The gym smelled different from the locker.
Sweat.
Rubber.
Expectation.
Elias stood near the bleachers, hands in his hoodie pocket, watching the basketball tryouts unfold like a quiet experiment.
Whistles blew.
Shoes screeched.
Voices collided.
He didn't look nervous.
He never looked nervous.
"Raven, you trying out or just staring?" Coach Miller barked from mid-court.
A few boys snickered.
Elias stepped forward calmly.
"Trying out."
Marcus Reed was already there. Taller now. Broader. Louder.
He bounced the ball once and smirked. "Didn't know lockers came with athletic programs."
A few laughs.
Elias didn't react.
He met Marcus's eyes instead.
Three seconds.
Four.
Long enough to make Marcus look away first.
Small victory.
No one noticed it.
Except Elias.
They split into teams.
Elias didn't call for the ball.
He didn't demand attention.
He watched.
Tyler Knox still played aggressive. Too aggressive. He overcommitted on defense.
Daniel Hayes still talked too much. He signaled his passes with his eyes before moving.
Marcus?
Marcus needed applause. Every move had to be seen.
That hadn't changed.
The first time Elias touched the ball, it was by accident. A loose pass.
He didn't rush.
One dribble.
Step left.
Tyler lunged early—just like before.
Elias pivoted, slid past him, and laid the ball clean off the glass.
Silence.
Then a few impressed murmurs.
Coach Miller nodded once.
Marcus's jaw tightened.
Second possession.
Marcus guarded him personally now.
Close.
Too close.
"You think you're better than me?" Marcus muttered.
Elias tilted his head slightly.
"I think you try too hard."
That landed.
Marcus shoved him lightly before the ball was even in play.
Foul.
Whistle.
"Knock it off!" Coach snapped.
Marcus raised his hands like he was innocent.
But something small had shifted.
Marcus was reacting.
Elias wasn't.
The game continued.
Elias didn't dominate.
He didn't need to.
He passed when he should.
Scored when necessary.
Let others fight for attention.
Let Marcus force bad shots.
Let Tyler foul out.
Let Daniel argue with the ref.
By the end, Coach called out the names moving forward.
"Reed."
Marcus exhaled in relief.
"Raven."
The gym went quiet for half a second.
Then:
"Knox."
"Hayes."
Practice was tomorrow.
In the locker room after tryouts, it was quieter than it used to be.
No one shoved him inside anything.
No one laughed.
Marcus walked past him, bumping his shoulder on purpose.
"Don't get comfortable," he said.
Elias shut his locker slowly.
"I won't."
Marcus frowned.
Because it didn't sound like a warning.
It sounded like a promise.
Outside, the sky was turning dark.
Elias stood near the school gate, scrolling through his phone.
There was an old video in his cloud storage.
Eleven years old.
Metal door slamming.
Laughter.
He had found it last year.
Someone had uploaded it back then.
Unlisted.
Forgotten.
But not deleted.
He had downloaded a copy.
Just in case.
Elias watched three seconds of it.
Paused.
Smiled faintly.
Then opened a new contact on his phone.
Unknown Number.
He typed:
"We should talk about what happened in middle school."
He didn't send it.
Not yet.
Revenge wasn't loud.
It wasn't fast.
It was patient.
He locked his phone and started walking home.
Behind him, Marcus laughed with Tyler and Daniel.
Loud.
Careless.
Safe.
For now.
Elias didn't look back.
He didn't need to.
Because this time—
He wasn't trapped in the locker.
He was standing outside it.
And the door was in his hands.