Page 59 of The Pucking Coach's Daughter
I can only imagine how that’s going to go.
It seems like my outcast status is slowly fading, just like L. predicted. Just… not quite the way he predicted it.
Speaking of L., he’s been absent. I sent him a text, to which he didn’t reply. And it’s not like I should care that much, because he’s this stranger who doesn’t tell me much at all. I know that he goes to college at either St. James or Framingham State, that he’s honest and on my side most of the time. I know he doesn’t want to run away like I do.
People who want to run away think about it.
I daydream of using the money to run as far as I can get. And when I voiced it to L., he seemed… well, maybe not confused, but just kind of blank.
My thinking is that he’s upset with me about the sweatshirt thing. It would make him one of the only ones… plus Carter. I can’t imagine telling Carter about Penn’s sweatshirt would go over well at all. He already discovered the necklace, although he exhibited some self-control and didn’t yank it off.
“Well, have fun!” Brandon’s voice brings me back to the present. He taps Maddy’s arm and points to the seat across from me. “See you guys later. For dinner?”
“Sure,” I manage. “My last class gets out at five.”
“We’ll meet you in the student center,” Dylan promises.
I let out a sigh, and then they’re gone. It’s just Maddy and me. I eye her. She’s cute, with super-light blonde hair, a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose, and deep-blue eyes. She seems to smile easily, while mine takes longer to surface.
“Did you hate me on sight?” I blurt out. “Before you saw me wearing this?”
I pluck at the hoodie.
Her gaze drops to the table, and she makes a face. “Unfortunately, I did listen to the rumors. But you genuinely seemed cool at the game. You were cheering for Penn.” She smiles softly. “I think everyone is afraid that you’re just here to spy.”
“Rumors are ridiculous?—”
“I’m not denying that, but they’re stronger when they have a kernel of truth to them. You snuck into Oliver’s house to get those plays, didn’t you?”
“Well… I did end up stealing them.” I haven’t told anyone this, and I’m not ready to admit that I’m after a family heirloom. Putting any importance on finding that bracelet will make it nearly impossible to find, simply because Oliver Ruiz hates my guts.
But he has it. I know he does, I followed the fucking path from my mother to the pawnshop to Ruiz. Not an older person, like maybe his father. Not a woman. Him.
The unwelcome truth is that he probably bought it for someone. A girl, obviously. Who else would he buy for? And I was too late.
I didn’t notice it was gone from my mother’s jewelry box until I went looking for it. And why did I do that?
Sentimental fucking sap.
It was Christmas break, the one time in the year I willingly go home, and something made me look for it. I was caught between being grateful that my mom was home—she was holding a steady job at the time and everything seemed normal—and longing for more family.
When I couldn’t find it, I screamed at my mother. I didn’t know why—I couldn’t figure out the anger bubbling like lava in my chest, boiling up my throat and erupting out my mouth at her. I wanted my words to fucking burn her, too. I used every jab in the book.
She finally confessed that she had sold it a month prior.
I’m convinced that’s what made her leave. Not because she had some boyfriend to run to, like in the past. I know that’s where she went. She would go whore out her body?—
That stops me cold.
How am I any fucking better than her?
The necklace around my throat suddenly feels heavy. More like a collar than a slender chain. I got this because Penn threw money at me and fucked me.
Simple as that.
This hoodie doesn’t represent any goodwill between us. It marks me as his slut.
“You okay?” Maddy asks. She’s pulled out her laptop and headphones, clearly intent on… working here with me. A phenomenon. “You just got pale.”