Page 20 of Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls #1)

Afew hours later I’m wearing pigtails wrapped in giant blue bows while Sloane paints my face with black and blue paint. I’m in a pair of her leggings, with knee-high blue socks and a brAMBLE FALLS HIGH FOOTBALL T-shirt.

“There, all done,” she says, stepping back in her matching outfit. She has two buns on either side of her head, and her entire face is painted blue.

I drew the line at painting my whole face.

My reflection stares at me in Sloane’s bedroom mirror, walking a fine line between cute and ridiculous. Jake’s jersey number is painted on one cheek, and Go BF! is painted on the other.

“Are you sure it’s normal that we’re this decked out for a high school football game?” I ask.

“Girl, we really aren’t decked out,” Sloane says. “The other superfans are going to put us to shame, believe me.”

A horn blares outside, and Sloane grabs her bag and grins at me. “It’s time!”

I follow a giddy Sloane down the steps, and at the bottom, Mom throws her hand over her mouth. “I never thought I’d see the day. Ellis going to a football game. Someone pinch me.”

“She has to go support Jakey ,” Sloane says, waggling her eyebrows.

I roll my eyes. “Shut up.”

Jake begged and pleaded all week for me to come watch the homecoming game. Once Sloane said she was going, I figured why not. I’m not going for Jake, but it did sort of make me happy to see him so happy when I told him I’d be there.

Still, people seem to want a spark between us that just isn’t there for me.

The horn honks again.

“We gotta go!” Sloane says, pulling my arm. We slide on our shoes and jog out to Cooper’s truck. It’s too cold for only a T-shirt, but Sloane swears it won’t matter once we’re there.

“Hop in!” Chloe says from the back of the truck.

Her blond hair is in two French braids with black bows, and she’s wearing a blue sports bra, short blue spandex shorts, and blue knee socks with white stripes.

Bramble Falls is painted across her stomach and Slug’s number is painted on one cheek and another jersey number I don’t recognize is on the other.

Somehow she doesn’t look ridiculous at all. She looks stunningly sporty.

Once we’re in the truck with the other four superfans they’ve already picked up, Cooper shouts to us to hold on, and he takes off toward the school.

The energy at the game is electric, and within a few minutes of it starting, I’m screaming and cheering even though I have no idea what’s going on because it’s infectious . I take my cues from Sloane, Hannah, and Preeti to my right and try to avoid looking at Cooper to my left.

Because if I do, I might do something stupid. Like touch him.

He had the audacity to show up here shirtless , with a football painted on his chest and Bramble Falls across his abs, and, to make things more dire, he has on a backward Bramble Falls hat over his floppy hair, black strips of paint across each cheek, and blue basketball shorts.

I’m just saying, it should be criminal to look that hot.

Something happens on the field and the rows of superfans cheer. Cooper grabs my hand and throws our arms up while he shouts at the players. Chloe holds his other hand as she jumps up and down yelling.

He said they’re not together, but they are always together. And they look good together.

There’s definitely something going on there.

“All right, Mitchell, you ready to start the chant?” Cooper says, leaning into me.

“Uh, no?”

“Come on,” he says. “All you have to do is face the crowd and shout, ‘Hey, Bramble Falls, let’s leave a bruise!’ And they’ll take it from there.”

“Live a little, Ellis!” Sloane shouts over the crowd.

I groan. “Fine…” I turn around to face the expansive bleachers full of people.

“Wait.” Cooper turns around and kneels down.

“What are you doing?” I’m not hopping on his bare back.

“You’re too short. You’ll blend in with everyone down here, especially with everyone else yelling.”

“Then maybe you should do the chant,” I say.

He turns his head to look at me. “Ellis, just get on. Stop making everything so difficult.” I sigh but put my hands on his shoulders, and he swoops me up. He turns around to face the massive crowd of excited fans. “Be loud!” he shouts to me.

I cup my hands around my mouth, my heart pounding as adrenaline courses through me.

“Hey, Bramble Falls!” I shout as loudly as I can. Everyone in the vicinity turns to me. “Let’s leave a bruise!”

“Black and blue,” the whole Bramble Falls side of the stadium shouts back, “refuse to lose!”

Everyone stomps their feet against the bleachers, shaking the stands. I yelp and hold on to Cooper as he stomps with them. I’m laughing when I notice Chloe watching us with an expression I can’t decipher. Then her gaze meets mine, and she smiles.

“Oh shit!” Sloane yells, pointing to the field.

I know zilch about football, but there’s no missing Jake running the ball toward the end zone, faking out defensive players as he zooms by.

My body tenses as I watch him get closer to scoring. “Come on…,” I mumble to myself.

Cooper squeezes my thighs like he heard me, and my grip on him tightens. I never knew sports were so stressful.

The crowd erupts when Jake runs into the end zone, putting us in the lead. Sloane laughs as I scream, “Heck, yes!”

His teammates slap his shoulder pads and shove him and try to hit their helmets on his—a bizarre showing of support and excitement that only exists in football, I think—but he’s searching the stands.

And then he finds me. His eyes lock with mine, and he grins and points to me.

Then he holds up his hands in the shape of a heart.

“Oh. My. God,” Sloane says as the cheering grows louder.

I laugh, knowing he’s referencing Taylor from the first time he asked me to come to a game. Such a Swiftie. I let go of Cooper’s shoulders and hold my hands in a heart back to him. His grin grows wider before he’s running to the sidelines.

Cooper lowers himself. I guess it’s time to climb off him.

Once my feet are on the ground, Sloane leans into my ear. “Nothing going on there, huh?”

“There isn’t!”

“You guys just put on a whole show for the stadium,” she says.

“It was a joke. That’s all.”

We stay the rest of the game, cheering and laughing and having fun. But Cooper’s energy has nosedived.

As we’re walking back to the truck afterward, I nudge him with my shoulder. “You good?”

He glances at me. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. You seem off.”

He furrows his brow at me and smiles, assaulting me with that dimple. “I’m good, Mitchell.”

“Okay.” I climb into the back of the truck, and Chloe gets in front with Cooper.

And as we pull out of the parking lot and head to the diner, I try to ignore how much I hate it.