Page 89 of The Comeback Pact

“Sydney got you one. She didn’t tell you? When she won the competition, she got free tickets to the game, too.”

“Oh. Okay.” My stomach twists in knots. I hadn’t planned on watching the game at all. I was just going to drop in for the show and leave.

He must recognize my apprehension. “They’re great seats. Fifty-yard line. Perfect view of the show, too. Sydney looks amazing.”

Now I remember who this guy is. One of the production dudes. It’s part of their class grade to help run the homecoming show. I can’t remember if he’s lighting, sound, or set, but he’s one or the other.

He turns a corner, and we start to slope down. At the end of the hall, people are milling around, some of them wearing headsets and others holding clipboards they’re staring at as they exit one of the rooms.

“She’s in here,” he says, guiding me that way.

I take out her glitter scrunchies because I don’t want to be accused of deforming them. When we get to the end of the hall, my guide goes right into the room, but a commotion to the left draws my attention.

My heart grinds to a halt.

At the end of the tunnel walks the entire Warner University football team. All the men dressed in their uniforms, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, reminds me of an army. They walk down a ramp like they’re heading toward the battlefield. Sunlight slices through the tunnel, illuminating half the players. Here, I can hear and smell the same things going on outside, so this must be the entrance to the field.

The lead player waves, and it takes me a moment to recognize Aidan. I wave back. He jumps up and down, his head almost hitting a mounted TV at the junction between the two hallways. The whole team has come to a stop, helmets in their hands. Some of them are stretching out, some have their heads bowed. None of them really talk to one another.

I start to scan the crowd, looking forhim, but I stop myself before I get too far.

A sudden jolt hits my chest, and I realize it would be too much to see him like this, right now. So shortly after we’d ended things.

“Kenna, thank God!” Sydney runs up to me and grabs her scrunchies out of my hand. She wraps me up in a hug. “Thank you.” She must spot Aidan over my head because she calls his name and waves furiously. “Good luck!”

He gives her a thumbs up back, coupled with a cocky smile. Above his head, the TV starts playing. Just like I’m used to seeing when my dad watches sports, a panel of men sit behind a long table and start talking about the game. I don’t really hear what they’re saying until they show a picture of West. Then, it cuts to a full screen of West speaking with a woman reporter.

Captions scroll across, but I hear him loud and clear. “I thought I should set the record straight.”

My mind immediately focuses, intent on him. I’m trying to decipher whether this is an old interview or a new one. The well-dressed West on screen is confident and sure. “My father isn’t a nice man…”

The football team quiets, the whole tunnel silenced like they’re as engrossed as I am. Some of the players watch the TV while others turn inward until there’s a large, sentinel-like body standing tall…and staring right at me.

My breath hitches. In the background, I can still hear his interview, which was obviously given earlier today. West accuses his father of extortion, and my pulse starts to race. His gaze locks with mine, and even though he’s tethering me to this spot, it feels like the ground is uneven.

“I would like to ask everyone to stop sharing it, please. If you’ve posted it to your social media, please delete it, and I would appreciate it if news outlets stop running it as well. My father doesn’t deserve any more of your time.”

“I’m sure your girlfriend was very upset.”

My body trembles.

“I won’t be answering any questions about her.”

Her.

I swallow the lump in my throat, but still, we don’t stop staring at one another. The whole world is looking at him, and he’s focused on me. Still.

His teammates start rallying around him. They pat his back. They say things to him, but he doesn’t take his eyes off me.

Goosebumps spread over my body in waves. He nods at me, and I know West Brooks well enough to understand that he did some of that for me. He told people to stop sharing the video. Sydney and I had decided that I should delete my socials last night, so I hadn’t even been on them to know. Maybe people haven’t stopped. Maybe they’re still sharing his father’s hateful words, but just knowing that West asked… It means so much.

I nod back at him and bite the inside of my cheek. Tears prick my eyes, and then Aidan starts to jump up and down again, yelling, “Are we going to let them get away with that?”

“No!” the team yells.

“Do we protect our own?” he screams, doubling over at the waist.

“Yes!” the chorus calls back.

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