FRIDAY'S GIRL ·ϿʘϾ·

Chapter 4

It was just past two in the morning, and my eyelids were drooping. I was sitting in the back of my parents' car, heading home, while my sleepy eyes stared out the window. The streetlights flashed by one after another, casting dancing shadows inside the car. The faint smell of old leather seats couldn't distract me from the engine's hum, which only made the sharp pain in my leg worse. Painkillers hadn't done much to help; the pain was so unbearable I couldn't focus on anything else.

My father's first words to me right after the game still echoed in my ears: "You need to be more careful on the soccer field, son. Your brother never got injured." Those two short sentences cut deep, not being the first time I'd heard similar things.

To make matters worse, the medical results had taken forever, and they weren't exactly worth celebrating. Thanks to that idiot April Storm, I had a fractured tibia. I'd barely escaped a full break, as the bone was about to snap completely.

For the next three weeks, I'd be stuck in a cast and on complete bed rest until rehab started. I'd spend the first few classes of the semester at home, unable to train, just watching cable TV and lounging on the couch. It wouldn't be so bad if I could binge on chips, popcorn, and milkshakes, ditching my diet; something Coach Anderson definitely wouldn't approve of. So, it was time to suck it up and eat lots of greens. Yuck! I much prefer chicken and rice.

The specialist had explained that my injury was common among football players. "If you take care of yourself, it will heal completely and won't cause you problems in the future. You should feel lucky, young man," the doctor's words still rang in my head, while my frustration grew, especially since they put that stupid cast on. I had an insane itch in a spot halfway down my leg where my fingers couldn't reach. Damn it!

Maddison was sound asleep, her head resting on my shoulder. Having her by my side through the long wait, with all the anxiety from the uncertainty, made me value her even more, so much more. Despite all the stuff about chastity, I felt incredibly lucky that she was my girlfriend. Hearing her steady breathing calmed me, and her peaceful sleep made me want to protect her forever.

Last year had been anything but easy for her. That stupid news article in the school paper had hit her hard, especially when the "Daily Republic" picked it up. While the part about the players was somewhat true, depending on which version you wanted to believe, what happened with my girlfriend was pure garbage, a bunch of stories and exaggerations written by April Storm and Grace Johnson. Those two were a pair of bitter harpies with a knack for bringing out the worst in people.

I'm not saying Maddie is perfect; she makes mistakes like everyone else. She tends to be very intense in her reactions and maybe a bit vengeful. Smoking, drinking, and getting pissed off? Yeah, we've all done that at some point, but it's not the norm and certainly doesn't define who she is. If she talks about animal cruelty on social media and claims to be vegan, she does it for a good cause. She wants to raise awareness among her followers, trying to use her popularity to make the world a better place.

In any case, she didn't deserve those two airheads trying to tarnish her good reputation with a half-truth. But to be honest, their plan backfired, and they ended up paying the price, becoming a couple of outcasts at school. My girlfriend didn't think it was enough, though. She said being on the front page of a newspaper like a common criminal was much worse than being bullied at school. She felt it was nothing that most of our classmates mocked and harassed them, so for a long time, she was obsessed with getting even, saying with frustration that things wouldn't stay that way, that sooner or later, they'd remember who Maddison Rivers was.

In the end, after a lot of talking, she gave up on that nonsense and saw reason. Then school ended, summer came, and I had to travel with my parents to Florida for vacation; we did that every year to visit my mom's family. When we came back, things had calmed down, and the issue was forgotten, returning to perfect normalcy.