AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And Luke…well here he is, replacing Jake as our lacrosse team captain. Trying desperately to keep things normal, to keep what is left of his group together. To pretend everything hasn’t gone to complete shit. He is a pillar. Not mine, though. I don’t really talk to him now that he and Emily aren’t together anymore, but he tries and that is amazing of him.
“I’ll talk to Rose. I’m seeing her tonight,” Luke tells me. His bright baby blue eyes seem to have gone a shade paler since his best friend left all of us behind. “I don’t think Nate’s going to sign. She has to forge his signature.”
My teeth decide to attack my inner cheek again. This just isn’t a good idea. Not when I know what Nathan is capable of.
“I don’t want her to get in trouble,” I admit.
Luke chuckles sadly at me. “You really think Rose is scared of getting in trouble? Have you met her?”
“Yeah. I guess not.” Except Luke doesn’t know how bad Nathan can get. He might have heard but he hasn’t witnessed it.
He didn’t witness him beating Jake to a pulp. He didn’t see when he grabbed his younger sister by the hair and slammed her against the coffee table. He didn’t see how afraid she was when she signed. If she forges his signature and he catches her… A shiver of fear runs through my spine and I zip up my coat.
“I just don’t want to put her in danger for a lacrosse tournament. I love Coach T. but it’s not that big of a deal.”
“Lacrosse is her full ride to Duke. Itisa big deal.”
“Duke?!” I choke. This is worse than I thought. I had no idea Rose was getting a lacrosse scholarship, and to Duke University as well.
I mean, she’s a great player but she’s also a freaking genius. If there is a reason a college should pay her to study there, it should be for her brain.
“Does Nathan know?”
Luke shrugs at my questions. If Nathan knows Rose could get away thanks to lacrosse, it’s pretty clear why he’s not signing. The last thing he would want is for her to leave Stoneview and get away from this mess. Because he’s that kind of selfish.
“You got a ride?” Luke asks as we stop by his G-Wagon.
I nod and dangle the keys to my bike lock in front of him. “Always.”
My phone rings in my pocket and I take it out. I glance at Luke and notice his eyes going to my screen.
“That Em?” He sounds so desperate when he says her name, my own heart breaks all over again. Oh, how I know what it’s like to be dying for someone to come back to you. My face painfully turns into a sorry grimace as I shake my head.
“It’s Cole.”
For the strangest reasons, Cole and I got much closer in the past two months. I think Jake had truly scared him away from me before the Christmas break. I mean, he broke his nose because Cole asked me to the ball. That is toxic 101.
Since Jake is not part of our lives anymore, he can’t threaten anyone for being too close to me. Good. It’s a part of him I don’t miss. He was too possessive, too bad-tempered when it came to sharing. Too caveman. I don’t miss that.
Lies. Lies. Lies. Jake comes as a whole. The good and the bad. And you miss all of it.
It doesn’t matter. My head is not in the right place for dating, neither is my heart, and I’m thankful that Cole and I became friends. We’re great friends and I love spending time with him. I tend to take a step back every time his behavior turns slightly flirtatious, but he never pushes. He respects me and my boundaries and I’m happy to finally be hanging out with someone honest and kind without any expectations on either side. He still doesn’t lift a finger when it comes to being co-president of the student council, but we’ve come to make a joke out of his jock behavior.
I wave bye to Luke and answer my phone as I head to my bike.
“What’s up, loser?” I smile into the phone.
“Hey, Queen bee. How was the meeting with Coach?”
“Bad news, you’ve been kicked off the team. I think they said it has to do with your freakishly small feet.”
Cole laughs on the other end of the line. “You really want to talk about small things? I called ‘cause I was worried you’d blow away with all that wind.”
It’s my turn to laugh. What an idiot.
“Anyway, I was wondering how you’d feel about homework together. I was planning on rewarding us with sushi.”
“You really know how to use my weaknesses against me, huh? If you think you can trick me into doing your homework in exchange for sushi…you’re absolutely right. Where should we meet?”
