Page 22 of Sporty Girls Don't Fall For Loners

Shaking my head, I turn around and return to my room.

***

I slept relatively okay last night. I still thought about what happened with Zoey as I tossed and turned, but there’s no way I’m apologizing to her after she badmouthed me to her friends. I wonder if I’ll stop feeling this way soon.

The Hastings’ are at the kitchen table when I enter the next day. There are many varieties of breakfast dishes on the table and the topic of discussion is the football game tonight.

Zack lifts his head, grinning at me. “Good morning, Kade. How did you sleep?”

Shrugging, I lean against the doorway. “Fine.”

Ally gestures to the table. “Please eat something. I kind of went overboard because you still haven’t told me what your favorites are. Zoey likes pancakes, so I made a variety.”

I glance at Zoey and find her watching me. All three of them stare at me, as if waiting for me to join them at the table like any normal person would. But I hesitate because I feel left out. These people are connected by blood. I’m just an outsider.

Zoey’s eyes narrow slightly as if she’s trying to understand me. Then she pokes at her chocolate chip pancakes.

Ally gets to her feet. “Kade, please eat something.”

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”

She looks at her husband, biting her lower lip as if she’s worried about me.

She and Zack seem completely crushed and lost, as if they have no idea how to help me. I don’t like that I’m making them feel this way, so I choose one of the two empty chairs at the table, the one across from Zoey. I can feel her watching me, but I don’t look her way.

Like she’s been zapped with energy, Ally offers me many different kinds of food. My mouth waters and my stomach growls.

“Thanks,” I tell her in a low voice once my plate is pretty much filled to the max. There’s no way I’ll eat all of this, but it touches my heart how much she cares.

“It’s our pleasure,” Zack tells me with another smile. “We were just talking about the football game tonight. You know Zoey is the quarterback.”

I look at her and she looks at me.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Her mother, Bailey, was also the quarterback when she was in high school,” Ally informs me.

So she’s the daughter of the first female quarterback at Edenbury High. Brayden Barrington, the coach, must be her uncle. From what I saw when I watched her in the bleachers, Zoey is just as talented as her uncle. It’s like they’ve got football in their blood.

I don’t say anything as I continue eating. The food is really good and I find myself eating most of what Ally placed on my plate.

When Zack’s ready to leave, he tells us to have a good day, and then he and Ally walk away to another room. Maybe to make out? Zoey and I are left in a thick, awkward silence.

She shifts in her seat as she plays around with the syrup on her plate. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her I know exactly what she thinks of me, but I hold back. The last thing I need is for her to know that her words bother me. I don’t even know why they do—I am going to be placed in another home soon. Still, it hurts.

To push that aside, I bend close to her, “So you’re the quarterback.”

She stops with the syrup and looks at me. “Uh huh.”

“If I didn’t see it with my own eyes the other day, I wouldn’t believe it.”

She rolls her eyes. “Because I’m a girl? Gosh, you really are a jerk.”

My lips press into a firm line as I squash the prick to my heart. I am a jerk. So why am I so bothered?

My defense mechanism kicking in, the words slip out before I can stop them. “It’s not that I think girls can’t play football. They can. Just…” I shrug. “Doesn’t look like you can play.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

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