AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I looked up from my spot on the ground pulling my socks up high to see Gardner standing over me. “Good. I got to spend some time with my family, and you?”
He shrugged, crouching down. “I slept a lot.”
“Nice.”
Gardner made a pleasant face but didn’t reply. He stayed next to me as I pulled my cleat on and tied it. “Sal.” His voice was so low my gut immediately knew something was wrong. “More pictures popped up this weekend. I want you to be smart, okay?”
I didn’t even tilt my head to take a look at him, only slanting my eyes over in his direction as my guts crawled up into my throat. “We’re friends, G. That’s all.”
The grave expression on his face wasn’t exactly reassuring. “Look, I believe you. I’d believe you if you told me pigs flew, but I know Cordero’s going to be pissed, and there’s only so much Sheena and I can do.”
Time seemed to slow down. “What are you trying to say?”
“I want you to think about what you’re doing and what you want from the future.” Gardner put his hand on my shoulder. “I want the best for you, Sal. That’s the only reason why I’m saying anything. I don’t want you to get blindsided.”
Blindsided by what?
Before I could even start to get my thoughts together and ask him for clarification on whether I was over-exaggerating what he was implying, Gardner straightened up and walked off.
There’s only so much Sheena and I can do for you.
Think about what you’re doing and what you want to do in the future.
I don’t want you to get blindsided.
All I did was take my friend home with me. That was it.It.
I hadn’t done drugs, flashed a crowd, stolen anything or killed anyone.
If my guesses were on track, Gardner had just warned me that my career was in jeopardy.
Maybe I should have panicked. Cried. I would have sworn that I would stop being friends with someone who so obviously needed a friend.
But I didn’t do any of those things. Not even close.
While Gardner had just been trying to be a good friend and warn me, I was suddenly pissed. Really pissed.
I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I knew that in my heart. Sure, there was a stipulation in my contract about fraternization, but I hadn’t been freakingfraternizingwith anybody. Not even close, and I was being punished? Or at least sort of being punished?
This was horse shit. Absolute horse shit.
And I really wanted to punch Cordero in the face. Repeatedly.
Tension screamed through my shoulders and down my arms. I had to ball up my fists to contain my frustration with this entire situation. Honestly, I liked Rey. It wasn’t easy, and he got on my nerves at times, but I felt a closeness to him that I didn’t feel with anyone else I played with.
The fact that only a few of the girls on the team spoke to me during practice didn’t make things any better. The rest cast me side-glances that I wasn’t a fan of. But they didn’t say anything to egg me on, so I managed to keep my mouth closed. I knew better than to be the one to start anything. You’re only young and dumb once.
When they weren’t giving me snide glances, they were looking at Kulti like they were expecting to find him with my bra around his neck. The thing was, while I could keep my mouth shut, the German didn’t have to.
And he didn’t.
He had met my eyes early on during practice and frowned. His frown had continued to deepen the longer practice went on. Kulti didn’t try to ask me what happening, but somehow I knew that he was aware something was bugging me, and it had to do with the girls looking him up and down.
My favorite thing that came out of his mouth was, ”I don’t know what the hell you’re looking at, but you need to be looking at the field and not braiding each other’s hair!”
It was so sexist and untrue; I couldn’t help but snicker and then try to hide it.
In the long run though, it didn’t help me be any less pissed off.
