Chapter 2
Liam
“Liam, what in the hell are you doing?” his coach screamed at him. The smell of damp earth and torn grass was all around him. He could hear his teammates yelling at him to pass the ball over, but he knew what he had to do.
His legs were on fire. Every rushed step forward pulled at already aching muscles. He was so close though. He could see the white line. There was only one guy standing between him and the win. The shrill speakers sounded like they were a million miles away. The commentator’s voice was almost indistinguishable from the roars that were coming from the crowd watching. He could feel the atmosphere around him starting to change. The uniformed sound of every butt in the stadium pushing forward on their seats seemed to fill the silence that had fallen from people holding their breath.
He was going to make it. He was going to make it. The white line was practically under his foot. He could already feel his fingers getting ready to drop the ball. He was there. The ball dropped. A millisecond of stunned silence followed that felt like an hour. He’d just won the game. The crowd broke into cheers. His team mate’s yells changed to celebration roars. They’d done it. They were going to finals.
“What you just did,” his coach dipped his head and slapped his hand against Liam’s shoulder. “It was risky.”
“I know coach, but we did it. We’re going to finals.”
“Yes, well,” his coach said with a frown that didn’t match the celebrations that were happening around him. “Don’t forget that you’ve got other people on the team.”
Liam wasn’t sure what to say. He’d won the game. He couldn’t understand what the coach’s problem was. It wasn’t like any of the other guys on the team could run that kind of distance. What did the coach want? Did he want the ball passed at the cost of the game and the championship? That was ridiculous.
“Oh my god, baby,” Lucy’s voice cut through the manly rumble in the room. Liam sighed. He’d been hoping that she’d wait outside the changing room. “You did so well,” her arms wrapped around his waist from behind.
“Oh, hey Lucy,” he turned, so that he could see the top of her blonde head. She turned her face up and her bright blue eyes met his.
“I can’t believe you’re going to the finals,” she smiled brightly at him. Her arms loosened and she pulled away from the embrace. “I’m so happy for you baby,” she purred, her hands still on his chest.
“Thanks,” Liam shifted, so her hands fell away. “Listen, I’ve got to um, shower and stuff. Do you want me to come find you later?”
She nodded. “Okay baby, I just wanted to tell you how great you were.”
“You’ve got a right cheerleader there,” Greg one of his teammates said, when Lucy had left the changing room. “I wouldn’t be sending her away, before a shower. If you know what I mean?” he elbowed the guy next to him and they both started laughing.
Liam shook his head softly and walked off for his shower. Lucy was hot. He knew it and every other guy on campus knew it. She was the one girl on campus that every guy wanted a go with. She was like the definition of a guy’s wet dream. She knew it though. She knew how she could make a man’s mind wander. She knew how a flutter of her eyelashes could get her almost anything she wanted. If someone drew a comic about her then her power would be beauty, but she wouldn’t be using it for good.
The hot water felt good on his tired and sweaty body. It was relaxing. Most of the guys had already left the shower, so the room was quiet except for the sound of falling water. It wouldn’t have been like that if Lucy was there. She would have talked, and talked, and talked. That was Liam’s problem with her. Some people might have thought that it was her flirtation with other guys, but it wasn’t. It was the fact that she never shut up.
She was hot though, so he dealt with it. He knew that if she was with him, then every other guy on campus wanted to be with him. That was kind of worth the headaches. Liam wasn’t stupid though. He knew that he was playing a dangerous game. He knew that like a bug attracted to a zapper that his attraction to her, would eventually end up destroying him. But, he was already in too deep; her light had already caught his eyes and there was no escape.
It had taken Liam a while to work out that there was no escaping Lucy. It wasn’t until they’d had an argument, and he’d tried to get with another girl that he’d realized no other girl would go near him. To them, he was Lucy’s. To them, Lucy owned him and she owned them. She was the queen bee and her things were left alone.
Liam reluctantly got out of the shower. His body was still aching, but he knew that the water couldn’t aid it anymore. He took his time getting dressed. The hot, sticky air hit him, as soon, as he’d walked out of the changing room. He felt instant sweat creep to the surface of his skin, so that the shower he’d just had could be deemed as pointless.
“Babe,” Lucy called from a stadium bench.
“Oh, you waited for me outside?” Liam tried to look happy about the fact.
“Sure,” she bounced to her feet and walked over to him. “I wanted to tell you about my day. It’s been awful,” her little ski jump nose wrinkled.
“We’re only on the second day of term, how can you be getting into trouble already?”
“I didn’t get into trouble,” Lucy scowled at him. “The school fucked up the room lists. They’ve put some new girl in my room and they’re refusing to move her.”
“There’s a new girl?” Liam asked curiously. It wasn’t often that St. Bernard’s took in new students. “What year is she in?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Lucy snapped at him. “Why is that even important? Aren’t you listening to me?”
“I’m obviously listening to you,” Liam sighed. “There’s a new girl, she’s been put in your room, and you’re being forced to share with her.”
“Exactly,” Lucy pouted. “I called my dad to see whether he could do something, but he just laughed and said sharing a room would do me good. What is that supposed to even mean?”
“I guess that sucks,” Liam shrugged, because the issue was such a non- issue, that he couldn’t take it seriously, even if she was.
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