Page 23 of The Two Halves of My Heart

As soon as the whistle blew, I became invested in every move Mads made. My eyes followed him through every tackle and every pass. He seemed to fight for every foot of ground on the pitch, and it paid off as they were up by one try at half-time.

I cheered and clapped when they scored, just like his mum, but I didn’t call out his name or signal to any of the other players like the other girls who had decided to come and watch today—it took everything in me not to yell at them for distracting the guys on the pitch. Of course, I had nowhere near enough courage to do that. I recognised a few of the girls, but not all of them, and it wasn’t like I had any claim over being their only supporter.

Maddison scored a try in the second half, extending the lead and ensuring the cup. It was the first time he’d looked over at us for the whole game. My smile was wide, and I’m sure I looked goofy, but I didn’t care. I was just glad that his team would win the cup.

Mads scored. They won the game.

I made sure to keep Oliver updated.

Vivien and I headed over to meet the boys off the pitch. Both teams trudged off after doing the tunnel thing to show their respect. One of the other players stopped next to us and smiled. “Hi, I’m James.”

I froze. I didn’t know what to say to the muddy boy standing in front of me, but everything in my brain stopped functioning.

Suddenly, someone shoved James from my field of vision. The movement shocked me into action, and I watched as Mads walked after James, giving him no option but to move in the opposite direction to me.

“Maddison!” Vivien admonished, but it was swallowed up by the rest of the team piling in on each other. My feet stepped away from the scuffle, and I went to wait next to the car, pulling my coat closer around me.

“Sorry about that.” Vivien came over and unlocked the car for us. We jumped in, out of the chill and waited for Mads. I looked out the window, feeling stupid and deflated when I should be happy about Maddison winning. And I was confused about why I was feeling like this. Was it because he’d shown interest in other girls over me, or his reaction when another boy tried to talk to me?

Nearly twenty minutes later, the car door finally opened.

“Hey,” Mads muttered as he climbed in the back seat.

“Good job, sweetheart. Congratulations,” Vivien exclaimed.

“Thanks.”

“Well done,” I offered and tried to catch his eye, but Mads seemed to be more interested in staring out the window. From this angle, I could see his jaw tensed like he was grinding his teeth together in frustration, and I wondered if he was avoiding me. He should have been happy—he’d just won.

I hated it when he was like this. Sometimes he made it so hard to be his friend.

We travelled home in silence, but the bouncing of his leg didn’t stop. My hand itched to rest on his thigh again—to still him and tell him that whatever it was, it was okay. But I was too mad. Or at least that’s what I felt inside: hot and bad-tempered.

Vivien dropped me off at my house, and I waved lamely to Mads in the car. You’d never think he’d just won the game.

“Is that you, Grace?”

“Yeah.”

“Did they win?”

“Yep. Cup winners, whatever that means.”

“You don’t look so happy?” Mum came and rubbed my arm, scrutinising me.

“I’m fine. Maddison wasn’t in the best mood. I’m just going to go to my room.”

“Okay, then. Dinner will be at six.”

I ran upstairs and into my room, scooping Bob up and letting him get comfy on my lap as I stroked his softness.

My phone chirped, and I had to shift to reach it from my pocket.

Are you coming over? I want a break from revision.

I read the message from Oliver.

Can you come over here?

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