The Introvert and the Football Player

Chapter Two

Nova's junior year started off the same as the previous two years. Same school, same friends, same outfits, and same so-called hard classes. She was never one to get in trouble with her teachers and rarely spoke to anyone outside of her small circle of friends. The only thing that had truly changed about Nova Sparks was how little she spoke unless she was spoken to.

Nova's best friend since the fourth grade, Danni Eatmon, was the only one who could get Nova to step out of her shell. From fourth grade all the way until the middle of sophomore year the two had been together through thick and thin. When Danni moved to the rival high school across town, the remainder of Nova's friends struggled to bring Nova out of her shell, and eventually they stopped trying.

Nova didn't know that her friends from her first period were going to make sure Nova actually made friends this year. Valerie Grey and Ricky Marshe had no intentions on letting Nova's junior year pass without her at least growing her list of friends. Valerie knew the Nova that Danni had created and she would do anything to get her back. The main way she knew how to do that was to get Nova talking about boys.

Meet Monty Jacks. He was tall, skinny, and definitely a creep and unfortunately, he set his sights on Nova. Monty openly flirted with both Nova and Valerie- the only difference was Valerie laughed it off and Nova just wanted to punch him in the face. Ricky wasn't rude like Monty and Nova always found herself speaking more openly to him than she would Monty. At the end of first block, Nova ran into the hall. Usually she'd have her headphones in blocking out the world of high school drama, but this year the administration had banned the use of earbuds in the hallways. Nova didn't want to hear about how the new football player was a total dream or how someone's mother had grounded them for sneaking in late. She preferred to be plugged into whatever song matched her mood. The lack of headphones left Nova vulnerable to conversation- and that was the last thing she wanted.

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Meeting new people was never a problem for Bo Smith. He was a starter on the varsity football team, a senior, and the most confident guy in the whole school. The school seemed to be powered by his smile alone. Bo appeared to have everything he wanted, but something was missing. After four years, Taylor High School had lost it's appeal to Bo. Nothing in this place ever changed. Nobody worth getting to know ever came to this school. He wasn't in short supply of support when it came to football, but to Bo that had lost it's familiar rush too. Friends were never in short supply for the team, especially Bo. Plenty of people- mainly girls- wanted the privilege of getting to know Bo Smith. But the endless support, numerous girls, and fast paced games weren't enough for him anymore.