Off the Field

Chapter Eighteen

Mal looked like she was going to vomit; I couldn’t help but agree. Very conscious of her eyes on me, I stepped away from Kasey and raised my voice as I said, “Yeah, I know how you feel about me – how you cheated on me. Get lost, Kasey.”

“What?” Her perfect features froze. “What did you say to me?”

“I told you to get lost.”

My voice didn’t waver; several people around us watched with interest, and I noticed that Mal wasn’t walking away. The guy at Kasey’s side looked all sorts of menacing as he stepped forward. He was some senior, probably a football player, a couple inches taller than me and a whole lot bigger, but I didn’t care. I kept my eyes fixed on Kasey’s shocked face.

“I didn’t think I was going to have to spell it out for you but – we’re over.”

“Are you breaking up with me?” she demanded shrilly, her hands on her hips. “Do you know what you’re doing, Danny Cooper?”

“You’re the one who claimed we were never really together,” I pointed out, my confidence rising as I glanced sideways to see Mal biting back a smile. “So you can go mess with your new boy toy – see if I care.”

Kasey’s blue eyes were slits as she looked between Mal and I. “I can’t believe this,” she hissed, her voice like acid. “You’re dumping me for someone like her.”

She gave Mal the most malevolent look I’d ever seen, but even as my mouth fell open in anger, Mal just rolled her eyes. “That’s so typical,” she told Kasey in a bored tone. “You don’t get what you want, so you assume that someone took it from you. Did it ever occur to you that Danny made the independent choice that he didn’t want to date you?”

“As if I thought he’d date you.” Kasey tossed her hair. “Like any guy ever would.”

My temper flared. “Don’t talk to her like that,” I snapped. I hadn’t missed the way Mal had bit her lip even as she tried to look tough; I knew how close to home Kasey had hit. My fingers clenched into fists as Kasey set her lips in a mocking smile.

“Danny, let it go,” said Mal, tugging on my arm. “It’s stupid to talk to her; she’s not going to listen to you. I told you she was just jealous because you talk to me, not her.”

“You little bitch,” spat Kasey, so vengefully that I stepped between them and held out one hand to keep her away. The guy at her side reacted immediately, seizing the front of my shirt and shoving me away from her as he snarled, “Don’t touch her!”

“Like I’d want to!”

A second later, I was seeing stars as pain rocketed through my head. The senior’s fist crashed against my nose, and I tasted blood as I staggered backward into a table. Swearing, I pushed away the table’s occupants, who were asking me if I was okay, and faced the senior, dimly aware that the entire cafeteria had fallen silent.

“Danny, please,” said Mal plaintively as the atmosphere snapped with tension, but I ignored her and glowered at the senior as blood dripped down over my mouth. My face was inches from his and my self-control hung by a thread.