Page 2

CHAPTER TWO

The football flies through the air, and my eyes lock on it as I run as fast as I can, pushing every muscle in my body to its absolute limit. It glides into my arms as if a magnet pulled it directly to me, and I ignore the feet pattering behind me as others from the team practicing try to tackle me to the ground.

For a while, I was worried I wouldn't fit in here and find my place on the team. But now that we're officially practicing on the field, I know I'll earn my place just like I had to earn everything else in my life. My eyes are on the end zone, and I pant heavily under my helmet as I run as fast as I can toward it.

Talon appears in my vision, and I ignore the men running at me from either side. I raise the ball in the air, throwing it hard so it cuts through any wind resistance and meets his hands. Mere moments later, I dodge nimbly out of the way as Sawyer tries to tackle me to the ground.

The quarterback catches the ball and runs it into the end zone, followed by a sharp whistle from Coach Emerson. “Take five, everyone!” he shouts, clapping his hands with a wide smile on his face.

I walk back to Sawyer and hold a hand out to help him up. He was one of the first guys on the team to take me in and try to make me feel welcome here. Even though I am a part of the team, a lot of them are skeptical of me, knowing I'm from Glendale. Sawyer doesn't seem to care, and I'm thankful for that.

“Good job out there,” he says, clapping me on the back. We head toward the bleachers to grab our water.

He says something else that I don't quite register as my eyes scan the side of the field to see the band all walking around with their instruments in their hands. She's there.

Her long blond hair is pulled back in a high ponytail that sways back and forth as she laughs with her friends. Her baby-blue eyes are squinted shut to hold out the afternoon sun rays as she raises a hand to her forehead to attempt to see the faces of the people she's talking to. It feels like everything else vanishes, and I zero in on her as her laughter seems to dance through the air to meet me.

Corinne turns away from the group she's talking to, and her eyes meet mine briefly. I raise a hand to wave at her, and the smile falls as she nods slowly, only quietly acknowledging me. I don't know what I expected from her, but it definitely wasn't her immediately turning toward a guy in the band behind her and laughing as he playfully shoves her shoulder.

My mood shifts seeing that. I don't make any effort talking to the other guys on the team as we all joke about what happened on the field and drink our water. My eyes are steady on Corinne as she stands next to a tall, lanky man with shaggy brown hair and jokes with him. What could he be saying that's so funny, huh?

I don't even realize the break is over until the shrill sound of the whistle catches my attention, and everyone around me jumps to their feet to get back to the field. We run the same play over again, and I try my best to focus on the ball and our offensive maneuvers.

This time, as the ball is tossed to me, I grab it and run as quickly as I can toward the end zone. But my eyes linger on the sidelines as Corinne continues practically doubling over with laughter. I'm so distracted that I don't notice our linebacker running at my left side until he tackles me to the ground.

The whistle blows, sounding the end of that practice play. Gerard jumps to his feet with an amused smile, holding a hand out to help me up as I try to wrap my brain around what just happened. My eyes narrow, and I slap his hand away, jumping to my feet and standing in front of him with my spine as straight as an arrow.

“Who the fuck do you think you're playing with?” I ask Gerard, ripping my helmet off and tossing it to the ground. His eyes widen in fear, clearly not expecting me to lash out at him like this.

“I'm just—I’m—” he stammers, trying to come to terms with my reaction.

My hands are in front of me, crashing into his shoulders before I know what's happening. I'm shoving him and he's backing away, still upright because he's built like a brick house, but he has a clearly offended look on his face.

From everything I understand, Gerard is a very nice guy. But that's not in my head right now. All I can focus on is the fact that he is the one who tackled me to the ground. It's not the first time, either. When I was at Glendale, I played against him, and he can be brutal.

“Come on, man,” Gerard says, holding his hands up to let me know he's not willing to fight. “It was just a practice play. Calm down!”

“Oh really? And you weren't rougher than you usually are on others?” I ask, stepping forward as he backs away and shoving him again. He falls to the ground, and I drop my knees on top of him, clutching the fabric of his training jersey in my fists.

Coach Emerson's whistle sounds behind me, and I ignore it. I raise my fist to bring it down on Gerard just as a group of other players swarm around me and pull me off him. I fight back against them, freeing myself as I stand up straight and pace back and forth while running my fingers through my hair.

“What is his problem?” everyone murmurs around me.

Coach Emerson storms to my side and holds his hands firmly on his hips with a beet-red face. “That might be how they did things at Glendale, but that's not how we do them here!”

He backs away from me and looks out at the rest of the team, all seemingly distressed after the minor scuffle between me and Gerard. I can't help but think about how they're all just a bunch of cowards. They wouldn't have lasted a day in Glendale.

“Practice is over!” Coach shouts, turning back to me with an icy stare. “If this happens again, I have no choice but to kick you off the team. Consider this your one and only warning.”

He walks away before I can say anything else, not that my words will do anything to help the situation. Silence surrounds the field as everyone in the team watches me alongside all of the band members. I don't care about anyone on the team right now. My eyes search through the crowd for Corinne's until I spot her standing with her flute at her side and her mouth hanging open in surprise.

After a few moments, everybody gets back to normal. The players on the team all gather their things and make their way to the locker room, and I stand in place in the middle of the field.

Corinne looks over her shoulder and sets her flute down carefully in her case before walking across the field to me. My heart beats a little faster seeing her, watching as her petite frame saunters across the green. Even now, in the shorts and T-shirt she's wearing for practice, she's sexy.

My eyes lock on hers when she reaches me, and I see the concern within them. Her soft, pillowy lips are parted slightly, and my mind immediately wanders to a fantasy of me sitting at the table in the study room with her on her knees in front of me.

Yesterday, I could tell she was flustered when I hit on her. She didn't respond how I wanted right away, but at least now I know there's some feeling between us.

“I'm tutoring you for extra credit, and I can't do that if you get kicked out of school,” Corinne says, annoyed.

“Who was that guy you were talking to?” I ask, not caring about the study sessions anymore. I see a flicker of confusion on her face, and she backs up slightly and narrows her eyes in frustration.

“What the hell are you talking about?” she asks, shaking her head in disbelief. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself down. I know she knows what I'm talking about. There was only one guy she was talking to during the practice. I saw her with my own eyes.

“Don't play dumb with me,” I say, shaking my head and clenching my fists at my side. “Tell me who he is.”

She shakes her head and opens her mouth like she wants to talk, but no words come out. Her baby-blue eyes squint as she stares at me in absolute confusion. I know what she's thinking. Who the hell am I to be asking her questions like this? I've known her for approximately eighteen hours, and here I am, laying claim to her. I don't know what to tell her. That's just how it is. She's mine .

Her eyes shift to something behind me, and it takes everything in my power to look away from her and see what it is. I toss a glance over my shoulder, immediately turning the rest of my body when I see who it is.

Of course, I should have expected Adrian and some of the other guys from the team in Glendale to be here. Adrian claps his hands slowly as he moves across the field to me. The other is around him all snigger and smile as they look between me and Corinne.

“Despite what they say, I applaud you,” Adrian says, his voice lithe and filled with amusement. “I was worried you'd lose your killer instinct when you came here. But you're as much of a killer on the field as you are off it.”

Adrian's eyes flutter from mine to Corinne standing behind me, and his lips curl into a smile. I can practically read his thoughts, and I instinctively step between the two of them. That catches Adrian's attention, and he cocks an eyebrow at me.

“I wasn't expecting to see you here,” I say, my voice calm and stoic.

“We're here to support you. Just because you left school doesn't mean you're not one of us anymore,” Adrian says, crossing his arms in front of him as he stares at me.

I know I shouldn't care much about what other people think of me. But since being here, I’ve felt isolated. The only person who has bothered to be a friend to me is Sawyer, and after today, I doubt that’s on the table. I needed this. Adrian, the rest of the team.

“Come on, we're having a party at Greylane Beach later,” Adrian says, nodding to signal me to follow. The others behind him all turn around and begin walking back to the bleachers to grab their things. Adrian follows, knowing I'm going to join.

I hold a finger up to signal I'll be following in a moment, then I turn back around to look at Corinne, who is still staring at me in shock. There's fear in her eyes, and a part of me wants to reach out and comfort her, but I don't.

“I don't want to see you talking to that guy from the band anymore,” I say to her, looking over her shoulder at a few of her friends watching with concern in their eyes. “Understand?”

She doesn't say anything, but she wrinkles her eyebrows and nods. My eyes linger on her for a moment, wishing I could reach my hand out and grab her face to kiss her. A part of me wants to. I could stake my claim right here in front of everyone, but I hold myself back.

I leave her in the middle of the field and walk away with Adrian and the rest of the Glendale football team.