Page 86 of Out of Bounds

"You don’t need to do that."

"You can use it." She shrugged. "So use it."

I couldn’t stop looking over at her while the student reporter finished writing everything down. There was still a question on my mind but it wasn’t something I could ask.

You would do that for me?

33

Kassie

Better Than A Hug

At the JBU game, I got to score an extra ticket for Zariah and the two of us sat in the girlfriend section. She was basically my translator. Every time the ball snapped from hand to hand, I had questions.

"What’s a split?" I whispered and clapped when everybody else did.

"Don’t focus on that. I’ll explain it later." Zariah gestured towards the field and took another big bite of her pretzel. "We’re in the fourth quarter, right?"

"Right."

"The game’s almost over, so they have to focus on what theycando, that’s what Ryan has to decide now. The score is tied. We’re definitely going to overtime." She took a sip of her soda.

"There’s nothing they can do?"

"There’s no way they can do anything now, there’s seconds on the clock," Zariah explained, her voice low. "Now, in the NFL, it’s a flat ten minutes, but in college—"

My eyes shot wide. "Ryan got the ball!"

"What?"

Both of us dipped forward at the same time, staring with rapt attention at the field as the entire stadium swelled with wild cheering. More and more people realized my fake boyfriend had caught the ball midair and was sprinting towards the end zone. There was noway. My hand flew to my mouth.

He’s not going to make it.

Defense players for JBU ran towards him, a sea that Ryan couldn’t hope to beat. I jerked up to a standing position, heart pounding throughout my entire body as more football players leaped to Ryan’s trail, working desperately to reach him.

"Ryan!" I screamed out. "Motherfucker, go!GO! GO, MOTHERFUCKER!"

One of the bigger players made a leap at Ryan and my breathing stopped entirely. But all of a sudden, there wasAdam. Number forty-five made a clean dive at the player and the two of them hit the grass while Ryan kept his straight run.

Zariah threw herself up next to me and both of us screamed at the top of our lungs, competing with the entire stadium, while Ryan raced against the clock, against the horde of football players behind him.

"TAKE IT HOME, RYAN!" I belted out.

The second Ryan crossed the end line, everyone went apeshit in the stadium. Twenty thousand people were screaming, twenty more thousand were screamingFOUR-A-CROSSand sanity came unglued. I grabbed Zariah’s shoulders and the two of us kept yelling at each other.

His teammates jumped on top of him at the end zone and I couldn’t stop laughing. Delirious happiness hit me. Ryan was thereasonthey won. Ryanwon. He’d deserved this win, he’d been working so goddamn hard.

People spilled out onto the football field, washing the field in dark blue. I’d never been so glad to be locked up with the other football girlfriends. The place was in an uproar.

"I can’t believe he did that." Zariah hiccuped. "That was insane!"

"Fuck me, hedidthat shit!" I exclaimed, wheezing a little. "I’m losing my fucking voice!"

"Kassie."

I glanced back to see more and more dark blue jerseys up the stadium, but those weren’t the ones calling my name. That was Cleo, standing on the stairs, the only one who wasn’t leaping for joy.

---