Chapter 21

“Hey Samantha! You coming?” Someone called, running into my room. 

I looked up in shock as Annabelle and Jessica came into my room, way beyond excited. 

“Uh, coming to what?” I raised my eyebrows, sitting up in bed. I’d been doing the usual, laying in bed, eating popcorn, watching old game tape. 

I was met with shocked, annoyed expressions by the two people I call my best friends now. 

“The pool party, idiot! Caleb’s throwing it.” Jessica frowned, crossing her arms. 

My eyes widened. 

“You forgot, didn’t you!” Annabelle said exasperatedly. “Dammit girl, do you have brains up there?” 

Both of them gave me a look, and I quickly jumped up from the bed, brushing crumbs off of my shirt. 

“Give me two seconds!” I promised, running into my closet. 

I stripped off my pajamas and pulled on a simple turquoise bikini top and black bottoms, then pulled a little sundress over the top. Sundress, gross, I know. But apparently it’s what you had to wear if you’re going to a rich pool party. 

“What is this even for?” I called as I ran a brush through my hair, still straightened from an event last night. 

“Oh the football team throws one every year in July to celebrate the beginning of the season. They’ve got straight conditioning for two weeks after this, so this is like, commemorating their small, precious free time at the beginning of summer.” Annabelle explained as I walked out of my closet. 

“That’s lame.” I shook my head, pulling sandals on my feet. “What kind of football team takes a break anyways?” I rolled my eyes, stumbling a bit as I hopped around to get the loop of the shoe over my heel. 

“Okay miss National Champion Quarterback. Not everyone can be as dedicated as you.” Jessica rolled her eyes. 

I stuck my tongue out at her. 

“If you’re so into football, why didn’t you try out for the school team?” Annabelle questioned as I grabbed a purse from my dresser. 

“Because my dad wouldn’t let me. He doesn’t trust anybody with me except my old team. And I don’t either really. I mean, I played with those guys for over 3 years, it’s highly unlikely a new team will easily take to me.” I shook my head, following them out of my room. 

My dad was just walking past, in an intense looking conversation with one of his staff members. 

“Oh! Sam!” My dad said suddenly. “Are you packed yet?” 

“Packed?” I furrowed my eyebrows, tilting my head a bit. 

“For Birmingham? It’s Rob and Kate’s oldest boy’s wedding this weekend. We’re leaving tomorrow.” My dad told me. 

“Oh right! That! Yea I’ll just pack later this evening.” I grinned, excitement bubbling up in me. “Ooh Adam and Josie are lucky, the president will be at their wedding.” I giggled. 

My dad teasingly rolled his eyes. “Be home by 6, we’re having dinner as a family tonight.” 

“Bye dad!” I called over my shoulder. 

All I could think about on the way to the pool party was how excited I was for the wedding this weekend. I’d been in DC since early January, so 6 months now. I’d talked on the phone occasionally with various people from the team, and I know that tensions were still thick between the players and coach, considering he’d just walked out on us at Nationals. Bitch. 

“Who’s wedding is it again?” Annabelle asked curiously as we walked through the house towards the back yard where I could already here music and laughing. 

“Just a family friend.” I smiled, not wanting to go into immense detail of the drama of my relationship with Dylan and living arrangements for those few months. 

“Ooh are you being forced to wear a dress?” Jessica laughed, raising her eyebrows. 

I grimaced. “Unfortunately.” I shrugged, setting my bag down on a pool chair with them. 

“Which one is the quarterback again?” I asked Annabelle, already sizing up this team. 

“The super hot one standing by the drinks.” She giggled, glancing over her shoulder. 

I raised my eyebrows. “You’re going to have to be more specific there’s like 6 guys over there.” 

Annabelle sighed. “The one with the darkest hair, that’s the quarterback. And the short guy to his right, he’s one of the receivers. They’ve been best friends since like, 3rd grade. They’re inseparable, and make a killer match on the field and holy shit they’re looking over here.” 

I felt my stomach flip as multiple people from the group of guys looked at me. 

“Drinks?” Jessica suggested, raising her eyebrows at us. 

“Yea I’ll come.” I nodded, following her over to the drinks table. There was alcohol, but I knew I wouldn’t be taking part. There’s no way I would show up drunk to our family dinner tonight. I’d been trying really hard to make things right with my parents, and it was still working really well. 

I was filling up a plastic cup with lemonade. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on the boys’ conversation, it just... happened? 

As soon as I heard the words ‘national champs’ and ‘girl quarterback’, I tuned in. 

“Yea, and I heard that they’re coach ditched them like 10 minutes to game time and they got absolutely slaughtered in the first half.” Someone said. 

“Yea but dude have you seen the game tape of the second half? They came back like fucking beasts. That chick, the quarterback, was screaming at them like there was no tomorrow.” 

“That’s a girl I wouldn’t mind on my field.” The quarterback said approvingly. 

“Wouldn’t mind her in bed either.” Someone agreed with a laugh. 

There was a murmur of agreement, causing me to roll my eyes. 

Gross. 

I’d like to think that my old team wasn’t that way when talking about girls, but I knew that they often hung out without me, and that was probably the time they discussed women and boy things that I really didn’t want to hear about. Although there had been too many times that a conversation came up about a topic that was not something to discuss around a girl. 

“I don’t think we’ve met before.” The quarterback smiled, turning to face me. 

I gave him a sarcastic smile. “Let’s keep it that way.” I said, still filling up my lemonade. This pitcher went slow dammit. 

“Aw why you gotta be like that?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“Do you know proper English? Or do you think talking like you’re uneducated is attractive to girls?” I asked. I was finished filling up my lemonade, but I wanted to stay here and show this annoying, self conceited quarterback not to mess with me. 

“Feisty. I like it.” He winked. 

“You’re Caleb, right? The quarterback?” I asked, taking a sip of my lemonade. 

“Yes, yes I am.” Caleb nodded with a confident grin. 

I gave him a sarcastic smile. “You think you’re any good?” I asked, sipping my lemonade again. 

“I’m the best there is, babe.” Caleb winked, stepping towards me. 

I laughed softly, stepping back. “You see, you’re not actually. I’ve seen second string QBs that can air a ball out faster and more accurately than you. You need to be faster on your release, and your form is all over the place. Have you ever been coached properly? And you don’t look before you throw the ball. You have to make eye contact with your target, not fling it out to a random point down the field and expect your receivers to scramble to get all of the work. So no, Caleb, you’re most definitely not the best there is.” I smiled, turning to walk away. 

I left him with a shocked look on his face, his mouth hanging open. 

“What did you say to him?” Annabelle whispered with a giggle as I got back to them. 

“I told him what was wrong with his playing because he was being a arrogant ass.” I shrugged, putting it like it was. 

“Oh my God...” Jessica shook her head. 

“Sam... You can not talk to Caleb Lockwood like that.” Annabelle said softly. “Oh God he’s walking over here now.” 

“Act cool, don’t say anything else.” Jessica hissed. 

“Oi, you’re Samantha Carson aren’t you?” Caleb asked, walking up to me with his shorter friend behind him. 

“Depends who’s asking.” 

“We’d love for you to come practice with us sometime.” Caleb suggested with a soft smile. “And uh, sorry I was kind of a jerk back there.” 

“I’ll take a rain check on that one.” I gave him a sarcastic smile. “You kind of annoy me.” 

Caleb laughed, running his hand through his hair. 

“We start conditioning this week, and you probably don’t want to do that, but-” 

“Oh you think I don’t? Excuse me, who’s the most conditioned high school team in the country?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. 

Caleb’s jaw clenched. “I didn’t mean, I just meant, I mean you’re a girl, and you-” 

“Oh I’m a girl? Really? Well thank you so much for pointing that out because I really think that my friends needed someone to remind them. But hey, I guess since I’m a girl I should stop working out right?” I glared at him, crossing my arms. 

“I just didn’t think-” 

“You didn’t think I’d be as tough as my team? You thought that because I’m a girl, I’d slack off, complain about cramps, want to go shopping, oh no! I broke a nail! I can’t run!” I pretended to whine, my arms still crossed. “Get your head out of your ass, Caleb. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I’m not as tough as you.” 

“But you-” 

“And for the record, Caleb. If you would’ve taken any time to notice, I’m in the weight room twice as much as you are, and by the looks of it, you seem to really enjoy slacking off, looking in the mirror, and flirting with the cheerleaders.” I said, raising my eyebrows at him. “Oh but do continue telling me how I probably don’t work out as much as you, I’d love to hear it.” 

Caleb’s friend was absolutely losing it, holding his hand over his face to control his laughter. 

Annabelle and Jessica had walked away, unable to stop giggling. 

I was looking at Caleb with a dead straight face, while he looked extremely confused, pissed, yet apologetic. 

“Would you like to just come to a practice with us sometime?” He asked, holding out his hands. “Is it so fucking hard to just answer one easy question!” 

“Nah it’s pretty easy. No.” I said, pushing my hair back from my face. 

“Why not?! What’s the big deal?! You obviously don’t have a team to play on anymore because the Cobras are in Michigan and you’re here, so why don’t you-” 

“Play with you? I’d rather not. Sorry, you’re team just isn’t really my type.” I shrugged, giving him a sarcastic smile. 

“Okay, look, I didn’t mean to offend you. All that I meant by the girl thing, was that you’re not on a team, so it would be fun for you to come play with us sometime, and I didn’t think you’d want to do conditioning, because nobody likes conditioning.” Caleb sighed, putting his hands behind his head. 

I rolled my eyes. “I already said no, just drop it.” I shook my head, reaching down in my bag to get my phone. 

“You could at least-” 

“Okay fine! What do you want me to say? Yes, sure I’ll practice with you! Dammit I’m not that fucking desirable as a QB you don’t need to bend over backwards to get me to practice with your stuck up, lazy team, like who the hell takes a break during the summer! If anybody suggested that to our coaches, they’d laugh in your face because from the day after school gets out all the way to the beginning of the season, we’re practicing from 7:30 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon.” I exclaimed. “I don’t want to practice with you because all it will do is annoy me!” 

“There’s no way you practice that much.” Caleb said, looking at me with wide eyes. 

“Oh, okay, so go ahead and tell me how my team practices now.” I rolled my eyes, looking down at my phone. I had a missed call from Dylan. 

“You seriously work out in the weight room when we’re in there?” Caleb asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“Yes!” I exclaimed, putting my hands on my waist. “Can you leave me alone now please?!”

Caleb gave me a weird look before returning to his football friends. I rolled my eyes and looked back down at my phone. I called Dylan back, wondering why he’d called me.

“Hey! You’ve reached Dylan, leave a message and I’ll call you back soon.” 

“Hey, it’s me. I saw that you called, and I was just making sure everything’s cool. I guess just text me or whatever when you get this and uh, give my love to Josie and Adam. I’ll be seeing you guys tomorrow! Bye.” I sighed, hanging up the phone. 

“Swimming?” Jessica asked, looking towards the pool. 

“Nah... I think I’m just going to tan for a bit.” I smiled, sitting down on the pool chair. 

******************************

“So! How was your day at the party?” My dad asked me as we ate dinner. 

“Not that great. Caleb Lockwood, the guy who threw the party, was a real jerk about football.” I rolled my eyes. “The kid thinks that because he’s a guy, he’s better than me. Can you believe that they take basically an entire month off at the beginning of the summer? No wonder they suck.” 

Susan laughed, shaking her head. “Sports confuse me. What’s the point of working out all year round if the season is only for a few months.” 

I just looked at her. She’d just turned 17, and although she was the same age as me now, she was not too bright. 

“Because you have to be in the best possible shape for the season so that you don’t get slaughtered by the other team. You have to be the team with the best endurance, because in the last minute of the game, while the other team is defeated and out of energy, we’re still there as if it’s the beginning of the game.” I told her. 

“But what’s the point of football anyways? I mean, why would you want to get tackled by sweaty boys?” Sofia asked. She was only 13 still, but a real pain in the ass. 

“Because the feeling of launching a perfect pass and watching it fall right into your receivers arms, knowing that you’re the reason it went that far, makes up for one or two hits if a guy gets through a block and slams you. Besides, the feeling of tackling someone, especially when you’re my size, knowing that you can knock someone over that weighs a hundred pounds more than me, it’s amazing.” I smiled, shrugging. 

“Well I’m gad you’re done with that nonsense, I would hate to see you get hurt.” My mom shook her head, taking a small, dainty bite of her steak. 

It still always amazed me how little my family ate. I was used to eating with Dylan’s family. That’s where everybody would just reach and pile tons of food on their plates and eat as fast as they could so they could get seconds before someone else took it. 

It was quite an event to eat a meal with the entire Peters family. 

“I wish I wasn’t done with the ‘nonsense’. And I didn’t get hurt all three years I played.” I replied, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. 

“Your knee?” My dad raised his eyebrows. 

“Okay yea but that wasn’t that serious.” I sighed, taking a big bite of my food. 

“Are you going to see the team while we’re in Michigan?” My mom asked. I knew that she really didn’t care, and she was simply being nice by starting a conversation for something that I’d like to talk about. But I still went along with the conversation, happy that it was about my football for once, rather than Susan’s acting, or Sofia’s singing. 

“Yea! Actually tomorrow afternoon, I’m meeting them all at West High. It’s conditioning and stuff, and against their wishes, I get to lead practice all week.” I said proudly. 

“Dylan’s working out? Shouldn’t he be helping out with his brother’s wedding?” My dad asked. 

“Oh gosh no. Josie’s mom is one of those crazy wedding moms, and Nate said that Dylan’s been crashing at his place for the past few weeks because his house is so chaotic with wedding plans.” I laughed, shaking my head. “Yea, those boys are staying as far away from the wedding as they can until the actual day. But thank you so much for letting us go early, I’m really so excited to see everyone.” 

“Just be careful, playing football with them now. You haven’t played in a few months, and I don’t want you hurting yourself.” 

“I’ll be fine, dad. Don’t worry.” I smiled, reaching for my water to take a sip. “Hey Sof, you’re welcome to join us working out.” 

My little sister just looked at me with the most unamused, bored expression ever. I laughed as she slowly shook her head. 

“If you make me go anywhere near that sweaty, smelly room, ugh.” Sofia shook her head, shuddering. 

“It was awful when I took personal fitness, because we had to go in there, and ugh the boys make it smell so bad.” Susan grimaced. 

“It doesn’t smell?” I furrowed my eyebrows, tilting my head. 

“Oh yes it does. You’re just probably part boy, which is why you can’t smell it.” Sofia teased, making Susan and my parents laugh as I rolled my eyes. 

“You just wish you had as many guy friends as me don’t you.” 

“Actually yes. I wish I was all buddy buddy with the entire football team.” Susan raised her eyebrows at me. “Do you like, get to date all of them?” 

“Uh no, I’m pretty sure coach would have my ass if I ever looked at more than one. Dylan is special, even though Coach would get pissed if we spend too much time together.” 

“I should hope he’s looking out for you.” My dad muttered under his breath. 

“Why?” I asked my dad, furrowing my eyebrows. 

My dad glanced at my mom quickly. “Because he’s your coach, obviously.” My mom said quickly, giving me a smile. 

I just nodded, taking another bite of my dinner. 

“So what time are we leaving tomorrow morning?”

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This is like the fourth udpate today! I just got home and it's super late and I felt like updating. 

Plus, I can't update tomorrow... I know I'm sorry! I'm babysitting until like 3, then I have to shower and get ready because I've got a party at my cousins' lakehouse and I just don't think I'll have time to update :/ But I'll do my absolute best...

Update: Monday

-Panda