Game Plan

Chapter 1

I have a master’s degree in heartbreak

I stepped onto the turf, the immaculate green stretching around me, and calm seeped in. Yes, I had made it. “Can you smell that?” I asked Craig, who was standing a few feet away, his hands shoved into his jeans pockets and his head hanging low.

“What? Plastic freshly cut grass?” His words were clipped, sarcasm bleeding from them, and a knot tied around my heart.

For the past month, I’d been trying to lift his spirits and get him to open up to me, but so far, I’d only encountered a wall.

A big wall of muscles and skin, heartbreak and stubbornness.

The day Paige had left for Thompson University in Philadelphia, my brother had left too.

Not physically, because he was standing right next to me, but mentally.

He’d been AWOL from the moment he had stared at her retreating taillights, frozen on the pavement, tears running down his cheeks.

And I’d been missing him ever since. I was hoping that driving to college for preseason football camp would help him focus on something else, but from the way his lips formed a thin line and his shoulders sagged in defeat right now, I concluded even the accomplishment of one of our common dreams—playing for a Division I college football team—had lost its appeal.

These days, everything about him seemed lackluster.

His happy demeanor was absent, and his gaze lacked any spark.

My brother hadn’t smiled in over a month, and I had no idea how to bring him back.

“Nah, man.” I sidestepped to nudge his arm with my elbow. “Victory. Touchdowns. Cheers. Our destiny…our future.”

I heard his loud swallow, but he remained mute, hanging his chin a bit lower.

I sighed. I would succeed in getting through to him.

Eventually. I understood his sadness. I’d been the one who needed help picking up all the broken pieces of me not so long ago—or rather, seven months ago, but who was counting, right?

Preseason football camp would last three weeks.

Three weeks of intense training, practices, team-bonding sessions, and everything football so we would be ready once the semester started right after.

Three weeks to make Crestwood University our home for the next four years.

Benjamin, a junior and the starting quarterback for the Crestwood University’s Phoenix, had torn his ACL a few days before we showed up for mandatory camp, and two nights ago, I had learned I’d be taking his spot this season until further notice.

A last-minute change that brought me both angst and pride.

I clapped my brother’s shoulder. “Let’s go, man. We gotta unpack because we have our first team dinner later, remember? Since we’re freshmen, it means we’re in charge of everything. I bet it’s part of our initiation as newcomers.”

“Maybe.”

I closed my eyes for a short second. “Don’t worry, man, I have your back.”

He snorted. “I’m a big guy, Mase. I can take care of myself.” He spun around and hurried away.

It took me a moment to run after him, unsure how to get through to him.

“Stop.” I circled him and blocked his escape.

“Do you wanna talk about it? Tell me what went down? Why you’re at Crestwood U with me instead of Thompson U with Paige?

Nobody will tell me why you enrolled here at the last minute. ”

He ran his sleeve under his nose, looking into the distance.

“Fine. Keep it to yourself. In case you forgot, I have a master’s degree in heartbreak… And I’m a good listener.”

“Well… I don’t feel like talking right now.”

“Fine. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be too.” I stepped aside, and my brother kept walking, not stopping when we reached my car. “Aren’t you riding with me?”

“I prefer to walk.”

I climbed into the vehicle, watching him as he walked out of the parking lot, feeling defeated.

On my right, a girl with long, wavy brown hair caught my attention.

For an instant, my heart vibrated in my chest. I was aware Melinda Shepard hadn’t arrived at Crestwood University yet, but a tiny part of me wished it were her, standing by the fence, talking to a redhead.

I shook my head, trying to erase the images of her forming in my brain.

Until college started in three weeks and I put my game plan into action, I should focus on football and nothing else.

Breathe football, eat football, sleep football.

In a few weeks, things would be different, but for now, I had to keep my head in the game.

I had everything to prove to my new team, and if I wanted to keep the starting quarterback position through the season, I wasn’t allowed to get distracted by anything, not even the girl who owned my heart—or my brother’s secrets.