Belong

| Chapter 24 |

Zoe's POV

The next day, I executed my plan with the help of Bob and Aubrey. It was difficult to convince college boys to play with high schoolers, but Bob did a superb job. They agreed to have a friendly little match with them.

I knew it wasn't big, but I wanted William to play with them. It won't be much for him, but at least he'll get a chance to play on the grounds of his dream college.

The last time I talked with William was horrible, but I wanted to make my mistakes right and for that, I asked Griffin to help.

I stood outside Griffin's workshop and heard noises coming from inside. Taking a deep breath, I went in. Everyone paused and stared at me with wide eyes.

They all had bruises on their faces because of the fight they had last night. Gecil told me about how William knocked Harry and defended me. It made me feel a lot more relaxed to come here.

"H-Hey everyone." I waved nervously with a grin on my face. William got up from the car hood and stood in front of me.

"Zoe... I eh..." He trailed off, scratching his head, and avoided eye contact.

"Just say it already!" Stella yelled from behind, and everyone laughed at him.

"Iamsorry." He rushed I blinked at him.

"Again... and a little slowly this time." Liam teased him.

"I am sorry." He sighed, looking at his shoes, "I shouldn't have said- what I said- it was wrong of me and you didn't do it on purpose. Your friend was right that we could've lost even if I played, and maybe the scouts wouldn't have liked me, so what I said was totally out of it and I-" I grabbed his arm, stopping him from rambling.

"I am sorry to William." He glanced at me. "I was trying to teach them a lesson, and it went out of hand, even though the prank was harmless and-"

"You both are so alike." Stella stopped my rambling. William and I blushed, and they all laugh at us.

"Group hug!" Eric exclaimed and everyone came and hugged.

I peeked at Griffin, who was leaning on a car with a charming smile. I mouthed to him 'Thanks', and he shook his head 'No need'.

I was so happy that everything went well. I wasn't expecting William to apologize to me. It made my heart so warm and make me feel good again.

"Now let's go eat. I'm hungry!" Eric rubbed his stomach.

"Actually... We have some practice to do," I said, getting everyone's attention, and they all looked at me in confusion. "From we, I meant by William and Griffin."

They both looked at each other than me. "Why?"

"Because you guys have a friendly match with the players of UT Austin tomorrow."

They all looked at me with wide eyes and screamed together. "WHAT?!"

"But-How?" William's brows furrowed.

"You couldn't play with the team on Friday and lost your opportunity to get into the UT. So I thought maybe you'll like to play a match there with them. I know this isn't much, but I wanted to make up for my mistake." I finished and glanced at them.

"You're crazy." Griffin grinned, and I giggled.

"You up for it?"

"Hell ya!" William pumped his fists.

✶ ✶ ✶

On Sunday we stood on the UT ground... or more like a stadium. It was twice as big as our ground in high school.