Page 11 of Saving the Halfback

Lachlan waved him away. “I was clearly ahead of you both. You don’t need a stopwatch to have seen that.”

“You may have won at the forty yard, but I beat you both on the twenty.” I grinned. “By fifty-three tenths of a second.” I bumped a very surprised Lachlan as I walked by, his mouthslightly open in disbelief. Nolan howled with laughter behind me.

Lachlan and Nolan were highly competitive with one another, and I was all for it. No matter the drill Coach put us through, I made sure I pushed myself to be ahead of them, though, most times, I ended up slightly behind. Ethan, Mark, and Greg completed the drills as well, but Mark and Greg weren’t as competitive. Greg made a comment about how annoying practices would get with a girl on the team, so I chose silence and stayed out of his way. Ethan remained quiet the whole time, aside from an annoyed sigh here and there. He refused to look at me, and every time my eyes drifted to him, I found a disapproving frown on his face.

Mark was fun. He seemed bored with having to complete drills, but he went along with it all the same. He didn’t mind a girl trying out to join the team.

At the end of class, Coach approached me, telling me he wanted me at the practice tomorrow morning to watch how it ran…if I was still interested. Spoiler alert: I was.

4

Bailey

“Lach said you're from his town?” Nolan asked as we walked together for history class.

“Yep, Cloverton. They barely have enough kids for an elementary school, so no high school. Did you guys just move around here?”

“No, out-of-district transfer for now, but we are in the process of moving. My dad is a bit of a football buff and is sure playing for this school will be a one-way ticket to university-level football. We were looking at places in Cloverton.” Nolan paused for a moment before asking, “So, what’d you do to piss Ethan off? He’s always reserved in practice, but he seemed kind of—”

“Mad? I guess I have that effect on people.” Between him and Chase, I didn’t have much hope of patching anything up. Nolan raised his eyebrow at me. “Lachlan, Ethan, Chase, and I used to be friends. The summer before grade nine, Lachlan, well, left. Chase and Ethan stopped talking to one another, and before I knew it, the rift had been created before we even stepped a foot inside this school.” I left out the part where Ed helped fill their silence for me. I didn’t know why we had turned away from one another, but I did know Ed had been there and helped me through it.

“Chase Jacobs?”

I sighed. “The one and only.”

Nolan shook his head. “He’s an asshole to everyone, don’t take it personally.”

Maybe I shouldn’t, but…when it was your childhood friend, it was hard not to.

Even with the gym on the other side of the school, Nolan and I were able to get a table together in history class. Ethan came in just before the teacher, Mr. Levie, and sat down next to me, across the aisle. I peeked over at Nolan, who waggled his eyebrows at me. When I narrowed my eyes at him, he grinned.

Nolan leaned over and whispered, “Maybe he’s not as mad as you thought.”

“Maybe you didn’t see him avoiding me like the plague all through gym class,” I whispered mockingly back.

I turned my head forward and tried to listen to Mr. Levie’s lecture. The tension between Ethan and I was thick, and through class, it grew. His presence next to me was strong enough that I found it difficult to breathe. It was no surprise; I’d had this reaction any time Ethan and I were next to one another in the last few years. If I was being honest with myself, Ethan kind of scared me.

While Ethan had always been rough, kind of a mean kid, if you were in his circle, he was a loyal friend. If I had showed up at his house, saying I had a body to bury, I doubt he would have even asked questions. That’s how loyal he’d been. He would have just pick up a shovel and started discussing ways to make it disappear.

It wasn’t that I was afraid Ethan would hurt me, though. I think, deep down, I was afraid he wouldknow. Over the last few years, I’d been afraid of them all knowing, and I wasn’t sure why…other than Ed not being happy about me talking to them. It was easier to avoid them than it was to include them. Wouldthey think I was weak if they knew? It would break me if they thought so.

Iused to be their savior. Lachlan, Chase, and Ethan.Iwas the strong one, the one who held them together. Who made sure they were good. It was my job to keep everything going.

Of course, my relationship with Ethan hadn’t started out like that, since I’d made him eat sand for picking on my friends. But something else happened when we were younger that made me realize he needed just as much protection as the others did.

I stoodoutside Mr. Lim’s corner store, waiting for my parents with a slushie in hand, when I heard it. The loud, echoing slap. I peeked around the corner in the alley and saw a man holding an eight-year-old Ethan off the ground by the collar of his shirt.

“You little punk,” the man said before raising his hand again and striking it across Ethan’s cheek.

“Stop!” I screamed, my high-pitch voice echoing off the walls of the alley. “You can’t do that!”

The man dropped Ethan onto the ground and squared off with me. I dropped my slushie and put both hands on my hips, ready to give him a piece of my mind when…a heavy hand fell on my shoulder. My dad.

“Is there a problem?” Dad asked. I stood taller, narrowing my eyes at the man as my dad’s confidence transferred to me. Dad wouldn’t let anything happen.

The man chuckled. “No, sir, just taking my son to get a treat. Ain’t that right, Ethan?” Ethan stood up and nodded.

“He’s lying, Daddy. He hit him,” I nearly yelled. My parents always taught me to stand up to any wrongdoing, and at eight years old, I knew this was wrong.

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