AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey,” I said as I drew closer.
Topher murmured something unintelligible, too busy watching the players warm up, while Scarlett practically shouted, “You came! For a minute, I thought you weren’t going to show and leave me to sit through this fresh torture alone.”
“Hi, Barry.” Penelope smiled, then turned and poked Topher in the ribs. “Say hello!”
“Ow.” He flinched. “What? I did?”
Penelope rolled her eyes, but Topher turned and offered me a nod of the head as his hand shot out. “What’s up, man?”
“Not much,” I said as I slapped his hand, hoping that was the appropriate response since I rarely spoke bro-code. It was still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Topher used to be King of the Royals. Yet there I was, on a Friday night, attending a school sporting event with him.
I took a seat beside Scarlett, and she bumped my shoulder playfully. “Glad you came.”
“It beats sitting at home, I guess,” I said, hoping I sounded more optimistic than I felt.
“Does it though?”
I laughed as I scanned my surroundings for Ella when Scarlett scrunched her nose and clucked her tongue, her gaze trained to the right of the field. “They’ve been recruiting pretty hard ever since Thorne and Topher rejected them.”
I glanced in the direction of her gaze and paused at the Royals when it clicked. The recruit she was talking about was Ella, I was sure of it.
JT leaned down and wrapped his arms around Gabby’s waist, shifting slightly. And that’s when I saw her. She stood at the helm of their elite circle, radiant in the late afternoon sunshine, with about a half a dozen boys clustered around her, including Luca in his baseball uniform, which conveniently showcased his biceps.
“Did he cut the sleeves on his jersey, or what?” I’d never seen that much arm on a ballplayer. Not that I watched much baseball.
“Huh?” Scarlett wrinkled her nose.
“Nothing.” I shook my head, trying to tear my gaze away from her, but I couldn’t. “Luca’s interested in her,” I supplied.
Scarlett hummed in the back of her throat. “He’s not so bad compared to the rest, but still. Date one of them, and you might as well become one. I didn’t think Ella was the type.”
“I like her,” I blurted, then subsequently wanted to die, because I had zero chill.Scarlett had known about Thorne’s coaching me for a while now, but what she hadn’t known was my muse.
Until now.
“Wait”—Scarlett’s head whipped in my direction—“you do? So, that’s the girl Thorne was telling me about?” Her mouth gaped for a moment before she recovered and bumped my shoulder with hers. “Are you going to give the Royals a run for their money or what?”
I huffed out a breath. “I mean, I want to, but it’s not like I can compete with Luca.” Or half the other guys in our class, I thought as I watched another one of my classmates approach her. I expected competition, but not this much competition.
“Aw, come on. I know Thorne taught you better than that. What happened to the underdog winning and all that crap?”
“That was dodgeball,” I said, feeling my frustration mount as Ella tipped her head back and laughed at something someone said.
“No, it’s not just dodgeball. Winning someone’s heart can be every bit as strategic. And the smarter you are, the better.”
I stared at her like I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Come on. Where’s all this confidence Thorne’s been pumping into you?”
I shot a sheepish glance to my feet. All of a sudden, Thorne’s self-help pep talks had gone in one ear and out the other.
“I’d love nothing more than to see you get the girl. And right under their noses, too,” Scarlett said, and I could practically hear her plotting in her head. “You just need to play smarter, not harder.”
I pursed my lips, thinking about it. “That’s easy for you to say. You did the impossible and scored Thorne Roberts.” Then I screwed up my face as I thought about how I came off. “No offense.”
“None taken. It’s a good point, but don’t you think Gabby tried to get her claws in him first? He wasn’t exactly free for the picking.”
“So how did you do it?”
