I. Heart Of Gold (Uneditied) ✔️ ORIGINAL

Eleven - First Reading Session

Maddox's POV:

Monday morning repeated in my head, with how Emmi reacted when we made out a little heavier than Friday, when it first happened. I felt terrible for scaring her and I never wanted to do that again.

It was Wednesday now and the last class of the day. Since Monday, Emmi and my mornings weren't as eventful, thankfully. And I held myself back from beating Zach into a pulp, so that was an accomplishment for me.

Gigi and Wes were working on writing out notes for our project, while I stared at the clock. It was almost two-thirty and I just wanted to be done. Brooks had wanted to read a favorite book series of mine, Blacksmiths and Summoners. It was a series meant for pre-teens, but his reading level was higher than most of his class, so his teacher approved it. I was happy to be sharing this series with him. "Mad? Earth to Maddox?" I saw a waving hand in my face and it belonged to Gigi.

"What?" I barked.

"Just making sure you're still with us," she chuckled.

I felt my cheeks grow warm, but I brushed it off, "Of course I'm still here. Just want to be done for the day."

Wes raised his brows, "First session annoyance?"

I glared at him and Gigi looked between the two of us, "First session for what?"

"We have to do this reading thing, it's required for football players and I got stuck with Emmi's little brother." I rolled my eyes.

I saw a smirk on the red heads face, "You can't hide your excitement from me, Evans. I can read people like a flipping book. We went over this, remember?"

I waved my hand dismissively, "Yeah, yeah. Can you two just catch me up on the notes? I'll do some more research tonight and get you the notes tomorrow."

She nodded and the two went over what they had done with me. It was brief, but I understood it and as soon as they were done, the end of day bell rang and I bolted out of there. I ran to my locker to grab my things and stopped at Emmi's before I left to go get my book and go pick up Brooks.

"I got practice tonight, so I'll see you later. State is in two weeks, so we gotta be spot on." I caught a twinkle in her eye as she talked about marching band. It was sweet how excited she was about it.

"Oh? I didn't realize you guys were going to state. Congrats!" I beamed.

"We go every year. Whether we're good or bad, it's a fun experience. Maybe you and Wes could come and cheer us on!"

I raised my brows, "You really want us to be there? Isn't it some nerdy thing?"

Emmi pouted, "It can be nerdy, but I saw you and Wes jamming out to our practice session on Friday. Come on, please? For me? As a friend?" She batted her eyes and I couldn't say no to that adorable face. Why did she have to be so damn adorable?

"Ugh, fine. I'll ask Wes and see if we have anything going on end of this month. I don't think we have games that weekend, so we should be fine." I smiled.

"What weekend?" Wes asked, overhearing our conversation.

"End of October, so two weeks from now."

"Isn't that a playoff weekend? And then state is like three weekends after that?"

"Shit, I forgot...I'll chat with Coach and see how long it's gonna be." I turned my attention to Emmi, "I'm gonna try my damndest to be there." I told her.

Wes looked at me intrigued. I'd explain it all later to him. "Where are the playoffs anyway?" She asked.

"In Plainview, so about two hours away."