Page 31

She was rearranging things in her trunk, looking for a reasonablespot to put her bag and a small case of Gatorade a team mom had pawned off on her.

“You did well out there today.” Jade’s sudden presence and voice made Franny jump, immediately causing her to hit her head hard on the open trunk lid.

“Fuck!” Her hands immediately went to her head, her eyes clenched shut as pain shot through her skull.

“Oh shit.” Jade ran over to her. “I’m so sorry. Oh my God.”

Franny groaned, her head suddenly aching. She felt Dunn’s hands on her hips, guiding her to sit down on the edge of her open trunk.

“How does it feel?” Jade asked. “Can you see? You’re not bleeding, are you?”

“Too many questions.”

Jade clicked her tongue. She squatted down between Franny’s thighs, reaching up to take her head in her hands. Franny blinked a few times, trying to make sure her eyes weren’t completely deceiving her.

Then Dunn was talking to her again. “You don’t feel nauseous, do you?”

“No,” Franny groaned, clenching her eyes shut again. Her head was starting to hurt more by the second.

“How about your ears? Are they ringing?”

“No,” she whined.

“Head still hurting?”

“Hold on,” Franny scoffed. “Please tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing…” Dunn went silent. “You are not giving me a freaking concussion assessment right now.”

“Well, I’m not a medic, so I couldn’t make that call anyway, but…”

“Jesus, Dunn. I don’t have a concussion.”

“You don’t know that! You just hit your head so hard they can probably hear your ears ringing in Orangeburg.”

Franny grumbled under her breath. Her eyes were still closed, but now all she wanted was to lie down even more than she had before. “Yeah, because you scared me.”

“I know.” Dunn’s tone was dripping with guilt. “Which is why you should let me take you to the hospital.”

“Oh, I—no, no, I don’t…” Franny tried to stand up, but those hands were immediately at her waist again, pulling her back down. “I don’t need to go to the hospital. Just… leave me here a minute and I’ll be ready to drive in no time.”

The hands fell away, and for a few long moments, everything was silent except for the light breeze in the trees and the distant sounds of voices. Franny began to feel like she was actually alone.

Her peace was interrupted by a heavy sigh. “You can’t even open your damn eyes, and you expect me to believe you can drive yourself home?” Jade said.

“Damnit, I thought you were finally gone,” Franny said, squinting at her.

“Isn’t that my line?” Jade stood up. “Give me your hand.”

“Why?” When had Franny turned into such a whiny little baby?

Jade huffed. “Because I said so. Let’s go. Give me your keys. I’ll drive you home.”

Franny clutched the keys in her hand, desperate with the need to stomp her foot in frustration. “Fine. Just don’t crash my car.”

“Oh, you mean your tiny little Barbie car that a child could probably legally drive? Yeah, don’t worry about that, babe.”

Babe.

Franny’s heart thumped.