by Anna B. Doe
Contents
Foreword
Blurb
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Acknowledgments
Did you like The Penalty Box?
Chapter One
Other Books By Anna B. Doe
About the Author
Text copyright © 2020 Anna B. Doe
All Rights Reserved
Cover Design by Najla Qamber Designs
Editing by Lawrence Editing
Logo & Graphic Design by Little Miss Tease
Formatting by Abigail Davies at Pink Elephant Designs
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
True friends are like burning stars, they shine brightest on the darkest nights.
—Atticus
To every girl who has ever been in love with her best friend.
You're not alone.
It's doesn't have to be impossible, so don't be afraid to try.
Blurb
Liam Ward just got the starter position on the hockey team and he’s determined to have the best year of his life. If only his teammates would stop pointing out how “grown-up” his best friend has become and putting thoughts he most definitely shouldn’t think about in his head.
Evie Clark wasn’t supposed to fall in love with her best friend, but she did. She doesn’t know when or how it happened, only that one day being close to him brought butterflies to her belly and her heart would start racing every time he was near. If only the feeling were mutual.
Just when Evie thinks there might be hope for the two of them, she sees Liam flirting with another girl. To put a stop to her feelings before it’s too late, Evie will do anything, even go out with a football quarterback.
She might have put him in the penalty box, but the moment the timer buzzes, this hockey player is determined to win the game.
The Penalty Box is a complete standalone, sweet YA sports romance novella taking place in the world of Greyford High.
Prologue
EVIE
SIX YEARS OLD
“Liam, wait!” I yell after my best friend. My legs pedal as fast as possible as my hands grip the wheel of my unsteady bike. My dad took off my training wheels a few weeks ago and although I can ride the bike without them, when I’m hurrying like I’m doing now, I still easily lose balance and fall.
“Li—” I start again, only this time I don’t finish. Something must have gotten in my way, a bigger stone or a bump of some kind because the next thing I know I’m flying through the air and then crashing on the ground. I can feel my skin rip, and the burning sensation spreads in my palms and knees as the pain jolts my body.
I yelp softly, tears gathering in my eyes as the pain grows stronger. My head hangs down, tails of my braids swinging on each side, as I nibble on my lip to stop a painful sob from coming out.
“Hey, it’s okay.” A hand touches my back, slowly caressing me.
Sniffling, I lift my tear-stained gaze to look into the deep brown eyes of my best friend. There is a furrow between his brows and a serious expression on his face. An expression that is in complete contrast with one stubborn brown curl that falls over his forehead.
“Where does it hurt?” His gaze looks over me, searching for injuries.
“Y-You ca-came…” I say, a soft hiccup making me stutter.
“Of course I came.” His soft fingers push a runaway strand of hair behind my ear. “You’re my best friend.” Liam takes my hands in his, and when he hears my low hiss, he looks down at my scraped palms. “Sorry.” He blows softly over my burning palms. “Does it hurt a lot?”
“Not so much anymore…” I whisper, throwing my hands around his neck in a tight hug. “Thank you for coming back for me.”
“I’ll always come back for you, Evie,” Liam promises, returning my hug. “Always.”
Chapter One
EVIE
“Go out with me,” Noah says, his smooth voice breaking me out of my thoughts. I try to hold it in, but my lips curl into a smile nonetheless. The class has just finished and I’m putting the books in my backpack before turning around to look at him.
Hazel eyes shine brightly, amusement evident in their depths. A wide grin plays on his lips. You’d think this is the first time he’s asked me that question—it’s not. I stopped counting the number of times he’s asked me out since school year started and the number of times I said no. At this point, it has become a sort of game between the two of us. How long will he keep asking? How long until I finally accept his offer?
Well, technically, will I accept his offer?
The jury is still out.
I don’t do this to play hard to get. Noah is nice, a good friend, but he isn’t the boy I want to ask me out. I like him, just not like him like him.
“Noah,” I say, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear and smiling softly so that I ease the blow. No matter what, the last thing I want to do is hurt his feelings. “My answer hasn’t changed.”
He shakes his head, moppy brown hair swinging with the movement. His smile loses some of its intensity but doesn’t completely fall down.
“One of these days you’ll say yes.” Noah holds my gaze. The assurance in those words is so strong I almost believe him. Almost, but not quite. If I were him, rejected too many times to count by the person I like, I would’ve surely given up by now.
Then why are you still stuck on him? the little voice taunts me, but I decide to ignore it.
And just like my thoughts have summoned him in real life, his familiar voice calls out to me, “Evie!”
I turn around almost instantly, my body aligning to his even before I have him in my eyesight. “Liam.”
His name comes out as a breathless sigh, and I’m thankful for the distance between us so he can’t hear it.
My best friend in the whole world quirks a brow at me before he’s jumped by one of his fellow teammates. The guy, Mike, ruffles his short brown hair, probably teasing him about the fact that he’s picking me up for lunch, something they’ve been on his back about since the school year started, but Liam brushes him away without a backward glance. Judging by the way they act, you’d think those guys are back in preschool, not sophomores in high school.
“You coming or what?” Liam asks, but then his eyes land on something, someone, behind my shoulder. They narrow, if only slightly, as he tips his chin in greeting. “Russell.”
“Ward.”
I look over my shoulder at Noah just as he returns the greeting. There is a slight buzzing in the air as they stare at each other with me in the middle. My body shivers from the silent intensity of it. I wouldn’t call them friends. Liam plays on the hockey team while Noah is on the football team—they both might be jocks, but if you observe them carefully, each group hangs with their own—but I’ve never sensed the animosity between the two either. On the contrary, I could have sworn I saw them hanging out occasionally at parties, so this whole situation makes no sense whatsoever.
Now I’m imagining things. I shake my head. “See you later?”
Noah simply nods. Giving him a quick wave, I rush after Liam and his friends. I’m barely within arm
’s reach when Liam’s arm falls over my shoulders, pulling me into him, his clean, woody scent surrounding me. Goose bumps rise on my skin, but I ignore the sizzling sensation and the chuckling of Liam’s friends around us.
“What’s that all about?” He tilts his head to the side, a curious expression in his eyes.
“What happened to ‘Hello, Evie. How is your day going, Evie?’” I mock, my eyebrows raised in question.
“Evie…” Liam drawls in a warning.
“Liam…” I say in the same tone.
He runs his free hand through his hair, soft locks sticking in all directions. “I’m your best friend. If I don’t look out for you, who will?”
His words sting and his touch that only seconds ago excited me, now burns. It’s not like I don’t know how he feels, I do, but hearing the words come out of his mouth somehow feels final.
Liam and I have been friends since I can remember, even before that really. We’re next-door neighbors, and our moms are best friends, just like the two of us. We’re only a couple of months apart, so technically, we spent time together even before we were born. But while Liam only looks at me like a friend, I see him as something more.
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment when it happened. One minute he was this gross little boy who pushed bugs in my face, raced me on my bike, and dared me to do all sorts of crazy things and the other he was… more. His nearness makes my heart race and my palms sweaty. But while my feelings for Liam grew, his stayed the same.
Slipping out of his reach, I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “You’re my friend, not my father,” I point out, frustrated, and slightly hurt. “Besides, Noah is just a friend.”
Puffing out an irritated breath, I don’t wait for his answer as I continue toward the cafeteria.
Who does he think he is? Putting his nose into my business when I know for a fact he’s flirting with all those girls. Gorgeous, athletic girls. And it probably doesn’t even stop at flirting either. Not that I would know it firsthand, or anything. Even still, being a jock, even if only a sophomore, comes with a certain status. And in Greyford High if you’re a hockey player, you’re practically royalty.
Wolves have a stellar season so far, and although Liam doesn’t get as much ice time as his older teammates, he’s out there, slowly building his name and working toward getting the starter position.
“Evie, wait,” Liam calls back, his fingers wrapping around my wrist and turning me to face him. A few people stop to look at us, curious about what’s going on. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him how did he mean it, but I hold back. The good girl in me doesn’t want to continue this fight.
“It’s okay.” I try to pull my hand out of his, but he doesn’t let me.
Liam takes me in for a moment, his eyes flickering as he observes me. “You’re not going to do one of those girly things when you say it’s okay, when in fact it’s anything but okay, are you?”
Taking pity on the guy, I let a small smile spread over my lips. “If you don’t piss me off more…”
He sighs in relief. “Aye, aye. Grab your lunch and we’ll meet at the table?”
Only after I nod, does he let go of my hand. Turning, I look around the full cafeteria. My eyes scan the crowd until they land on Jessica, my other best friend. Weaving through the people, I slip in the line next to her.
“Do you think if I take plain salad instead of Caesar, I could get this juicy full-fat yogurt?” She tilts her head to the side, making her brown ponytail swing with the motion, but doesn’t lift her gaze from the two choices in her hands. Jessica’s sixth sense is so on point that sometimes I think girls like her are the reason why the whole world looks at women as witches. Sometimes her predicaments are so correct goose bumps rise on my skin.
“I think you should get both Caesar and full-fat yogurt if that’s what you want to eat.” Only Jessica can see something plain like full-fat yogurt as juicy. What happened to a good slice of chocolate cake?
She turns to me, her mouth agape. “Both Caesar and yogurt? Are you insane? I have to watch my weight! Nobody will want to throw my fat ass in the air.”
Jessica just joined the cheerleading squad. She tried out last year, but she didn’t pass the audition. Not like it stopped her. All last year she spent practicing, and I’m glad to see it wasn’t in vain. I knew if she didn’t make it this time around, her heart would be crushed.
“You’re not fat, Jessy. I don’t see why you’re obsessing over it so much.”
“B-But…”
I take her sudden lack of words as a sign and take both yogurts out of her hands, putting one on her tray, while returning the other to the fridge. I repeat the same with the salad.
“Here, now you won’t get all hangry on people by the end of the day.”
Grabbing a chicken sandwich, chips, and Cherry Coke out of the fridge for myself—because this girl here embraces her muffin top—we both go to the register to pay for our food before we walk to our usual table.
“What has you in a mood?” Jessica asks, giving me a side look. Her tongue peeks out of her mouth as she puts dressing on her salad, mindful that she only uses half of it. Like seriously, who eats Caesar salad with half the dressing? It’d be like going to the ice cream shop and only getting vanilla. Or having chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips inside. Sacrilege if you ask me.
“Nothing…” I say, shrugging lightly.
The last thing I want to do right now is rehash what happened with Liam, which will only bring out the question of my secret crush on my best friend. Well, secret except for Jessy. I don’t think I can hide anything from this girl.
“Oh, please, don’t even try to fool me.” She lifts her head and looks around wearily before she leans closer to me and whispers, “It’s Liam, isn’t it? I saw you two enter the cafeteria. For a moment there you looked pretty tense.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mumble before taking a big bite of my sandwich. Anything so I can avoid this conversation.
Jessy has been trying to convince me for months to come clean to Liam and see what happens, but she doesn’t get it. You can’t just come clean to your best friend about your changing feelings toward them. It will mess up the whole relationship and possibly—who am I trying to kid? Most likely is a way more fitting term—destroy it altogether.
Thankfully, before I can even manage to swallow, Liam and his friends join us at our table. Their trays overflow with food, but then again they’re all teenage boys in the middle of a growth spurt—I kid you not, those dudes seem to grow an inch every day—and they play sports. I don’t mind the overabundance of food, especially if Liam gets something I like so I can snatch it off his plate, but the weird combinations they eat sometimes make my stomach roll in disgust. Just the other day I saw Mike eat a PBJ sandwich with pickles. Weird pregnancy cravings have nothing on these guys.
Liam slides on the chair next to me, his long limbs barely fitting underneath the table. His leg brushes against mine, making my heart skip a beat and hammer loudly against my chest when he doesn’t pull back.
Calm down, Evie. It’s not like it’s a big deal. You’re used to touching Liam.
“What’cha got there?” he asks as he shoves a handful of fries in his mouth. So many that some of them are hanging out of his mouth as he chews.
My nose wrinkles as I elbow him in the side. Playful, friendly interaction. “Do you have to be so disgusting?”
Mischief twinkles in his brown irises as he looks at me, chewing even louder and more obnoxious for my benefit. “Always.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I make a point of moving away. It’s not a lot, barely enough to make a gap between us, but it gives me a little bit of my sanity back.
“I don’t know where you put all of that shit,” Jessy comments, looking over all the food on our table, but I can see the longing in her eyes. I seriously don’t know why she’s doing this t
o herself. It’s not like she has to lose some weight. I just hope it’s all in her head and it’ll pass because the last thing I want is for her to get hurt over something like this.
I mean, I’m not cheerleader material, and I never wanted to be one, and while some of the girls Jessy hangs out with are really nice, others have a big stick stuck up their asses.
Liam puts down his burger, taking a paper napkin he taps at his mouth as he finishes chewing—you see, he does have manners, he just doesn’t want to use them around me—before he flashes Jessy a grin. “I’m a growing boy.”
“Well, you better watch out on what you’re putting in that growing body.” I take a fry off his plate and dip it into ketchup. “Out of all the jocks, hockey players are known to get a big gut before anybody else. With all that padding, it’s so easy to hide it.”
The dead silence falls over the table, all the heads turning toward me.
“You didn’t just offend all the hockey players while stealing my fries.” Liam’s mouth hangs open in astonishment.
“Dude, buuuurn,” Jack, another Wolf, snickers from the other side of the table.
“I’m just stating the facts.” I shrug as another fry flies into my mouth. Yum. There is nothing better than crispy, salty fries with ketchup. Leaning over the table, I look at Jack. “I don’t see why you’re snickering over there. You’re a hockey player too.”
That earns him some teasing from the rest of the group. Liam, Jack, and Mike have been a trio of friends since they started playing hockey.
