the price of being ace

Chapter 30

Erin seems to understand this lesson too with not too much help from me but she still asks for help and as I'm helping her with a word problem I'm suddenly made aware of how close we are which makes my face get hot for some reason
"I'm sorry I'm horrible at word problems" she says snapping me out of it,geez ace she's your cousin's girlfriend
"It's all good,start out by writing down what we know like the zeros are 3 and 4 and work backwards from there" I say and she writes x=3,4 on the paper
"So (x-3)(x-4)?" She asks and I nod
"See it's not as hard as you think it is" I say and she smiles
"Yeah" she says trying the next question
"Hey" Willow says to us walking past on her way into class late as usual
"Hey" I reply but Erin doesn't say anything to her
"What's your relation to her I mean she's kinda creepy" Erin whispers to me
"She's my ex" I say not worrying about the title because Paige outed me to the entire school already
"Oh" she says before getting back to work

When I get home from practice both Luca and Erin are over at the house with Jackson
"Hey ace how was practice?" Kate asks as I drop my backpack by the door
"It was good,today was all about serving and receiving to get ready for the game" I say and I must admit I could use a little work on to get both up to the same level I spike and set at
"I see that sharpie is still on your hand" she remarks and I nod
"Yeah I re-did it this morning" I lie
"Supper will be ready in a little over an hour so I would suggest you have your shower now" kate says and I nod
"Ok" i say before heading upstairs to the bathroom me and Jackson share

I get out of the shower and realize I forgot to grab a clean set of clothes which means I have to dash across the hall in my towel but luckily no one sees me
"I'm changing" I cry as the door to my room starts to open
"Oh I'm so sorry I should've knocked" Erin's says quickly shutting the door again so I put on my shirt then a hoodie over top
"What do you need?" I ask coming out of the room
"Sorry I just wanted to see if you were up to doing something because the boys are playing video games and I don't really play you know" she says nervously obviously embarrassed by the way her cheeks are bright red and she's avoiding eye contact
"Yeah sure what do you want to do?" I ask
"I don't know want to toss a ball or something?" She asks and I smile,this girl really seems to like football because every time she's not with me or Jackson or in school she's throwing the ball around

For being in a family of football players I am really bad at throwing a football
"You're releasing too late" she says after the ball hits the ground just in front of her again
"I'm sorry I'm not a good partner for this" I say and she shakes her head
"It's ok not everyone can be good at everything" she says throwing it back and I catch it
"You know not everyone can be the schools golden girl either" I say and she laughs
"Am not" she says
"Are to i mean everyone loves you Erin" I say and she smiles
"Golden girl isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe me at the moment" she says and I frown

Erin pov:

Golden girl is not the title i'd use to describe my life I mean maybe the facade i put on for school but my whole life is a mess right now,I haven't seen my dad since he left the house honestly I don't even know where he is right now after my mom said she wanted to stay a family which made him just up and leave
"Can you help me with cleaning up dinner?" My mom asks as I get in the door
"Sure what do you need me to do?" I ask walking into the kitchen to help
"Can you do the dishes?" She asks and I nod,ever since our dishwasher broke we've been having to do dishes by hand because we don't have the money to fix it or buy a new one right now
"Have you figured out where dad is?" I ask and she shakes her head
"I have a hunch but I'm not going to press" she says and I nod,that makes sense I guess

I collapse into bed mentally exhausted and start to cry,I wanted to tell ace how I feel about her so badly but Jackson needs me to cover for him until he feels safe enough to come out
"Erin wake up you're going to be late for school" my mom shouts down the basement stairs and I realize I forgot to turn my alarm on last night
"Crap" I say looking at the clock and seeing that it's almost 8 in the morning which means I have to be at the school in less than half an hour
"You ok?" My mom asks as I rush up the stairs
"Yeah just rushing that's all" I lie,I heard my dad when he came home finally last night but all they did was argue thinking that I was asleep already and I think he was drunk
"Do you want me to drive you to school?" She asks and I shake my head
"It's ok I'll drive myself today" I say grabbing a piece of bread on my way out the door then realize I forgot my math homework so I run back in to get it

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Sorry I've been busy lately but here's the chapter,peace and stay healthy guys -Kat:)