The Introvert and the Football Player

Chapter Twenty Eight

Bo's POV:

I could see Nova looking at me for answers. But the thing was, I didn't have any for her. I couldn't find it in me to tell her that the team that year had raped her best friend.
"Why were you there that night?" She asked me. "It was the whole team, we won our game and they wanted to go to Billy's party." I told her. "You were there that night on the staircase?" She asked me uncertainly. "Yes." I whispered. Nova pulled away from me quickly before she asked me the final question: "What happened that night?"

Here goes nothing.

Two Years Ago:

"We just won the state championship. Let's go party." Andrew, the captain, told us. All around me I heard shouts of agreement, and I found myself agreeing as well. As we pulled up to Billy Turner's house, I felt regretful for coming here. My mom wanted me to go home after the game so I could watch Lauren, but I wanted to fit in with the team.

The bass was pounding inside and some unknown girl gave us all drinks. "Let's give it up for our state champions!" She hollered over the music. The room erupted into cheers and hollers for us. "Thank you so much Yolanda." Andrew told her as he kissed her on the cheek. Soon, the whole team was scattered throughout the house and that's when I saw her.

She was wearing a tight black dress, her golden blonde hair hung just below her waist, and her legs seemed to stretch on for days. She held onto her red cup and smiled at Billy, the host of the party. I knew who she was, she had become a legend around Taylor lately. Nova Sparks was the girl everyone wanted to party with this year. Her black heeled ankle boots clicked against the floor as she walked back over to the couch. She seemed to be the coolest one here, and she wasn't doing anything.
"Hey Bo, Andrew said its time." Jason told me in my ear. I took one last look at Nova and followed Jason out of the room.

When I got up stairs, the team had a girl sprawled out over the bed; I immediately began to feel uneasy about it all. "Baby I can give it to you good." I heard Andrew whisper to her. I could see a distinct red light in the corner of the room, and I was 100% positive that she didn't know it was there. "You sho-- Is that a fucking camera?" I heard her ask. She leaned into the moonlight, and I recognized her immediately. I backed out of the room to get away from the scene I was seeing. I heard shuffling behind me, and I heard Billy yell out "GET OFF OF HER!"
Emily ran past me towards the staircase and as if by magic, she slipped and toppled over the edge. I locked eyes with Nova then, and she looked at me like she was begging for help.

******
Present Day  

Nova looked at me as if she didn't know who I was anymore. "You told me you weren't there that night." She said softly. I remembered the conversation I had with her that night in the middle of my walk home; we were both escaping from the same thing, the only difference was that I was involved and she was the victim's best friend. "I think I'm gonna throw up." She said after I didn't answer her. I let her get up without saying anything then and watched as she fled to my bathroom. I sat there in stony silence and waited for her to get back.

Nova walked back into my room without speaking or looking at me. I didn't look at her as she peeled off my jersey, or as she got dressed in the clothes she wore last night. "Are you gonna need a ride?" I asked her. She shook her head at my question still without making eye contact with me. "Nova, baby, say something." I begged. "You don't want me to say anything Bo." She said icily. A horn honked in my driveway, and she began to walk out the door.
"So are we over?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear the words. "We never started." I heard Nova mumble as the door shut between us. I stumbled over to my window; I watched as she marched across my front lawn and get into Danni's truck. I pressed my hand against the glass, and Danni flipped me off from the driver's seat.

*

November

*

December

*

January
Nova's POV:

It had been almost four months since I found out Bo had been apart of Emily's death. Four months since he came back to Taylor and helped lead the varsity football team to states. Four months since I'd spoken to anyone at Taylor. Valerie tried over and over to get me to tell her what happened between Bo and I, but every time I went to tell anyone, the words would get caught in my throat and tears would fill my eyes. Bo tried talking to me repeatedly. For the first couple of months, he'd text me almost once a day. Just to see if I'd text back, but I never could.  My mom had threatened to send me back to my shrink, but I didn't talk to him either, so that ended a few weeks into her intervention.

I threw myself into my work in the daycare, and in my other classes. I became a model student. I didn't talk to anyone outside of my classes, and I could see everyone looking at me with worried faces. It was hell in first block with Valerie and Ricky. They both tried to talk to me and tried getting Monty to talk to me. He approached me one time, but I yelled at him to go away, and tears nearly fell from my eyes. It was the only time he looked anything near a decent person to me. Ricky and Valerie didn't talk to me anymore. We all worked in silence, or they talked and I listened.

The day Danni picked me up from Bo's was the day she ended things with Lucas. She said it wasn't working out between them because he didn't like her always going out. It seemed plausible enough because most of her boyfriends had problems with her going out as much as she did, but they ended it perfectly in the time that Bo and I had.

At the end of the day, I sat in my car waiting for everyone to pull out. I was leaned over my steering wheel, trying to hold back all of the tears that hadn't escaped since I left Bo's bathroom in October. Everyday that I did this, it felt like I was having to hold myself together at the seams. How you remind me was blasting through my speakers, and I barely heard the knock on my glass. "Sparks you know everyone's gone right?" Bo's coach a.k.a my Drivers Ed teacher asked. I'd been driving to school on my permit and hadn't gotten caught yet. "Oh uh yes sir. I see that." I stammered. "Well get on home, and I'll pretend that I didn't see you driving with only your permit." He told me. I faked a smile and told him "Thank you so much!"
If he thought I was faking the happiness, he didn't call me out on it.

I pulled into my driveway as Wicked Games began to fill my speakers. I cut my engine quickly to avoid hearing the song. It reminded me of Bo so much it hurt. But then again, everything hurt nowadays, and it didn't seem to be getting better anytime soon.