Kai’s never been the type to leave a person behind. Especially if he was a co-captain.
“Off to war.” She sucked in a breath when I touched her ankle.
“Sorry.” I pulled back a little. “That bad?”
“I’m a baby.” Yara sighed and then, gestured for me to inspect it again. “Your brother left to fight for my honor, apparently. Kevin’s team stole most of our paints and my whistle.”
“Playing dirty.” Dakota’s forehead wrinkled. “Doesn’t sound like Kevin.”
“He doesn’t know how to command troops,” she said while wincing at my touch.
Her ankle showed signs of bruising already. I could see the more tender spots swelling. Outside of that, it didn’t look too serious.
I pulled my hands away. “Good news, it’s just a sprain.”
“Bad news?” Her eyes grew a bit.
“Uh, it’s a sprain.” I shrugged. “Sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have teed it up to be a this or that situation.”
Dakota chuckled and Yara’s shoulders relaxed.
“Text the emergency team,” Dakota suggested. “You don’t look like you can walk.”
Yara made a face. “No, Arnold’s on duty tonight. I don’t want even a small chance of seeing him.”
“What’s wrong with Arnold?” I asked.
“We hate Arnold.” Yara’s voice lowered as if this guy possessed omniscient power.
“Since when?” Dakota raised a brow at this information.
“Since he called me a ‘bitch’ after I told him I wasn’t interested in going to dinner.” Yara flipped her twists off her shoulder as if recounting the episode was enough to get her angry all over again.
“We hate Arnold,” I agreed. He sounded a lot like most of my exes, and that meant bad news.
“How about I run over and get some supplies? Emmy’s good a patching people up.” Dakota pointed to his forehead. “She did this for me the other day.”
“Nice.” Yara smiled at me. “It takes a brave soul to mend the cuts of mindless football players.”
“Gee, thanks,” Dakota joked in a flat tone as he started to walk away.
“I call ‘em like I see ‘em.” Yara shrugged and waved him in the direction he’d started towards anyway.
“I saw that cut, and he wouldn’t let me touch it,” she continued once Dakota was out of earshot. “Not that I wanted to, the thing looked nasty.”
“The scar’s going to be impressive,” I claimed the spot beside her and brushed dirt from my knees. “I’m surprised he let me touch it too. It was so deep, I originally thought he needed stitches.”
She tsked, disappointed. “So reckless. Glad he finally got someone to help him clean it… Are you a freshman this semester?”
I nodded.
“And you’re into helping people out, like Dakota, right? You two seem to get on well.”
“We just met,” I felt the need to preface. “But I suppose so.”
“You should join the emergency team with us.” She sat up a little straighter as if the suggestion gave her renewed energy. “We need more ladies to sign-up. It’ll be fun to have another black girl too.”
Honestly, I didn’t need to think too long about the decision. I liked the idea of getting involved with something on campus. Doing something to fill the void left behind by not going out with friends most nights.
