It’s Monday afternoon and we are four full days away before our first game of the season. Twelve total games. The last twelve games I will play at Highland before heading off to college, and I’m going to make damn sure that I lead my team to victory for each and every one.
Football has been my life since I was five years old and was pushed into the pee-wee league by my father. My dad grew up in Texas where football is God’s gospel and Friday nights are a religious experience one can only get at the local high school football stadium.
My dad had a short-lived NFL football career. Right after being drafted, he burned bright then burned out after he fucked up his knee. Dad may have been out of the game, but that didn’t mean he would allow his son to be.
Have to make the old man proud and follow in his failed footsteps.
The only affection my father knows how to give is when I win, and as messed up as it sounds, I crave that little bit of attention from him. I work hard for it on the field every time I step foot on the manicured grass. Seeing me throw that perfectly coiled spin of leather into a wide receiver’s hands for a touchdown is the only time my old man smiles.
“Yo, JD! Coach wants us out on the field in five for warmups and drills,” Dustin yells at me from the locker room door. Dustin is one of my best friends. He, Prez, and I have known each other since kindergarten.
I slam my locker shut and finish lacing my cleats. Grabbing my helmet, I jog over to where Dustin is waiting for me. He slaps my back and grins like a fiend.
“Has Prez heard from Candace yet?” I ask.
Prez and Candace had been together since the beginning of junior year, then suddenly, she broke up with him and left town a few weeks ago. He says he doesn’t care, but Dustin and I know better. My curiosity about why she left may also be because I’m ashamed about what I did. But I’m not going to think about that right now.
“Not a word. When she broke up with him, she meant it. Speaking of girls and heartbreak, heard you were following Rory around like a puppy earlier.”
“Assholes in this school gossip too damn much.”
We exit the building and hit the edge of the field.
“Is that a no?”
“That’s a ‘it’s none of your business,’” I tell him.
“The guys said she shut you down this morning before first period. You’re not going to try and do something to her are you, to get her back because she sucker-punched you?” he asks, flicking his gaze to my bruised eye.
Aurora has a very mean right jab, and I don’t blame her one bit for punching me in the face. I would too if I overheard someone say they felt guilty for allowing my best friend to drive intoxicated. But that’s why I need to talk to her. Aurora doesn’t know the whole story, and I feel like shit knowing she thinks I’m responsible for Cam getting behind the wheel of his car that night.
I give Dustin a scowl. He’s starting to tick me off with that bullshit. “You know I would never lay a hand on her.”
Dustin side-eyes me before holding his arm straight out against my chest to slow me down.
“You know how Cam would feel if you started sniffing around Rory,” he comments seriously.
Cam was a good friend and a better football player. He wasthatguy—the one with the jokes, the life of the party, everyone’s friend. From the first moment I met Cameron Bollinger, we clicked. He was so down-to-earth and easy going, it was impossible not to like the guy. However, that easy manner and big smile would dissipate rapidly if he caught you even looking at his best friend, Aurora. And damn, did I look.
Aurora St. Claire is the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on. Golden-blonde hair that I would give anything to run my hands through. The purest blue eyes that remind me of the blue fire that emits from the solfataras of the Kawah Ijen volcano that I saw on a television documentary once. Her body is a perfection of tall legs and curves in all the right places. She is intriguing, yet elusive. No one really knows her because she makes herself unnoticeable. Well, no one other than Cam.
But I noticed her. I’ve always noticed her.
“I just want to tell her my side of the story, but she’s being stubborn.”
Dustin grins. “It’s good then that you can out-stubborn her.”
“I like the terms ‘focused and determined’ much better.”
He shoulder-bumps me as we finally walk out on the field and join the others.
“That’s why you’re such a great QB and our fearless leader. Tread carefully with her, my friend,” he says and runs to the front to get everyone lined up for warm-up stretches and calisthenics.
A flash of blonde catches my eye across the field, and I look over to see Aurora unlocking the chains around her motorcycle. It used to belong to Cam, so it doesn’t surprise me that she has it now.
Aurora tucks her long hair into her bike helmet and throws her leg over the saddle. The sharp rev of the engine carries across the football field. I watch her steer the big bike out of the student parking lot and ride away.
Chapter 5
