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“CARTWRIGHT!” Coach Peck bellows from across the field.
I slow to a jog before making my way towards the sideline as my teammates continue to run laps after a shitty scrimmage that could probably be attributed to my four dropped passes. I already know Coach is going to lay into me, but I also know that despite my off day—off week, two weeks…that I’m still the best player on the team by far.
Coach Peck crosses his arms over his CGU sweatshirt and turns his hat backwards, probably so I can better see the disappointment all over his face. “I should make you run sprints till tomorrow’s game,” he snaps. “The hell is going on with you? You’ve been off your game for weeks.” He glowers at me.
I can’t even argue. Before this situation with Alli, I wasn’t exactly giving it a hundred percent when Leighton wasn’t talking to me.
I let out a breath and rub a hand over my face. “I know, Coach. But I swear, I’ll be ready for tomorrow’s game.”
“You haven’t been proving that during practice. I should bench you.”
Anger slithers up my spine, his words grating over my skin. “And put who in? Michaels? He doesn’t have half the skill I do,” I argue.
“At least he’s focused, and I wasn’t aware that I was asking for your opinion or approval. This is my goddamn team; one you’ve barely acted like you want to be a part of.”
“Excuse me if I have a lot going on right now.”
He sighs and slams his clipboard to the ground. I watch as his pen flies out and gets lost in the grass. “This is exactly why I advise my players not to start relationships going into a season…your mind is on the wrong fucking things.” My eyes snap to his angry brown ones. “You think your teammates haven’t ratted you out about you and the girl you’ve been obsessed with since the second your dick got hard for the first time?”
“It’s not about her,” I growl. I haven’t told my teammates about Alli and thankfully she’s kept it to herself as well so things haven’t gotten around. But I know that it’s only a matter of time. Like when she starts showing.
“Well, whatever it is, it’s making you play like shit and I won’t have you jeopardizing tomorrow’s game because your head is so far up a girl’s ass. You’re benched.”
I shake my head to keep my wayward thoughts from thinking of Leighton’s ass. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m most certainly not kidding you, and I’d advise you to watch your tone before you’re benched for next week’s away game too.”
I swallow hard, trying to push my words down my throat before I find myself kicked off the lacrosse team completely. I was hoping to be captain next year, and I hate that in two weeks I might have killed my chances.
I sigh and swallow my pride, preparing to shed a little light into what’s had me so fucked up the past few weeks. “This girl, a different girl…not my girl…is claiming she’s pregnant and it’s mine.”
He narrows his eyes and looks behind me at my team members I know are still running laps. When his eyes turn back to me, I can sense the judgment radiating off of him. “You cheat on your girl?”
“No! Well…it’s messy. The night it allegedly happened was the night Leighton and I became official.” I drop to the bench with my head in my hands, grateful that my teammates and the other coaches are far enough away not to hear me. “I don’t remember anything from that night.”
“Even in your drunken stupor, you can’t remember to wrap it up?” He scolds.
I look up to find him staring down at me like a parent scolding a child. And God knows I’ve heard about enough of that the last two weeks from my parents. “I had to have. There’s no way. I had never slept with her before and for me to do it on the night I started dating Leighton, I just…”
He nods and rubs his jaw. “Listen, this blows and I get how it’s affecting your concentration, but—I still have to bench you.” Before I can protest, he puts a hand up. “I don’t want to, and you are my best player, but your head isn’t in the game.”
I look out at the field to the sea of white and blue jerseys running back and forth between lines in part because of my shitty playing and let out a sigh. “Yeah. I get it.”
“It’s not permanent and it’s not personal, Cartwright. You get that, right?”
“Yeah.” I pull the practice penny off over my head and toss it to the side. “Whatever,” I grumble.
Alli Chem Lab: Can we talk?
I’m still staring at the three word text as I wait for her outside of her sorority house. Sorority row is located just off campus and most importantly somewhere Leighton Mills wouldn’t be caught dead. I see Alli moving down the hill towards her house, her blonde hair flowing around her and her letters stamped across her chest. “Hey, Everett.” I notice her face is a little fuller and she’s practically drowning in the sweatshirt over her petite frame making me wonder if she’s showing and she’s trying to hide it.
Are you showing at six weeks?
“Alli.” I nod.
She slides her sunglasses to the top of her head revealing tired eyes. “So…how are you?”
“Been better. What’s going on?” I blow off her question, not wanting to get into this now.
