Page 63 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

I pull open the locker room door. “Let's do this.”

After getting changed, we head out of the locker room toward the Glen for warmups.

“This is the worst part.” I tell Phoebe. “All the running.”

“The running isn’t the worst part, it’s the one hundred stone stairs to the upper pavilion,” Tessa sighs. “A hundred uneven stone steps straight up the side of a hill.”

Phoebe looks between us. “One hundred?”

“One hundred.” I confirm.

“You’re kidding,” she asks hopefully.

“Nope.”

She groans, and I laugh. “Don’t worry. By the second trip up them, your legs stop working, so you won’t feel anything anymore.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“Sure, it is. Misery loves company.”

I don't even look toward the football field. Not once. Not even a little. Absolutely not.

A whistle sounds behind us, and then I hear, “Nice skirt, Pretty Girl.”

My stomach immediately betrays me by fluttering. Traitor. Complete traitor.

Becca makes a noise suspiciously close to a laugh. Tessa looks at me. Phoebe looks confused.

I hold up one finger over my shoulder without turning around.

“Damn, Tommy. Was that your girl?”

I can’t help but smile.

Tommy answers. “You're breaking my heart, Pretty Girl.”

The girls stop walking, so I have to stop. Which means I finally turn around.

Big mistake. Huge mistake.

Tommy Lane is on one knee in the grass, hand over his heart, looking entirely too pleased with himself. The idiot. The absolute idiot.

A laugh escapes before I can stop it. His grin gets wider, which somehow makes me laugh harder.

“You're doomed,” Tessa mutters.

I don't even bother arguing.

“You alive?” Becca asks as we drag ourselves toward the locker room.

“Barely.”

Phoebe nods. “Same.”

“You know,” I say, “most sane people cry after their first conditioning practice.”

“I considered it.”