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Did he…? No. No, he didn’t.
Of course, he didn’t.
Then why…?
“Shannon, can we talk?” Johnny’s voice penetrated my thoughts, startling me and causing me to drop his iPod. Thankfully, it landed on my lap and not on the floor of the bus.
I turned to face him, feeling my heart race violently in my chest.
“Talk?”
“Yeah.” Johnny nodded slowly, blue eyes dark and heated. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Uh, yeah, okay…” Wiping my palms on my skirt, I exhaled a shaky breath before adding, “What do you want to talk about?”
“Not here,” Johnny said, glancing around the bus. “Tonight,” he added, eyes trained on mine again. “After the match. I’ll take you home and we can talk in my car?”
“Uh…” I chewed on my lip, feeling panicked at the thought of having to wait that long. “If that’s what you want?”
“It’s probably best,” he replied gruffly.
Oh god. Was it bad? Was he going to tell me something terrible?
“Don’t look so scared,” Johnny said, distracting me once more from my thoughts. “I won’t hurt you.” Reaching over, he tipped my chin up with the back of his hand and gave me a small smile. “I promise.”
I was so lost in this boy I could hardly breathe.
“Alright, everyone, reflection time is over,” Mrs. Moore called out, clapping her hands to garner everyone’s attention. “We only have forty minutes left before we get to Dublin, so I propose another quiz.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Johnny groaned, dropping his hand. “Not another bleeding quiz.”
I chuckled at his reaction.
“What’s funny?” he asked, smirking at me. “Don’t tell me you actually enjoy these things?”
I enjoy being with you.
“I’m on the winning team,” I teased, nudging his shoulder with mine. “Of course, I’m enjoying this.”
“True,” Johnny agreed with a lopsided grin. Pulling the stack of certificates we had collected throughout the day’s tasks out of his bag, he plopped them on my lap and said, “We make a pretty good team, Shannon like the river.”
Yes. Yes, we did.
I waited for everyone else to climb off the bus before sliding out of my seat.
“Good luck today,” I said as I hovered in the aisle, watching Johnny as he rummaged through the discarded bags at the back of the bus, clearly searching for his own.
“Huh?” Johnny replied, obviously distracted, as he muttered something about messy bastards under his breath.
He looked stressed. The closer we got to Royce College, the more agitated he grew. Now that we were here, Johnny was vibrating with tension.
I understood why.
He was supposed to go to school here, which meant he would more than likely be playing against his old friends and teammates.
That was a lot of pressure.
And he was hiding an injury.
