Page 44 of All In

“Ready to go.”

21

Brady

Ipull into the wet parking lot and take a deep breath.

First day of senior year.

The rain stopped late last night, bringing the temp down to a comfortable 80’, but the air still feels heavy and damp. Four days from today, we play our first game of the season, and I start my final year as starting quarterback for Kroydon Prep. Next year I’ll only be going to school twenty minutes from here, but the world will be different. I’m only alone with my thoughts for a minute before the rest of our crew shows up.

I watch Natalie and Cooper get out of his Jeep. Her hair is a bouncy golden halo around her face. Her jacket is unbuttoned and framing her gorgeous body. I get out of my Range Rover and grab my navy jacket and brown leather bag before making my way over to the crowd of our friends that is starting to gather in the parking lot.

Murphy pulls up with his sister Carys. She’s a sophomore this year and looks like a smaller, prettier female version of Murphy. I hear him tell her to stay away from guys and laugh.

Walking over to where Natalie is fixing her lipstick in the mirror, I don’t even care that I’m staring. I’ve been looking at these uniforms for years, but I’ve never seen a girl make one look sexier than she does without even knowing it. The whole naughty schoolgirl thing is a cliché when all the girls around you dress like this, but man, I’ve already got a fantasy going on involving her dressed in that uniform, bent over a desk.

I hear the warning bell sound just as Murphy declares, “Alrighty ladies and gentlemen, let’s make this year our bitch!”

Everyone laughs as we all head into the old brick building together. We are the kings of this school. When people see us, they move. Not gonna lie, it’s a good feeling. Nat and Chloe are walking past me when I grab Nattie’s hand. “Did you print out your schedule, pretty girl?” She spins around, her skirt swishing around her shapely thigh, and starts walking backward, so she faces me.

“I sure did, QB. Why? Are you gonna walk me to my classes? Ask me to go steady?”

She bounces on her toes and claps her hands.

“Do I get to wear your letterman jacket, QB?” She’s laughing at me because she has no idea how right those words are.

“Oh, so I’m getting Sassy Nattie this morning, huh? And what if I do want to walk you to your class and have you be my girl? Would that be so bad?”

“Nope. I don’t think that would be so bad.” She’s beaming at me in a way that makes me want to be the man responsible for making her smile every fucking day.

Cooper shoves me. “Fucking gross, man. I’m adding a new rule. No being a moron with cheesy lines when you’re hitting on my sister. Keep that shit away from me, asshole.”

Natalie’s cheeks go crimson red, but she doesn’t stop smiling. Instead, she pulls the schedule from the outside pocket of her messenger bag and hands it to me.

Scanning it, I can see we are grouped for homeroom. That goes alphabetically, Ryan and Sinclair. Then we have the first two classes of the day together, after that, she has an AP Calculus and is back with me for lunch.

I can work with this.

“Come on, Sinclairs. I’ll show the two of you, homeroom.” Everyone else goes their separate ways.

Cooper walks in first, then I let Nat go through the doorway ahead of me, with my hand on her back. I know how these fuckers are with new students. We don’t get them that often in this school, and they are never as gorgeous as Nat is. I’m not taking any chances with someone else getting ideas.

We take seats together toward the back of the homeroom and let the teacher go through her welcome back to school speech. Locker assignments are passed out, and morning announcements read before we are dismissed a few minutes early to give us a chance to test out our locker combos.

“Come on, Nat, I’ll help you with your locker.” Reaching up, I wrap a lock of her hair around my finger. Every guy in this school will know to stay the fuck away from her by the end of this day. I might not be able to tattoo MINE on Natalie’s forehead, but there are other ways to get the point across.

Cooper and Nat’s lockers are next to each other, so we all compare schedules. Cooper is in a study hall in the cafeteria for his first class, so if he wants it, he will be allowed to have a late arrival and not start his day until the second class of the day. Lucky bastard.

Walking down the hall, fist bumps, and greetings from guys I haven’t see much of this summer are coming my way. A few girls eye me with the new girl and don’t look happy about it all.

I don’t give a shit what they think.

I guide Nat into the Chemistry Lab and sit us down at a table across from Bash. This room has multiple lab tables with two stools on each side and a small stainless-steel sink at either end. While we wait for the teacher to come in, a junior girl with dark brown hair sits down next to Bash. She looks way too happy for this early in the morning and starts talking the second she sits down.

“Oh, my God! Sebastian!” His head whips up. “I can’t believe that you don’t already have someone sitting here. You know Professor Carpenter always makes your lab partner the person sitting next to you on the first day of class! Guess it’s fate!”

Sebastian looks like a deer in headlights. He raises his eyebrows so high they are touching his hairline. Bash has never been much of a talker in school, or anywhere else for that matter. This chick just hit his threshold for interaction for the day in the first thirty seconds. He looks at Nat and me as if there is something we can do to help him. Lucky for him, real help just walked in the door.

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