Just for This Year

Chapter Seventeen

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.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

September 26
Friday

35 Days Before

Lila did her best to not fiddle with the bottom of her jersey as she walked through the doors to her school. She couldn't believe it had already been a week since their first game. She kept her eyes trained ahead, focused on just getting to her locker in one piece. The number eight on her jersey was like a billboard sign that pointed an arrow directly at her constantly.

Lila felt a bit off today. Nothing was wrong, but she didn't feel as focused as she would like to considering it was a game day. Her head was foggy, she just got like this sometimes.

She felt the two people next to her staring as she arrived to her locker. She could hear them whispering, eyes darting to her every few seconds. God, she knew for a fact that this couldn't be the most exciting piece of information going around at school still. When she heard the guy ask quietly if the jersey was hers or not, she snapped her head over to them.

"The jersey is mine, do you live under a rock?" Lila exclaimed, slamming her locker shut and turning to go to class.

She paused in her step when she saw Ashton turn down the hallway. To her surprise, he froze when he saw her as well. After a moment, she lifted her head up and walked swiftly down the hall. When she reached him, she gave him a short nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey," she greeted tightly, trying to just walk past him without issue. He blinked at her.

Ashton's voice came out like a question, "Hi?"

Lila continued on her way, scolding herself internally for the awkward interaction. God, she wish she could remember what happened Friday. She felt like something happened with Ashton but she just couldn't remember what. But she certainly wasn't about to ask, all she could was hope it wasn't anything too embarrassing. Before she could get far, the quarterback stopped her.

"Alvarez," Ashton called out and Lila turned back to him with a raised eyebrow. She nearly jolted when she saw him smiling. "Nice jersey."

"It's laundry day, I had no other options," Lila lied, holding her head high. "Don't let it get to your head."

He held his hands up smugly. "Whatever you say."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"What is that?"

Lila stood with the rest of the team under the bright lights. The crowd was going wild as the players took their spots on the field. She barely was able to focus the entire day, but she forced herself to chug a coffee and get on with it. The lights only disoriented her further, making her unable to focus on getting into a game mindset.

As soon as all the players were present, Lila stared at the other team to get an idea of the competition. She froze when she saw an absolute monster of a high schooler. He was huge. His muscles protruded out of his jersey and his height made him tower over his teammates.

Teddy heard her exclamation and turned towards her, already aware of who she was referring to. The shorter girl was gawking at the player, frozen in her place. He raised an eyebrow at her before asking, "You good, eight?"

"Did they breed that linebacker in a lab or something?" Lila asked Teddy, wide eyes locked on the player from the opposing team. "There's no way that's a teenager— there's no way thats legal."