I. Heart Of Gold (Uneditied) ✔️ ORIGINAL

Twelve - Playoffs and State

"Alright then..." Owens left it and went to his room.

I sighed and looked at Wes, "Thanks." He pulled me into a man hug and we chuckled. "Where's our room?"

"Three-fifteen." He hands me the second key. "Also, Coach wants to chat with us before we head for Plainview High. He's in the area where breakfast is served in the morning." I nodded and headed up to our room.

Once I got situated in the room, I texted Emmi that me and the team made it safely. She sent me a smiley face back along with the words "good luck!". I smiled at that and headed back to the first floor, to chat with Coach.

"You wanted to see us, Coach?" Wes asked, sitting down at the table Coach sat at.

"Yes. About tomorrow, we would be cutting it close, but I think we can make it work. We play at eleven, so if you two need to leave before the game ends, Gregg and Seth can cover it. I know they are both capable. I just need you two to do me one thing," Coach looked at us with narrowed brows, "You both need to kick butt today. And the rest of the playoffs and at state. I can't have my two ticket players slack off, because they might not play the whole game tomorrow."

"Yes, sir." Wes and I said at the same time.

Coach dismissed us and we went back to our room. We got to our floor when Seth and Gregg stopped us. "Hey! I heard we might be playing tomorrow, instead of you two. You guys feeling okay?" Seth asked.

"Mm yeah. Just something came up tomorrow. We gotta leave at like two, so we'll be playing the game, but we might be cutting it close." I explained. My phone dinged and I knew exactly who it was. A smile formed on my face and it must have been a stupid one, because my teammates stared at me.

"Why the stupid grin, Evans?" Gregg laughed. "You got a girl you slinging along on that text?" He side eyed me.

"Don't I always?" A smug smile grew on my face. On the outside, I was this huge player to the team. Slinging girls around every two weeks. However, on the inside, my gut wrenched and guilt overtook me. Emmi wasn't one of those girls to me. She never was. And my teammates had no idea I wasn't slinging girls anymore.

"What week is this for her?" Seth asked.

"Two. I'll be getting rid of her Monday." I answered.

"Is it that Fischer girl you've been hanging with?"

I felt my spine stiffen, "Nah. Her and I are just friends. She's not my type. Nerdy, with glasses? No thank you."

"Then who?" Gregg asked, pushing it.

"Some chick from a different school," Wes stepped in. "Can you guys just drop it? Why do you guys even care?"

"It's what he does. We were just curious, sheesh, Wes. No need to be so defensive." Seth rolled his eyes.

"We need to get ready anyway, we leave in an hour for the first game today." Wes glared at the guys and headed for our room.

I waved a half wave, "See you downstairs in the lobby."

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I sat on the bleachers, watching the other teams after we played a round. I had texted Emmi to keep her updated on everything and she let me know she made it home safely with Brooks. She had asked me if we could make it tomorrow, but I had told her we couldn't. I wanted to surprise her. I had asked Nikki the day before when they were performing. She told me they were on the field at three. So I marked it on my calendar.

Wes sat next to me with nachos and a sports drink. He noticed me texting Emmi and elbowed me, "What's up with her?"

"Just checkin' in. I've been bugging her to send me a voice clip of her singing, but she won't do it. She's too shy about it and Zachariah killed her self-confidence with it." I answered.