Worlds Divided | j. baker

forty two

When the Combine came, Alondra volunteered to help with signing the players in and sending everyone where they needed to go.  Part of the reason she came was because Olivia had asked her to, but then she left and said she'd be back in an hour.  For that hour, Alondra was sitting at a table with girl she didn't know and talking to guys from all Los Angeles, Crenshaw included.  "JJ, you know your shirt's inside out, right?"  Alondra looked at the blonde in pure confusion, and he looked down to see what she was talking about.  in the middle of the hallway, JJ put his stuff down on the table in front of him, unbuttoned his shirt and fixed it before putting it back on. Which didn't really make any sense because he was going to change his shirt in the next two minutes anyway.  "Um, here's your jersey.  You guys are meeting in the locker room."

JJ walked away with a big smile on his face, as he usually does, and Jordan was right behind him ready to sign in.  "Are you stalking me now?  First you find me at the café now you're here?"

"I got here first, you followed me this time." Alondra corrected. "I'm only here because your sister asked me to help out."

"That's the only reason? You didn't come to stare at all shirtless the football player?"

"No, actually I was going to leave right after I signed everybody in, but since you say that they're gonna be shirtless, I'll stay and watch you guys from the stands. Maybe I can hand out water and close to everybody." Alondra smiled as she watched the smirk on Jordan's face fall as he began to stutter.  "Can you move out of the way now?  There's a line of people behind you."

Jordan walked off to the side, and met up with JJ who was laughing at him because he overheard the whole thing.  "Dude, I don't know what you were trying to do, but that plan backfired so bad."  Jordan waved him off, but the two walked down the hallway trying to find Spencer.  When they didn't find him they decided they were going to wait by the signing tables, but saw him standing there already with his jersey.

Still doing the job she showed up for, Alondra was signing in the players and handing over jerseys, when she looked up. Spencer was staring down the hallway, so she turned and looked to see what he was looking at and saw a couple of guys from the Crenshaw team in suits walking down to the tables. "Chris? What are you guys doing here?"

Jordan watched intently has Alondra stood up from her chair and walked around to greet Chris with a hug.  Beside him, JJ was glancing to him and then back to the two Crenshaw natives.  "The recruiter from Los Angeles Southern came to Crenshaw to invite us.  He said Spencer suggested it."

The Crenshaw group, including Alondra, all turned to look at Spencer, who was still kind of surprised that the recruiter went through with looking at the football talent in Crenshaw.  There was a weird silence between everyone, so Alondra turned back to the Crenshaw players.  "We should get you guys signed in before it starts."

The group followed her to the table and she pulled up everyone's names to get their signatures before handing over their jerseys and nametags. While she was doing that, Jordan went to stand right in front of Spencer who were still looking at the group in shock.  "They didn't date, right?"

Not wanting to crush Jordan's spirit, Spencer started leading him and JJ to the locker room.  "Bro, stop worrying about your relationships. We have recruiters to impress."

"That's a yes, isn't it?"

× × ×

The Combine was meant to last basically an entire school day, so after signing all of the players in, Alondra went back to where she was staying to do homework and FaceTime her family in Mexico. Winter break was only a few months away, so the four were making a list of all of the things they were going to do with Alondra in Mexico. After wrapping up her homework and hanging up the call so Marcos and Antonio could go to work, Olivia called and asked to get food, so the two juniors sat in a restaurant for a few hours before realizing the Combine was about to end.

Alondra showed up solely to see Spencer, but was stopped by Jordan in the hallway, no longer wearing the jersey from the Combine, but now with an envelope in hand. "I didn't know you were coming back." Jordan said once he slowed her down.

"I wasn't going to, but I thought it'd be better to be in Spencer's business in person." She shrugged, which was true. She knew it was easier to annoy Spencer face-to-face because that way he couldn't put his phone down or hang up on her. "What's with the envelope?  Secret admirer?"  She teased.

Jordan, as infatuated as he was with Alondra, smiled with her, but shook his head.  "The recruits want to see me play in the scrimmage tomorrow.  This is the invite."

"Are you serious?  You should be celebrating right now, why are you in the hallway like a pendejo?"  The latina questioned, slapping Jordan's bicep for good measure.  "You don't look too happy about it. What's wrong? I thought this was what you came to the Combine for."

"It is, it's just... the only reason I got this is because my dad is the Billy Baker." Alondra, out of confusion, tilted her head which was basically her way of asking him to elaborate. "Chris Jackson outplayed me today, didn't miss a single throw, and didn't get an invite, but I did."

The mention of her ex got Alondra thinking, but she wasn't going to let Jordan beat himself up the day before he was supposed to impress all of the recruiters.  "That doesn't mean they invited you because of your dad.  Look, I've watched Chris play for years and as much as I love him, he's been playing the same the whole time.  You've become a better quarterback this season alone, the recruiters probably see more potential in you to be great and it has nothing to do with your dad."  She explained.  "I see more potential in you... if that means anything."

Jordan was slightly taken back because it's not something anyone has ever told him. I mean, yeah, his teammates would hype him up after a win, or his family would say he did good, but no one's ever told him he has the potential to be great, especially not his grandpa. "Thank you, that actually means a lot. No one's ever told me that."

"Well, you deserve to hear it more often." Alondra told him, gently patting his shoulder for good measure. "Is that all? I want to catch up with Spencer before he goes back to Crenshaw."

Suddenly remembering why he stopped her in the first place, Jordan spoke up. "Actually, I stopped you to see if you want to go out?"

"I just ate with Liv, I'm not really hungry."

"We can go get frozen yogurt? Or the arcade?"

Not seeing any harm in it, Alondra took a second to think about it before nodding her head with a smile on her face. "I'd like that. I'll go say bye to Spencer real quick and we can go, you can't be late for tonight." Jordan nodded and Alondra turned to continue walking down the hallway, and with her back turned, Jordan jumped around in excitement in the empty hallway.

aight theyre finally getting back on track after jordan's hoe phase 😼

we're like 5 episodes from the end of the season, so do u guys want a sequel or to continue in this one? i usually don't do sequels, but s2 has a completely different plot so idk🤨

anyways pls read

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