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“No sign of him?” Scarlett asked. She was the only person I’d told about my mission.

“No.”

“Can I see the picture of him again?”

I pulled out my phone and showed her the picture of Mr. Ariti that I’d snapped from Adonis’ wall.

She sighed. “Yeah, I don’t see him. But it’s so crowded in here. Maybe...”

“It’s fine,” I said. Mr. Ariti had had weeks to come to a game. And he’d never showed. Today wouldn’t be any different, despite how much I’d hoped it would be.

“We’ll just cheer extra loud,” Scarlett said.

I smiled. “Exactly.”

“I still can’t believe they made it to the championship. This is insane.”

“Tell me about it,” Axel said as he squeezed into our row, followed by Jacob. “Adonis better win MVP.”

I was still getting used to Axel being nice when talking about Adonis. I smiled.

“One plain hot dog with a side of relish and ketchup,” Jacob said and handed it to me.

“That’s not what I asked for...”

“Yes it is,” he said as he sat down next to me. “Stop it.”

“Don’t make me force-feed you more peanut butter and jelly.”

Jacob visibly shuddered.

“I’m kidding.” I grabbed the hotdog. “Thank you.” It wasn’t exactly what I’d ordered, but it was fine. I appreciated him trying. I liked that only Adonis knew how to order for me.

I was just about to take a bite when the Empire High team ran out of the lockers. “Go, Adonis!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as I jumped to my feet.

I was wearing his away jersey, tied in a knot around my stomach. And I had the number two painted on one of my cheeks for him. And then number 14 painted on the other for RJ.

Adonis’ gaze met mine and he winked at me.

Whenever he did that it felt like my heart melted.

I sat back down.

“They’ve totally got this,” Scarlett said.

“Hell yeah they do,” Axel added.

I stared over at him. Yeah, the positivity about Adonis from him was still weird. “Are you two ready to be dethroned as the most popular guys at school?” I asked him and Jacob.

Jacob laughed. “It’s awesome that they made the championship, but they haven’t won yet. And even if they do, football means a heck of a lot more to our school.” He reached around me and fist-bumped Axel.

“It’s fine though,” Axel said. “He’s already one of us anyway.”

I smiled. Yeah, he really was.

The ref blew the whistle and the game started.

It felt like my heart was beating in my throat the whole time. They’d never had a game this close before.