Page 9 of Missed Notes (Rixon High 5)

“I know how overwhelming this must all sound, Sofia, but I want to reassure you that you’re in the very best hands here. We’re going to do everything we can to make you better.”

His words were white noise against the roar of blood between my ears.

Dad cleared his throat, his face ashen as I peeked over at him. “Thank you, Dr. Peters. Promise me, you’ll take good care of our girl.”

“You have my word.”

His word.

That wasn’t going to save me though…

Was it?

CHAPTERTWO

Cole

“Anything yet?”I asked Aaron as he checked his cell phone before we headed out onto the field for practice.

“Dad said they’ll fill me in when they’re home.”

“That’s good news, right? If it was bad news, they would have called.”

“Yeah.” The word was at odds with the expression in his eyes. “Come on, Coach will have our asses if we’re late.”

Grabbing his helmet, Aaron headed out of the locker room. But I stayed back a second, my cell phone taunting me.

I wanted to text Sofia, to ask if she was okay, but we hadn’t exactly ended things on a positive note last night.

I knew she was pissed at me for telling Aaron and the rest of our friends about the number of times she had fainted. But I hadn’t known what else to do.

When she’d slumped onto the floor at Bell’s, the sports bar we liked to hang out at, I’d panicked. Part of me had expected her to come clean then, but she hadn’t. She’d been ready to cover it up with another lie.

Well, fuck that.

Something was wrong.

I felt it in my gut. Sensed that Sofia knew it too, if the way she was lying to everyone was anything to go by.

If breaking her trust meant getting her the help she needed, then I could live with that.

Even if she never talked to me again.

Defeat rolled through me as I grabbed my helmet and jogged outside to the rest of the team.

“You good?” Ezra asked as I joined the huddle.

Coach Ford wanted to go over some plays for our game against Tulliver High on Friday night. It was at their place, and he expected a win.

He always did.

Coach Ford had been one of the best, back in the day. An NFL legend forced to retire early thanks to an injury. A lot of fans thought he was too good to be coaching high school football at Rixon High, and they were probably right. But Coach Ford loved his job. It showed every time he stepped foot on the field. Every time he commanded us to his will. He pushed us, molded and shaped us. And he’d named me his starting quarterback.

I still couldn’t quite believe it, and I definitely hadn’t wanted it. But here I was. The entire team’s focus on me as Coach beckoned me in closer.

“Now Tulliver will come at you Friday, and they’ll come at you hard. I need you to keep your eyes open and your heads clear, you hear me?”

A chorus of, “Yes, sir,” echoed through me. But it barely touched the gnawing pit in my stomach.

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