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I shrugged. “I guess they think it’ll get them mentioned in the paper more. I don’t know.”
“Well, you don’t seem to have that problem; you get mentioned all the time.”
With a groan, I muttered, “Don’t remind me. I’m not a fan of that much attention. It’s freaking embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing?” she squawked in surprise. “How could you not like all the love?”
“The love is fine,” I assured her. “But having that many people watch every little thing you do can get suffocating. Sometimes, I just want a little anonymity, space to breathe, you know. I get tired of having to explain my actions every time someone asks why I did something.”
Squinting at me, she murmured, “Okay, yeah. I guess that part could get pretty taxing.” Tipping her face to the side, she watched me for another second before saying, “Do you evenlikefootball?”
Sputtering out a laugh, I shook my head over such an absurd question. “Of course, I like football.”
“But do you, like,loveit, love it? It’s just…” She shrugged. “You haven’t done anything football-y since I’ve been stuck with you.”
I chuckled. “Football-y?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” I murmured before sighing. “I do. But to be fair, the seasonjustended. I’m on a much needed break at the moment.”
“Because you’re tired of it and don’t like it?” she guessed.
Laughing again, I shook my head. “No. I like football. I like the rush I get when I’m out on the field; I like the strategy, planning, and trying to outsmart and outperform the other team. I love how everything can narrow down to the next big play. I like my teammates and practicing with them. And Ilovewatching all our hard work and practice come together to win games. Ilikethe sport.”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured as if she didn’t buy that. “So why does it sound as if there’s abutcoming?”
I smiled and took a turn to roll my eyes at her. “Okay, maybe you were right that it’s not my entire life. Thescholarshipit provides is probably more important to me than whether I play another game or not. I don’t know how I’d pay for college without it. So I put up with all the interviews and photo shoots, which…ugh.” Tipping my head back in misery, I groaned. “That reminds me; I have one of those tomorrow afternoon before my last class of the day.”
“Seriously?” She brightened, suddenly not appearing tired at all. “You have a photo shoot tomorrow? I get to watch you at a photo shoot? Are you going to take your shirt off?”
For some reason, I couldn’t seem to stop laughing tonight. But everything she said entertained me. “You’ve seen me shirtless,” I reminded her, still shaking my head over how adorable she was.
“Only for, like, two seconds,” she argued.
“Well, sorry, but they’ve never had me take it off before, so I’m going to say, no, I’m probablynotgoing to go shirtless at the photo shoot.”
Raina slumped in disappointment. “They have no idea how to really sell football then.”
After another soft chuckle, I sighed out a breath and watched her face for a moment before whispering, “Thank you.”
She sent me a clueless frown. “For what?”
“You made me forget to be so sad today too.”
“That’s right,” she admitted. “You kind of woke up getting evicted from your own home, didn’t you? I mean, it’s like a sloth-speed eviction. From the timeline they gave, some of your younger siblings might move out before you do.” She shook her head and gave me a sympathetic look. “But I never would’ve guessed that you’ve always been working through those issues. You seem so happy and comfortable with yourself during your interviews. Are you really filled with that much guilt under it all?”
“I…don’t know,” I admitted with a rueful shrug. “To be fair, I’m usually being interviewed because something awesome just happened, like we won a game. So yeah, I probablyamriding a high and pretty happy at those times. But—I mean, I don’t think I’m depressed or anything. The guilty, ashamed stuff has become such a normal part of my everyday life that I don’t even really notice it anymore. Sure, it’s the driving force behind almost everything I do, but it doesn’t drag me down or anything like that. I just carry it along with me wherever I go. You know?”
Raina watched me quietly for a second before she nodded. “I think Idoknow. Though I must admit, I think you weather it like a boss.”
With a disbelieving snort, I said, “Well, I’m glad someone thinks so.”
“You do,” she assured. “You’re pretty amazing all the way around. You’re turning out to be a lot different from what I originally thought when I first saw you on that campus billboard, but I think this version of you is so much better.”
My chest heated with the praise. I’d had a lot of girls try to get with me because I was the Haverick football quarterback. But it hit so much harder when someone liked me because I was simply Foster.
The modest side of me had to duck away from the praise though. Shaking my head, I answered, “Stick around a minute, then, Spirit Girl. You’ll learn all my flaws soon enough.”
