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After the last week of dealing with the new school, walking into the football field of my old school feels like second nature. It feels like years have passed since the middle of summer when I was last here, watching Nate do football drills. Everything looks exactly the same as always.
I wait by the fence at the foot of the bleachers until the buzzer signals halftime. Somewhere out there on the field of half-dead grass is my ex-boyfriend, but I try not to look for him in the crowd. I pretend he’s just another guy, some nameless athlete on the field. Tess and Kaylee jog up to me, faces glistening from the heat. They both have brunette ponytails adorned with big green sequined hair bows.
Tess throws her arms around me. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you,” she says. I breathe in her scent of sweat and hairspray and desperately miss my days out on this field.
“I’ve missed you guys,” I say, my voice coming out more gravelly than I’d intended.
Kaylee frowns. She has green sparkly star stickers on the outside of her eyes, and they look all out of place when she isn’t smiling. “So what’s it like going to school with all those rich people?”
“Boring.”
They nod like they’d expected that answer. Kaylee hooks her arm under my elbow, and we walk toward the concession stand. “So … any hot guys?”
“I know what you’re doing,” I say, giving her a warning look. “And I’m totally over Nate, so you don’t have to skirt around the topic.” It’s a lie, but it’s a lie I can stick with.
“Yeah, yeah. I still want the answer. Hot guys?”
I sigh. Tess’s eyes go wide, and she looks over at Kaylee. “That means yes.”
“There’s one guy,” I hear myself saying. “I think he’s dating a girl in our class, so it doesn’t matter.” Emory had spent the last three days passing notes with the girl in front of me. Her name is Heather, and she’s gorgeous. Always smells like strawberries. There’s something about a guy giving attention to another girl that makes him significantly less attractive.
My phone dings from my back pocket, and I stop short, nearly making Tess trip over the curb of the sidewalk. I swallow and try to hide the panic on my face, but it’s too late. My two friends look at me like I’ve seen a ghost and they’re afraid they’ll see it, too.
“What’s wrong?” Tess asks.
“Is it him?” Kaylee says, her voice a whisper now that we’re surrounded by people heading to the concession stand.
My throat goes dry, but I find a way to speak. “Yeah. I don’t want to look at it.”
After that entire act of having my shit together, suddenly with just one message, I’m a crumbled mess. And my friends both know and understand it. Tess puts a hand on my shoulder. “Want me to read it for you?”
I nod and hand her my phone. She and Kaylee huddle together in front of me, their faces glowing while they read Nate’s message. My heart seizes up in my chest, too scared to be excited and too nervous to decipher the looks on their faces.
Finally, after several agonizing seconds, Tess breaks into a smile. “It’s good.”
“What’s it say?”
Kaylee turns the phone around to me. I read the text twice.
Nate: first home game of the season isn’t the same without you here.
“That is good,” I say. My fingers tremble from the rush of adrenaline that fills my veins. My heart takes over my brain, and before I know what exactly I’m doing, I grab my phone and send him reply.
Isla: I’m here. Come say hello :)
“Damn,” Tess says, looking over my shoulder. “Looks like someone will be begging for you back tonight.”
“God, I hope so,” I say.
“Definitely the words of someone who’s over a guy,” Tess says, bumping me playfully in the shoulder. “Who can blame us for doubting you?”
“Shut up.” I watch my phone as we move forward in line. Images of Nate reading my text from the sidelines and then excitedly looking for m
e in the crowd make me smile. Unlike the last two weeks of radio silence, this time, I am confident that he will reply.
He never does.
Chapter Eight
