the price of being ace

Chapter 36

Apollo curls up with me which helps me calm down a lot and finally after about an hour I feel ready to join the others in the living room but my phone buzzes
Digs🏐:you up for some practice?
Me:when?
Digs🏐:me,Lily and a couple others were thinking in half an hour or so at the park
Me:sure I'll be there
Digs🏐:You're in charge of snacks
Me:what why me
Digs🏐:because you're the last to reply
Me:you texted me 2 minutes before I replied
Digs🏐:oops lol
Me:smh not fair

I grab my stuff and tell Martin where I'm going before heading out to the park
"What snacks did you bring?" Digs asks immediately
"Hey can you maybe give me a sec" I say and she laughs
"Come on juvie times a wastin' or something" Taylor says and I laugh
"What's the rush?" I ask
"We all want to play don't you?" Lily asks and I nod
"I've got some wicked steam to expel" I say with a smile
"What happened?" Jazz asks and I shake my head
"I don't want to talk about it" I say
"Alright well are we here to toss the ball around or sit here and chit chat" Lily says then throws the ball to me

We make conversation as we pass the ball around but lucky me it turns to partners and our first kisses
"My first kiss was at his house and he told me he loved me like right after,I had been hanging out with him for a week" Jazz says
"At least he told you he loved you,I got played" Taylor says setting it to me
"Can we change the subject?" I ask bumping it to N.c
"Why what happened? Did you like get cheated on by your first or something" Taylor asks and I shake my head
"I just don't want to talk about kissing right now"
"Well I don't know my first kiss was really sweet" n.c says and I don't mean to but I spike the ball as hard as I can into the ground before it comes back up to digs who can't seem to control it

I think it shocks everyone because they just let the ball roll away in the grass in favour of staring at me
"There's a mark in the grass" digs remarks shaking out her hand like I hurt it
"Sorry digs did I hurt you?" I ask running up to her
"No it's our fault you said stop but what happened that made you react like that?" N.c says and I shake my head
"I've never seen you mad like that before" digs remarks
"Willow ambushed and kissed me" I say and digs gasps
"I thought you two were close" Jazz says and everyone else looks over at her because they all know
"She's my stalker ex" I say frowning at her

I explain what happened including what Paige's friend says and n.c shows me her phone screen which has a picture of us kissing on our high school exposing Instagram page
"No fricken way" I say
"No just wait it's a video on the second slide" she says and it's a video of our conversation including me telling Willow and that other girl to leave me alone
"She assaulted you" Lily remarks looking angry and I nod
"She threatened me too" I say
"We've got your back now against her just text the group chat if you get into trouble" Lily says and the others nod
"She's been in jail for assault twice so just be careful ok" I say but this doesn't seem to faze them
"Just say code W or something and we'll know" N.c says and I nod

I'm playing tell me why at around 2am when my phone rings
"What the heck jo my families asleep are you trying to get me killed" I say and she laughs
"Yeah Well I have a somewhat of a predicament" she says and I frown
"Great use of grammar" I say jokingly
"Yeah Well it's 2am and I'm stuck in the city" she says and I frown
"Why the heck are you in the city?" I ask alarmed
"Well my dad invited 'her' over so after we all had dinner together I made up some excuse to get furthest away as possible to get some stuff and well now I'm stuck" she explains and I sigh
"And you need me to come get you"
"Yeah"
"Ok just let me see if I can sneak out"

I do manage to sneak out the front door without making a sound and get in the truck
"Midnight road trip? Where are we going?" Bella asks getting in the passenger seat just as I'm turning on the engine
"Im going to rescue jo and you're please going to stay home and not tell" I say and she shakes her head
"No this is the perfect cousin bonding moment" she says and I smile
"Ok Well I don't know what state we'll find jo in,probably high so you have been warned" I say and she shrugs
"It's fine you guys are just being 17 now hurry up before the others wake up from all this idling"she says and I pull out of the driveway

I follow her find my friend ping until we find her sitting on the curb with her backpack on her shoulders
"Hey get in" I say
"Want some?" She asks holding out half a joint I didn't notice she was holding
"No" I say then glance over at Bella
"It's ok you don't have to put on a show for me" she says rolling her eyes at me
"Ok then yeah" I say and take it from jo
"Thanks for driving the 45 minutes to get me" she says as I inhale
"Don't worry about it"
"Yeah this is fun" Bella says
"Now we drive back and hope we don't get caught"
"Good luck" jo say and we all laugh