Page 13 of Catch Me

Oscar’s eyebrows pop. “No shit. It’s nice to meet you, Briar. Brady was—.”

I don’t hear the rest of what the new kid, Oscar, has to say because Reid steers me away again. Lex and Cade follow behind us, and soon, Jules is at my side. “That’s Oscar Diego, isn’t it?” she asks.

Now I know I’m the only one who has no idea what’s going on.

“Yep,” Lex says, his voice filled with unrestrained menace.

“Reid…” Jules says, trailing off as if there’s a lot to say, but she doesn’t have the words to express what’s going on.

“I know,” he grits out.

“Does someone want to clue me in as to what’s going on?”

We get to my locker and form our own little group. Lex peers back down the hallway and then turns toward us, his gaze finally settling on me. “Oscar Diego is the quarterback for Rawley Heights football team.”

“Seven’s backup on the All-State team,” Cade adds.

I blink up at Reid as realization dawns on me. Sasha just brought Reid’s competition to our school. And with perfect timing, too, since he’s injured and can’t play. “That fucking bitch,” I growl.

“She did this on purpose,” Jules says, tossing a look over her shoulder toward the other group. “She may have even planned it from the beginning.”

Reid bends down, kissing the top of my head. He does it so hard it kind of startles me, but then he walks away, going in the opposite direction of where he used to rule over the group. “Stay with Briar,” he demands before turning down the next hallway and disappearing from sight.

Cade leans against the locker next to mine, his head coming back to rest against the steel. “This is not fucking good.”

“Coach won’t play Oscar though,” I say.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Lex asks.

“Well, first, we’re in the middle of the damn season.”

“We don’t have a good quarterback right now,” Cade says, shaking his head. “Barnhardt is fucking worthless. Coach Jackson is going to jump at this.”

“But he can’t replace Reid,” I say. The thought doesn’t even register with me. Why in the hell would he do that? Reid’s been so good to him. “Besides, we don’t even know if Oscar’s going to play football.”

Lex and Cade blink at me. Jules steps forward. “He’s good, Briar. I remember Brady talking about him giving Reid a run for his money.”

“But Reid’s still the best,” I counter.

“Not right now, he isn’t,” Cade says, kicking off the wall. “I’m going to see what I can find out.”

Lex moves in close to Jules and me. The warning bell rings overhead. Jules leaves, shaking her head, while I open my locker to retrieve everything I need for the first part of the day.

“I can’t believe I let that fucker get in on him.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say, stuffing the last notebook into my bag before shutting the locker door and spinning the lock.

Lex puts his hand on the small of my back, leading me to homeroom. “Itwasmy fault,” he says, his voice barely audible through the scramble to get to first period.

As soon as I step inside, his hand leaves, and when I look behind me, he’s gone.

I stare at the empty space.Maybe I should take this more seriously than I originally thought.

7

Classes feel like a foreign prison. That’s the thing with taking time off with absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to. Real life feels so structured and restrictive. What I really want to do is find Reid and pick his brain about this Oscar kid, but I don’t have any classes with him. At best, all I can hope for is to talk to him during lunch.

That is, until English class rolls around. I take my seat in the back and stare straight ahead. My foot jumps up and down. I now only have about an hour until I can see the guys and Jules again to figure out what is going on because obviously I’m missing something. I peek at the clock again when a dark-haired guy saunters into the room. My gaze tracks over to him, and my body immediately locks. Oscar’s in this class. Shit.

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