Page 105 of Second Down Darling

Two girls walkup to the table and pick up a calendar. “Holy shit, these guys are hot. Are they all footballplayers?”

I shake my head. “Some are from the baseball team. There are cheerleaderstoo.”

I’m sitting at a small table outside the student union, selling calendars for Second Chances. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own personal drama this fall, I hadn’t realized how much work it was going to take to actuallysellall of these calendars. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to offload them by next month. I didn’t really have a plan for getting them into people’s hands. Merle has sold a few at the animal rescue, but we’re nowhere close to having enough revenue to save the shelter. He’s already told me they’re preparing for the worst-case scenario, which breaks myheart.

I’d ask Roxy to help me, but she has so much on her plate right now, and I’m already sleeping on her couch.AndI brought my two pets. I don’t want to take advantage of ourfriendship.

I just finished making an order form. My only hope is that people will purchase them online. Maybe I can talk to the school newspaper about doing a pro-bonoad.

And as worried as I am about Second Chances, I have another pressing issue I need to deal withASAP.

As soon as someone buys the last calendar I have on hand, I tuck away the money and book it to the photo lab, which is pretty empty. After I log into a computer, I jog out to my locker, but first, I look up and down the dark hall to make sure no one is following me. I don’t know why, but I have this fear my sister is going to jump out and catchme.

Creaking open the locker, I reach up to the top cubby, under some spiral notebooks and an old sweater, to pull out a dusty rectangular-shaped metal harddrive.

I’d forgotten it was here until I came to clean out my locker yesterday. I figured, why hang out in the photo lab when I don’t have a camera? Yes, it was a pity party, and I’d fully planned to top it off with a giant slice of pizza and a shot of somethingstrong.

Only when I got here, I found this—a hard drive with all of the old footage of my sister. Outtakes from shoots and images I’d taken for her social mediaposts.

My fingers are twitchy from excitement, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I almost called Jake to tell him my idea, but it’s possible I’m misremembering those videos, and I don’t want to get his hopesup.

He might not even like my idea. Plus, we have so many other issues to wade through, which I’m not ready to do just yet. I want to get my emotions in check so I don’t blubber all overhim.

I also think he needs time to decide if this relationship is what he wants. We happened so fast this fall. It’s been a whirlwind, starting with that fire. With the way Kota is threatening him, he might think having a relationship with me isn’t worth the hell he’ll catch from mysister.

Will it break my heart? Absolutely. Listening to all of his voicemails this week almost had mereconsidering.

But I don’t want to be a knee-jerk reaction. I don’t want Jake to pick me simply because he doesn’t want Kota dictating what he can do. I want him to be clearheaded if he chooses to be withme.

Which means we both need some space to calm down and think rationally. So I’m going to embark on this little mission on myown.

The silver lining is knowing he’ll never go back to my sister. That blunts the pain a little bit. It’s not like he’d be choosing her over me. The question is whether he will pick me despite the wrath she’ll send hisway.

As I plug the FireWire into the hard drive, I check behind me to make sure I’m alone. God, I’m paranoid, but my sister has this effect on me. It’s like she’s the leader of a cult, and I’m a runaway member inhiding.

Well, no more. It’s time to get some leverage. I’m tired of her pushing me and Jake around like she owns us. If Jake and I don’t work out, it’ll be becausewedecide to go separate ways, not because Dakota is pulling our strings likepuppets.

An hour later, a grin spreads on mylips.

That bitch is goingdown.

44

JAKE

The band playsour victory song, and my teammates celebrate. Sure, I’m happy about beating TCU. I played like the hounds of hell were on my ass and had my best game of my college career. I needed a stellar performance so no one could say I wasdistracted.

Now that it’s over, though, I know what I have todo.

Coach is gonna bepissed.

I brace myself for his reaction as I head toward the post-game press conference—one I haven’t been invitedto.

When I open the door, Evelyn’s eyes go wide, and she stalks over to me. “Jake, we talked about this,” she hisses as she tries to usher me out into thehall.

Reporters start shouting myname.

I hold up my hands because I’m not about to manhandle a woman, but I look to Coach. He knows what Iwant.

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