Chapter 59: Chapter Thirty Two-1

Her face drops for a moment. I turn my back to her and stride down the hallway, my heart beating loudly in my chest, towards at ashy-blond haired boy in a leather jacket. He is my future. The chapter of mine and Samara's has closed and instead of dwelling on that sad fact, I need to move forward with Miles. Because honestly, we're only in the beginning of ours. The soft feel of Miles' fingers rubbing circles in my shoulders makes me sigh in content. "Mmm," I encourage with a smile. "Keep going." "You're tense," he tells me with a frown. "It's been a stressful week," I sigh. It's Friday and I could not be happier that this week from hell is almost over. I don't know what was worse, having three assessments all due today, or having Samara continually make snide remarks to me, making me feel worthless. I'm so lucky to have Kiarra and Miles by my side, otherwise, I probably would have had an anxiety attack or an emotional breakdown by now. I had only just accepted the fact that I've lost my best friend. I didn't expect to gain a bully. I should have expected things to be bad, but I didn't think it would be this bad. It seems like years of friendship means nothing to her. "You definitely don't want to go to the party?" he asks me. I lean back into his touch. He removes his hands from my shoulder and wraps them around my waist, planting his chin in the crook of my neck. "I'd much rather spend the night with you." He leaves a soft kiss on my skin and tightens his arms around me. "Sounds good to me." I pivot so that I'm facing him. He keeps his arms secure around me as I peer up at him. "Do you want me to talk to Finn about having you re-join the football team?" He blinks in surprise for a few moments. "I don't think he wants me back." "Things went okay on Monday right?" I ask him. "At Anger Management?" "Yeah, I guess. We did sit together, but I was also the only other person he knew," he points out. "But do you want to join the football team?" I ask. "Forget about everything and just think about what you want." He cocks his head to the side, looking pensive. "Yeah. I would love that." "Okay," I nod, standing on my tip-toes so that I can run my fingers through his hair. "I'll see what I can do." "Thanks Is, but I can do it," he assures me. "I should be the one to talk to him about it." "Okay, just let me know if I can help." He smiles down at me, before kissing my nose. "We should go get a seat, before the grandstand fills." I agree and lace my fingers with his. We make our way to the grandstand, my eyes scanning for Kiarra's mop of mouse brown hair. She waves at me. I ignore the piercing gaze from Samara as I walk past her. "Hey Becs," I greet Becca, who is perched beside K. She smiles back and offers me a pringle. I thank her and take a few, passing some to Miles. I grimace when I see the Richmond bus pull up. They weren't meant to verse them for another three weeks, but the other team we were versing tonight had to forfeit, mucking up the entire schedule. "This will be interesting," Miles murmurs. "Yep," I agree with a sigh. I watch Finn and Alec pass the ball together, while Jai chats to the Coach. I smile when they blatantly ignore the arrival of their rivalling team. "Let's see if that Anger Management class has had much of an impact on Finn," I muse and Miles chuckles. "Let's hope for the best," Kiarra joins in and Becca playfully rolls her eyes. The two teams warm up far away from each other. We have all finished off Becca's pringles by the time the game starts. Soon enough, it is half time and there has been no fight outbreaks, no dirty moves and the score is even. I'm impressed. "Something's up," Miles says as they all break. "What do you mean?" I ask him. "They're playing too clean. They have something planned for the second half," he mutters and I think he's talking more to himself, than me. "What do you-" "Hang on, I'll be back." He jumps to his feet and trots down the steps. I share a look with Kiarra, before we watch him athletically jump over the fence and head towards The Boys. He pulls Finn aside. They talk for a few moments and with Miles' serious expression and hand movements, I assume they're talking about tactics and game play. Finn nods and they do the one-arm-shake-and-hug thing, before Miles heads back towards us. I raise my eyebrows as he takes a seat. I don't know if I'm more impressed that he went down there to share his view, or he fact that Finn accepted it. "Football stuff," he answers my unasked question. "Right," I laugh. As the warning alarm sounds, alerting everyone that half time is up, Miles leans forward, digging his elbows into his knees. "What have you got planned?" he asks quietly and I look from him, to the field and back to him, trying to work out what is going through his mind. "What?" I eventually ask. "They've swapped Eli's position," he says quietly. "He's marking Finn." "And what does that mean?" "Something is about to go down," he says with a frown. "I really don't have a good feeling about this." I lightly pat his shoulder. "Finn is tough." "I know, but Eli is a dick." "Can't argue that," I agree and chew my lip nervously as the game resumes. Ten minutes go by without much change. Miles is making me feel anxious as his left leg keeps jiggling restlessly. "Miles, stop it," I whisper. "You're making me nervous." "Sorry," he apologises, tightly clenching his fingers together. Finn leaps into the air and the football falls into his arms. He takes off at a run and time begins to slow as my eyes widen. I watch Eli tear towards him, before spear-tackling him to the ground. A spine-chilling screams erupts from Finn and my body goes icy cold. Goosebumps pierce my skin. Finn collapses to the ground. Eli gets to his feet with a triumphant smirk on his lips. My body reacts faster than my mind. I am on my feet and running down to the field. I fluently jump the fence and if the circumstance was different, I would have been impressed with my athletic ability. When I get to him, Jai is holding Alec back from sending a punch to Eli and the Coach is mouthing off to Richmond's Coach. I drop to my knees and stare down at Finn, who's leg is lying at an unnaturally odd angle. He has tears running down his red-cheeked face. My heart is thudding so fast in my chest that it's almost painful. "Finn!" I exclaim, gently touching his shoulder. He doesn't hold back his sob as he reaches for his leg and lets out another cry. I lightly push my fingers through his sweat-drenched hair soothingly. "It's okay," I whisper to him. "It's okay." He covers his face with his two hands. I bite my lip as I watch him. My brother doesn't cry. He is the type to fall from a tree, break his arm, get up and want to do it again. He has a very high pain tolerance. The paramedics arrive, then. I step back and hug my arms around myself as I watch them. "Who have we got here?" the lady asks me.