All Chapters of Under His Jersey : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The email sat in my inbox like a death sentence. I read it for the fifth time that day, standing on the front porch of my next baby sitting shift with my phone clutched in one hand and my bag in the other.The words didn't change. The slots were filled. My scholarship, the one I'd spent three years building my entire application around was gone not because I wasn't good enough but because I wasn't fast enough.I shoved my phone in my pocket and rang the doorbell, forcing my face into a bright smile. The Castellanos were paying me fifteen dollars an hour to watch Hannah, and I needed every cent. Harvard's application fee alone was more than I could afford yet somehow, I had to come up with the actual tuition if I got in.The debate tournament prize money was my last shot. Five thousand dollars for first place. Enough to cover applications, deposits, maybe even a semester of books if I was lucky. If we won.If Lila's leg healed in time, if we didn't get disqualified for not having five

I spent the entire weekend dreading Monday.Every time I thought about going back to debate practice, my stomach twisted but quitting wasn't an option. I needed that prize money so Monday at six o'clock, I showed up to the library with my materials and waited.Six fifteen. No Diego.Six thirty. Still nothing.At six forty-five, I started packing up. Of course he wasn't coming. Why would he? He'd made it clear he didn't care about debate, didn't respect me, didn't think any of this mattered."Hey."I looked up.Diego stood at the edge of the table, his backpack slung over one shoulder, completely unbothered by the fact that he was forty-five minutes late."You're late," I lashed out."Football ran long." He dropped into the chair across from me, pulling out his phone. "Coach wanted to run some plays.""You couldn't text?""Didn't think about it." He scrolled through his phone, not looking at me. "So what are we doing?"I stared at him. No apology. No acknowledgment that my time mattere

I found the blood by accident when Mom had left her work jacket draped over the kitchen chair, and when I grabbed it to hang up, a white handkerchief which was crumpled and stained with dark red spots fell.My heart stopped."Mae? You okay?" Rook stood in the doorway, backpack slung over his shoulder, waiting for me to drive him to his friend's house.I shoved the handkerchief back in the pocket quickly, my hands shaking. "Yeah, let's go."When Diego showed up to the library three minutes early, I couldn't believe my eyes.I checked my phone, then looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you and what did you do with Diego?""Ha ha." He dropped his backpack on the table. "Can't a guy be early?""You've been late to everything since birth. So you being early is suspicious.""Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf." He pulled out his notebook. "Or maybe I just want to get this over with so I can actually sleep tonight."Fair enough, he had the same black eye bags as me. "Okay." I opened my lapto