Page 35 of Playing with the Heartbreaker

And knowing that Graham broke Chloe’s heart, especially the way he did it, fills me with rage. Maybe I scrubbed the grill of Graham’s car harder than necessary. The bugs weren’t that stuck.

Lucky him. He got a two-for. To see Chloe and an extra sparkly car.

My jaw clenches as I receive a pass from Kyle and flick it with my left foot toward Dillon.

Maybe I was also hoping Chloe would notice my biceps. Graham was flaunting his, so why shouldn’t I?

I hate the way he affects me like this, making me doubt myself. He activates the lizard brain that makes me want to act purely out of instinct and get all territorial.

Which is ridiculous considering I’ve never even hung out with Chloe alone once outside of soccer training. Just call me Iguana Don. Or, with how intimidating I actually am, Gary Gecko.

Warm wind rustles the leaves on the trees. They haven’t changed colors yet, still clinging onto the vibrant green of summer. The grass, too, is soft despite the heat. Someone’s been making sure it gets watered regularly.

“I don’t know why he came at all, why he thought that would be a good idea. If he’s planning on winning Chloe back, he’s going to have his work cut out for him. She’s definitely not interested.” I roll my head back and forth to massage the tight spots in my neck.

Probably.

I mean, she didn’t seem interested.

And this time Graham’s going to have something else standing in his way of winning Chloe’s heart: me.

I wipe my face on my T-shirt. It still smells like lemon where Chloe hit me with the sponge. Breathing it in gives me a surge of hope. Our water fight was pretty flirtatious, and I got to see an unguarded side of her for just a few minutes. Knowing I had something to do with putting that smile on her face makes me feel like I’ve got a shot.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Kyle asks.

I roll the ball under my cleat and squint up at the blue sky. “I need an excuse to hang out with her in a different setting. Soccer is great, but once we’re on the field, we won’t have much time to really talk.” Of course, I’d love to ask her to breakfast on a real date, but I still think that might be moving too fast. Especially because I’m nervous seeing Graham reminded her of why she doesn’t want to date. Of what’s at stake.

“If I’m going to win her over, I need to thaw the ice a little first, make her see me in a different light.”

Prove I’m worthy of her time.

“Don’t you have classes together?” Dillon asks. He gestures for me to pass him the ball. I scoop it up into the air, and he traps it with his chest, lets it bounce once, then half-volleys it into the back of the net.

If Jake were here, he would have caught the ball. But no goalie means Dillon scores. He pumps his fists and takes a goofy victory lap around the goal.

I rub a palm over the thin layer of stubble on my cheek. “Yeah, econ and Spanish.”

“So start there,” Kyle says. He balances a yellow ball on the laces of his cleat.

“We do have an econ test coming up.”

Dillon dribbles back to me. “Ba-da-boom. There’s your answer. Ask her to study with you.”

Kyle flicks his ball to me. “It’s pretty low-stakes. Not like econ’s a romantic subject. But it has big potential.”

I take one touch to the outside of my right foot and shoot. The ball zips to the upper corner of the goal, rippling the net as it slides down. That’s the first shot I’ve made since we got here. I take it as a sign from the universe.

“Alright. I’ll ask her.” I smile for the first time since Graham busted up my time with Chloe. If it works out, economics might just become my favorite subject.

Fifteen

CHLOE

Deciding to ignore my attraction to Rhoads is like racking a fifty-pound weight I’d forgotten I picked up. In econ, Mrs. Pennington pairs us up to discuss the current chapter. In Spanish, we practice verbs together. During free periods, we run shooting drills on the practice fields. There’s a gym class outside with a teacher, so we’re allowed to be out here. All my worries about things being weird between us turn out to be for nothing.

Either way, it’s nice not to be concerned I’m going to say the wrong thing and scare him off. Pursuing only friendship gives me a certain kind of freedom not to care if he reciprocates. So, when he asks me to study at his house over the weekend, I keep my cool even as my traitorous blood warms under my skin.

“I was thinking we could make it a double. Study for the test, but when we need a break, we can run drills in my yard,” he says. “And, as a bonus, you can bring bacon from your favorite place in town.”