Page 79 of The Hallows Boys

My walk goes by quickly because I’m so deeply immersed in my own mind, and when I walk up onto the concrete of the quad, I scan the area with my eyes, searching for them.

I grab onto the straps of my backpack with my thumbs as I walk, searching every inch of campus for Vinny’s broad shoulders and Beckham’s tattooed arms. They have to be here somewhere. There’re kids littered all around the quad already. The Hallows Boys are usually sitting out in the fresh morning air before class starts, so it’s seeming like they’ve already headed for their first classes.

I go into the academics building, looking at my watch to see how long I have until the first bell – half an hour.

When I get to the other end of the corridor, and I still haven’t spotted them, I start to get discouraged. I hum under my breath as I go back outside, heading for the gym. Maybe Vinny is working out? We do have a football game in a couple of days.

I walk into the gym, finding a few girls on the cheerleading squad stretching in the middle of the basketball court, so I cut left to avoid them, going around the perimeter of the room to go out the back door to the football field.

Waving at Coach Steele as I pass her open door, she calls out to me.

“Sage!” She stands from her desk, and I take the few steps through her door frame to meet her.

“Hey!” I greet her. “What’s up?”

“You coming to practice tonight?” she asks. “I’m thinking you could show us a couple of your old routines, maybe you can work with Rachel to piece together some new stuff for us!”

I smile, hoping it doesn’t look too forced, but when she laughs, I know I’ve given myself away.

“She’s tough, I know.” Her eyelashes flutter a little. “But you guys could do really great things together. I think you’ll find you have more in common than you think.”

I nod. “We definitely have a lot in common.”

Coach smiles. “That’s the spirit!”

I grin at her. “I need to get to class, but I’ll see you at practice, coach.”

“Sure thing, have a good day, Sage.”

I nod, smiling at her one more time before I leave her office. I don’t know how to tell my coach that my new captain probably won’t want to work with me – since she hates me – but I guess I’ll just slap my plastic smile in place and do my best to play nice, even if Rachel won’t.

I push out the back doors of the gym, then walk out past the bleachers to the football field. There’re a few students running laps, working out, or hanging out in the middle, so I examine them closely to search for Vinny.

I find him sitting on the bench at the side with a couple of other guys, and I make a beeline for him.

All three guys sitting down look up when I come into their atmosphere, and Vinny’s face turns up in a smile.

“Can I talk to you?” I say in greeting, putting my gaze on the guy I need.

His brows pull down. “Sure.”

He leads me down the edge of the field, then around the back of the bleachers, making me roll my eyes at the implication. He turns to face me once we’re under the shadows of the metal seats, that cocky smirk pulling up his lips.

“Can I show you something?” I ask, slipping my backpack off and dropping it to the ground at my feet.

“You can show me whatever you want, Sage,” he says, gravel coating his throat.

I ignore the lust and sexual tension in his tone, dropping down to unzip my backpack and pulling out the photo of ‘M’ with the founding Hallows Boys.

Standing back up, I hand it to him. “Do you know who this is?”

He takes it from my hand, looking at it closely for a minute. “That’s the founding fathers.”

“The girl,” I push.

His eyes flick up to mine for a moment. “Where did you get this?”

“Vinny.” I step close to him, putting a finger on the photo, right above her head. “Do you know who that is?”

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