Page 36 of Look What You Made Me Do

“That’s not?—”

Jake held up his hand. “Ella’s not the enemy. Maybe you should cut her some slack?”

“She’s my sister,” he muttered sullenly. “She was supposed to look out for me.”

“No.” Jake shook his head. “That was Rachel’s job.”

Cameron dropped his gaze to the ground, clearly wanting to tell Jake to also fuck off but not wanting to jeopardize his chances with the team.

“Got it?” Jake repeated.

Cameron’s lifted his gaze, his jaw tight. “Got it.”

He stalked away then and Jake re-joined Ella who was watching a sullen Cameron make his way to the team on the bleachers.

“Everything okay?” she asked, searching his face.

“Yep. Everything’s fine.”

He could tell she was curious about the conversation he’d had with her brother but she didn’t go there. “Not that I don’t appreciate it,” she said, instead, “but what’s the purpose of the haircuts?”

“Ahh, grasshopper.” Jake smiled. “You have much to learn. The reasons are threefold.”

Ella rolled her eyes. “Oh, this ought to be good.”

He laughed. “Firstly, it’s a test. I needed to know their level of commitment.”

“Good test. Trust me, no one’s more committed to the mullet than a teenage boy.”

“Secondly, they can see the ball better when they don’t have hair in their eyes.”

“Excellent point.”

“Lastly, it makes them look badass. And bluff is just as important in football as it is in any sport.”

“They do look pretty mean,” she admitted.

And they did. On these burly boys, caught halfway between adolescence and manhood, it looked mean as hell. Even the floral capes didn’t detract from the don’t-mess-with-us vibe.

Trish bounded over, grinning wildly, which made Jake laugh. She was obviously taking great pleasure in her work.

“They look hardcore, don’t they?” she enthused.

“Amazing,” Ella agreed. “I don’t suppose you’re free to do the rest of the school tomorrow?”

Trish eyed off the other boys who hadn’t made the team. “It’s tempting, isn’t it?” she admitted.

“We need a photo to record this for posterity,” Ella said with a grin. “Oh, actually…”

She paused and Jake could practically hear the gears in her brain kicking over. Which gave him a very bad feeling.

Snapping her fingers, she looked at them with a gleam in her eyes. Clearly, she had a plan. “We need the press in on this. Get ourselves a bit of a media profile which should hopefully spotlight the battle for the school and might get us some broader community support.” She glanced at Jake. “Can I invite some local media to a practice session?”

Before Jake could say over my dead body, Ella continued. “Maybe we could re-create this scene? I mean, the kids might hate it, but these old bleachers turned into an impromptu hair salon would be an awesome photo.” Ella turned speculative eyes on Trish. “Would you come back one day for a re-creation?”

Jake sensed Trish go very still beside him and he slid his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. “No press,” he intoned.

A small frown knitted Ella’s brows together as she looked from him to Trish then back to him again. “Oh come on.” She smiled. “A big hot-shot jock from the Founders isn’t afraid of the Deluca Daily photographer, surely?”

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