Crimson Catch (Game Time #1)

by S. M. Donaldson

  ME: If you don’t come out here and talk to me I’m ringing the doorbell.

  JO: Fuck you.

  ME: Me? Fuck me? You won’t even talk to me.

  JO: Fine.

  A few minutes later, the back door opens and she quietly steps out.

  She’s in a small pair of pajama shorts and a tiny tank top thing that does nothing to hide her tits. God, why am I an idiot?

  “What do you want? What’s so important that I had to drag myself out of bed?” she asks, aggravated. I can see that she’s been crying. I have a feeling I’ve caused that.

  “What happened, Jo? We were friends. Now you won’t even speak to me unless you have to,” I beg.

  She lets out a frustrated growl. “Is that what this is about? Your wounded ego? I didn’t cry and hurl myself at you when you made sure the entire hallway knew that I was, and I quote, nothing? Sorry I didn’t chase you around like a damn puppy dog like these other girls. Contrary to what others would have you believe, I’m not here to stroke your dick or your ego. I’m just your tutor.”

  “It didn’t look that way tonight. I saw your face, Jo.” I sound like I’m pleading.

  She glares at me, pointing her finger. “You saw that I was shocked. I was shocked that someone could have so little self-respect that they would let a guy bang them up against a car, while people walked by. That is what you saw.”

  “I’m sorry for it all, Jo. I want to take every bit of it back. How Ciara baited me in the hall, what you saw tonight. All of it.”

  She shrugs. “Who cares? Look, is that all? I do really need to get some sleep.” The wind picks up and her hair sweeps from her shoulder, revealing her hardened nipples through her thin top.

  I nod. “Yeah. I guess.” No, fuck that. I catch her arm as she tries to walk away. Pulling her tight to me, I can feel her heartbeat. “If it wouldn’t totally disrespect you right now, I’d kiss the fuck out of you.” I pull my head back and sigh. “I will, though. Soon.”

  She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind and shoves away from me to reenter the house.

  Fuck, I’ve got work to do.

  On the way home, I start getting my plan together. I know James wasn’t home yet, so I text him for the address of the competition tomorrow. She’s going to see me sitting in those stands.

  Now, for the next part of my plan I’ll have to do something I absolutely hate to do. I have to talk to my dad.

  Don’t get me wrong, my dad is supportive of me, he’s good to me. But when it comes to certain things, he’s more the mayor than my dad.

  Thad and Ella Mae Atwood are the picture perfect political family. The total package. Two perfect sons who never get into trouble and play football. They have a chocolate lab, a house in an upscale neighborhood, a white colonial with black shutters and a red front door. That’s the reason coming to my dad about my tutor, the fact that someone had to tutor me, sucks. He always says that our life is more about perception. It’s about how people perceive our family. If people find out that I’m not completely on top of my game, grades included, it could hurt him. But this is one way I know of helping Jo, and I meant what I said. I’m going to kiss her. She’s going to want me. She’s going to forgive me.

  CHAPTER 20

  Joelle-

  God, it’s too early to be on a yellow dog school bus. After Collin left last night, my emotions got the better of me and I cried. I cried for hours. To the point that I passed out. I may have gotten an hour of sleep, so I brought my pillow with me. I’m sleeping on the way to the contest.

  Clem slides into the seat with me. “Jo, you okay?”

  “Long story and I just want to sleep right now. I’ll explain more later.” I curl up into my pillow and go to sleep.

  The lull of the road puts me to sleep quickly. Before I realize it, Clem is waking me up to let me know that we are in Opp, the little town that the contest is held in. “Hey, you okay now?”

  I nod. “Yeah. I just needed that extra couple of hours.”

  She gives me a small look of sympathy. “Jo, I saw it last night. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to it, but I know how upset you were. Face it, honey, there was more between the two of you. On one end anyway.”

  I shake my head. “He showed up at my house last night sometime around one. He was apologizing and several other things. Told me he wanted to kiss me, but that would disrespect me. I pretty much told him to go away. I’m tired of all of this. You know, Spencer asked me out last night and I think I’m going to go.” I fix the ponytail in my hair. “Maybe that’ll get the message across to everyone once and for all.”

  She looks at me with a little shock on her face. “So Collin wants to kiss you and Spencer wants to take you out.” She laughs. “Damn, Jo, when you decide to get a social life, you really take it seriously.”

  I roll my eyes. “Shut up. It’s not like I asked for all of this.”

  Before she can say anything else, Mr. Clark is telling us to get off the bus and set up for practice. Once we are finished in the warm up area, Mr. Clark sends us to get ready. As everyone finishes, we make our way to the waiting area. Being one of the smaller bands, we’re one of the first to perform.

  An hour later, we come off the field and make our way to the stands. Mr. Clark congratulates us on what he thinks was a superior worthy performance. As we go to find seats, Clem stops me. “Jo?”

  I look at her. “Yeah?”

  “Why is Collin sitting with your mom and James?” she quietly asks to not draw extra attention.

  I snap my head up and quickly scan the crowd for my brother and mom. Sure enough, he’s sitting right there in the stands with my mom, next to my brother. “Ugh. I don’t have a clue.” But I intend to find out. “I’ll be back, find us a seat,” I say absently as I walk away.

  Climbing the bleachers to where they sit, I stop beside them. My mom stands up and hugs me. “Honey, you did awesome!” she says, sounding entirely too cheerful to be my mother.

  James stands up, pulling me into a one arm hug. “Good job, Jo. You kicked some ass.”

  I step past my brother. “What are you doing here?” I say with a deadpan at Collin.

  “Joelle,” my mother scolds, whispering.

  I ignore her while Collin grins. “I came to support you.”

  “Why?”

  He shakes his head. “I’m gonna prove to you that you aren’t nothing to me.”

  “Fine. Suit yourself. I’m going to sit with Clem,” I growl, but he laughs and so does my brother. “What?”

  Collin points behind me and I turn around the see that she’s picked a spot right in front of them. That bitch.

  She smiles and shrugs. “You said find a seat.”

  I tilt my head with a look that says ‘I will beat your ass for this’.

  I hear Mom again. “Good, Clementine got you seats here. They said this lasts almost all day.”

  I roll my eyes, not facing her. If she’d ever been here, she would know this.

  Instead, Clem being the good person she is, turns to my mom. “Yes, ma’am, the smaller bands go on earlier, like we did. Then the bigger bands go on. They have the awards ceremony generally about eight or a little after. It’s a lot of fun. Jo will get to go on the field this year for awards.”

  “Why’s that?” my mom asks, sounding genuinely interested.

  Clem gives a small laugh. “Because she’s an officer.”

  “Wow.” My mom sounds excited.

  This is getting really annoying. I went from having no one at these competitions to my own damn cheering squad, complete with an asshole who doesn’t get the message.

  Quit trying to lie to yourself, Jo. You know you love that he’s here.

  UGH!!!!!

  “I’m going to get some food. I’ll be back.” As soon as I get close to the concession stand, I feel someone behind me. I turn to see who it is and of course, it’s Collin. I lean against a cement block post and sigh. “Seriously, Collin. What do you want? Why must you try to
complicate all of this?”

  He leans into my space, making my heart race as I feel trapped. “I’m going to prove to you that to me, you aren’t nothing. In fact, as much as I’ve tried to fight it,” he shakes his head with that smirk, “you’re a helluva lot more than nothing. I’m going to make you see it.” Before I can slow my heart down and return to my sensible self, he leans in and brushes my lips with his.

  I shove him backward. “Back off, Atwood. You don’t get to choose for me.”

  Stepping to the window, I order my food and quickly make my way back to the seat. I glare at my best friend. Collin comes back with his own food and takes the seat next to my brother again.

  “Hey, Jo?” my brother questions.

  “Yeah?” I say, shoving a bite of hot dog into my mouth.

  “Why is my buddy from Monroe texting me about asking you out?”

  I laugh. “Oh, I met Spencer last night with Clem. He was really nice and asked for my number, so I told him we’d go out on a date some time.” I roll my eyes. “What, hate the idea of me going on a date with one of your friends?”

  “No. Spence is a great guy. Just wondering about the texts,” he explains.

  “Well, I haven’t set up the date yet or anything. I was planning to call him or text him tomorrow,” I say, ignoring, or well trying to ignore the look Collin is giving me.

  The rest of the evening I spend trying to avoid Collin and act like I’m stupid-obsessed with the other bands. Eventually I have to find a bathroom. That large soda I got earlier has my eyeballs floating. Once I’ve finished and come out of the restroom, I run into my brother standing there with his hands in his pockets.

  “So, you don’t plan on giving in to him?”

  I shake my head. “No.”

  “I feel like if it wasn’t for me, none of this would be happening. It’s not that I think you’re ugly, but you just never seemed like I had to worry about not only one but two of my football buddies having the hots for you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Whatever. I don’t know what he’s-.”

  He puts his hand up. “He told me about the party and what you saw. It takes a pretty decent guy to straight up tell me he fucked up.”

  “Ugh. Look, I’ve got to go get ready to go on the field.” I turn, walking the edge of the field to meet up with the rest of the officers to head out for awards.

  CHAPTER 21

  Collin-

  After church is over with, I need to talk to my dad. We attend the largest church in town. Everly First Baptist, where all of the, I guess you would call, upper elite go. Her parents go to the Methodist church, but I’m not sure how much they actually go. We have to go every week since our life is all about appearances. It wouldn’t look right for the mayor to miss a Sunday. Well, unless we are on a family trip.

  Once we say our last prayer and make our way out to the front steps, I step up beside my dad. “Hey, Dad, can we talk sometime today?”

  He nods. “Yeah. Is everything okay?” He gives me a concerned look.

  I nod. “Yes, sir, just something I need help with.”

  He nods. “Okay, let’s get lunch over with and we’ll talk in my office at home.”

  I nod and head for my car. Every Sunday we go to the local Mexican restaurant for lunch with several people from the church.

  A couple of hours later, I’m sitting across my dad’s desk from him. He loosens his tie and then rests his elbows on the desk. “Okay, now let’s talk. What’s bothering you?”

  I start explaining about the grades and the tutor situation first. He knows my tutor, or rather her parents. “I’m sorry, Dad, I should’ve told you, but I was having some real problems making sense of things.”

  “I think I’m more upset that you think I expect you to be perfect. I know I always say perception is everything, and I do want us to do our best as a family, but I would never expect someone to be perfect. I’m not a perfect man. No one is. Now, what’s the next part?”

  “Well, I know the football program brings in a lot of revenue for the sports program, but did you know that the concession stand belonged to the band at one point?” He shakes his head. “Apparently the band had control over it. It was their major fundraiser. They get a small budget, but it’s mostly used up with travel. Each band member pays a fee at the beginning of the year, but that goes, too. When they had the concession stand, they made more money. The Touchdown Club figured out how good of a fundraiser it was and convinced the school to give it to them, since the building technically belongs to the football program. Now they are so broke they can’t even get their instruments fixed and Dad, they’re good.” I pull out my phone and pull up a picture of Joelle at practice. “Do you see how bruised Jo’s shoulders are? Those are from the pads on her shoulders not being replaced. She gets stuff from the hardware store and temporarily fixes them, but they don’t have it in the budget to get them replaced and attend our football games. I feel like since they show so much support to the team, there has got to be something that can be done for them.”

  He nods, listening very patiently. “I see. I doubt that we would be able to wrestle that concession stand back, but let me make some calls.”

  I sit back in the chair. “Well, I just figure what good is my local golden boy status if I can’t help out? I know I’m not the captain of the team, but I do lead them and if I can see what an asset they are to have in the stands supporting us, then I think everyone else should, too.”

  He keeps nodding. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do. You keep me a little more informed of your grades, though. Okay?”

  “Yes, sir, I understand. It’s going better. Jo has really helped me understand some things. Especially in Geometry.”

  He cocks his head to the side. “Sounds to me like you like her as more than your tutor.”

  “Yeah, I kinda do. I mean I’m not sure yet, but there’s just something different about a girl who wants nothing from me,” I say nonchalantly.

  My dad looks confused. “What do you mean?”

  I shrug, now looking down at my legs stretched out in front of me. “Do you know how many times a day I’m asked if I’m gonna take the team to State? If I’m going to bring home the championship? So many of these girls expect me to be their ride out of this town. It’s just a lot of pressure.”

  He has a stunned look on his face. “I’m sorry, son. I had no idea. People shouldn’t put that on you. You’re part of a team. I mean I’m the mayor, that’s like a team captain, but I have a group of people that help me.”

  I give a small shrug. “I know, but that’s the way it is. I’m the quarterback. I might not be the captain, but I lead the team. Then I’ve got girls like Ciara trying to suck on me like a leach.”

  His face screws a little. “Oh shit. I mean, um, sorry, Dad. Figuratively trying to suck me like a leach, not literally.”

  He lets out a small breath and then a chuckle. “Sorry. It’s just-. The way it sounded-.”

  “I get it, Dad, and if it makes you feel like you’re not completely crazy, they offer that, too.” I laugh, getting up to leave his office. Before I leave, I turn back. “Thanks again, Dad.”

  ~*~*~

  Later in the afternoon, my brother begs me to take him to the Frosty King. Something about a girl from his class being there. I never expected to see her when I went in. She hates the place. So why when I walk in the door do I see her sitting with the asshole from Monroe?

  She glances up to see me and gives me a small look like she’s won a challenge. Well then, challenge accepted, sweetheart. Going up to the counter, I grab a milkshake before walking over to the table they’re sitting at. She looks up, clearly annoyed, and I look to Spencer. “Spencer. How’s it going?” I reach out and bump fists with him.

  He grins. “Not too bad, man. I see your stats in the paper, bro, you are kicking ass and taking names.” He nods. “Oh, I’m sure you know Joelle. She goes to Everly.”

  I give him a sly grin. “Yeah, I know Jo. Awesome girl. Make sur
e you treat her good. She threatens bodily harm with drum sticks.”

  “Really?” He looks at her with question.

  She shakes her head. “Yeah. I guess Atwood here is scared of me.” She reaches over, squeezing my arm. “You know, he acts all tough, but he’s scared of me and my little ole’ drum sticks.”

  Spencer laughs. “Well, I’m trying to talk Jo into letting me take her on a real date sometime. She says she has a busy schedule though.”

  I nod. “She does. She’s a hell of a drummer, works a job and is a freaking awesome tutor.”

  Finally, I just pull out a chair and spin it around to straddle it, joining them.

  Spencer nods. “But she could miss one day of band practice to go out with me.”

  I shake my head, seeing that she’s starting to get annoyed with both of us. “She can’t. Her band director would kill her. I know that sounds like I’m exaggerating, but I’m not positive he wouldn’t.” I laugh.

  She turns to me. “Can I speak with you outside for a minute?”

  I stand up. “Nah. You get back to your date.” I stroll out the door to my car, texting my brother to let him know I’ll be back later and to just call me if he’s ready before I get back.

  An hour later, I find myself once again driving around her neighborhood. I see Spencer leaving after dropping her off. Pulling up to the house, she’s crossing the front yard. “Hey, Jo,” I call out.

  She turns and flips me off.

  “Look, I’m sorry. Come for a ride with me?” I ask.

  She mouths the words, “Fuck off.”

  Finally I just get out of the car and throw her over my shoulder. She kicks me in the stomach and hits on my back. I do my best to ignore her and get to my car, putting her in the passenger side. “You are going for a ride with me and we’re going to talk.”

  As I pull off from the curb, I look to her. “You’re back early.”

  She sneers. “No shit. Spencer said it looked like we had a thing for each other and he didn’t want to get into that ‘drama’.”