Page 9 of Saving the Halfback

“I could play football. I used to play with you guys.” Actually…the more I thought about it, the more fun it sounded. I’d always wanted to be on a sport’s team.I should do it, the voice in my head egged on.

“Yeah, we were like eight, and it was tyke football,” Lachlan said. “This is different. We aren’t little kids, just pushing each other around anymore.”

“You should try it,” Nolan said. I fought a laugh. Lachlan was like the angel on my shoulder, and Nolan was the devil, telling me to push the button. “We had two girls on my team last year. Mind you, the team had nearly ninety players, so there was a lot of rotation.”

“Holy crap, ninety!” My mouth dropped. “That’s like the size of our entire elementary school.”

“Yeah, it’s one of the reasons I chose this school. I needed more playing time, and I wasn’t getting it there.”

Coach was explaining what we would be doing today, running the track and keeping our times. We would be comparing our time in a week, to check for improvement. I was only half paying attention. Most of my thoughts were consumed by the idea of joining the team…I looked around the crowd, almost waiting for Ed to appear and tell me this was a bad idea, but he wasn’t there, his voice silent in my head. “Do it, Bailey,” Nolan whispered.

I’d watched games before—since my dad was a fan of football—I was fairly athletic, and I sort of knew the sport. I could do this…right? Coach said they needed players. I was just trying to come up with reasons why I should join the team, and I knew mymind wouldn’t settle until I did it. “I’m going to do it,” I said with more conviction.

The group disbanded as everyone grabbed stopwatches and began their assignment. I walked right up to Coach. “Hey,” I said. “So, I was wondering what is needed to join the football team.”

Coach looked me up and down for a moment. I knew he was looking at my physique as an athlete—at least, that’s what it seemed—but I still found myself shying away.

“Have you played before?” he asked.

I reminded myself of my purpose and summoned some of that younger Bailey strength to step up. “Just in tykes when I was younger,” I answered him.

He didn’t seem impressed by this. “How were your grades last year?”

Damn. They weren’t horrible, but I had struggled with some subjects. “I was a solid B student.” Okay, maybe I had some C’s, but overall, I was fairly average in my classes. If I’d been able to focus more on what was being taught, instead of what had been waiting for me at home, then I probably could’ve done better.

“And you’ve never played any other sports?”

I lit up at this. “I used to compete in horseback riding. Most of my childhood, until the past year.”

He seemed interested now. “Showmanship?”

I shook my head. “Barrel racing, roping, and cutting.” I wasn’t sure how extensive his knowledge was on the subject. “Cutting is like separating the cow from the herd and keeping it away. Moving my horse and anticipating the cow’s movements.”

“How did you do?”

“Well enough to win first in provincials and second in nationals,” I boasted.

Coach nodded, seeming to consider me a bit more. “There’s a lot of physical contact involved. I need players that can take ahit, as well as give it. Being a girl, you could be more vulnerable to being targeted, regardless of where you are on the field.”

“That’s fine.”

“If I told you to hit that guy right there, would you do it?” He pointed across the field to Ethan—forgotten friend number three. The last of our group. How had I not seen him in this class yet?

Ethan had always been a big kid when we were growing up, despite where he came from. He was frequently made fun of for beingtrailer trashbecause he was one of the few kids that lived in the mobile home complex in town. He used to be a bully, until, one day, he’d tried to go after Lachlan, so Chase and I made him eat sand. I’d been ready to go after him more, just to drive the message home.

It wasn’t until later, after something else happened, that I changed my mind about Ethan. I still remembered the shock and disbelief on Chase’s and Lachlan’s faces when I walked up to Ethan and demanded he become one of our friends. He refused, of course—he had always been stubborn—but I didn’t give him a choice. Little Bailey, she didn’t take no for an answer. He finally relented, and from then on, he had completed our group…until the group no longer existed.

I’d watched Chase and Lachlan change over the years. I’d watched Chase with his girlfriend and Lachlan with random girls here and there but nothing solid. I’d seen them grow from the boys I’d known to the guys they were now, and I’d always remained a bystander, on the outside.

Ethan, though, I’d rarely seen. He went from the big kid in school to, I swear, a giant overnight. Students talked about the fact he could likely crush skulls with his bare hands. He was the largest lineman the school had, and no one could get through him.

Unfortunately for me, the few times I’d bumped into him in the hallways or shared a class with him, all I’d gotten were glares and grunts. I was absolutely, one-hundred-percent certain that Ethan wanted nothing, nada, zilch to do with me. If he could have me transferred to a different school, I was positive he would have made it happen. It was one of the reasons I wouldn’t even try to reach out to him, like I had Chase and Lachlan.

That didn’t stop the fluttering in my chest when my eyes fell upon him. His thick, dark hair had grown out, soft curls now covering the tops of his ears and falling above his eyes.

I cleared my throat and looked back at the coach. Could I tackle Ethan if I had to? “Growing up on the farm, if a job needs to get done, we don’t say no just because it’s a strenuous job. No matter how tired we get or how heavy the lift, we get it done. If I had to tackle him, I would give it everything I had. I can’t guarantee I could take him, but I would give it my all because that’s what needs to be done.”

Coach’s lips twitched as he fought a smirk. “I like it. What was your name?”

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