𝐈 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮

Jonesy

Three months later

  By the time March rolled around, I had finally gotten my grades back up to an acceptable standard. Althea had been an awesome tutor, although I was clearly not the best student. She was patient and somehow made studying fun.
  There was still no lead as to who Blake Kensington had gotten her information from, and I could tell it was eating Althea up on the inside. She was on edge, not that she had anything to fear; just curious as to who knew so much about her personal life and why they wanted to use it against her.
  Christmas came and went, along with New Year's and Valentine's Day, all of which I spent with her. Her parent's divorce had been finalized and her mother moved to California.
  Marsai had made no effort to apologize to Althea or even speak to her and her sister before she left. Her father, however, was her biggest supporter. He rented out an apartment in Westbrooke so he could be close enough to come to her practices.
  She and Aiden worked relentlessly on their duet for Sectionals and I couldn't have been more proud of her. Her moves were flawless and I no longer felt a pang of jealousy whenever I saw the pair together.
  After I had gotten my grades up, I was able to play in the last game before the championship. Unfortunately, the championship game itself was against Priestley, and I was mentally preparing myself to not knock out Blake's teeth.
  "I can't believe today is finally the day." Althea said, focusing on her reflection in the mirror. She held a paint brush in her hand and was busy painting our school colors on her cheeks. "Championship Game Day!"
  I grunted in response, not moving from my position in bed. I stared up at the ceiling, my arms crossed behind my head.
  "Your mom and step dad are going to make it, right? What about the twins?" Althea had bonded well with my new family and the twins adored her. Natalie said she wanted to become a figure skater and Natasha said she was going to pick up skiing. She really was their idol. I'm pretty sure they liked her more than they liked me, not that it bothered me.
  Ellis had spent Christmas with us at Mallory's house in Fairmont and traveled back to Maybanks. He claimed he wanted to take a look around campus and check out the sports teams, but we all knew he was really here to see Gemma.
  They had gotten close over the past few months; Ellis even asked me for my blessing to date her. Of course, I gave it to him but told him if he ever broke my girlfriend's best friend's heart, I'd double it.
  He laughed it off. Fool.
  "Yes, Mom, Scott, the twins, and Baxter." I tried to conceal the boredom in my voice but Althea, observant as always, picked up on it.
  Moments later she was sitting by my side, a concerned look on her face. "Jones, what's wrong? Usually you're more excited for game day, plus your whole family is coming." She gently shook my arm and I propped myself up to look at her.
  "I'm just preparing myself." I said dryly before flopping back into the pillows.
  "For what?"
  "Blake."
  Althea sighed and shook her head. "You've got to let this go, I have."
  "Have you?" I snorted. "I'm sorry." I took her hand in mine and ran my thumb across her knuckles. "I just don't forgive as easily as you do."
  "You forgave me easily enough."
  I laughed. "That's because I was in love with you. Blake holds absolutely no sentimental value to my life whatsoever. I could hate her for eternity."
  She snorted. "That's a bit dramatic."
  "It's a very real possibility though."
  I stared up at her, her endless brown eyes searched my face. "I'm serious, Thea. I'm not sure I'll be able to control my anger on the ice tonight. You trusted her and she hurt you; that isn't something I can just get over."
  She huffed, knowing there was no changing my mind. "Just don't do anything that could cause the scouts to pass you up, draft season comes next."
  "I won't do anything unsportsmanlike." I held up three fingers and placed my other hand over my heart. "Scout's honor."
  Althea shoved me with a laugh. "I still can't believe you were a fucking girl scout."
  "Hey, the wilderness needed to be explored and I couldn't just let the boys have all the fun."
  After a few more minutes of laying in bed, it was finally time to actually prepare for the game. I grabbed my bag and with Althea close behind me, we headed towards the stadium.
  I gave her a quick kiss and she wished me luck before going to find my family and her dad.
  "God, I am so ready to beat Priestley. Again." Daria stretched an arm over the other, her curly hair pulled back into a bun.
  "I'm going to grind Blake into dust," Bela chimed in. I had told them about what happened with Blake being the snitch and they were furious. Even Daria, for how much shit she gave Althea, said she couldn't let this slide.
  "Althea's one of us, and we look after our own," she had said.
  I tugged on my gear and looped my mouth guard over my helmet. "Look, Blake doesn't know that we know, or at least that you both know. She thinks she's gotten away with it; we'll just have to remind her that she hasn't."
  Bela snapped her fingers. "Oh, my God, hell yeah. She's going to regret this. Her and whatever lowlife scumbag she hired to feed her information."
  "Right, because we all know she's not smart enough to come up with this idea on her own." Daria snickered. "She's pretty but I doubt there's a whole lot going on upstairs." She tapped her temple with a laugh.
  I shook my head and finished donning my gear, pulling on my jersey over my shoulder pads just as Coach walked in, her whistle in her mouth.
  "Alright team, this is it. This is the game this entire last year has brought us to. After this we will be saying goodbye to our seniors." She looked at me, Bela, Daria, and a few other graduating players.
  Coach Carter was never one to get sentimental but I could've sworn she brushed a tear from her face as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She would probably tell you it was a stray eyelash.
  She cleared her throat and continued. "Now, I want you to go out, have fun, and bring home the trophy! There will be several scouts here tonight, so do your best and now unsportsmanlike behavior." She narrowed her eyes at Daria who suddenly found a keen interest in the ceiling.
  "What teams sent scouts?" One player asked. Coach flipped over a page on her clipboard and began reading off cities.
  "There are three from Canada and three from the U.S. Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Minnesota, and New York."
  The girls began whispering amongst each other, excitedly talking about which teams they would like to be drafted into while Coach tried her best to claim their attention. When that didn't work, I stepped up.
  "Eyes on me." My voice echoed through the locker room and instantly there was silence. "Coach needs your attention, this is an important game for some of us and we don't want to lose because you guys couldn't shut the fuck up and listen."
  Coach gave me an appreciative nod. "Thank you, Jonesy." She turned back to the team and carried on with acknowledgments and went over several plays. Overhead I could hear the loud P.A. as announcements started and ended. It was game time.