“What the fuck?” Brian mouths to me and Ryan.

“Language, Mr. Johnson,” Mrs. Batmore, the principal’s secretary who must be at least one hundred, says in her high-pitched voice that wavers just because she’s so old.

Brian shrugs innocently. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Mouthing it counts, too,” she says with a stern look over her half-moon glasses as another student turns the corner to join our group.

“MC!” we all shout, startling Mrs. B. She quickly adjusts her sweater with a disgusted eye roll.

Mark Conner just walked in dressed as a condom in support of our school mascot, since we are the Trojans—the warriors, not the condoms, but there’s always at least one on spirit day, and this year it is MC.

“Nice,” Brian says with admiration at the balls it took to wear that.

“Right back at ya, boys.” Mark nods as he sits next to me. “I had to carry on the Barry Richards tradition.” He gestures to the large latex suit covering his body. There is a hole for his face, but the rest looks like he’s wearing a latex dress with a nude bodysuit underneath.

We are interrupted by someone clearing their throat, and we all look in the direction of that sound. Shit.

Standing there is Principal Marks and Coach W.

We are screwed.

We all immediately stand up, showing respect for Coach.

“Coach—” Brian starts.

“Stop.” He eyes all of us, the disappointment clear. “Did you think this was a good idea?”

We glance at one another. Even Brian knows not to answer that question.

“None of you are starting tonight. You will sit out for the first quarter.”

“But, Coach—” Mark and Brian start.

“You’re lucky it’s just the first quarter.” Coach glances at Principal Marks, and it’s clear he wanted more.

“Scouts are coming to the game to watch us play,” Mark continues to argue.

“Then you should have thought about that before. Think about the example you’re setting for the younger players as Captains of this team.”

“But it’s Spirit Day; we’re just showing school spirit,” Brian says in rebuttal.

“Next time, do it with clothes on.” Coach W. glares at all of us with the kind of glare you don’t respond to. “First quarter. You better make the other three count,” Coach continues, and then he looks at Brian. “Johnny will start.”

Brian doesn’t react, but I can tell he’s fuming.

“I hope you all have clothes you can change into. I’m guessing you didn’t come to school dressed like this. It’s game day; you are supposed to wear your jerseys. I suggest you put those on. And next time you want to parade around half naked, leave your football pants out of it.” Coach is not having any of it. He doesn’t even crack a smile.

He nods to Principal Marks. I can see how red his neck is, which tells me just how angry he is.

Then he leans into us and whispers, “And I know about the locker room this morning. You’re lucky I’m the only one.” He glances back to Principal Marks with a smile. It’s obvious that last comment went over his head, thankfully.

My stomach is currently in my throat. I couldn’t speak if I wanted to, so I just nod to Coach, making it clear I understand.

It’s one thing for me to get in trouble, but I don’t want Ash or the other girls to go down for this.

ASHLEY

I’m in homeroom when my phone buzzes. We’re technically not supposed to check phones in any class, but homeroom is the most lenient, so I nonchalantly check it.

When I see Todd’s name, my stomach drops.

Huge trouble. None of us are starting in the game tonight. Changing clothes now. You are fine, but Coach saw.

“Shit,” I say out loud without realizing. I know scouts for Penn State and a few other schools are going to be there, and I know this is not good. They will definitely ask why the starters aren’t starting. My parents are going to freak.

I see Shane reach for his phone then watch him check his text. He looks back at me quickly, and I know he knows something. Then I feel my phone buzz again; this time from Shane.

Johnny is starting? WTF?

When Shane turns back to me with a questioning look, I shrug and mouth, “After Class.”

We don’t need anyone else to get in trouble.

Chapter 7: The Aftershock

ASHLEY

The rest of the day is uneventful compared to this morning. The boys don’t have time to shower, so they have to put their jerseys over all the glitter and paint, leaving all three of their jerseys a mess. Even when they finally do shower at the end of the day, the glitter doesn’t really come out of their hair. Luckily, they wear helmets, because glitter and football don’t really go together. Unfortunately, they have a meet and greet after the game with all the scouts who have expressed interest, so the glitter should be interesting to explain.

It’s tradition for the players’ girlfriends to wear their away jerseys at the homecoming game, so I am wearing Todd’s jersey and loving every second of it. Of course, it’s more like a dress than a shirt, but I wouldn’t trade wearing it for anything. Even though I’m sure it’s been washed many times, it still smells like him, so wearing it makes me feel closer to him, closer to the game.

Blythe makes her way over to me on the bleachers wearing Brian’s jersey, and she actually is wearing it as a dress with black, ripped tights and a belt. All of the cheerleaders with boyfriends on the team put their jerseys on over their uniforms, so Gretch has Ryan’s tied in a knot to show her skirt and mid-drift clearly. It seems like the players make sure they have girlfriends before the game, because almost every girl is wearing someone’s football jersey.

“Nice.” I gesture to what Blythe has done with the jersey look.

She shrugs and smiles. “I had to do something, and I know he’d kill me if I cut it up or did anything to it.”

“Very true. Plus, he’s already in enough trouble.”

She gives a guilty smile and then starts searching the crowd on the field for Brian.

I turn to whisper to Shane whose gaze is locked on Johnny. “You should have worn his jersey. That’d be the perfect way to come out and make a statement.”

“Funny, Ash,” he says, not laughing.

“I’m serious,” I say, leaning back on the bleacher behind me.

“She’s right, Shaney,” Sid says, figuring out what we are talking about. She’s on the other side of Shane, her eyes scanning the band to find Simon.

Sid and Simon are still going strong. At least he’s not a senior, so they have lots of time left together. I start to feel bad for myself when Blythe and Shane interrupt my wallowing by both leaning into me.

“I can’t believe he is here,” Shane says at the same time Blythe says, “Looks like we’ve got company.” As soon as Sid sees him, she grunts.

I look up to see what they are talking about, and my eyes land on Casey standing at the bottom of the bleachers.

When he gives me a head nod, I give him a small wave and a smile, but whisper back to them through gritted teeth, keeping my eyes locked on him. “Well, we are playing his school.”

“Ashley Taylor,” he shouts in front of everyone, and my stomach does a flip.

I know my cheeks are bright red. I instantly want to shrink down; instead, I give him a WTF type of shrug and pray to God the players on the field can’t hear him.

“Come down here,” he continues to shout over everyone’s heads from the front of the bleachers.

Thankfully, the game is starting and most people are paying attention to that. Unfortunately, Todd is on the sideline warming up, so even though he’s in the zone and doesn’t hear Casey yet, chances are pretty good it’s only a matter of time. I don’t want to do anything that could mess up this game for him, since I know how important it is, and he’s already sitting out the first quarter. As a result, I start to get up, knowing Casey won’t stop shouting.