Assuming
Friday comes and the school day rushes by. Fortunately, Derrik hasn’t bothered me since giving me a face full of locker the other day. Unfortunately, the Prim Wood game is tonight, and my face looks like hammered hell. The bruising looks horror movie bad and no amount of that cover up Ryleigh has is working on it.
She tosses the tiny sponge thing on her bathroom sink, “I give up, Kendall. There’s nothing I can do that’s going to hide it. Fingers crossed that they’ll leave that kid alive when they find out who did it.”
Fuck me sideways with a wooden spoon. This is so bad. “Thanks for trying,” I tell her.
She laughs, “It’ll be a dead giveaway if your face says you’re headed to a funeral.”
Sucking in her breath, she looks to the floor. It takes me a minute to figure out why she would be acting like that and when it hits, it’s not as hard I think that it would be. I reach out and one arm hug her, “It’s ok.”
“I’m such a bird brain sometimes,” she says with tears pooling in her eyes, “I didn’t think before I said it. I’m so sorry.”
I squeeze her, “It’s getting a little easier. It took me a minute to figure out why you were reacting like that. Besides, I never went to their funerals.”
Of course, that opens a whole new can of worms, and for the first time I tell someone about right after. The only other person that has ever known is my therapist, but I doubt she remembers any of it.
Not really, anyways. I’m sure it’s written down on a notebook somewhere, but she only pretended to care because she was being paid to.
Ryleigh sits on the end of her bed staring at me with a sad frown. Maybe that was too much info for the start of a friendship, “Sorry.”
She shakes her head, “No Kendall, I’m sorry. That’s more than any grown person should ever have to go through, let alone someone our age.” Standing up, she comes over and wraps me up in a hug.
It takes a minute for me to fight the tears in my eyes from spilling over. When she lets go, I reach for my bag angling myself away from her, “Ok, enough mushy stuff. Should we go ahead get dressed and head over?” We’ve been chatting so much that it’s already after six, and the game starts a little after seven.
“Yeah, probably. You don’t want to be the last ones there or you’ll end up with a shit seat,” she says pulling on a scarf and cute denim jacket.
I’ve seen girls wearing them, but I’ve never owned one. Never had any reason to, but it looks so good on her that I’m rethinking that decision.
She notices me looking, “What? Do I look ok?”
I nod and laugh, “Sorry. I was just admiring the scarf. It’s really cute.”
“Thanks,” she says walking over to a wardrobe and pulling the door open. There are pegs on the back and something close to about thirty scarves hang from them. “Pick one to wear tonight if you want.”
After I bring the time to her attention, Ryleigh rushes us out of the house and gets us to the game by six thirty. “Plenty enough time to find good seats,” she says as we are buying our tickets at the gate.
There are a ton of people here and I find myself fidgeting with the soft material of the scarf around my neck. I chose a light grey one with tiny black stars. Since I’m wearing the jean skirt with black leggings and a black shirt under my leather jacket, it matches perfectly. My nerves have nothing to do with the crowd, though. It’s due to the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing the guys and watching them play. They’ve been busy all week, so I haven’t seen them, or even talked to them much. Only a few texts and phone calls. That’s it.
Thankfully, Ryleigh doesn’t notice my nervousness as she hooks her arm in mine and we walk towards the bleachers. People call out to her as we pass, and she always throws her hand up and smiles. She leans in to me, “One of the things about being the sister to four of the star players on the team, everyone wants to say hi.” If her words the other day at the mall hadn’t worked, those seal it in concrete. She really did have brotherly feelings toward them.
Leading us to the middle of the bleachers, she sits in what she says are the best seats in the house. It’s funny to watch people give us a wide berth, but then scoot closer after we sit. All of them act like they hope Ryleigh will talk to them.
She talks to them, and tries to invite me into some of the conversations, but my eyes are glued to the small area where the guys are due to walk onto the field shortly, so I just nod and smile. I catch her rolling her eyes dramatically and grinning.
We don’t have to wait long before the crowd lets out a roar and the first few helmet-covered heads peek through the little walkway. I had Ryleigh tell me their numbers earlier, but I don’t need them. My body tingles as I catch sight of the four of them and it’s so hard to look away. None of them are looking to the stands. They are facing forward, and have a look of pure determination of their faces.
“Are there scouts here tonight?” I ask Ryleigh.
Eddie, who arrived at some point, leans around her and says, “They weren’t supposed to be here for another two weeks, but they came early.”
“How do you know?” I ask.
He puffs out his chest, “Because I know everything.”
Ryleigh snorts softly, “Yeah right.” She turns to me, “His older brother is number ninety-seven.”
“Damn it, Ryleigh. You’re no fun,” he says after deflating a bit.
She winks at me and I can’t help but to laugh.
The game turns out to be one of the best I’ve ever been to. Prim Woods wins, of course, but at one point both Maverick and Goose took hard hits, and my heart leapt into my throat. It took them a minute to get up, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe until they did. I will say that I don’t know how the scouts do it. After watching the team play, I would want them all to play for my school.
People are starting to file out of the stands, which makes it hard to see the guys as they head off the field towards the locker rooms. The only one I see before they all disappear is Goose. He catches my eye and waves as he smiles, which is replaced with a look of confusion as he gets a full view of my face. He says something, but I don’t think it’s meant for me and then the team is whisked away.
“The team has special parking in the top lot,” Ryleigh says. “Cut around the side of concessions and it’s up on the hill. Just look for Maverick’s Range Rover. Unless you’d rather ride with me, and save the drama for later?”
I shrug, “Might as well get it over now, right?”
She side arms hugs me, “Just in case.”
Jeez. Now I feel like I’m going to war or something. I follow her and Eddie down the stairs. When we get to concessions, they keep walking and I go up the hill. It feels a little weird to be the only one heading this way, but I trust Ryleigh’s instructions. As I crest the top, there sits the Rover. I lean against the grill and get lost in my head for a second. I never want to forget this feeling. The excitement of the game and being able to get lost in the moment of just being a fucking teenager.
Without the crush of people from the stands, the cool wind sends goosebumps up my arms. After about twenty minutes, I’m cursing myself for not just riding with Ryleigh. The wind is somehow slipping through the bundle of my jacket, and I’m shivering.
I’m so distracted with trying to keep myself warm that I don’t see the shadow that rushes towards me. Before I even have a chance to scream, I’m picked up and spun around in a circle. Teagan sticks his face right into my neck and breathes, “I’ve missed you.”
His words are sweet, but he’s hit one of my few tickle spots. I gasp in air while trying not to laugh and push him away at the same time. He smiles and finally pulls away. They must shower before coming out. I can smell the soap on him, and his hair is up in a wet messy bun.
The smile drops into a worried frown, “What happened to your face?”
I try for the most genuine smile I can manage, “I fell into the corner of a locker the other day.”
His fingertips trace the bruises and I feel myself leaning further into him. When his lips find the small cut on my nose, I hope whole heartedly that they’ll move to my lips next.
Then I hear Goose and Maverick somewhere behind him and he pulls away.
When he steps to the side, I get to watch as Maverick slows his pace as he takes in my face.
Goose doesn’t look surprised, but the closer he gets, the more pissed his face turns.
Neither one of them are the first to speak. Lucas who has been trailing behind them, has the same kind of reaction that Teagan had. Straight from all smiles to concern, “What happened?”
I ignore the glares coming from both Goose and Maverick, “I fell into the corner of a locker the other day.”
“How did you fall?” Goose grinds out.
“Well,” I start, “I was texting Ryleigh back and wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
Teagan looks like he halfway believes me, but Maverick folds his arms across his chest, “So it was an accident?”
“Yes?” I mean to say it as an answer, but it comes out more of a question.
“I’m not trying to overstep boundaries,” Goose starts, “But if something needs to be said to your Grandad then we will. Say the word.”
It takes a second for his words to register in my brain and then my rage takes over as his accusations hit home.
“Gramps has never once laid a hand on me,” I say through gritted teeth. “It’s might fine shitty of you guys to think that too. You don’t know him. Hell, you don’t know me.”
I’m pissed and freezing cold, so I’m not going to stand around and defend Gramps to people who I shouldn’t even be messing around with in the first place. I take off back down the hill. Ryleigh is probably long gone by now, but I’m sure I can bum a ride from someone. If not, that’s ok too. It’s only an hour walk back home.
“Kendall,” Goose’s voice follows me down the hill. A warm hand closes around mine and pulls me to a stop. I shock myself when I realize I’d love nothing more than to punch whoever it is. I’m anything but a violent person normally.
Goose pulls me to face him, “Hey, I’m sorry ok? I didn’t mean to piss you off.”
I lock eyes with him, so he can see that I’m not kidding when I say, “Don’t ever say anything like that about Gramps again. Even if he was the type to do something like that, which he’s not, he couldn’t. He’s dying from lung cancer, and does his best to even get out of bed in the morning.”
“Fuck, Kendall,” he says frowning, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. It’s just I’ve been there. On the receiving end, and scared to say anything. I just didn’t want that to be the case for you. I guess there’s always that old saying about assuming.”
“What?” I ask. “That it makes an ass out of you and me?”
He laughs, “Yeah, but mostly just me this time.”
I laugh with him, because I refuse to deny that one.
“You still want to go to the party?” he asks. “We can go hang out somewhere else, or take you home if you want to go. Up to you.”
I think on it for a second. Now that the bad part is out of the way, having a good time doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. “Party?” I ask.
He does a weird bow thing that makes me laugh, and we walk back up the hill. “Fuck, your hands are like ice.”
“What do you expect?” I say sarcastically. “I’ve been out here for like thirty minutes waiting on you guys.”
When we make it up the hill, the others are all still hanging around the front of the Rover.
“Mav, you need to leave the keys with Kendall next week,” Goose says. “She can warm up the car while she waits on us.”
His eyebrow quirks up, but it’s Lucas who says, “We good?”
I nod at him and Teagan says, “Well, let’s go party then.”