All's Fair in Love and HoCo (ONC 2022)

Chapter Five: Not Again...

The football coaches were on the field waiting for the team to dress out. I decided to start interviewing the Coach Hanson who was in her second year as head coach and quickly worked my way through the rest of the coaching staff as the players slowly filtered out of the locker room and onto the field.

While the team was warming up, I searched the field for the number three jersey, but Riley wasn't there. He must've gotten wind that I was the one interviewing the team today and decided to skip, that I'd done enough damage to him. I couldn't blame him. I wouldn't want to see me either.

I opened the folder containing the players' written answers and cringed when I saw it hadn't been organized. I would spend more time trying to find each football player's answers than I would have to interview them, so I alphabetized the papers and waited patiently for the players to make their way over to me.

A flock of geese flew in a V-formation hundreds of feet overhead, their honks nearly drowning out Coach Hanson's voice from where I sat on the metal bleachers trying to soak in what I was sure would be some of the season's last warm sunlight. The tennis team ran around the track that looped the football field, Caleb greeting me as he ran by. I would have a blast helping him plan his HoCo-posal to Bri. Maybe a tennis and cross country theme. With lots of flowers. Hmm. She loved cheesy 80s movies, too. I'd bet we could incorporate Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club into a theme. Just so we stayed away from Carrie. Yuck.

The sound of cleated footsteps on concrete interrupted my brainstorming. I looked up to see Tim, his chin jutted out in a clear affront at his being pulled away from practice. And my being the interviewer. I plastered a smile onto my face, but he didn't reciprocate. His eyes exuded fear. It didn't matter that he had a wall of muscle for a body; the boy feared me. I stifled a laugh.

"You aren't going to barf on me, are you?" he asked as I combed through the folder for his interview.

Whatever. "I wasn't planning on it, well, unless you have a formaldehyde-embalmed cat in your pocket." His face turned fifty shades of pink. I was blushing, too.

"I guess we'll be okay, then," he mumbled, and then added something unintelligible before saying, "I'm sorry about earlier." He gave a sheepish smile, and I could see why he didn't stay single for very long at Edelweiss.

I needed to keep my focus. "Let's get this started, so you can get back to practice."

Tim seemed tongue-tied and was a boy of few words, so the interview took less than two minutes. I wasn't sure if I'd embarrassed him with the pocket comment (Really, I shouldn't have said it, but it's not like I could breathe it back in) or if he was still embarrassed from mocking me after Barfmageddon, but either way, I admired the view as he walked away from the bleachers. The football pants left little to the imagination.

Our lead kicker chuckled as she caught me staring at Tim. "He's beautiful, but he's an ass." I had to agree.

Kandy Olson was a senior and she was beyond awesome. Colleges were recruiting her left and right, but she hadn't decided whether she'd play football, basketball, or soccer. Either way, she had a full-ride scholarship awaiting her.

Her pink-streaked, blond hair was gathered up into a ponytail, and her makeup was running off in a sweaty trail along her cheek. "You're Emily Barfield, right?" Her voice was tiny for someone who easily towered over me.

"The one and only."

She laughed. "The guys are talking about what happened today." She leaned in to whisper, as if anyone was close enough to hear our conversation over the geese's racket, "I was the one who got sick last year in anatomy class. If they give you too hard of a time, let me know and I'll kick their asses."

On that note, I wished Kandy and I'd had classes together, and that we'd had more opportunities to become friends. We both lived on Odam but at opposite corners of Edelweiss' largest residential base, so the chances at developing a friendship had been small, even though she sometimes rode the activity bus home after practice.

The interview was over a few minutes later, and after suggesting we should hang out sometime, Kandi was back on the field practicing her kicks. While I waited for the next football player, I snapped photos of Kandy kicking a field goal.

One by one the football players came for their interviews, and one by one, I grew more disappointed that Riley still wasn't on the field. I considered asking how Riley was doing, but what would the other players make of it? I was guaranteed to be run through the rumor mill for probably the rest of the week. Did I want to add even more fuel by asking his whereabouts? No. It was better to keep my mouth closed and concentrate on the task at hand.

It wasn't until almost the end of practice and when I was down to my last three interviews that Riley showed, warming up for a few minutes along the sidelines just about fifty feet away. When he didn't so much as look toward me, I shifted my attention to the three freshmen in front of me and gave them a smile. They were cute, in a totally-for-my-freshman-sister-and-not-for-me sort of way. I tugged my skirt down a little bit after I caught them staring, the tallest of the three—Dalton—watching my every move. Creepy... His grin was entirely too cocky for a freshman, and I considered saying something to wipe it from his face, but I didn't need any other labels after today's mishaps, so I continued with the interview as his two friends egged him on.

"So, what are your goals for Homecoming, Dalton?" I asked, hoping to finish the interview and send the three boys on their way. I took a sip of water.

"I'm going to rush for a hundred yards, we're going to beat Ramstein by at least thirteen points, and you're going to be my date for Homecoming."

The water sprayed out of my mouth and landed just a couple inches in front of Riley. He took a step backward and gave me a lopsided grin as I sat there cringing and the Freshmen high-fived one another.

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