Crush

Drama

Asher

The first day back at school after the Christmas break was cold. Bitterly cold.

I blew on my hands to warm them up as I walked alongside Oliver. We were making our way to our lockers, having just arrived at school.

Oliver kept looking around him, obviously keeping an eye out for Jenson. The two guys hadn't spoken since Oliver had almost run away from his house at Christmas. And he still wouldn't tell me what happened that day. All I knew was that it upset Oliver to the point where he was in tears.

That pissed me off.

That someone made Oliver feel that way.

Even if it was his best friend.

If I see Jenson before Oliver does ... I gritted my teeth to stop myself from growling.

"Hey, guys." Dylan appeared at my side as we stopped at Oliver's locker. "How's it going?" He clapped my back, grin wide across his face as he nodded to Oliver in greeting.

"Hey, man." I smiled at him.

Oliver glanced over at the football captain. "Hey, Dylan." He grinned.

Dylan had sent me a few messages over the Christmas break, reminding me that we were into our final few games of the season and that we had to take these last few seriously. No messing up. Heads had to be completely in the game. There was even talk of a few talent scouts attending our last few games.

Dylan had his heart set on continuing his football career in college. The guy was amazing on the field. The few times we'd practised over the Christmas break, he'd been completely in the game. Totally unstoppable. Even more than he usually was. He had what it took to go pro. The scouts should snap him up once they saw him in action.

"What's with you?" I noticed the smile on his face.

He shrugged. "Just getting pumped for the final game in a couple of weeks, you know?" He rolled his shoulders.

I grinned at him. "Yeah. We're gonna smash these last couple of games, man." I clapped his back. "Those teams won't know what's fucking hit them."

"If you carry on bringing that energy to the field, we'll come out on top." Dylan leaned in, almost like he was going to let us in on a secret. "Seriously, man, you carry on playing like that and the scouts will be talking to you, too."

I raised my eyebrows.

A couple of years ago, I would have loved the idea. Being able to continue to play the sport I loved.

But now ... with Dad seemingly morally opposed to me playing the game, it wasn't possible.

Go to college. Study a business major. Work at Dad's company.

That was my life.

Planned out for me.

Well, that was how it was so far. Just wait till I told my dad about my real plans, about the real relationship between Oliver and me, about what I really wanted to do.

Would my life be able to take a different turn? Go the way I wanted it to?

Or would I still be expected to do what Dad wanted me to?

Fuck. This was making my heart hurt. It was too early in the morning to be thinking about this.

A nudge to my shoulder.

I looked up to find Oliver standing next to me, his locker shut, books in hand. He looked back at me, raised his brows and nodded towards Dylan.

Oh. Yeah. Dylan was talking. Said something about scouts.