Page 47 of Going for Gold (Sweet Cravings 3)

"God you're pathetic." He said it under his breath, but I still heard him.

"You know what? How about you just be you. And I'll be me. And one thing's for damn sure. We're not together anymore, Chris."

"Fine. If that's what you want. Good luck in the rest of your games. If you end up facing Brazil in the finals, you're going to need it. Gabriela's so much better than you." He tossed the flowers at me and walked away.

My whole body felt cold. It wasn't just what he said, but the way he said it. He wasn't talking about Gabriela being better at volleyball. He was talking about their kiss. Or whatever else they did. And it didn't matter how horrible Chris had been the past few days. His words cut through me just like they would have when we were happy. His opinion had always mattered so much to me. I wasn't good enough for him. I wasn't as good as Gabriela. It felt like I was a freshman at NYCU again. Gabriela had spread rumors about me to the rest of my team to the point where none of them would even look at me. Then she found a way to barricade my dorm room from the outside so that I'd miss important practices and games. And finally, the night before our term papers were due, she snuck into my room and smashed my laptop and shredded all my papers. After that, I went home and never went back. But this time I couldn't run home.

"Why didn't you tell me the whole story?" Kristen asked.

I too

k a deep breath. How much had she heard of that? The expression on her face made it seem like she had heard all of it. "I don't know. I didn't want you to hate him anymore if we got back together. You don't have to worry about that now."

"Alina." She put her arm around my shoulders. "I'm so, so sorry."

And even though she hated Chris, I knew she meant it. "I can't believe he kissed her back," I said.

"I know."

"You were right about him. Why didn't I listen to you?"

"Because he's pretty. And you never had a boyfriend before."

I laughed.

"Can I tell you something, though?" She let go of my shoulders and stood right in front of me. "I'm actually glad that you two dated."

"Seriously?"

"Because now you'll recognize a good thing. In comparison."

"You mean Bryce?"

Kristen smiled.

"I'm already sold on Bryce. Do I look okay?"

"You look like you just played three games of volleyball."

"So...bad?"

Kristen laughed. "But he's already seen you after ugly crying with snot all over your jersey. And he still likes you."

"Still." I wiped some of the sweat off my face with the back of my hand.

"Come on." She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the exit.

Bryce was standing by the door with his friends. I chucked the flowers in the trash right before we reached them, but not before Bryce had seen them. He glanced at the trashcan and then back at my face.

"Congrats on the win," Alex said. "Who knew our volleyball team was so good?"

Kristen laughed. "Everyone except you, apparently. We're favored to win gold. And we're going to win."

"I like my women confident," Tim said.

I tuned them out and looked up at Bryce. He was smiling at me. I suddenly felt extremely self conscious.

"You dig me, huh?" I asked. "I like the volleyball pun."

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