Quarterback Love

Chapter One

I’m running through the silent halls, trying to prevent being late on the first day of senior year. My sneakers, screeching and squealing against the gleaming tiles of floor two in Melrose High School. Because Manchester United, my favorite soccer team, had a game at midnight, I didn’t wake up at a suggested time this morning.

When I woke up, I had just enough time to slip on my gym shorts and football jersey. Fixing my hair into a ponytail at red lights on my way to school.

When the ear piercing bell screams at eight o’ clock, I reach for the doorknob of my first period class. Twisting the silver handle, I walk through the door.

“How nice of you to join us, Julia,” he says with bitterness lingering in his words.

I nod at him, “Mr. Ranford.” I look around the large room with small posters of different organs and muscles trying to seek an empty chair. Mumbles and whispers fill the room and I’m positive they’re all about how horrible I look and how I don't deserve to live. The usual. I spot a chair and desk in the far corner of the room next to my friend Porter. I slide and slither my way past the wooden desks and make it to the far end of the torture chamber. I sit down in the uncomfortable plastic chair, fix my sock that goes up to mid-shin that slid down my leg while rushing to get here, and look up at everyone still glaring at me. Cupping my chin in my hand, I yawn and look down at my desk.

 “Alright class,” Mr. Ranford starts, “we will start the year off with a fun group project about the brain. You and your partner will make a model of the brain and compose an eight-hundred word essay on how the brain cells deteriorate over time.” His brain cells must be deteriorating if he thinks this will be a “fun group project”.

“In five weeks, you and your partner will be handing this first grade in,” he says in a monotone accent. He takes out Popsicle sticks with an individual name on one stick and stirs the twenty-four wooden rectangles in a jar. He starts to pick out stick after stick to determine who will be partners with whom.

“Lilly and Sam. Rae and Tara. Beckett and Sean. Porter and Julia.”  I smile at a smirking Porter and block out Mr. Ranford and his rambling voice, shouting out remaining pairs. Porter is the best and only friend I have. He always stands up for me when people like Beckett or his friends insult me. We bond over sports and are on the football team together.

 “We’re so getting an ‘A’ on this Jules,” he says, using my nickname.

“Did you not hear that we have to sculpt an exact replica of a brain?” I chuckle. I know that neither of us have any artistic skills nor have constructed an organ. I wonder what macaroni and cheese would look like as a brain.

***

I walk into the lonely girls’ locker room to change into my football jersey and pads. Slipping my shoulder pads above my head, I grab my jersey and slid it over top of the bulky plastic. After that, I jump into my padded leggings and football cleats, grab my Gatorade, and walk onto the football field.

“Hey, Jules,” chirps Porter as he sees me on the sideline. He jogs over to me and pats my shoulder, “Did you see the game last night?” He asks.

 “Totally. Manchest-,” I get interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I face a chest that is labeled with a number thirty-six. I tilt my head up to the unknown person, seeing the face I could do without seeing for eternity.

“Hey, runt. Have a good summer?” He says with a smirk carved across his face. Beckett Fraizer. Fuck, this is going to be a long year. 

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Author's Note: Hello! I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading "Quarterback Love" and that I hope you enjoy the story! Leave any comments on the book or what you would like to read next!