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“I’ll text you later,” she says looking up at me under her long eyelashes. If I had any chance of escaping this girl, it’s thrown out the window. I’ve always thought Remi was the perfect girl. The one who I’d never get a chance with or the one who I didn’t deserve, but the look she’s giving me makes me a little terrified. She’s giving me something I never thought I’d have.

Hope.

I watch as she swivels on her heels and starts to model walk down the street and around the corner. I stand there like a love-sick fool, watching her with every step she takes.

This girl is going to be trouble with a capital T and there is nothing I can do about it.

Victor, Idaho ~ 16 years old

“Yo, Rhett, you coming out with us tonight?” I hear Jake ask a few lockers over. Practice just finished and we’re all showered, dressed, and putting away our equipment.

“Nah,” I say, shaking my head.

“Dude, you never come out,” Bryce voices from beside me. “This is our only Friday night of the season that’s free. Come have a beer with us, bring Remi. Most of the dance team will be there.”

“You only want us there in hopes that it won’t get busted if the sheriff’s daughter is hanging out there,” Will states, hanging up his cleats on a hook in his locker.

“It definitely helps,” Jake mumbles and it makes me chuckle.

“Maybe next time,” I offer even though I know it’s a lie. Going to parties has never appealed to me. The thought of being around a bunch of drunks acting a fool is not something I care to watch. If it were, I’d just stay at home and watch my parents.

I stand from my stool and shut the door to my locker. My mind hasn’t been on anything but Remi today. She wasn’t feeling good this morning but didn’t want to skip school to rest at home like I wanted her to. She says it’s just midterm nerves but it feels like more.

It’s almost November and we’ve been together nonstop since that day in June. There hasn’t been a single day that we haven’t seen each other. We both have our license now and are able to meet around town after her dance or my football schedules. She comes up to my job just about every time I’m working and we just talk while I work stocking the shelves. She helps me sometimes but mostly I have her in a chair as I stack cans or produce. I’m glad Mr. Wallace doesn’t mind or say anything about her being there. It might also be because her family owns and runs most of the town.

Lewis, our center, comes in dirty and smelling like he’s been dipped in a vat of body odor. “Hey QB, your girl is out there waitin’. Her ex is circling around her,” he adds as he grabs his bathroom bag to head for the showers.

My back stiffens and my hands ball into fists. The loser has tried for months to convince Remi to take him back even though everyone knows that we’re together. We’ve just been ignoring him and all his soccer friends who are trying to champion for him.

“Want us to rough him up a bit, QB?” Jake asks as he throws his shirt on. “Been needing to work on my aggressiveness according to coach.”

I start to shake my head but Will pipes up, “Yo, let me have at him. Been wanting to level the prick since middle school.”

A chorus of agreement follows and it’s nice to see I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the asshole.

“I think I can handle him, but thanks,” I call out to calm the room before the energy gets high enough and they start bouncing like they do before every game.

“Let us know if you want back up, Rhett, we’ve always got your back.” Bryce pats the top of my shoulder.

“’Preciate it.”

Grabbing for my backpack and jacket, I head out after fist bumping my way through the room. When I walk out the door, I see Remi waiting by the fence where our tunnel to the field is. She’s standing there rolling her eyes as Chance talks animatedly with his hands. She’s wearing my letterman jacket. It swallows her small frame.

Striding up to her, completely ignoring the douche, I bend down and swing my arm around her tiny waist. “Ready to go, babe,” I say into her neck, boxing her ex out.

Her giggle calms my tense muscles. “I’m ready.” She winds her arms around my neck. I straighten, coming to my full six-four height before turning around where Chance is still standing. Her feet dangle off the ground as I bend down to grab her dance bag and move us away towards the parking lot.

“I wasn’t done talking, Remi,” the loser calls out.

Turning my head, I look right at him. “Yeah, you were.”

“Stay out of this, trailer park,” he retorts and I feel my blood start to boil under my skin.

“Just ignore him,” Remi says into my ear, then skims her lips down to the sensitive part of my neck. A shiver rolls through me and I have to resist the urge to moan. This girl is going to be the death of me.

I take a step away from him trying not to let his name for me get the best of me. Never cared what people thought of me before and he is no different. But when they start to try this shit when my girl is around, I have this hunger to protect her.

“Remi,” he starts again.