Page 24 of Reviving Kendall

“I’m such a bird brain sometimes,” she says with tears pooling in her eyes, “I didn’t think before I said it. I’m so sorry.”

I squeeze her, “It’s getting a little easier. It took me a minute to figure out why you were reacting like that. Besides, I never went to their funerals.”

Of course, that opens a whole new can of worms, and for the first time I tell someone about right after. The only other person that has ever known is my therapist, but I doubt she remembers any of it.

Not really, anyways. I’m sure it’s written down on a notebook somewhere, but she only pretended to care because she was being paid to.

Ryleigh sits on the end of her bed staring at me with a sad frown. Maybe that was too much info for the start of a friendship, “Sorry.”

She shakes her head, “No Kendall, I’m sorry. That’s more than any grown person should ever have to go through, let alone someone our age.” Standing up, she comes over and wraps me up in a hug.

It takes a minute for me to fight the tears in my eyes from spilling over. When she lets go, I reach for my bag angling myself away from her, “Ok, enough mushy stuff. Should we go ahead get dressed and head over?” We’ve been chatting so much that it’s already after six, and the game starts a little after seven.

“Yeah, probably. You don’t want to be the last ones there or you’ll end up with a shit seat,” she says pulling on a scarf and cute denim jacket.

I’ve seen girls wearing them, but I’ve never owned one. Never had any reason to, but it looks so good on her that I’m rethinking that decision.

She notices me looking, “What? Do I look ok?”

I nod and laugh, “Sorry. I was just admiring the scarf. It’s really cute.”

“Thanks,” she says walking over to a wardrobe and pulling the door open. There are pegs on the back and something close to about thirty scarves hang from them. “Pick one to wear tonight if you want.”

After I bring the time to her attention, Ryleigh rushes us out of the house and gets us to the game by six thirty. “Plenty enough time to find good seats,” she says as we are buying our tickets at the gate.

There are a ton of people here and I find myself fidgeting with the soft material of the scarf around my neck. I chose a light grey one with tiny black stars. Since I’m wearing the jean skirt with black leggings and a black shirt under my leather jacket, it matches perfectly. My nerves have nothing to do with the crowd, though. It’s due to the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing the guys and watching them play. They’ve been busy all week, so I haven’t seen them, or even talked to them much. Only a few texts and phone calls. That’s it.

Thankfully, Ryleigh doesn’t notice my nervousness as she hooks her arm in mine and we walk towards the bleachers. People call out to her as we pass, and she always throws her hand up and smiles. She leans in to me, “One of the things about being the sister to four of the star players on the team, everyone wants to say hi.” If her words the other day at the mall hadn’t worked, those seal it in concrete. She really did have brotherly feelings toward them.

Leading us to the middle of the bleachers, she sits in what she says are the best seats in the house. It’s funny to watch people give us a wide berth, but then scoot closer after we sit. All of them act like they hope Ryleigh will talk to them.

She talks to them, and tries to invite me into some of the conversations, but my eyes are glued to the small area where the guys are due to walk onto the field shortly, so I just nod and smile. I catch her rolling her eyes dramatically and grinning.

We don’t have to wait long before the crowd lets out a roar and the first few helmet-covered heads peek through the little walkway. I had Ryleigh tell me their numbers earlier, but I don’t need them. My body tingles as I catch sight of the four of them and it’s so hard to look away. None of them are looking to the stands. They are facing forward, and have a look of pure determination of their faces.

“Are there scouts here tonight?” I ask Ryleigh.

Eddie, who arrived at some point, leans around her and says, “They weren’t supposed to be here for another two weeks, but they came early.”

“How do you know?” I ask.

He puffs out his chest, “Because I know everything.”

Ryleigh snorts softly, “Yeah right.” She turns to me, “His older brother is number ninety-seven.”

“Damn it, Ryleigh. You’re no fun,” he says after deflating a bit.

She winks at me and I can’t help but to laugh.

The game turns out to be one of the best I’ve ever been to. Prim Woods wins, of course, but at one point both Maverick and Goose took hard hits, and my heart leapt into my throat. It took them a minute to get up, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe until they did. I will say that I don’t know how the scouts do it. After watching the team play, I would want them all to play for my school.

People are starting to file out of the stands, which makes it hard to see the guys as they head off the field towards the locker rooms. The only one I see before they all disappear is Goose. He catches my eye and waves as he smiles, which is replaced with a look of confusion as he gets a full view of my face. He says something, but I don’t think it’s meant for me and then the team is whisked away.

“The team has special parking in the top lot,” Ryleigh says. “Cut around the side of concessions and it’s up on the hill. Just look for Maverick’s Range Rover. Unless you’d rather ride with me, and save the drama for later?”

I shrug, “Might as well get it over now, right?”

She side arms hugs me, “Just in case.”

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