The Boy in the Jersey ✔️

2

Chapter 2

"Hey Kel, did you ask your parents if you could go away this weekend?" My best friend Thalia asks as I shut my locker.

"I can't, Logan has a game on Friday night and I can't miss it."

"Why?"

"You know why. It's a family thing. Dad is the coach and Logan plays, I can't just skip it."

Thalia groans as we enter the cafeteria.

"And besides, I don't want to go away this weekend. I need to pass my finals."

"Kelly you still have three weeks to study for your finals, I don't think one day will screw you over"

I raise an eyebrow at my best friend.

"Ugh fine we'll go to the stupid game." She grumbles

"Stupid? I thought you liked watching Logan play."

"Oh god I do, he's a hunk. But that's the problem, all those skanky cheerleaders always have their eyes on him. And they all know that he's mine."

I scrunch my nose as I pick up a Dr. Pepper and a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"You'll have to get used to it Thalia. That's what comes with dating the football star. And you know that Trina will do everything in her power to steal him from you."

Thalia scoffs as we sit at our spot.

"Bitch can try but Logan loves me, he wouldn't leave me for her. She's a walking STD."

Thalia and I burst into a fit of giggles as my brother and his best friend sit down next to us.

"What's so funny?" He asks with a mouth full of food.

"Ew babe. Chew with your mouth closed" Thalia says wiping crumbs off of my brothers face.

Logan swallows his food before leaning over and giving Thalia a quick kiss on the cheek. He slings his arm over her shoulder before he starts stuffing his face again.

"I'm still not used to seeing them like that" Ezra, my brothers best friend, says leaning over.

I chuckle.

"It's been a few months. I think they're good for each other."

Ezra shrugs his shoulders and bites a carrot stick.

"Logan can you not be so disgusting when you eat." I ask pushing my tray away from me.

"Can't help it, I need to bulk up for the season. We have a game coming up against the sharks and we can't lose. Kel I could get a scholarship to go to any college I want if I win this game."

"A scholarship? You're only sixteen"

"Yeah I know, but some of dad's old buddies are in the alumni and he pulled some strings to get me looked at sooner." Logan says with a shrug.

"It's a great opportunity for him Kel. Hell it's great for the whole team" Ezra pipes up.

I glance at Thalia who just shrugs at me before turning my attention to my flaking  polish on my nails.

"Yo Ez did you hear that Jax is getting expelled?"

"Yeah I overheard Principal Russell and coach talking about it. I wonder who they're going to get to replace him. The game is Friday."

"My dad said we won't meet him until Friday night. They're going over the plays for Friday all this week after school."

I roll my eyes and tune out my brother and Ezra. Football was not my favorite thing to discuss but I couldn't just up and leave the table. I didn't have anyone else to sit with, and ever since Thalia and Logan started dating she won't leave with me.

I didn't want to be alone, so I just dealt with it.

The bell rings signaling the end of lunch. I quickly get up from the table and throw my trash away before heading down the hallway and towards my next class.

As the five minutes pass by with kids slowly trickling in and taking their seats, I grab my notebook and a pencil out and start doodling.

My mind was racing so fast I didn't even realize that the teacher was in the room until he was standing right in front of my desk.

"Miss Willis." He says in his deep scary voice.

I slowly glance up at him as I close my notebook.

"Yes Mr. Bird?"

He gruffly hands me a piece of paper before turning around and heading back to the front of the classroom.

I look down at the blue paper in my hand. I was being called into my dad's office.

I gather my things before leaving the classroom and trudging down to the gym.

Halfway there I pass by my brothers classroom, and catch him leaving with his things.

"Dad called you too?" He asks

I slowly nod my head and continue to walk forward. Logan whips out his phone and starts texting someone as we quietly walk down the hall.

After entering the gym we head through the boys locker room and to the glass door that has Coach Blake Willis scrawled on it with black paint.

Logan taps on the glass with his knuckles and my dad looks up from where he was seated at his desk.

He smiles when he sees us and motions us in.

We take a seat in the chairs across from his desk and he leans back in his chair.

"What's up dad?" Logan asks putting his bag on the floor.

My dad's face changes into a stone cold look. Something was wrong.

"What happened? Is mom okay?" I ask, worry clawing it's way into the pit of my stomach.

"Your mother is fine honey. It's Grandma."

Logan and I exchange glances before our attention is brought back to our dad.

"What's wrong with grandma?" Logan asks

Dad looks up at us and he had tears in his eyes. His graying hair isn't gelled back like normal, it was sticking up every which way like he had been tugging at it and running his hands through it,  looking at him now, I knew he hadn't been sleeping. He was wearing a mask around Logan and I.

"Dad?" I ask with a shaky voice.

I knew what was coming, dad never cried, so this couldn't have been anything good.

"Her cancer has come back. She isn't doing well. I just got a call from my father and your mom and I are going to go see her. I already called you guys out of school if you wanted to come with me. If not I can drop you off at home and you can help your mother out."

I felt my heart stop. Logan and I only had one set of grandparents. My mom's dad died in jail a few years ago and her mom died before we were born.

My dad only had his dad and stepmom left. His biological mom died when he was really young, and grandma Sandy is his stepmom.

Logan and I loved her, she always would come down and see us throughout the years, they only live three hours away but every time we saw her it felt like it had been forever.

I couldn't believe that she had gotten cancer again. She had been in remission for almost seventeen years. Why would it come back now?

"What?" Logan asks.

I could tell his voice was breaking.

"She started getting really sick so dad took her to the hospital. The blood tests have confirmed it." My dad says.

"How much longer does she have?"

"They don't know. They suggested we spend as much time with her as we can, because they aren't sure how much longer she'll be here."

I stand abruptly and run out of the room. I slam the door behind me as the tears start pouring down my face. I run and run until I make it outside. I slide down against the fence by the football field and sob into my knees.