The Bad Boy's Snowflake

Chapter 23: Football Players

Just as I am about to leave with Sadie and Macy, Sam comes thundering down the stairs. I look over to him, and notice how much he has changed over the past few years. His hair is darker, his face is skinnier, and he's more lean. He also has more muscle than he did last year, yet I don't remember him ever lifting weights or running or anything.

"Can I go to Brendan's house tonight," he asks me.

"Yeah," I answer automatically. "Sadie, Macy, and I are headed to Sadie's, so we can just drop you off on the way. Then we can pick you up in the morning on the way home."

He smiles. "Give me a second to pack?"

I nod, and he races back up the stairs. I turn to my mother who is looking at me with an eyebrow raised. "When did you become so responsible and mother-like?"

I scoff. "Are you kidding me? You left me to raise him for the past two years. Of course I'm responsible and mother-like. A lot more mother-like than you."

Her face falls. Looks of betrayal, hurt, and possible some anger show on her face. I instantly regret saying what I did, but it needed to be said. If she really is going to stay, she must know that there's going to be some tension between us because, as I so plainly put it, she left me to raise Sam for the past two years.

At that moment, Sam comes back down the stairs, and Mother changes her facial expression to one of neutrality. The five of us stand there for a very awkward moment before Sam breaks the ice.

"Bye! See you tomorrow!" he tells Mother before walking out the front door. I follow without a word, and my friends do the same. Sam and I climb into the back of Sadie's car, while Sadie and Macy climb in the front. Sam gives Sadie an address, and we start on our way.

"Is she staying for good?" Sam asks me quietly, once Sadie and Macy have started their own conversation.

I sigh. "I doubt it. She claims she is, but she's only doing it so some guy will go out with her. Once they break up I'm sure she'll leave again."

"Hasn't she learned her lesson about guys?" Sam says. "If this guy walks out on her, imagine how much worse she'll be to you."

"I can handle her," I answer. "It's you I'm worried about. What if she goes after you if I'm not there when she wants to hit me? What if she decides to get you instead of waiting?"

Sam glances at me sideways. "I'm strong, Catherine. I can handle her."

"Speaking of being strong," I attempt to change the subject, "when did you get so muscle-y? And how?"

He ducks his head, but I can see the blush on his cheeks. "Oh. I've been, um, working out after school."

"Where and when?" I ask, very surprised.

"When I was waiting for you to pick me up after your practice I was wandering through the school and found the weight room. I decided I would try it, since I really haven't been exercising the way a kid my age is supposed to. I've also been running around the track."

I raise my eyebrows. "That's great, Sam! Just make sure you're careful with the weights. If you don't know how to use them correctly, you can get hurt really bad."

He gives me a lopsided smile. "I know. A football coach saw me working out in there and noticed I was doing it wrong. He showed me how to do it right and told me I should try out for the freshman football team next year."

"Sam, that's fantastic!" I exclaim. "Joining a team will be so much fun for you. Playing high school sports is really hard, though, and you have to be pretty good, and most of the time you have to have a lot of experience-wait. Do you even know how to throw a football?"

He rolls his eyes at me. "Who doesn't know how to throw a football?"

I raise my hand, along with Sadie and Macy. I didn't even realize they had started listening. Hopefully it wasn't toward the beginning of the conversation.

Sam rolls his eyes again. "Yes, I know how to throw a football. Also, the coach has been working with me so that I can actually make the team. Apparently, I'm a natural-born football player."

I smile. "Good for you."

"Just don't get a huge head and be an egotistical jerk like the rest of the football players at school," Macy warns him.

"The football players may be egotistical jerks, but damn do they look good," Sadie replies.

This time it's my turn to roll my eyes. Macy laughs, "That's very true. Football players always look really good."

I shake my head at my two best friends as we pull into a driveway. Sam grabs his bag and gets out of the car. He thanks Sadie for the ride, and heads up to the door. A blond boy opens the door, and Sam does the handshake thing with him that most guys do before following him inside the house. Sadie pull out of the driveway and then out of the neighborhood. She turns the opposite way that we need to go to get to her house.

"Sadie, where are we going?" I ask her, suspicion clearly evident in my voice.

"The mall."

"What? Why?" I whine.

She glances at me through the rear view mirror. "I said we were going to your house to drop off your groceries and then we were going shopping, did I not?"

"But-" I argue.

"No but's," she replies firmly.

I groan and slump back in my seat. It is going to be a long afternoon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, guys!

I'm sorry it's been so long. I've been busy. I'm also sorry that this is so short. Wattpad keeps freezing on me, adn it's being really freaking annoying. This might have a buncof typos because I can't see what I'm typing rn. There we go. It's working again.

Anyway, thanks for being so patient with me (especially since there are a lot of better things you could be reading). I really appreciate that you guys read this. However, it would definitely make me appreciate you more if you voted ;). Sorry. That didn't come of how I wanted it to, and now I'm just rambling.

Ok. Thanks for reading this, and please vote and comment {and share :)}

Also, thanks for putting up with me. Especially powerwriter5 and hardcorewriter02

Thanks, guys!