Indecisive Heart

Chapter 17

Lacrosse season is now in full swing. I'm trying to give it my full attention and not worry about anything else. It's the first day of official practice, and Rory is finally playing with us. It feels good to have the whole team together. I have a really good feeling about this season.

I was doing my stretches and warmups when I realized Asher was sitting in the bleachers with a camera. I'm starting to wonder if this guy is a stalker. Coach called us over for a team huddle and introduced Asher.

"Alright everybody listen up." He said. "This is Asher here, and he's going to take some pictures during practice today for the yearbook." Asher nodded. Coach continued, "So just act natural and do your best. Our official season has finally begun, so let's get to it!"

I was a bit nervous now that I knew Asher was watching me and possibly even taking pictures of me, but I tried not to let it affect my playing. I caught myself looking over at him a few times during practice and Rory had to yell at me once before I got hit in the head with a ball. I looked back over at him and he was smiling.

Rory caught up to me and said "Well, well, I see you two side-eyeing each other. How romantic." I could tell she was joking, but internally I had butterflies in my stomach. I wondered where Gia was and why she wasn't following him around.

We completed the rest of practice and I did well. I tried to look cool as I was packing my things up, because he was still taking pictures. I went to take a sip of my water, and right as I was about to swallow, I saw him approaching, and started choking on my water.

How embarrassing.

I tried to stop coughing, but that just made it worse because then I started to tear up.

He ended up walking past me to go speak to Coach who was standing somewhere close behind me of course. I couldn't hear what they were saying over my coughing, so I decided it would be best if I just left right that second. That was enough awkwardness for one encounter, if that's what you even call an encounter.

The next day at school during lunch, Gia actually approached me at my table. Rory was with me, but Finn wasn't. He hasn't sat at our table anymore since "the incident." I kind of miss when he did that.

Instead, today Gia plopped down right next to me and said "Hey Sadie, where's Finn today? Doesn't he normally sit here?" Fire burning in my veins, I tried to keep my answer vague. "No, he usually sits with his friends over there and comes to visit sometimes."

She changed the subject then. "Well anyways, I was wondering if you were interested in doing an interview with one of the members of the school newspaper club for lacrosse. Not sure who is available yet, but I was thinking today right after school. Whoever it is will meet you in the club's normal meeting room. What do you say, captain?" She said that last part almost sarcastically.

"Sure." I shrugged.

"Great! So just go to the meeting room right after school and one of the writers will meet you there for a short interview about this coming season. Thanks so much for doing this!" There's that fake smile again. She then got up and went back to her table with Asher and the rest of her girl friends. Has he not made a single guy friend at this school yet?

"I can't believe she asked you to do an interview for the paper, do you think it's some sort of sabotage?" Rory asked, suspicious.

"Probably," I responded, "But, I want to do it anyway, and I'm not sure why."

Perplexed, Rory asked "So you're just going to walk right into a potential trap with no game plan?" I thought for a minute, then answered. "Yeah, pretty much."

"How do you know that's a good idea? Because to me, that sounds like a horrible idea." She asked. "I don't know. Intuition, I guess. I'm just not really worried about it. In fact, I'm looking forward to it."