Page 148 of Saving the Halfback

“Most of the cheerleading team,” Lachlan answered for him when he didn’t speak fast enough.

“Not true.” Nolan rolled his eyes. “I don’t even know. Maybe two, but I wasn’t counting. I’m not sure I will be going, anyway.”

The next daywas no different. No, it was worse. Word got out that I was turning every guy down, and now theydidmake a bet to see who would convince me to go. Chase was miserable, snapping at anyone who stepped up to me in the halls. Ethan was my own blockade. Lachlan mainly laughed, unless someone went to touch me, then I had to remind him that breaking hands wasn’t a good thing.

Nolan was silent, more than usual.

“Hey.” I bumped into his shoulder as we walked down the hall. “What ya thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“I say we all just skip this whole homecoming thing and get some drinks and camp out in the back forty,” I said.

Chase grinned. “That sounds much better to me.”

Leaning against his locker, Derrick leered at me, sending a chill down my spine. His eyes skimmed my body, and I found myself leaning more into Nolan. He wrapped his arm around me in response.

I hadn’t seen much of Derrick since he got back to school. His arm was still in a cast, but most of his face had healed. “Ready for the game this weekend?”

Chase fell forward, landing directly on Derrick and slamming him into the lockers. “Oh, shit. Sorry, man, didn’t see you there.” He threw more of his body weight into him until Derrick cursed.

“I was talking to you guys, not her!”

Chase pushed off him and walked along with us.

“We used to be friends!” Derrick called.

“Get laid,” Chase shouted back.

When we all got into the truck, I turned around to face Chase. “You don’t hang out with your friends anymore. You used to always have a group around you.”

“They were never my friends, Bails. They stayed around me for the money and parties. The moment they caught wind that my father exiled me, they all left.”

I frowned. “How did they know?”

“Aristocratic, political bullshit. Don’t worry about it. I found my place and I’m liking it.” He leaned forward, capturing my lips with his and snaking his hand around the seat, trying to pull me into the back.

“Seat belts,” Ethan grumbled. Chase chuckled but let go of me, so I could buckle up.

54

Bailey

Thursday

The night before, Ethan and Chase had stayed in their room, and I’d tossed and turned all night. Though they were sharing the queen-size bed in there, my parents had said they would put two beds in there soon. They didn’t complain. I knew they were grateful for the place to stay. I could tell in the way they jumped to their feet anytime my dad said he had work to be done. Or when they would do the dishes and tidy up after dinner before my mother could shoo them away and tell them to focus on their homework.

In return, my parents liked having them. I knew they had wanted a big family, and their hearts were broken when they learned I would be their only child. Having the guys at the dinner table every night made things brighter, fuller. Dad was always asking how football was, what we thought the outcome for the away game would be.

The two games we had this weekend were being played at the same location. Because of their distance, we were arriving at a hotel on Friday, playing a game Friday night, and then staying at the hotel before playing a game Saturday afternoon.

Dad was disappointed he wouldn’t be able to go, but my mother would be there for the first game, though she had to come back home for Saturday.

As the only girl on the team, I wasn’t allowed to room with any of the guys, but Coach talked to the cheer coach, and I was rooming with Beth and a couple of other girls on the cheer team.

The night wore on, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the trip. While staying in a hotel, maybe I wouldn’t have to listen to the phantom shed for at least one night. Or those barks.

I sat up in my bed, glancing at the clock and grumbling as I saw it was only three a.m. The barking continued. Marley had tried so hard…she was always there for me, and now she was in a shallow grave, her last moments nothing but a lie. Hit by a car?Mygirl, hit by a car? No. She was much smarter than that. She was everything, and in the end, I pretended she had been nothing. I spent nights and days pretending I couldn’t hear her ghost haunting me. Pretending she never even existed. I was the cause of her death; there was no doubt about it.

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