Page 140 of The Casualty of Us
“Hellllloooo?” Lisette’s voice cuts in. “You with me, Fitzroy?”
“Sorry.” I clear my throat, blinking away from the sun and looking around to make sure the other girls aren’t close enough to hear before telling her, “He was pissy because Kyler’s in there with us.”
“The new kid?”
She lifts a brow, and I nod. “Yeah, Ollie and I went to high school with him.”
“Why am I thinking that’s not the whole story?”
“Cause it’s not,” I admit as she drops my leg, immediately sitting up and stretching my hands over my head. A soreness starting to burn along my arms too because apparently I’d not only kill myself but everyone else if I attempted to be anything other than a base. “Kyler came to our school after his dad got a job in DC, and he and Ollie became friends pretty quick.”
She snaps her fingers at me before jerking her thumb in the air, motioning for me to stand. “And?”
“And.” I toss her another glare while forcing my body up against its will. Tugging at the black Pinecrest spandex set to make sure it’s still covering all my necessary parts and reminding myself to be thankful the top is indeed a tank top. “I don’t know if he always had a crush on me or if that came later, but I had one on him for a brief period freshman year.”
“Ah.” She lets out a small laugh, turning to call out to the others. “We’re done here, but don’t forget to cool down!” Turning back to head toward the track that circles the field, she orders me none too gently, “Laps for you.”
“I just told you I ran practi—”
“And you’ll run some more with me now,” she snaps back, pausing at the edge of the track until I start to drag my feet toward her. “This is starting to make so much sense by the way, and I’ve never been happier with my choice to take that class again.”
“Anyway.” I roll my eyes at her, starting up a jog when I make it to the edge of the track and grumbling, “One thing led to another, and Kyler became my first kiss.”
She cackles. “Oh god, please tell me Hayes doesn’t—”
“He knows,” I huff. “Hence the pissy look.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t just pee on you.”
I nod a little absently because after this week…I am too. Kyler in all his golden glory has been quite literally everywhere—library, mess hall, classes, dorm, it doesn’t matter. He just happens to bump into us, or more specifically me, at least a couple of times a day, and I’ve watched Hayes grow tenser all week because of it.
And this is only the first seven days of what’s starting to feel like it’s going to be an increasingly long year.
“Oh look,” she sighs happily, drawing my gaze to where a Cheshire cat grin sits on her face. “Now you get to see why I have us knock out the hard stuff first and leave the perusing for last.”
I follow her line of sight to a tunnel that exits the athletics building onto the field. My eyes land on where the guys are starting to trickle out in their football gear and I immediately search for the two I care about most. Finding them pushing each other back and forth playfully, Ollie says something before Hayes gives him a shake of his head in response. It has me almost tripping over my own feet, but I keep my eyes on them for another moment with a grin tugging at my lips from seeing them in their own element.
Finally stealing a chance to run my eyes over Hayes in particular and developing a whole new respect for whoever the hell designed football uniforms.
Because…damn.
I really should have let him win that debate about coming to a game last year because I’ve never liked black and green so much.
“Oh, yeah.” Lisette laughs under her breath next to me. “She gets it.”
I watch as he stops to lift a water bottle up to his mouth, silvery-blue hair falling back from his face and throat working with each sip. The act has something warm and low pulsing through me right before his head tips back down, and those hazel eyes lock with mine. A spark seems to run clear across the football field between us, and his dimples cut deep—
“O.” Kyler pops up at my side, effectively cutting off my view with the bulk of his football gear and almost making a curse slip past my lips as he starts to jog with me. “I didn’t know you were a cheerleader.”
His eyes drop to where Pinecrest Cheer is clearly emblazoned across my chest, much to my personal horror on so many levels, and I clear my throat uncomfortably. “Eyes up, Mills.”
“Come on, O,” he cajoles, bringing his gaze back up to mine with an arrogance that grated on me so badly by the end of the crush that I faked having the flu to avoid him. “You know I’ve always been weak for you.” I turn my eyes back to the track, trying to figure out if he’ll be able to keep up if I just start running faster. “We could have so much potential together.” His hand makes a grab for my arm, and I manage to pull it away just as his fingers brush the back of it. “If you would just talk to Ollie and lose the—”
His words cut off on a grunt as someone grabs him around the middle, coming out of nowhere and tackling him straight tothe ground. Both bodies fly onto the track behind me, making me do some kind of spinning run to keep them in sight that has me actually tripping this time. Somehow managing to save myself from completely faceplanting and pushing back up as the two of them pop up in front of me.
Immediately starting to move back toward one another with Kyler bristling, “What the fuck was that?”
“Graham called a play.” Hayes comes to a stop with a shrug. “Thought you heard.”
