“Are you going to be able to handle the next whole week without me being here?” Austin pulled Emery by the hand so that she would sit down beside him on his bed. He’d reminded her once again that he was leaving tomorrow for football and cheer camp for the week and wouldn’t be back until next Sunday. “I’ve made it almost eighteen years without you, so I think I’ll be good for one week.” Emery tried to act like she was being serious, but knew that the grin spreading across her face wasn’t helping her pull this one off. “You’ll miss me and you know you will.” Austin started tickling her sides, which caused her to start laughing and squirming to get away. In the midst of their play, somehow Emery ended up on her back, lying on Austin’s bed with him halfway on top of her. Her shirt had come up and exposed her flat stomach. The tickles had stopped and became more like light, gentle caresses. Austin waited for some sort of sign that she wanted him to stop, bu

It was almost noon when Emery rolled back out of bed and made her way down to the kitchen. According to the note that was left for her, it seemed her parents had gone to the store for some groceries. Emery grabbed a banana and went back to her room so she could eat, get her clothes, and then get a shower. She had two hours before Austin would arrive back at the school.Emery arrived at the school parking lot ten minutes before the scheduled arrival time of the buses. There were several other people there, mostly moms, dads, girlfriends, and boyfriends waiting for the buses to make their entrance. She didn’t know any of them, not on a talk to basis, so Emery just sat down on the ledge that went around the perimeter of the building.The buses started to pull into the drive-around about thirty minutes after Emery had gotten there. She saw that everyone was getting off and looking around for whoever may be waiting for them. The second bus was almost unloaded and one

“Where do you want to sit?” Emery met up with Austin outside of the cafeteria. They had made it through the first of their four classes and had three more to go until they could finally leave. None of her friends had lunch this period, but a lot of Austin’s teammates and other people he hung around with did and were already filing in line for food.Austin looked around and saw the people he had eaten lunch with for the past three years were beginning to filter in. He was thankful that none of Apryl’s crew had lunch at this time, but he knew Emery probably wouldn’t want to sit with a whole table full of guys and girls she hardly knew. “How about courtyard?” He nodded toward the outside seating that had been constructed for those who favored eating outside. There were a few small picnic-like tables and benches that were surrounded by the colored flowers of the school’s theme, navy blue, and white.“Okay.” Emery

“You okay?” Austin saw that Emery looked a little paler than when he had gone in to change. He hoped that the sun hadn’t taken its toll on her yet, since they still had two hours of practice to get through before they could leave. “Stay here a minute.” Austin went over to the cooler that had the ice and water bottles for practice. He grabbed two of them out and took them back to Emery. “Make sure you drink these so you don’t get sick sitting out here in the sun.”The bottles were cool to the touch and Emery held them against her face. Austin was being so nice and thoughtful right now, it was hard to believe that he had cheated on her during the school day. “Thank you.” Emery set one of the bottles down on the bench and opened the other to get a cold drink.The sound of the coach’s whistle signaled that practice was about to start. “I gotta get going.” Austin gave Emery a quick kiss on the che

Halftime was over and the teams were both scoreless. Austin was back on his side by the bench, carefully going over the playbook, but every once in a while he would glance back at Emery and smile. Each play that he did came out perfect, but it seemed the other team’s defense was as good as theirs at stopping the runs and passes.Austin looked worn out and defeated going into the final minute of the game. Emery could tell by his movements that this game was kicking his ass. He had just given the ball to their lead running back, but he got knocked out of bounds at the five-yard line. There were forty seconds on the clock and the team had one more play left until they had to do another kickoff. Emery watched as Austin took two steps back as the ball was hiked to him and then ran toward the goal line. Every defensive player was after him and had caught on quick to his sneaky move. The people in the stands were all standing, screaming, and cheering him on for the last two ya