It's the next day and I slept in. I wake up to the sound of a loud ass dump truck backing up.

*Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep*

I try and cancel the noise out by covering my ears with my pillow.

"Just shut up already!" I groan frustrated. All I wanna do is fall back asleep. I decided missing a day of school won't hurt. I'm sure no one will notice.

The noise finally stops and I now find myself wide awake. I reach over for my phone and check the time. It's 11:30am. If I was at school right now it would be lunch in about 30 minutes. I always find myself doing that when I stay home from school. Calculating the time as if I was there and predicting what I would be doing in the exact moment.

I huff and check my messages.

Braden : George where are you?

Braden : Get your ass to school.

Braden : You are just gonna draw more attention to what happened yesterday

Braden : You're so selfish.

Braden : Answer me or I'll pay you a visit at lunch time.

Nick : Hey dude are you okay?

Mom : I got an email from your school saying you were absent, everything okay?

So much for no one noticing. Jeez I wouldn't think missing one day, not even a full day yet, of school would cause such a panic. I answer my mom telling her I woke up with a headache and respond to Nick saying I'm fine and accidentally slept in. They seem to be convinced by my lies.

Well that's partially true anyways, I did sleep in but it was on purpose and I do have a headache from hitting my head yesterday. But irrelevant details.

I then open up my chat with Braden and sit up in my bed. My fingers hover over the keys and I rack my brain for something I can reply with. I badly don't want to answer him but the alternative is that he shows up at my house in around 30 minutes and I can't have that happening.

Me : Don't come, my mom is here.

I lie. He seems to never want to come around when my mom is here and I use that to my advantage. I see the three dots appear on my screen almost immediately.

Braden : Fine. Thank you for listening and not coming to practice yesterday.

At this moment I realize I had missed my practice because I was too preoccupied feeling sorry for myself to go.

"FUCK" I scream and throw my phone across the room. I didn't mean to listen to him I didn't even mean to miss it. It just slipped my mind after everything that happened and I hate myself for letting this opportunity slip from my grasp. All I wanted was to get back on the field and even if I didn't pass I at least got the chance to try. I get up and become lightheaded immediately. I brush it off and get ready for the day as quick as possible, running all around my room to grab my close, backpack, notes and most importantly, my football gear.

It won't be that easy Braden.

I mean maybe he did mean well and just didn't want me to get hurt again. But on the other hand, if he really cared why would he hurt me himself.

When I change into my new shirt I trace my fingers delicately over the bruises that are starting to form from yesterday. I hate seeing marks like this on my body because it's just a constant reminder of what happened. I am slightly relieved that it's not on my face since no one will see these except myself.

I try my best to get there before lunch so I can find time to speak to Dave and apologize. I feel terrible for missing after literally begging him for the chance to prove myself. He probably thinks I'm some big joke now. As I park my car I run as fast as I can to the front and jog through the halls. I know I'm being a little dramatic and I have the whole lunch to talk to him but I can't help the nervous feeling in my stomach right now and I would feel much better if I just got this over with.

"Woah someone's in a hurry!" a voice yells down at me while I keep on jogging. I check my shoulder so I can put a face to the voice and it was no one other than Clay himself. I decide to let it be not having time for one of our snappy conversation. I finally reach his office and knock.

"Come in" I hear him say muffled by the door between us. I slowly open it my palms pooling with water as I feel the nerves hitting me. I peek my head in and once he looks up from his computer his face turns into what looks like disappointment. "Look who decided to show up" he says crossing his arms.

"Hey Dave... Look you don't understand how sorry I feel right now" I ramble on and tell him about how I got caught up with school and then I needed to get home early because my mom needed me and how it ended up just slipping my mind. I've been lying so much today and I hate it.

"And then when I got home I felt so guilty and-"

"George" he cuts me off.

Well this is it. I blew it.

"I don't have time for your dumb excuses" he continues and my heart sinks. It wasn't even my fault and I so badly wanted to go, but I can't say that.

"I understand" My eyes fall to the ground and I pick up my bag heading for the door.

"Are you gonna let me finish?" I stop in my tracks and turn back to him. "You're acting as if we don't have practice every night kid. Just come tonight it's no big deal." He stands up and pats my back. I can't believe it! He's actually giving me a second chance. I can't contain my excitement and I pull him into a hug.

"Thank you so much!" I scream out of joy earning a low chuckle from him.

"It's nothing Davidson, I know you would never purposely miss it, just don't let it happen again okay?" he warns with no real threat behind the words.

"I won't I promise!" I finally let go and we exchange quick goodbyes before I leave his office. I walk down the halls with the brightest smile on my face. I make my way to the cafeteria and sit down at our table.

"George! I thought you weren't here today?" Karl asks munching on his sandwich. "Yeah I just got here I slept in on accident" I reply deciding to keep the same lie I said to Nick so my stories don't get mixed up.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Clay buts in nosily. I can't stop smiling and I decide I don't want to break the news to the boys now, I find it will be much more entertaining to see the look on their faces when I walk on the field after school. It will be even funnier seeing how intimidated Clay will be, imagine I take role as captain again. That would be the best case scenario.

"No reason" I vaguely reply reaching over to eat the grapes in his container. He gives me a deadly look and I just laugh in his face. Nothing could bring my mood down right now.

Well maybe something.

I look over to the corner of the table and see Braden staring in my direction. The air feels tense and I turn my attention back over to Nick when I feel him tapping on my shoulder.

"Hey you made it!" He says while giving me a reassuring smile.

"Yeah I'm here." I smile back.

His face turns into one of concern when he asks, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine Nick seriously, stop worrying" I warn sarcastically. See this is what I wanted to avoid, all the constant worrying and people bringing it up all the time when all you want to do is push the thought to the back of your mind and never relive the incident again. Which is hard to do when someone else has witnessed it, because now it feels all too real and I hate it.

The rest of the day passes smoothly until I reach my forth period. The one where I am seated next to Braden and of course it's one of those classes that the desks are pressed up against each other in pairs. I take a deep breath before entering the class, knowing he wouldn't be able to hurt me in front of so many people.

I take my seat beside him trying my best to avoid eye contact. He clears his throat trying to catch my attention but I pretend to be busy taking my notes.

"Why are you avoiding me George?" he asks fake innocence laced in his voice.

"Why do you think" I whisper back still not looking in his direction. He scoffs, "Let's just move past it okay?" he asks and puts his hand on my thigh. I quickly push it off and mumble a 'whatever' back to him, trying to not let myself get distracted. "Look at me George" he says through gritted teeth, I can tell he's getting angry with me. I continue to keep my gaze forward.

He grabs my chin and turn my head to face him my eyes falling on his. At the corner of my eye I see Clay sitting behind us. I forgot he was in this class. This is so embarrassing I can't have another person seeing this. I quickly collect myself and decide it would be best to not cause a scene.

I smile "It's fine Braden, sorry I seem so distant it's just biology is my worst subject and I'm a little stressed right now" he gives me a small smile in return. "Okay good" he leans in and leaves a peck on my lips.

"Get a room" I turn back and Clay is rolling his eyes. He doesn't know it but for once I'm grateful for his dumb comment. It gave me a reason to pull away.

"Stop staring Clay" I clap back confidently. "Don't act like you aren't getting a hard on right now"

His face blushes a light pink, "You guys are literally seated two feet in front of me!" He yells frustrated.

"Clay, please stop talking" the teachers firm voice interrupts and swiftly continues on with the lesson.

"Yeah Clay, stop talking" I mock batting my eyelashes innocently. He scoffs at my dumb comment and doesn't answer. I return my attention back to the front of the class.

I can't wait till practice.