POWER BACK

Chapter 3: Lovely Day

Lovely Day

Jack, August

I wake up Wednesday morning, sunlight pouring in my window. I wince, still sore from yesterday's practice. There's a soft knock at my door.

"Jack?" My mother turns the knob and pokes her head in.

"Morning," I groan and roll over to check my phone. 7 am.

"You'd better get going, Bud. Gonna be late," she says raising her eyebrows and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah," I say, sighing.

"You okay?"

I nod. She comes and sits on my bed, her eyebrows knit together like she's worried. "You feel alright?"

I study her face. She always knows if something's amiss. "Yeah, just couldn't sleep last night."

"Something on your mind?"

I look at her, tanned and freckled, dark brown eyes still a little puffy from sleep even though I know she's been up for hours. She holds her mug in two hands, sunlight streaming through the steam.

"There's a new kid on the team." I shrug.

"Oh? He any good?"

"Not sure yet. Fast."

"That's a positive. What position does he play?"

"Running back."

"Oh, like you?"

I nod.

"You worried he's going to take your spot?"

"Not really. I'd rather play linebacker. But the thing is, he's not a he."

She tilts her head. "What do you mean?"

I look out the window thinking back to Monday, remembering the pained expression in Peyton's eyes when I confronted her.

"I mean, he's a she."

"A girl?"

I nod.

"Wow. What do the coaches think about that?"

"They don't know yet."

Her eyes grow wide. "Oh, Lord. How did they not notice that? Does she look like a boy? Is she, uh...built like the other players?"

"Sort of. From far away. Hard to tell all suited up in pads. She's tall, for a girl. But reedy. And I think she shaved her head."

"Really?" She smiles, curiosity alight in her eyes.

"Yeah. I saw her without her helmet."

"And you knew she was a girl?"

"She smiled, and I knew." I stare out the window, watching the sun creep higher in the sky.

Ma looks at me with a knowing grin. "Is she pretty?"

"Kinda." I shrug. "As pretty as a girl with no makeup, no hair, and a chip on her shoulder can be, I guess." But what I'm really thinking is that she might be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Her beauty comes from within. Natural and electric, like lightning in a bottle. And her eyes mesmerize—one minute lit up with fire and the next dark and deep and haunted.

"Chip on her shoulder, huh?"

"Yeah, she's a real prickly pear. A real character. Anyway, I confronted her about it."

"And? Is she gonna tell them?"

"She needs to. I told her so. It ain't right, hiding something that big from the team."