Page 1 of Third and Ten

PROLOGUE

(SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO)

JD

“Whoa…what are you doing?” I ask, backing away from the lips of the eighth-grade girl my brother’s been crushing on for the past few months. A slow song continues playing in the background.

She looks equally stunned and embarrassed. “I thought we were going to…” She trails off, readjusting her lips over her braces. I can’t even begin to understand why anyone would be eager to stick their tongue in another person’s mouth, especially when it’s full of metal and lime-green rubber bands.

I drop my hands from her sides, taking another step back. “I only wanted to talk to you about my older brother, Blake,” I say awkwardly.

“I can’t believe—wait, what?”

“You’re Summer, right? Aren’t you in the same grade?”

She cringes. “Yeah, and I know Blake Bourgeois. Everyone does. But did you just say he’s your older brother?”

I nod carefully.

“Um, what grade are you—”

“Sixth.”

She runs her tongue over her braces again, and the way she scrunches her nose makes it look like she’s trying not to barf. “So…what are you doing at an eighth-grade party?”

“My parents told me I had to follow Blake.” And he wasn’t happy about it, either. I thought I’d make it up to him by trying to be his wingman, but this is quickly turning into another one of those times when I do something stupid to impress my brother and end up pissing him off instead.

“And you assumed it was okay to ask me out? Like, you really thought I’d date you?”

By now, I know “date” really means “make out” in this context. I may be young, but I’m not stupid. I’m also big for my age and play rec sports with an older group, so most people make the same mistake as Summer by assuming I’m at least a couple of years older than I am. Which means I overhear entirely too much for an eleven-year-old.

And even though I like girls, I don’t really get it. Whatever happened lately to Blake and his friends that makes it impossible for them to think about anything but girls or parts of girls must not have hit me yet. I’m honestly afraid of getting older after listening to the gross stuff my 13U baseball teammates have been saying all season.

I sigh, reminding myself that I have a job to do. “You seem really nice, but to be honest, I’m just here on my brother’s behalf.”

Her expression softens. “You mean, Blake sent you to talk to me?” Now she’s back to batting her eyelashes and poking her chest out.

I peel my eyes away from Summer to search for Blake, but he’s nowhere to be found. “He didn’t exactly send me,” I admit after a while, and her face falls again.

The song ends, and nearly all of the couples begin separating, with the exception of the pair beside us. In fact, they’re still too busy swapping spit to notice the way everyone’s gawking at them. I recognize the guy—Landry Reed, an older kid from my football league—just as I notice his hand creeping up his date’s chest. She pushes him away immediately, frowning in disgust.

Then, something weird happens to me when the girl plants her hands on her hips. I swallow hard as my eyes run over her. For the first time, I think I understand why my brother and his friends can’t stop talking about boobs, and why dudes like Landry are willing to embarrass themselves in public to get a hand on one. Because this girl is different. She’s…softer. She doesn’t need to stick out her chest to attract attention, and I doubt she likes the way people are staring at her now. A strange feeling settles in the pit of my stomach, just from watching her.

“JD? Hel-lo?” Summer calls, bringing me back.

“Huh?” I blink a few times. But I’m too busy listening to the other couple’s argument to pay attention to Summer anymore.

“Gah, Tenley, I thought it’s what you wanted,” Landry growls, and I’m suddenly fighting the urge to turn and punch him in his big dumb mouth.

Tenley frowns harder. “Well, it wasn’t,” she retorts angrily, and her blue eyes meet mine for a second.

Wow.

She’s pretty. Really pretty.

But she seems sad, and I don’t like that.

And I’m impressed because she was brave enough to call Landry out in front of everyone.

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