Page 26 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Aaron

“Go Raiders,”someone yelled the second me and Ezra entered the school building.

“Fuck yeah,” I replied, grinning as I slung an arm around Ezra’s neck.

“You’re an ass,” he grumbled, shrugging me off.

“But you love me.”

His brows crinkled. “You really love all this shit, don’t you?” His eyes flicked to the banner hanging from the ceiling, the splashes of Raider blue and white adorning the lockers and noticeboards lining the hall.

“Hell yeah. This is what it’s about, E. The buzz, the anticipation… Football is religion and we’re the gods they worship.”

He drew up short and I almost slammed into him. Whirling around, he pinned me with a hard look. “I’m going to say this once, and only once. It’s. Just. A. Fucking. Game.”

Something tightened in my stomach as I gave him an easy breezy Aaron Bennet smile. “You say that now, but I know you felt it last weekend. The moment you step out onto the field under the bright Friday night lights… there’s nothing in the world like it.”

He stared at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“What?” I asked.

“I never realized before… how much it meant to you.”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted,” I admitted.

“But nobody really talks about it?”

He might as well have punched me dead in the chest. “Yeah, well… no one really thinks I’ll ever go all the way.”

Fuck, it hurt to admit that. That I was good, but not good enough.

“I didn’t know—”

“It is what it is.” I shrugged. I’d spent years in the shadow of better players. “Hopefully, one of my preferred colleges will want me.”

Because if they didn’t… I had no plan B. There was only college and football.

Last year, Mom had pushed me to consider other options. But I didn’t want a backup plan. A backup was like admitting defeat right off the bat. And I wanted to manifest success only.

I had a reasonable GPA, a good work ethic in practice, and the Raiders were a great team. That had to count for something.

So why hadn’t the call come yet?

Coach Ford and my dad kept telling me to be patient, that it would come eventually. But I couldn’t deny that with every passing day, I was losing hope.

My entire childhood had been leading to this moment and all I could do was wait to find out my fate.

“It’ll all work out,” Ezra said, but I could see the doubt in his eyes. The silent question.

A question I had no intention of answering.

What if it didn’t?

At lunch, I stopped by Mom’s office to see if she wanted anything. It was something I did sometimes, to spread a little love to one of the most important women in my life. But when I approached her slightly ajar door, Coach Ford’s voice made me stop dead in my tracks.

“Dammit,” Mom said. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, spoke to him myself. They’re not interested.”

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