"Thank you, sir," I say, knowing we won't get any demerits or detentions.
"And, we need a win tonight," he adds.
I leave the Dean's office happy that at least Keatyn will have one less thing to worry about. I rush into the locker room, throwing on my pads and getting suited up.
"Nice of you to join us, Arrington," Coach says, but thankfully he doesn't press the subject. Probably because I'm never late, and he knows I must have a good reason for being so today.
But, unfortunately not everyone feels that way.
Dawson gives me shit the second he's out of earshot. "What's going on with you and Keatyn?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit. Tell me where you were all afternoon."
"In the chapel."
Dawson is all pumped up and mad. His hands are closed in tight fists, and he's dying to take a swing at me.
"Get your head in the game, Dawson," Jake says, stepping between us. "You two can duke it out after we win."
But Dawson doesn't back down. He gets in my face. "If you were hooking up with my girl, you better hope the game never ends."
I don't bother to tell him that regardless of what he thinks Keatyn is not his girl.
Because if she truly loved him, when she was upset, she would have gone to him. She would have told him everything, not me.
But the second it crosses my mind, I realize that's not true. Because I know she didn't tell me everything.
My thoughts are interrupted by the Coach yelling at the team. "Let's get out there and win this one!"
I focus on the football game when I'm out on the field, but when I'm on the sidelines I watch Keatyn. She's off-messing up her dances.
I study her face from across the field. She looks stressed out. Preoccupied. Obviously, thinking about her friend.
She's not even really watching the game. Her eyes are constantly darting across the crowd-like she is trying to find someone she knows?
Or could she be in danger here?
"Arrington!" Coach yells out, calling for my attention. "You think you can make a fifty-yarder?"
"Yeah, sure," I reply confidently. "I do it in practice all the time."
"Then go do it!"
I run out onto the field and line up for the field goal-smiling as I think about getting a few more Points for Dances-and drill the ball through the goal posts.
For her.
Only for her.
As the team makes our big entrance back onto the field after halftime, I hang to the back of the pack. The cheerleaders and dance team always line up for our return, and I need to talk to her.
She's shaking her pompoms but seemingly lost in thought when I stop directly in front of her and slide my hands down her arms. "Have you heard anything?"
She looks shocked that I stopped in the middle of the field to talk to her. It makes me wonder what kind of guys she's dated in the past. Is she not used to someone caring about her?
She gazes into my eyes and shakes her head. Her eyes are like windows into her soul. That bluish purple color makes me forget where I am.
I lean my helmet against her forehead, needing to be closer to her. "It'll be okay. I promise."
Then I take off running to catch up with the rest of the team before Coach yells at me.
Coach doesn't seem to have noticed my stopping, but Dawson sure did.
He grabs me by the face mask, pissed. "I told you to stay the hell away from her!"
"I can talk to whoever I want," I reply, shoving him away, standing up straighter, and preparing myself for a fight.
Dawson lunges toward me, but someone steps in between us.
"I told you, deal with this shit later," Jake yells at Dawson. "We've got a game to win. Focus on that."
"I don't give a shit," Dawson yells, but Jake drags him over to the bench.
"What's going on with you and Keatyn, anyway?" Logan asks, sliding up next to me. "You ditched all your afternoon classes and were with her? I'm all for you getting some tail, bro, but you can get kicked out for that shit. Not to mention, Dawson wants to pummel you. I'd hate to see my best friend shipped back to California over some freaking girl."
"It's not like that," I mutter as I run out onto the field for the start of the third quarter, praying that what I told Keatyn will come true. That it will all be okay.
After the game, I take a quick shower, hoping to be able to talk to Keatyn before she leaves for the weekend. She's going with my sister, Whitney, Dawson, and the rest of the popular crew to some spa up north.
What I'd really like to do is talk her out of going, but that probably won't happen. I know she's been looking forward to it.
Would it be bad of me to use her concern for her friend as a reason to stay?
Here.
With me.
As I'm leaving the field house, I notice her slip behind the bushes not far from the door. I'm going to say something witty, but then I see Dawson get into a limo with Whitney and Rachel and leave.
Why did they leave without her?
Did she decide not to go? Is that why she's hiding? She didn't want them to see her?
Wait, did she and Dawson break up?
I want to jump for joy and then kiss her, but her body language changes. Her shoulders slump forward in defeat, and I realize she's not happy about whatever just transpired.
"Why are we hiding in the bushes?" I whisper. "And why did they just leave without you?"
As she turns around, her chest brushes across mine-the unmistakable jolt of energy I know we both feel every time we touch causing her to hop backwards and almost fall into the bushes. I reach out and grab her, holding her upright.
Tears fill her gorgeous eyes.
"Whitney told me right before the game was over that even though I was sitting there when she asked, I wasn't invited. Then she said something nasty about me being Dawson's flavor of the week and how he's going to hook up with Rachel. I was going to cancel on him anyway. I have a car coming to pick me up in the morning, and then I'm going to New York. I guess Dawson is still mad at me about today. Or maybe Whitney is right, and I am just the flavor of the week."
I listen to her every word, thrilled that she's standing here in my arms, but mad that my sister and her friends could be so mean.
"You know, you're even beautiful when you cry," I say, brushing a few tears from her cheek.
"If this is the new and improved Aiden, I like him better already. I just don't get why Dawson would leave. He bought me a key-to-his-heart necklace a while ago. He says he really likes me. But then he does this? Just leaves? Is that what they do, Aiden? Is this just a game to them?"
"It all seems kind of odd, especially after what Dawson said to me at halftime."
"He got mad you stopped to check on me, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he was really pissed."
"It was nice of you. I'm pretty much exhausted. I can't wait to go to sleep."
I move us out of the bushes and walk her to her dorm. I want to invite her to mine. I don't want her to be alone.
But her body language is telling me otherwise. If she's like my sister, she probably wants to go cry in private. The girl has had a rough day-first her friend and now this.
But I want her to know I'm here for her. Always.
I give her a kiss on the cheek. "If you hear anything about your friend, let me know, okay?"
"Okay. Night, Aiden."
"Night, Boots," I say with a smirk, then pat her on the back-a redo of the end of our twenty-nine dances night.
"Very funny," she says as she walks into her dorm.
But at least I made her smile.
I'd kick his ass.
11:30pm I go to my dorm and flip on the twinkle lights I put up for her-feeling hopeful. She and Dawson will be over after this, and I want to ask her to Homecoming-this weekend while Dawson is gone. I just need to figure out the perfect way.
I close my eyes and run through all the ways I've seen girls get asked over the years, but none of them are right. My train of thought switches to how vulnerable she looked today in the chapel.
How she practically curled up into my lap.
How she turns me on.
My phone rings, startling me. When I see it's her, I feel like I just got caught. That she knows I'm thinking about her.
"Is your friend okay?" I ask.
"Yes. I just got good news."
"I'm glad. I've been praying for that all day."
"Me too. Thanks for today, Aiden. For talking-well, for listening to me and for getting us out of trouble for skipping."
A Facebook notification dings in my ear. I move my phone in front of my face to see it. Whitney has posted a photo of Dawson kissing Rachel's cheek in the limo.
"Wow. That hurts," she says.
"What hurts?" I ask, hoping she didn't just see it.
"Whitney just posted a photo of Dawson kissing Rachel."
"Only on the cheek. I just saw."
She starts to cry again then chokes out, "I have to go, Aiden."
"Wait," I say, but it's too late. She's already hung up on me.
Shit.
My instant reaction is to want to fix everything for her, and since I can't change what's going on with her friend, I'm only left with one choice. Because no matter how much I want her and Dawson to be over, I can't stand to see her hurt. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one she told about what happened.
I get up and go bang on Riley's door.
"What's up?" he asks. "We going to sneak in Bryce's room while he's gone, hook up with random hot girls, and drink all his stash?"
"Have you talked to your brother?" I ask.
"I saw he was being a dick to you at the game tonight. I'm sorry."
"I can handle it. That's not why I asked though. He left with everyone for the weekend, without Keatyn."
"Why? Are they in a fight because of today? Where is she?"
"I'm pretty sure she's in her room crying."
"So what did he say to her?"
"That's just it, he didn't say anything. But before the game was over, Whitney told Keatyn that even though she was sitting at the lunch table when she asked, Keatyn wasn't invited. She told her she is Dawson's flavor of the week. That he has been texting Rachel and that they are going to hook up. She was standing in the bushes watching them leave. And she was crying, Riley. It kills me when she cries."
"What is it about her? Even though she's dating my brother, I'd kick his ass if he hurt her."
"You guys are good friends."
"Yeah, but it's more than that. She's strong and fierce, but it's like there's something behind it, something that brings out the protector in me."