Page 16 of Saving the Halfback

“Spaz,” Hadley muttered.

When the ball finally went into play, I tracked my two targets. Lachlan was just as fast, if not faster, while in full gear. He and Nolan were great together, a dangerous duo. They had a knack for silent communication and everything. The moment Lachlan was ready, Nolan already had the ball sailing through the air to him. Lachlan was agile and almost like a dancer as he weaved in and out of players. I winced when someone took him down with a hard tackle, though.

That might be me, if I decided to officially join the team. Would I be able to take a hit like that? It sounded like thunder as their shoulder pads hit, but Lachlan got up as if it was nothing.

Mark was fairly good too. He ran a lot of handoffs and pushed through players, but his large size put him at a disadvantage, making him much slower and easy to catch. His position seemed to be fit for a smaller person.

The scrimmage was start and stop a lot while Coach explained some things and the other coaches moved players around to different positions. It was obvious the whole team was still getting settled into their positions. Once Coach called an end to practice, I was surprised two hours had passed.

Part of me was a bit worried I may have gotten in over my head by jumping up and joining the team, but the other part was itching to get on the field. Plus, I couldn’t get that look Dad had given me out of my head; he really wanted me to play.

All my thoughts were silenced as Chase, Nolan, Lachlan, and Ethan all started walking toward me. Those butterflies in my stomach? The flutters I couldn’t remember ever having feltbefore? Yeah, they were going wild. I knew I had a goofy-ass grin across my face as I watched them, sweat soaked, hair a mess from helmets, walking toward me, but I couldn’t help it. It was too good to be true. Ethan turned off toward the parking lot, while Hadley ran straight into Chase’s arms with a squeal about his sweat stink when he embraced her.

Lachlan lifted his hand, and it looked as if he might reach out for me, but at the last second, he pulled back and grabbed the back of his neck. “So, you’re joining, right?”

“Of course, she is.” Nolan grinned. “How can she say no to this?” He shook his sweat-soaked hair, splatters landing on me.

“Ew.” I exaggerated my disgust as I stepped back from his line of fire. “I don’t know. Some of those tackles were pretty hard,” I teased, looking up at Lachlan.

He shrugged. “I’m not going to say it doesn’t hurt, because it does, but the armor helps.”

“You’re going to scare her away.” Nolan shoved at Lachlan, stepping in front and blocking him from my sight. “It doesn’t hurt at all, easiest game ever.”

“No, no, no, you don’t know her well enough yet.” Lachlan stepped around Nolan. “See, Nole, Bailey doesn’t get scared.” He turned his eyes to me. “Do you, Bails?”

He was right about the old me. Little Bailey hardly ever got scared. If she did, she would face whatever scared her head-on. Little Bailey lived a sheltered life and knew she was protected from anything. Me, now…well, let’s just say I wasn’t anything like Little Bailey anymore. I had plenty of nightmares to fuel the fear.

“Plus, if you really want to get her, you just gotta say the right thing,” he continued. “Bailey, the tackles won’t hurt if you are fast enough to dodge them. I mean, do you even think you can do that?” He grinned.

I got what Lachlan was doing. He was appealing to my competitive nature, the side of me that ignited the fire within. The problem was, I wasn’t sure where that side was anymore. I didn’t want to disappoint him, though, so I dug down deep to find the sass to tell him off, but then Coach walked up to us.

“What do you think, Bailey? Still interested in joining?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but see the hope in his eyes. The grin from Lachlan. The frantic head nod from Nolan. The team was desperate for players…and the people I cared about were desperate for this team. I needed the distraction.

“I guess I have some free time.” I smiled.

6

Nolan

Bailey McCormick was a nobody. Not only did people not appear to know she existed, but she barely seemed to be aware of her existence herself. In the halls, she made herself as small as possible, always dancing around everyone. Outside of me and Lachlan, she never spoke to anyone, choosing to remain quiet and watching. When she did speak, no one seemed to hear her soft voice…except me, that was.

Her voice had my head turning, no matter how small or quiet she made it. It was embarrassing how attuned I was to her, a practical stranger. How often my eyes sought her out, how drawn to her I seemed to be, always checking in.

Shirt in hand as I processed my thoughts, I froze when Lachlan sat down on the bench next to me. He had showered and was fully dressed. “Need another rescue?” he asked me.

I pulled the shirt over my head. The football program supplied breakfast every early morning practice. It was the standard eggs, bacon or sausage, and toast sort of breakfast. Yesterday after practice, I’d barely made it. I’d had to make myself scarce while trying to dodge Hadley and her welcomingcommittee. Luckily for me, Lachlan had diverted their attention to outside as I snuck some eggs last minute.

“I’ll be okay. Maybe they’ve backed off,” I said, resisting the urge to ask Lachlan if Bailey would be at breakfast.

He began looking around the room, his leg bouncing as he did so. We had been hanging out since the summer, when practices had started. It was an easy friendship, especially since he was a wide receiver. He’d changed once school started, though. His eyes were sharp, and he was always assessing his surroundings. Not as though he was trying to understand them, but like he was getting ready to run at any moment. I didn’t know he hated school so much, especially since he was in AP courses. Maybe it was the football season that got him worked up.

The team at this school was small, smaller than my Dad had probably expected, compared to my old team, which had more players than they knew what to do with. My old team was top tier, which made getting a solid position highly competitive. After going over the stats of other schools’ teams, my dad landed on this school. The Panthers were somewhere in the middle, neither top tier nor bottom. However, their senior players had a lot of potential, and there was a need for a quarterback. He’d said that, while it was good to be on the winning team, it did no good if scouts couldn’t see me play. He’d seen what I had… My old team had a quarterback that was better than me, which meant there wasn’t a chance I would get field time.

I placed my gear meticulously into my locker before closing the door and giving the dial a spin. As Lachlan stood, I grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder as we walked out.

What I enjoyed about Lachlan was I never had to really keep a conversation with him. We hung out, but sometimes we were lost in our own thoughts, and we were okay with that. I liked being in my mind; it was a relief for me to shut down and be apart of everything without the obligation of contributing. But I had a role to play. As I left the locker room, I raised my chin, donning an easy grin as I slapped the hands of a few players I passed by, fist bumping Sam and giving him a nod. My only hope was that it looked natural, that my false confidence was believable.

As we walked out of the locker room, I scanned the empty halls, my grin slipping for a moment.

---