AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Please, try,” Rose snorts.
“Girls, back to starting position,” I jump in.
It’s not that I’m not dying to see Rose kick Billie’s ass, but she’s being watched by Duke’s scouts as we speak, and they will cross her name in bright red pen if they think she would be a problem player. Rose knows exactly where I’m getting at and takes a calming breath before turning her back to Billie to walk back to the restraining line, where she starts every draw. I walk next to her.
“Go on, princess,” Billie quips. “You be a good girl like Bianco taught you.”
Rose stops so suddenly she almost slips in the mud. Her back goes rigid and her jaw locks.
“Don’t,” I beg her in a whisper. “She’s only trying to rile you up. This game can decide your future, don’t fall for it.”
Rose gives me the slightest nod and I know it takes all her strength to take another step. Billie knows it too, and she must know Rose is being watched by the scouts because she insists again, desperate to get something out of her.
“Hey, Rose.”
The tone of Billie’s voice doesn’t announce anything good. She drawls like she already knows her next word will provoke Rose beyond control. And we all know how it goes down when a White loses control.
“How does it feel to know your parents didn’t want you?”
My mouth falls at the nerve Billie has. She hit straight home. Rose drops her stick and is on her in a split second, looking down on her from all her height. She’s raging and I run to her, taking hold of her upper arm. I can see Coach Thompson walking along the sideline, coming closer to us. He can’t cross if the whistle isn’t blown, he risks a free shot.
“Rose, Coach is coming. Just drop it.”
But she’s not listening to me, she’s fuming, and her eyes are narrowed on Billie. Her words are as sharp as swords. “How does it feel to know that even without parents I managed to avoid being white trash like you?”
“At least I won’t be Bianco’s little bitch for the rest of my life,” Billie sneers.
I don’t control my fist.
My knuckles hit Billie’s face so hard I’m pretty sure I broke a finger but watching her go down and hit the ground takes over the sharp pain shooting from my hand.
The gasps rising around me makes me realize how close everyone was watching our interaction.
The only problem is Billie doesn’t stay on the floor. She gets up quickly and despite the redness starting to show on her left cheek, she’s ready to hit back.
I’m not.
Jake
It hasn’t been easy to avoid Jamie in the past three days, every team is constantly crowded with the other schools, and it seems my eyes constantly find her. Trying to stay away from her is about as easy as stopping two magnets from connecting.
After what Lik and I did to her, she hasn’t tried to address one word to me and it’s better this way, because when she tries to find the nice guy in me, when she begs for us to get back together…I get too close to giving in.
And I can’t. I can’t do that. But that’s okay, because all the work Jamie has done on me, all the hours spent trying to get me to open up, trying to make me a better person, to find the empathy in me…they’re quickly regressing by the minute.
I don’t see Bianco as often as we did as kids, but his hold on us is just as strong. I feel exactly like I did when we lived with him. The panic attack I got after finding Nate and Jamie at my house taught me another hard lesson about letting my feelings drive me…I really fucking shouldn’t.
If I let myself care too much, I get panic attacks and that teaches me I shouldn’t care because it will only get worse. Every panic attack, every suffocating moment is an occasion for the demons to take over and give my mind a break.
When I don’t care, when I’m my sociopathic self that only enjoys watching people suffer, my emotions can rest in some sort of subconscious space where no one will bother me.
If I don’t have any feelings for Jamie, she can’t hurt me. And if I don’t care about her, Nate and Bianco can’t use her against me.
Granted that’s all easier said than done, because when I see her playing on that field in her tight skort sticking to her from all the rain, her serious face on, with only the win on her mind, I’m easily reminded of why I am desperately in love with that girl.
The girls from Stoneview have finally caught up with N.S. High and I can’t help but feel happy. Not only because of Jamie but because Ozy really fucking deserves it. She’s a beast on the field and every time she scores, Luke and I scream from our seats, getting up and bumping chests.
It’s not just us, though. Many Stoneview students have driven down for the weekend just to watch their team play and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them have come for my sister. I can even see Nate on a higher stand, sitting with Sam and watching Rose like they fucking care.
