Breaking Free by Isabel Lucero
18
On Tuesday,Jay texts me after my second class and tells me to meet him in the cafeteria. I usually take food to the library and work there while I eat, but I figure it won’t hurt to mix it up a little.
The room is massive, with tons of tables everywhere, luckily my phone beeps with a text from Jay, telling me where to go.
I find him and a few others on the opposite end, near a window. “Hey.”
“Hey, man. I just realized I’ve never seen you in here.”
“My class gets out at eleven-twenty, and I usually grab something I can take to the library.”
He looks at his watch. “So you’ve had twenty minutes already. When’s your next class?”
“I have another twenty minutes.”
“Damn, I wish I scheduled my classes farther apart for lunch purposes. I only have fifteen minutes now, because I was fucking around after my last class.”
I laugh. “I just use the time to study.”
“Well,” he says, putting his hand on the other guy’s shoulder. “This is Matthew. Matthew, this is Dominic.”
“Hey,” I say, tilting my head up as my eyes take him in.
“Hey.”
He’s definitely cute. His face is soft and smooth, and his warm brown hair is wavy and fairly long, curling up around the base of his neck.
“Matthew isn’t into football, but I give him a pass because he’s into wrestling.”
“You wrestle?” I ask Jay.
“Yep.”
“Do you?” I ask Matthew.
He grins, his cheeks blushing. “No, but I don’t mind watching.”
I chuckle. “I see.”
“I fucking hate chemistry. Why did I choose this class?”
I spin around and find Trevor dropping a couple books to the table Liv and Naomi are sitting at behind Jay.
Jay laughs. “Told you to choose biology.”
Trevor eyes me briefly before noticing Naomi. Deciding I’m the lesser of two evils, he stands between me and Jay.
I turn my attention back to Matthew, who’s telling me something about the last wrestling match he went to.
“I know it doesn’t sound like it’s fun to watch, but it is.”
“Guys in skintight suits? Of course it’s fun to watch.”
He laughs. “So, you’re on the football team?”
“Yeah, our first game is this Friday.”
He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip briefly before smiling. “Maybe I’ll actually check it out. Guys in tight...pants? Are they pants?” he asks.
Me and Jay laugh, but Trevor looks unamused as his eyes bounce between me and Matthew.
“Anyway, it might be fun to watch that, too,” Matthew says. “What’s your favorite position?”
I chuckle. “I don’t switch positions on the field. I’m always a running back. Unless you’re asking about my favorite position in other things.”
His face blooms red. “Oh. I didn’t mean...but yeah. Okay.”
Jay’s in the middle of a laughing fit, but Trevor eyes me and then Matthew, before giving me a look like, really? This guy?
But he doesn’t get to be mad or jealous.
Jay checks his watch again. “Shit, I gotta go. Catch y’all later.”
“Oh, me too,” Matthew says. “I’ll see you around?” he asks me.
“Definitely. Jay knows how to get in touch with me. Maybe I’ll see you after the game Friday? We can figure out what your favorite position is.”
Okay, I admit I said that mainly to piss Trevor off.
Matthew blushes again. “Yeah. Okay,” he says with a smile before walking away.
I let my teeth drag across my bottom lip as I watch him leave, then my eyes land on Trevor. “I like ‘em sweet like that. Bet he’ll come all over my hand in a few seconds, too.”
I wink at him and leave him standing there, fuming.
* * *
He’s stillpissed when he sees me in the locker room, but I ignore him, choosing to talk to Jay about Matthew instead.
After practice is over, Coach calls me to the side.
“How you doin’ Hernandez?”
“Everything’s good, Coach.”
“Your mom?”
“Better, I think.”
“And you?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re making friends easily, I see. The guys seem to like you.”
“Mostly,” I answer with a grin. “I’m doin’ good, Coach.”
He pats me on the shoulder as he walks off. “Good.”
Inside, as I’m about to step into my shower, Trevor walks past me. “Did Coach tell you you were starting on Friday, or what?”
My brows furrow. “What’re you talking about?”
“I’m assuming it’ll be you and Deshawn on the field Friday night.”
“Assume what you want, Campbell,” I say, hanging my towel on the hook.
“You get in here because you’re friends with the coach? Does your family have connections? I heard him ask about your mom.”
“Why don’t you just shut the fuck up about my mom. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He jerks back at my anger, but his face settles into a scowl soon after. “You wanted to talk shit about me being rich and having a house, but you have people getting you into better colleges because of a game of whose parents know who.”
I turn and face him. “If that was the case, why wouldn’t I have come here in the first place? Just stop, Campbell. It’s embarrassing at this point.”
“Fuck you.”
I laugh before stepping out of my underwear and walking into the shower stall. “You wish.”
