Chapter 13

"You alright if I go make us some food?" I asked Jesse, carefully getting out of the bed.

"Pancakes." She nodded, not opening her eyes. "And bacon."

"I'll see what I've got." I laughed, giving her shoulder a squeeze before grabbing my notebook and phone and heading towards the kitchen.

"Morning!" My dad called as I walked past the living room.

I raised my eyebrows at the gathering of the team in the living room which had become a regular Saturday occurrence.

"Morning." I gave him a sarcastic smile before trying to find what we had in the kitchen to make for Jesse.

All I found that was at all breakfast-y was some frozen quiches and some fruit.

So I put the quiches in the oven and cut up some fruit, and then sat down at the kitchen counter to eat some chips and fill in my notebook.

I had eaten nearly the entire bag when my dad suddenly called my name.

I shut my notebook and took a deep breath, stretching out my body as I leaned over the back of the chair.

"Bella!" My dad called again from the living room. "Come here for a sec!"

I groaned, resting my head forwards on the counter for a moment before pushing myself up from the chair and slowly making my way into the living room where dad was standing in front of all of the guys.

I hated it when they all gathered here. Like, come on, I didn't need all of this in my house. I hated high school enough, I didn't need all of this following me into my own home.

"Do you want to help me go over some attacking drills? I was watching you in the game on Sunday and your team has some great tactics." Dad asked hopefully, tapping on the whiteboard that he had set up in front of the TV.

I let out a sigh just to let him know that I was extremely exasperated that he'd put me in this position, but nodded anyways in agreement.

"Sure, what do you want to know?" I asked, zipping up the front of my sweatshirt so I could comfortably stick my hands in the pockets.

"Let me just grab my notebook in the kitchen." My dad said quickly, stepping past me.

I sighed, knowing he was completely oblivious to how uncomfortable I was standing here in front of his entire team with it being just me.

"So... Soccer." I muttered, scratching the back of my calf with my other foot. "Fuck." I sighed, glancing around the room.

I made eye contact with Kade standing in the back of the room and the smile that he gave me made my heart warm.

But I didn't react, keeping busy by glancing over at the kitchen as my dad was nowhere to be found.

He suddenly came around the corner, his attention focused on the notebook in his hands and my eyes widened to find out that it was mine.

"Hey that's my notebook, don't-"

"Have you been rating my players?" My dad asked with a laugh, licking his finger to turn the page as all baby boomers and older people do.

"Dad." I gasped, my eyes widening. "Let's not-"

"These are mostly my guys." My dad frowned, looking at the list that he did not want to know the origin of.

"You gave Andrew Sheffield a 3/10? He was my best defender..." My dad frowned, holding the notebook farther away to be able to see it without his glasses. "Kade got a 9, alright." My dad laughed, glancing over at him in the back of the room by the other coaches.

I stared straight ahead at my dad.

This wasn't happening. This isn't happening.

This couldn't be happening.

I was just trying to block out the entirety of the soccer team in my living room while my dad was reading my body count out loud to everyone.

It was my personal notebook, the one where I wrote everything in and nobody ever read... Until now. By everything I mean everything, like how many times I've hooked up with anybody - I have it completed with dates and a little paragraph of what happened. It's got a consolidated list towards the end of every guy I've ever slept with and an overall rating out of ten.

But if I freaked out, everybody would know.

"Jack Freedman... Andrew Sheffield... Peter Ryan... Harry Lanright... Louis Jackson... All of my best players are in here, why didn't you ever tell me you were paying attention?" Dad asked, shutting the notebook and handed it to me. I snatched it back quickly, feeling like I was going to be sick.

I awkwardly laughed. "Because you'd never listen to me... I uh..." I trailed off, completely blanking on something smart to say.

"Well, this is good material. You gave Kade a 9 and Harry a 2, but Harry's almost got the same stats in every area, what's he lacking? How can he improve?" My dad asked seriously.

I was starting directly at my dad, not wanting to look at anybody else in the room. Not wanting to confirm anybody's thoughts right now of what this list could possibly be.

"You know, dad. Honestly, it's been so long since I-"

"Holy shit that's her body count!" Somebody in the room exclaimed, loudly and out of control, followed by a bellow of laughter with a discernible 'ha' from Kade.

"Funny." I forced an amused smile on my face. "But, no."

"A what?" My dad asked me, a frown forming on his face.

"It's nothing." I brushed him off. "I guess it's just uh..." I trailed off, trying to come up with an area in soccer that Kade was so much better than Harry. My dad was right, Harry really was almost just as good. "It's kind of a blind dedication to the game, not just going through the motions. Like yeah, Harry's got all the stats but remember when Kade was on the team? He did it all, gave everything and anything for the love of the game, and that set him aside from the other guys."

"But a two out of ten?" My dad frowned. "I just don't see it."

"Yeah, Harrison, you gave me a two?" Harry called from the couch, an amused look on his face. At least someone was amused by this.

"Haven't changed my ratings in years, bud, you were fifteen." I gave him a look, remembering the awkward night in the back of his mom's minivan that I unknowingly took his virginity 3 years ago. After that, I swore off guys my age or younger, which made Harry the only one currently on the team with a spot on the list.

"Okay, but what about-"

"Dad, I gotta go." I said urgently as the timer went off in the kitchen, saving my ass. "Uh, the quiche is gonna burn." I mumbled before grabbing the notebook and dashing into the kitchen.

"But the attacking drills!" He called after me.

"Food!" I called back, turning off the oven as I grabbed the oven towels.

I put the food on a tray as fast as I could and disappeared into my room, my heart still pounding and my stomach still twisting with embarrassment.

"Hey." Jesse smiled as I sat down on the bed with the food. "Ooh, quiche? So fancy."

"All we had." I laughed, tossing my notebook aside.

"What were you doing with that?" She frowned, pointing at it as she reached for a blueberry.

"Oh, nothing." I said quickly, not wanting her to look at it either in case she saw her brother's name. "Relapsed with Jack Freedman a while ago, had yet to add it."

"Scandalous." Jesse giggled.

There was a knock on the door and we both looked up in shock.

Kade stepped inside, a grin on his face.

"Hey." Jesse sighed, tears filling her eyes as she saw him. "You'll never guess what happened."

"I've been told." Kade sighed, walking over to us. "Screw that guy, honestly." He said, sitting down on my bed without hesitation.

I worried he seemed too comfortable, but Jesse didn't seem to notice.

"You doing alright?"

"I mean my best friend made me breakfast in bed, life is pretty great." Jesse laughed, taking a bite of her quiche.

"It really is." Kade grinned, glancing up at me.

I just rolled my eyes at them, taking a bite of my own quiche.

Despite my dad's embarrassing revelation to the whole team, maybe today wouldn't turn out so bad after all.