"It's a fucking hand off, O'Donnell! It's not that hard!" Vincent shouts from the sidelines, red in the face as he screams at Brady, who had, yet again, fumbled the ball.

We were playing Rutgers, a team we've beaten with ease in the past, and we were losing. The score was 7 to 17 and we were minutes away from half time. You could see the frustration practically pouring out of the coaches and the players on the sidelines, but most importantly, from Vincent.

On more than one occasion, he turned to me and practically begged me to let him go out for a few plays, and I had to tell him no every time. With each rejection, his frustration just grew, eventually to the point that he walked over to the water bottles and, with one sweep of his arm, knocked them all off of the table.

"Bradshaw!" Coach Baxter had turned from the edge of the sideline to shout. "If you don't go sit down and shut the hell up, I'm going to throw you out of this stadium."

That was only ten minutes into the game. But now, with two grueling long minutes left before halftime, our team was doing embarrassingly poorly. Brady had been sacked three times already in the second quarter, fumbled the ball four times, and threw two interceptions. Now, we were on the third down with eleven yards to go, and it was safe to say that nobody expected much.

Brady managed to hand off the ball successfully and get the first down, but by the time the clock stopped to signal halftime, we were still on the opponent's side of the field. All of the players trudged off the field looking exhausted and disheartened by the score, and filed into the locker room while cursing Brady O'Donnell's name.

I leaned against a locker in the back of the room and watched as the players hung their heads, discouraged from how the game was going, as they awaited the Coach to come talk to them. Vincent was standing beside me with his jaw clenched and murderous glare set on the back of Brady's head, who was staring hard at the ground silently.

Coach Baxter walked in and throws his play book down on the ground before looking at the boys with anger clear on his face. "What the hell is going on out there, boys?"

"It's not our fault O'Donnell can't throw," Someone grunts from the front.

Coach whips in the direction of the voice and growls, "Who the hell said that?" Slowly, one of Max's friends, Jaden, raises his hand. "Jaden, tell me something. Is a team made up of one player?"

Jaden visibly gulps at Coach's hard tone and mutters, "No."

"You're right about that," Coach snaps. "A team isn't made up of one player and a football team isn't just made up of the quarterback. There's a lot of fucking work we need to improve out there, and it doesn't all fall on O'Donnell." His gaze sweeps across the locker room of exhausted players and he continues. "Is our O line asleep out there? Why the hell are you letting O'Donnell get sacked? And I need the running backs to go their routes and make their touches or else we're going to lose by a hell of a lot more than what we're losing by already."

Coach Baxter crafts a new plan quickly and manages, somehow, to boost the team morale. He offhandedly draws up a few plays that require Brady to make short passes or hand the ball off. And by the time halftime is almost over, everyone thinks we might actually be able to pull a win out of this.

"This is bullshit," Vincent mutters behind me as the team leaves the locker room. "Nothing changed. O'Donnell still sucks."

I push off the locker I was leaning on and shrug. "You never know what could happen."

He scowls at me as he snaps lowly, "I know that without me our team is nothing."

All previous respect I had for Vincent- albeit not a lot at all- evaporated at the sound of his arrogance. I turn to him incredulously and shake my head at him, which in return only ignites the anger in his eyes.

"You're ridiculous," I tell him point blank. "This team is more than the great Vincent Bradshaw. You're just too self centered to see beyond yourself."

I turn around with every intention of walking away from him, but he grabs my wrist tightly and spins me around. His jaw is clenched, his eyes are blazing, and his grip is deadly. My breath catches in my throat at the sight of his murderous expression but I keep my glare situated on my face in the hopes he doesn't see through me.

"Don't call me self centered," Vincent growls. "You know nothing about me."

I narrow my eyes at him and spit, "I know too much, actually. You're an arrogant, self centered prick who thinks he's the most important thing in the world." I lean forward a little challengingly. "When college is over, you'll be nothing but a washed up athlete that spent too much time partying to actually build a bright future for yourself."

His fist slams down on the locker beside me and I force myself not to wince as the metal ricochets. I've never seen Vincent's eyes so dark with unspoken threats or pure, unadulterated anger.

"And you'll be nothing more than the easy chick who fucked a player," Vincent seethes lowly. "Get off your high fucking horse, would you?"

Underneath the anger that flared from his words, I felt a stab of hurt go through me. He knew what really happened with Max and yet he still threw the rumor in my face. I pushed away the hurt and shake my head at Vincent with my anger growing tenfold.

"Fuck you," I spit and then push his chest, but he doesn't move. "Get away from me, Vincent."

My voice was shaking with anger and yet Vincent still stood close to me with his head leaning down as he scowled. He was so close that I could see the way his eyes were a shade darker than normal. So close that when he breathed raggedly, his chest lifted and almost brushed mine.

"Look at that," An obnoxious voice muses smugly from the doorway. "First me, now Bradshaw. Can't keep your legs closed, can you Lily?"

Vincent finally drops the arms that caged me in place and takes a step away. He turns his scowl to Max and shoots him a murderous glare. My heart was racing from the growing anger and I was absolutely livid. For a moment, I even considered dropping out of the PT program just so I can kick Max and Vincent both in the balls.

"Go back to the fucking game, Caulfield," Vincent practically growls. "And shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you."

Hearing Vincent telling Max to shut up only made me more mad, because he had been saying the same thing to me moments ago. It only takes me a beat before realizing I needed to leave as soon as possible or I was going to do something to put my job- and my future- in danger.

I push away from the lockers and walk briskly past Vincent, whose gaze snapped to me abruptly, and watched me walk past Max. I refused to listen to either of them right now. Max just smirks as I pass him and I try to ignore the feeling of his disgusting stare raking up and down my body.

The booming crowd got louder and louder the closer I got to the locker room door. Finally, I walk out and toward the sidelines, all while trying to push away the red from my vision and calm the beating of my heart. As I approach the sideline bench, Sandra turns around and glances at me warningly before returning her attention to the game.

I sit on the bench beside some of the offensive players and take a deep breath to calm down. Silently, I glare at the field and watch the rest of the game. When Vincent comes back to the field moments later, he sits on the opposite end of the bench as me. Same with Max.

In the third quarter, we manage to get another touchdown to make the score 14-17. The entire team started playing better and Brady actually managed to successfully throw a few passes without getting sacked or fumbling. For the first time all game, we actually had a shot at winning.

By fourth quarter, we were ten yards away from a touchdown. There were a few minutes left in the game and this would actually get us the win. Brady was on his second down and the crowd was going absolutely wild, including Coach Baxter.

"O'Donnell, don't fuck this up!" Coach Baxter screamed from the sidelines, too far for Brady to actually hear, but close enough for all of us to hear the desperation in their voice.

It was no secret that everyone was desperate for Vincent to return as quarterback. Honestly, I was desperate to be done with his physical therapy sessions. Unfortunately, I still had at least two weeks left of torturous PT training with the biggest asshole on the planet.

My eyes widened in shock as Brady daringly threw the ball to Trevor, who was wide open in the end zone, and I held my breath as I watched the ball float into Trevor's hands. Everyone who was sitting on the bench jumped up at the sight and the crowd went wild.

I stayed sitting with a straight face because I didn't have it in me to cheer. I was still brewing with anger and hurt from my encounter with Vincent and even Max. So when the clock ran out and everyone else stormed the field to celebrate the win, I packed my things and left.

As I was walking through the empty locker room to leave the stadium, I hear the thud of the heavy door open and close behind me. "Hey Lil, wait up!"

I take a deep breath before turning around to flash Trevor a fake smile. "What's up, Trev?"

He jogs over to me with a grin on his lips. "I wanted to invite you to the party tonight. We're celebrating our win."

I raise my brows at him. "Party? On a Tuesday night?"

"O'Donnell didn't cost us the game. That's reason enough to celebrate," Trevor tells me cheekily, and then adds, "You should bring your friend Jane."

My wary look is replaced at once by a smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're just inviting me to get close to Jane."

Trevor smirks. "That's exactly what I'm doing. So you'll come?"

My smirk disappears and I sigh. "I don't know, Trev. There are some people on your team I don't feel like hanging out with."

"Andrew will kick Max's ass if he gets near you," Trevor promises solemnly. "And Vincent won't bother wasting time talking to you when he could be flirting with a sorority girl."

He manages to make me laugh and finally I concede. "We will stop by. Football house?"

"Where else?" Trevor grins. "I'll see you later, Lily. Thank you."

"Congratulations on the game winning touchdown," I add with a genuine smile.

I turn back around to continue the route to my dorm and the smile slowly falls off my face. I was exhausted and wanted today to be over, but unfortunately, my day wasn't finished quite yet.

On my way home, Tony texted me asking if I could come by. Apparently I was the only one that knew where the Beatles collection was kept, so I had to stop at the radio station on the way. I texted Jane about it and she said that she was coming back from the gym and would meet me at work to walk with me to our dorm.

It took me forty five seconds to show Tony and Anita where I kept the records. Anita grabbed the White Album and promptly took it into the booth to play Revolution. As Tony and I are walking back up to the front, he asks, "How was the game?"

"We won, actually," I tell him with an impressed smile. "Twenty one to seventeen."

Tony whistles lowly. "Caulfield do anything impressive?"

Just hearing his name made me mad. But I forced a smile and shook my head. "Nothing at all."

He chuckled as we weave through the cases of CDs and records to get to the front. I hear the bells above the door chime and a moment later, "Lily?"

When we get to the front of the store, I see Jane in her workout clothes: sneakers, navy blue leggings, and a fitted tank. Her hair was drawn up in a french braid and even though she was still sweating from her work out, she still looked amazing. I was jealous that she always looked good.

"Hey Jane," I greet and she looks at me with a steady grin.

"Did they win?" She asks hopefully.

Tony repeats my words: "Twenty one to seventeen."

Jane grins at him and then at me. "That's awesome!" Once the initial shock of actually winning a game without Vincent settled, she asks, "You ready to go?"

I nod quickly and wave to Tony. "See you tomorrow, Tony," When we step outside of the radio station, I turn to Jane and give her a large grin. "Trevor invited us to a party at the football house tonight."

She looks at me with a small smirk. "Us?"

"Your name was requested," I tell her cautiously. "He practically begged so we should probably go."

We walk toward our dorm building and I was pleasantly surprised that the weather was still warm enough for my track shorts and long sleeve. I saw the mischievous smile on her lips and began shaking my head.

"Oh no," I tell her seriously. "You're not going to get involved with Trevor. No football players, remember?"

She just grinned at me. "Trevor is cute. But I won't break your rule, don't worry."

I eye her warily. "Okay, good."

"It's cute he invited us," Jane told me with the same wicked glint in her eye. She turned to me and the glint lessened as she says, "I'm surprised you accepted."

I smile bitterly at her. "Andrew is my bodyguard, so I'm set."

She dissolves in laughter and two hours later we're at the infamous football house. The football house was like a frat house, except only football players lived there, whether they were in a frat or not. It was mostly the seniors and some juniors, so I was well aware that I was stepping foot onto Max's turf.

The football house was known for throwing crazy parties. A few kids on the team were DJ's and bought a complete sound system and lights for designated rooms. They had two fridges that were always stocked with beer, freezers that always had liquor on hand, and multiple kegs scattered throughout the house.

Before we even enter the football house, I'm on edge. I've never been to a party here before but only heard of the crazy stories that happened here. Apparently on Saint Patrick's Day last year, someone jumped from the railing upstairs onto the couch downstairs after he took four shots and shotgunned a beer. He broke his left leg. Everyone still cheered.

I had narrowly escaped Jane forcing me into another tight outfit after a stern look and saying that I didn't want Max to have the satisfaction of seeing me in anything relatively scandalous. As I mentioned, this was Max's territory. He, among his friends, lived upstairs and basically had a monopoly on who would be let in their fabulous parties.

The house was absolutely packed and I could barely hear anyone over the music, but Jane Donovan had some type of magic powers because the second we walked in, the crowd parted to let us through. It was probably the sultry smirk she shot the boys and the confident aura that radiated off of her and toward the girls.

It didn't take us long to spot Andrew's large frame in the living room, where it wasn't as packed or loud. We walked over to Andrew, who was talking to JD and Rory, but Trevor was nowhere to be found. As we walked over, two guys stepped directly in our path, both with sloppy smirks and dilated eyes.

"Hello ladies," The brunette smirked wider when his eyes rake up and down Jane's body. "We would like to offer you two the honor of getting to know us."

I laugh. Actually. Right in his face. "It doesn't seem like much of an honor to me."

Jane smirks wickedly at me. "Not at all. They seem pretty average, don't you think, Lily?"

The smirks fell off their faces and the blonde one scowled. "Listen slut-"

That's all the poor fellow got out of his mouth before he hears the looming figure behind him say gruffly, "I wouldn't talk to them like that if I were you."

The blonde scoffed with a thoroughly annoyed look on his face before he turned around. "Or what?"

The second his eyes landed on Andrew's six foot five frame, the disgust was quickly replaced with fear, and I smirked in satisfaction. The poor guy looked like he wanted to run away with his tail between his legs at the sight of Andrew's vicious glare.

"Or I'll call over the rest of the guys on the team to sort this matter outside," Andrew threats in a growl. "Is that what you want?"

The brunette shakes his head and splutters, "No, uh, we're sorry. We were just leaving."

Andrew lifts an eyebrow. "Then get the hell out of my sight."

They didn't need any more encouragement. The two were out of sight in a matter of seconds, leaving Jane and I laughing our heads off while Andrew cracks a smile. I felt bad for anyone who treated me wrong, because I knew Andrew would scare them straight for me in a heartbeat.

"Thank you Drew," I finally manage once my laughter dies down. "I appreciate it."

Andrew grins at me, his angry-football-player facade cracking, and his kind personality returns in a heartbeat. It was hard to think that this nice guy was the same person who was threatening to kick someone's ass a moment ago.

"No problem, Lil," It was considerably more quiet in the living room, so Andrew didn't have to shout over the music to be heard. "You know I got your back."

And I did. Ever since I became the team PT last year, the boys were like brothers to me. Very overprotective brothers, that is. The boys on the football team- save the seniors that ran in Max's crowd- were some of my only friends, besides Jane. Hell, I considered Trevor one of my best friends.

Andrew, Rory, and JD all took the job of protecting me when it came to other guys. When someone ran into me on the way to class and one of them were around, I would receive an apology shortly afterward. Even the other freshman and Sophomores, Tyler, Jay and Sam, went out of their way to heckle anyone who gives me trouble.

Jane nudges me and I turn to her. "I'm going to go get a drink. Do you want one?"

"Yes please," I nod eagerly and then survey the masses of people that she has to get through. "Do you want me to come?"

She shakes her head. "I'll just be a minute."

I turn back around to follow Andrew back to his spot with Rory, JD, and Wallace. The boys were laughing about something when we approached, and JD flashes me a smile when he notices me first.

"Hey Lily," JD greets kindly.

Rory glances at me and his grin widens. "Lily!"

"Hey Lily," Wallace adds and then looks at me curiously. "What are you doing here?" I had de'ja vu when Andrew thought his question was offensive and slugs him in the shoulder. Wallace winces and narrows his eyes at Andrew. "Not in a bad way, dude. I'm just wondering."

I chuckle as I tell him, "Trevor invited me so I would bring Jane." I eye the people warily, hoping not to see Max, and then look back at the boys. "I probably won't be here long."

JD and Rory laugh and Rory tells me, "Trevor went searching for her five minutes ago."

I roll my eyes and then grin at the boys happily. "Congratulations on the game today, guys! That was an epic comeback."

"I had no clue O'Donnell could pull it off," Rory adds with a shake of his head.

"It was not O'Donnell," Andrew grunts. "I laid some dudes out to buy Brady a few extra seconds to make a play."