah doubted he was the best person for the job (what with everything going on in his life at the moment) but it was enough to take the sting away for a while.

Daril finished his signing, and accompanied Micah back off the field. They passed Carter getting his ball signed by the captain, and Daril pointed them out.

“Hey, have you dropped down the ranks already?”

“No, he’s my number one fan, really,” Micah said.

“Strange. I thought Micah Johnson’s number one fan was Micah Johnson,” Daril ribbed him.

Micah pushed him away. “Oh, piss off.”

Their laughter rang across the field, causing a flock of seagulls to take off and soar above them.




HOWEVER, MICAH still did feel a little pang on game day when he had to sit on the bench and watch the other team members run out onto the field. It wasn’t like he was alone on the bench; there were many others who weren’t selected. But Micah was the only rookie. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Daril had been there with him, but Micah was also honest enough to admit to himself that if he had been selected and Daril hadn’t, he would be on the field without any second thought of rejecting the chance to play in order to sit with his buddy in solidarity.

Hunched in his Dockers gym clothes—trackies and jacket—he still tried to look the part. Even if injury or changeover brought any of the benchers onto the field, he knew he would be pretty far down on the list. He didn’t even have his uniform underneath just in case.

His mobile buzzed in his pocket. A message from Declan.

Just remember the cameras are always watching you. Look like you belong, and you’re happy to be there.

Micah grinned to himself and sat up a little straighter. He felt a bit better knowing Declan was still looking out for him and dispensing advice as he saw fit. He wondered if Dec had seen him from the commentary box, or maybe even as the cameras were setting up. The man was still taking time out of his busy schedule for him, even though he wasn’t—officially—his mentor anymore.

How’s that, boss?

A few seconds later, a response. Much better. Even Simon agrees.

Simon was there? Micah couldn’t imagine he would be that excited, especially seeing it wasn’t a Richmond game. But it did mean he could maybe catch up with them afterwards. And drown his sorrows at being such a shit player that he wasn’t selected for their first game of the season, no matter what anybody else said.

Well, Simon knows all about being Mr Sunshine, Micah wrote.

Hey, that’s my fiancé you’re talking about.

Micah laughed softly to himself. I know. I was at the engagement party, remember?

Start paying attention to the game, and get off your phone before you get in trouble.

Micah stuck his phone back in his pocket. Dec was right. It probably didn’t look too good for the rookie to be ignoring what was happening on the field, especially if he wanted the chance to be on it next week. It was time to be a model member of the team.

The siren sounded, the first ball bounced, and Micah stood and cheered.




THE DOCKERS were resplendent in victory, although Micah felt that he really couldn’t join in as he hadn’t been part of the game. He made sure to find Daril after the victory circle. He was drenched in Gatorade, which was part of the “welcoming ceremony” every player went through after their debut.

“You smell like oranges,” Micah told him.

“I smell like victory!” Daril crowed.

This led to more cheers and backslapping all round. Micah slipped away back to his locker and started collecting his stuff. As he checked the time on his phone he realised he had quite a few missed messages. The usual suspects were all accounted for: Emma, Carl, Jack, his parents and brother and….

Kyle.

Micah’s hand involuntarily shook a little, and he sat down, overcome with how much feeling a name on a screen was causing him. This was the first time in over a month since he had heard from Kyle. At first they had still e-mailed each other constantly, even though they were broken up, but it hurt too much, and Micah went to the drastic measure of unfollowing Kyle’s feed on Facebook so he wouldn’t feel the stab of pain whenever Kyle’s face appeared on his timeline. He suspected Kyle did the same, as they never commented on or even liked each other’s updates again.