“I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better,” she said to Lily. The way she handled Coach’s daughter, with patience and compassion, was impressive.
Lily was an awkward kid; she always had been. If she knew you, she could talk your ear off, but if you were meeting her for the first time, chances were she wouldn’t make a sound.
But not with Miley though. She liked Miley.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” I said, hoping to God I wouldn’t have to go to Coach.
“It was nothing really.” Lily’s eyes darted to her bowl as she swirled the spoon through her melting ice cream.
“Lil, I can’t help if you don’t tell me what happened.”
“Some girls cornered me in the girl’s bathroom. They didn’t do anything… they were just asking me all these questions. About dad… about you… about the team. But they surrounded me, and I couldn’t think. And they kept asking and asking… and it got louder, and my heart started beating harder—”
“Hey,” Miley laid her hand over Lily’s. “It’s okay. You’re okay now.”
“T-thanks.”
“Who were these girls?”
“Oh no, I don’t want to get anyone into trouble.” Her eyes flicked to Miley, fear glittering there.
“Lil, if someone is upsetting you, we need to tell your dad—”
“No! He’ll go to Principal Kiln and then I’ll be a snitch and it’ll make everything worse.”
Miley flinched. “I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be right back.” She hurried away and Lily frowned.
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. I’m more worried about you. How about I make you a deal? You promise to talk to Mrs. Bennet, and I won’t tell your dad.”
“I don’t know… won’t she have to tell him?”
“She’s the guidance counsellor, Lil. She’s there to help you. And if you ask her not to tell your dad, she won’t.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good. And if you change your mind and want to tell me who it was, I’ll talk to them. They’ll listen to me.”
“Oh my God, your head just grew like three sizes.” She pinched my arm and I exploded with laughter.
“Thanks,” she said, giving me a weak smile. “For doing this.”
“Anytime, Lil. You know that.”
Miley slid into her chair. “Everything good?”
“Yeah,” I said, feeling the lingering tension between us return.
But it only amplified when Lily glanced at Miley and said, “Do you want to come to the game with me tomorrow?”
“Oh, I can’t, I didn’t get a ticket.”
“My dad is the coach, I’m sure he can get you one.”
“Lil,” I warned. She was trying to play Cupid, and it would have been cute, if it wasn’t for the fact that every time I thought about kissing Miley—and I’d thought about it a lot since we got to Ice T’s—I remembered her betrayal.
“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t make it. Not tomorrow.”
“Maybe another time then?”
“Yeah, maybe.” Miley caught my eye, but quickly glanced away.
“Ready to go home?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Come on then.”
We made our way back to my car, but Miley hesitated. “I can walk.”
“No way. Avery can take me home first and then take you, can’t you?”
“It’s fine. I’ll just wal—”
“Get in the car,” I sighed.
“I don’t want to be a nuisance.”
“Miley, just get in the damn car.” I yelled, yanking the door open. She slipped inside. When Lily went to pass me, I pinned her with a hard look. “You need to stop.”
“I’m not doing anything.” She smirked.
“You know exactly what you’re doing, and it’s not cool.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Like hell she didn’t.
Lily ducked inside the car and I slammed her door behind her, wondering how I could dominate the football field and come up against some of the biggest defensive players in the country, and be schooled by a ninth grader.
Chapter Eight
Miley
“She’s a sweet kid,” I said, watching Lily take off toward her house. She paused at the porch and glanced back, waving at us.
“She’s a pain in my ass,” Avery grunted. “Same with my sister. The two of them together… that’s when you really need to be worried.”
We shared a quiet laugh. I’d spent months watching Avery from afar, then tutoring him. But he’d always been like a closed book. I hadn’t seen him. The guy underneath the shoulder pads and helmet.
Not until it was too late.
“She was really scared when I found her,” I said.
“You know the girls who did it?”
“I got one of their names, yeah.”
“Good,” he said. “I’m going to need you to tell it to me.”
“Avery, Lily said—”
“I know what she said, Miley, but she’s just a kid. And these girls, they think just because she’s Jason Ford’s daughter they can use her, or pick on her, or climb over her to get to him.”
“And you?” I asked.
“Yeah, and me. It’s whack, I know. But you’ve got to understand something about this town, football is the life force that drives everything.”
“You think I don’t know that?” It was one of the reasons I’d written the exposé. The PTA, teachers, Principal Kiln, even the local police department, they were all blinded to the team’s thrall. The Rixon Raiders football players could do no wrong in their eyes, while the rest of us mere mortals sat by and watched.
It wasn’t fair. At least, it hadn’t felt fair last year when I’d become one of them. An insider. Being a cheerleader gave you a certain amount of social status. It wasn’t the same as being a football player, but it had given me a front row seat.
Now… now I didn’t know what to think. The guys worked hard on the field, really freaking hard, and for some of the players, football was their only shot at college. Because without an athletic scholarship, they had nothing. But it still didn’t excuse putting the team on a pedestal and letting them bend the rules the rest of us had to follow.
He released a steady breath. “Forget I said anything.”
The silence was awkward. Thick and suffocating. I knew he hated me, hated everything that I was, everything I stood for. But he
