Chapter Six

Oh boy, exciting.. haha. I'm so weird.

I finished my portion of tryouts in the beginning. My dad knew what I was capable of. After I had changed I sat in the stadium and watched Bridger. He was warming up his arm by throwing the ball back and forth with a new teammate. Finally my dad called him over. My father’s large hand cupped Bridger’s shoulder and he whispered something into his ear. Bridger nodded and walked a few steps forward. A running back stood at the end of the field waiting to catch the ball.

The dark brown ball was handed to Bridger. He rolled it around in his hands a few times. His fingers ran over the white ribs of the ball. Finally he gripped the whole sphere and cocked his arm back. He took a step back and concentrated. He flicked the ball with his wrist. A perfect spiral left his hand and went halfway down the football field to the waiting running back. All the coaches praised him after they had written in their books. Now they ran sprints. Again Bridger was ahead of the whole team. My father looked over him proudly and bragged to the other coaches.

When they were running around the field Bridger looked up into the stands at me, He gave me a quick but weak smile. He turned his body and ran faster. It looked as if his world was falling apart and I had no idea why.

I got into Bridger’s car after he had showered. I looked at him as he backed out of the parking lot, “not yet.’ He whispered and I respected that. We drove home in utter silence.

 

I was really looking forward to the next day. Football practice was in the morning here. I woke up early and showered. Bridger carried our bags out to the car and came in for a few bites of cereal, “Dad left early.” I figured as much.

Again Bridger and I drove in silence. Practice wasn’t hard. I was only second string kicker. I would’ve rather liked to be fourth but I guess second was better than first. Bridger didn’t wait for me after practice. I went through all my classes before lunch thinking about him. When I got to the lunch room I saw that again he was on his phone. This time he was looked as if he was smiling. By the time I got my lunch he had already eaten his. He pointed to his phone and stood up. He left me all alone in the center of a large lunch room.

Silently I picked at my food on the plate in front of me. Suddenly the chair in front of me pulled out and a tray was put on the table in front up me. I looked up into Parker’s bright blue eyes. He smiled as he sat, “Where’s your brother?”

My shoulders shrugged, “I have no idea.”

He nodded and took a bite of an apple, “Ballet’s tonight.”

My teeth appeared under spread lips, “I know.”

“How’s football?” He leaned back in his chair and watched me carefully. Today he wore a black T-shirt with blue and black plaid shorts.

I laughed, “Utter Hell.”

Parker joined me in the laugh and he looked over at me with great care, “I hope that it gets better for you.”

Before I could say thank you I was interrupted, “What do you want from him Reeves.” Hayden was standing behind me with her arms crossed over her chest. My body spun in my chair and looked up at her chocolate brown eyes. They were pinched and tightly glaring down at Parker.

“Hayden, what’s your problem?” Parker sat forward in his seat.

Hayden huffed loudly, “I should be asking you the same. It’s a little suspicious, you talking to the new captain of the STARs team.”

“Captain?” I asked and spun back around to look at Hayden.

“Don’t get in this Russel. I have it all under control.” I chuckled lightly and spun back around to look at Parker whose eyes were bouncing with excitement. “You actually think that after last year’s stunt I’m going to let your team even come near any of my teammates?”

“Let it go Hayden, that wasn’t me. I’m not the same as the captains last year. I’m not them Hayden.” I saw his excitement slowly fade away the emotion now changed to rage.

Hayden’s hands moved to her hips, “I advise you get away from him before I go to the principal and report you for cheating, again.” She licked her lips knowing she had won the fight.

My eyes filled with a sympathetic apology. I opened my mouth to speak but Parker put his hands up. His blue eyes flicked over my face a couple times then he slightly smiled, to restore confidence into me. “I’ll see you tonight?” Slowly my head nodded up and down and he smiled brighter. “Good,” He slid the chair out from underneath the table and stood up. His blue eyes snapped from me up to Hayden, “Hayden it’s always a pleasure to see you.”

She stuck her chin up and faced away from him. He gave me a slight wave and walked off to his group of friends that he sat with earlier. Suddenly Trent the boy from the day before and Hayden both pulled up chairs. They sat down and looked straight at me, “Can I help you with something?”

“What’re you doing with Reeves?” Hayden asked demandingly.

“Nothing, we dance together. He’s been a good friend.”

 Trent looked over at me with a cautious eye. “They’re no good,” he said quietly with a deep dark voice.

“What is this, the mafia?” I asked, “Can’t someone be friends with someone else without being interrogated.”

Hayden scooted closer, “You don’t want to get involved with those All Star guys. They’ll eat you up and spit you back out.”

“You sound a little resentful.”

Trent butted in, “One of them broke her heart.”

“Trent shut up.” She screeched across the table. I laughed loudly so that she could hear. “It’s true,” she stuck her chin up again trying to find her pride. “I fell in love with the senior captain last year. He gave me the world and I gave him our set list. He stole the championship along with my heart.”

“Parker’s not like that.”

“Neither was Chip, he took me out all the time. We were the golden couple.”

My eyes looked over to Trent who was laughing at Hayden’s melodramatic show. “Just don’t give him anything relating to STARs.”

I nodded, “You have my word.”

Author's Note

Le sigh.. I think I have the strangest notes on here.. idk. I'm crazy.