Page 4 of The Playbook

“It’s one of my winning personality traits.” Anthony grinned at us.

“Let’s sweeten the deal,” Julian piped up. “At the end, you have to break her heart in front of the entire school. It’ll keep the bitches in line and keep from giving any others any ideas.”

I downed my beer and nodded, not liking the last bit but not wanting to look like a pussy. “I’m in. You guys put it together. We’ll start on Monday when school begins.”

“Which girls?” Anthony pulled out a small notebook from his back pocket.

“What the hell is that?” Andy snorted, looking at Anthony’s notebook.

“What the hell does it look like? It’s a damn memo book.”

Ryan sighed. He was always on my tail about Andy, telling me to let it go. I couldn’t though. I had to beat him. So much for a relaxing senior year. It was completely off the table now.

“I vote for Casey Lane,” Julian said.

“No, she gets around. We need girls who are tough,” Dax said. “How about Marissa Waters?”

“The goth?” Andy let out a loud laugh. “No thanks.”

“No, it makes perfect sense. If you guys are doing this, it should be chicks who’ll make it tough. And Marissa Waters is tough. And scary,” Anthony added as an afterthought.

I smirked. Marissa was a goth chick with loads of piercings. People talked about how she spent her free time in the cemetery. Truthfully, the girl scared me a little.

“Whatever. I can get Marissa Waters. Put her down for me. I’ll have her eating out of my hand by homecoming.”

Anthony scribbled in his little notebook and looked to the other guys. Practically the entire team had joined us.

“How about Sarah Mathias for Logan?” Dax said.

“How about no,” Julian shot back. “She’s a junior. She’d be all over a chance to hook up with Logan and the clout it would bring. No underclassmen.”

I rolled my eyes.

The guys went through a list of names until Andy grinned at me.

“Grace Matthews.”

I balked at the name. Grace Matthews. Quiet. Strange. And the coach’s daughter.

“Absolutely not. It’s common knowledge Coach doesn’t let her date. And if he finds out I’m screwing around with her, I’m off the team.” I shook my head. “No way.”

“Actually, it’s a good idea. If you’re so good, why not take the challenge, Walker? Scared?” Andy cocked his head at me as the guys chuckled.

“No, I’m not scared, but it’s hardly fair.”

“I say we vote on it like we voted for Marissa.” Andy folded his arms over his chest and stared me down. “Guys, what do you think?”

I winced at the resounding yeses and catcalls.

“It’s done. Grace Matthews it is,” Julian said. “But let’s up the ante. Loser has to sit at the dumpsters the rest of the year,andthey have to be the winner’s bitch for a week.”

“Fine,” I snapped. “Doesn’t matter because I’ll win.”

Ryan groaned and rubbed his eyes.

“Excellent. I’ll get the playbooks ready for tomorrow with the list of tasks in them. Oh, and just so no one cheats here, you’ll have to provide proof of everything you manage to accomplish. Also, we keep this secret. If anyone tells, they have to run naked across the football field on homecoming.” Anthony made a note in his book and grinned at us. “This is going to be fun.”

“Shake on it,” Dax called out.

---