So this is a continuation of UnKnown with short stories that I didn’t think would really go well with the actual book so it’s going to be a pretty short story but Luke and Bryn’s relationship gets deeper and y’all need to know how that happens so here ya go :)

Chapter Quote:

“Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”

~Vince Lombardi

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Chapter 1: What A Ladies Man

Luke

The Havenbrook Eagles were easily going to win their homecoming football game.  The score was thirty-five to fourteen with one minute left in the game.  Luke was grinning at Derek as their team huddled up to discuss their last play.

“Come on guys, we’re doing great!” Derek shouted. “We’re going to run down the clock so Luke, you’re running the ball.  Think you can do that?”

“You got it!  Eagles, on three!  One, two three!” Luke shouted.  After three, the offensive team hollered, “EAGLES!” and went to their respective positions.  Small lightning in the clouds caught Luke’s attention.  He smiled to himself, immediately thinking of the temperamental, blonde, and British demigod Bryn Winchester.  She was a daughter of Zeus and had been practicing creating more lightning strikes to increase her power with the upcoming war.  No one knew when it was going to happen, but they knew it would.

Luke was broken out of his trance when he heard Derek yell ‘Hike.’  Luke ran behind the son of Apollo, grabbed the ball, and leapt through a hole the offensive line had created for him.  He felt two of the opposing team players behind him and gaining, but he wasn’t going to let them catch him.  He’d already scored two of the five touchdowns.  Why not make it three out of six?  The crowd was going absolutely nuts cheering him on.  He reached the touchdown zone with no trouble and threw the ball behind him, running towards his teammates who tackled him to the ground.  Their kicker easily kicked the ball through the goal posts.  There were forty seconds left on the clock.  It was easy for the Eagles’ defense to prevent the opposing team from scoring.

The team poured onto the field, hollering and cheering along with the crowd.  They shook hands with the team they had played against and after that team had exited the field, the crowd in the stands rushed down to greet the football players.  Luke was surrounded by his teammates; he’d lost Derek in the commotion.

“Way to go man!” Someone complimented.  He wasn’t sure where it came from but he grinned nonetheless.  Then his world went black when someone came up from behind him and covered his eyes with their hands.

“Silena, is that you?” he asked.  When he didn’t get an answer, he continued, “Tracy?  Jackie?  Lindsey?”

“You’re never going to guess it,” Derek’s voice laughed from somewhere nearby.

Becoming more determined to get it right, Luke proceeded to name more girl names.  He heard laughter but with all the cacophonous noise around him, he couldn’t place whose it was.  Finally, the person apparently becoming impatient, said in a very feminine, very British accent, “Oh honestly Sharkboy, this is preposterous how long it is taking you to guess who I am.”

Luke laughed before reaching behind him and pinching her sides lightly.  Bryn gasped and let go of him.  He whirled around and enveloped her in a hug, spinning her around.

“What are you doing here?!” he exclaimed when he set her down.

She was beaming at him. “I came to see you play of course.  I plan on being at every game actually.”

“What do you mean every game?  Not that I’m complaining of course but that’s a Hades of a drive from Long Island Sound to here.  Isn’t it like six hours?”

“Who ever said I was staying at camp?” She countered, smirking.

“Where else would you be staying?” There was no other place Luke could think of.  When Bryn hadn’t shown up to school on the first day, Luke figured that she hadn’t been able to convince her father or Chiron to let her come.  To be honest, he’d been disappointed because he missed being around her and all her mysterious ways.

“Oh, you know, just a few minutes away from the school and about a ten minute walk from your house since you and Derek live so close.”

“You mean you-” Luke began.

“Convinced my father and Chiron to let me become a student here?  Yes.  I only convinced them a couple days ago; Derek’s parents were easy to convince.  They were all for it which I was pleased about even though I feel bad about practically invading their house.  They’ve sort of adopted me actually.  It’s nice to have a family…  Anyways, I got my schedule and I have a couple classes with you, some with Derek, and two with Silena.  Should’ve seen me trying to get my schedule.  Aphrodite and Zeus were making the computer go haywire while they were arguing about what my schedule was going to be because my father didn’t want me to be in any classes with you, but Aphrodite did and the poor counselor didn’t know what was happening,” Bryn rambled.  She was going to say more but someone interrupted them.

“Luke Jackson, you son of a gun.” The two demigods turned their heads to find a stocky, well-built, tanned, dark-haired guy standing there.  He had his hands in his letterman’s jacket and he was smirking at the two of them.  He said, “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.  You two were kind of looking like you wanted to make out right here and now.”

“Tucker!” Luke chided the newcomer. “Not like that at all so get your head out of the gutter.”

“You two know each other I presume,” Bryn said.

“Bryn, I’d like you to meet Tucker Ashton.  My best friend since… well a long time.  He’s the reason I got into football.  He was a senior when I was a freshman.”

“Didn’t know I was meeting the next NFL Hall of Famer when I met him,” Tucker joked.  Luke protested but the guy waved him off.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Bryn greeted, offering her hand for Tucker to shake.

“Oh the pleasure is all mine, ma belle,” he replied, taking her hand and kissing it.

“All right, all right you flirt,” Luke interjected amusedly, slightly shoving Tucker away from Bryn. “She’s going to have enough guys harassing her at school.  She doesn’t need you too.”

“Oh really?  Or are you just saying that because you want her for yourself?” Tucker bantered, obviously not offended by Luke’s comment.

“Even if we did like each other like that, it couldn’t happen,” Bryn pointed out.

“Why’s that?  Already taken?” he queried.

“No, it’s that my father despises Luke’s grandfather, doesn’t like his father, and hates Luke.”

“Why?”

“My father and Luke’s grandfather are big competitors.  They’ve been at it for years.  It was hard enough just getting my father to accept my friendship with Luke.  If it was a relationship of the type you are insinuating, I do not even want to know what would happen.”

“Psycho dad,” Tucker commented.

“You have no idea,” Luke and Bryn said simultaneously.  They shared a grin.

“Listen, you two want to get some pie afterwards?  Silena and Derek can come too.”

“I was planning on going home but I can see,” Luke offered.  Nodding his head for them to follow him, Luke grabbed Bryn’s hand to make sure she didn’t get lost in the sea of people, especially because the football players were almost all at least six foot tall and there were many of them and even though Bryn was tall, she was still short among the crowd.  Turning around to make sure Tucker was keeping up, Luke rolled his eyes at the sight of Tucker grabbing Bryn’s hand and smiling cheekily.

Luke was given multiple congratulations as he walked past people and he said his thanks to them.  Finally, he broke out of the crowd to find Derek and Silena kissing near the fence.  When Derek saw Luke coming, he ceased kissing her immediately and looked sheepish.

“Just make sure it stays kissing and nothing else,” Luke admonished.  Silena was blushing but beamed when she saw Tucker.  She threw her arms around him, making him laugh, but he returned the hug with just as much exuberance. “Hey Silena, where are mom and dad?  And Tucker, you can stop holding Bryn’s hand.  We’re out of the crowd.”

“Same goes for you, bro,” Tucker remarked.

Luke slipped his hand out of Bryn’s as discreetly as he could but his friends were still smirking at him.

“They went looking for you in the crowd.  Same with Derek’s parents,” Silena answered.

The group waited where they were for the Jacksons and Michaels.  It wasn’t long before they came.  Tucker hugged Mrs. Jackson and shook hands with Mr. Jackson who introduced him to the Michaels.  Tucker proceeded to shake Mr. and Mrs. Michaels’ hands.  Luke asked his parents if it was all right for him to go and get some pie with Tucker and they gave their permission.  Derek and Bryn were allowed to go as well.  Derek and Luke ran off to the locker room where they took quick showers before getting dressed in jeans and T-shirts.  The night was rather chilly, even for the end of September, so the two boys put on their letterman jackets.  When they walked out back to their family, the parents had left, leaving only the teenagers.

“You divas finally ready?” Tucker inquired, raising his eyebrows at Derek and Luke.  Luke nodded.  Tucker exclaimed, “Let’s go!” before throwing his arms around Bryn and Silena’s shoulders, leading them towards the parking lot.  The two girls glanced at each other before laughing.

“Do I need to be worried about him stealing Silena away from me?” Derek whispered drolly.

“Nah, but I might need to watch him around Bryn,” Luke responded.

“Bryn’s my responsibility, Luke.  I’ll watch her,” Derek said.

“Careful.  Tucker may be corny sometimes but somehow, it works with the ladies.  He’s pretty damn smooth with them.  Come on.”

The two boys ran to catch up with their friends.  Luke wrapped his arm around Bryn’s waist; Derek did likewise with Silena.  Derek and Silena went in Derek’s truck.  Luke and Bryn went in Luke’s, and Tucker drove by himself (after he tried and failed to persuade Bryn to ride with him).  When they reached the pie place, a quaint little building near the school, the parking lot was practically empty.  Tucker opened the door for them all to go in.  They took a booth in the back of the restaurant.  The waitress was sweet; naturally, Tucker flirted with her and ended up with her number by the end of the night.  Luke couldn’t remember such a good night in a long time.  He had his best friend from camp and his childhood friend.  He even really liked hanging out with Derek now.  Silena was really happy being with him, and that made Luke glad (although he still was protective of her).

“I think it’s time we head out,” Derek mentioned. “Big night tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah!  Homecoming dance!  It’s obvious who you’re going with Silena.  Luke, what girl are you taking?” Tucker questioned, leaning back.  He eyed Luke who had is arm resting on the back of the booth behind Bryn’s head.  It was clear to Luke that Tucker wasn’t falling for the ‘I-Don’t-Like-Her-Like-That’ act Luke was putting on.

“I was going solo,” Luke said nonchalantly.

“You going Bryn?” Tucker looked at her.

“Yes, Derek bought me a ticket… Wednesday I believe,” Bryn replied.

“You going by yourself?”

“Well I was going with Derek and Silena but if you mean date-wise, then yes, I’m going by myself.”

“You’re single, Luke’s single.  Go together as friends.  Surely your dad wouldn’t mind that, would he Bryn?  And then Derek won’t have to worry about you going with some stranger.” Seeing Derek’s confused expression, Tucker added, “I’ve seen the way you’ve been watching me around her.”

“She attracts a lot of attention.  Silena does too.  Luke and I have to watch them.”

“Bryn and I are perfectly capable of defending ourselves,” Silena retorted.

“Very true,” he agreed.

“I don’t think my father would mind if we went as friends,” Bryn decided.  Luke looked at her, surprise evident on his face.

“Seriously?” Luke inquired.

“We’ll be fine.”

“All right then, let me ask you properly and not have Tuck just order us to go together as he’s trying to do,” Luke laughed. “Bryn, would you like to go to homecoming with me?”

“I would love to,” she replied, smiling bashfully.  Tucker clapped loudly, making Luke roll his eyes once more that night.  They finally decided to head back home.  Tucker would apparently be in town for a bit since his cousin was getting married.  They said bye to each other and Luke got in the truck with Silena; he watched Bryn get in Derek’s truck from his rearview mirror.

“Did you like the surprise?” Silena asked, looking at her big brother.

“It was awesome!  How long have you known?”

“Since Bryn told me she was trying to convince Zeus and Chiron.  I’ve been helping her, so has Derek.  She wanted to surprise.  It worked,” she chuckled.

“Thank you, Silena.  I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime.  Now let’s go home.  I’m tired and I need my beauty rest for tomorrow.”

Luke backed out of the parking spot and headed home, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

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So it’s going to be an interesting school year with Bryn being at the school :P  Hope you enjoyed!  Please review!!!