Chapter 6
six
JULIAN
8 YEARS EARLIER
Mondays after football games always played out the same; teachers cut players slack in class, and students worshipped us more than usual. We were practically celebrities in the eyes of our classmates, and while my friends found the adoration intoxicating, I resented it. The pressure of carrying on the “family legacy” my dad and grandpa left made me eventually despise the sport I grew up loving, especially when I realized I was only valuable when I helped win games. Otherwise, I was a disappointment.
I walked down the crowded hall that morning only looking for one face, but I came up short. “Where were you on Friday, JP?” Damon asked as we headed to our first class.
“I went out.” I didn’t know what was more rattling—that I hadn’t been able to get Camilla out of my head the entire weekend, or the thought of seeing her made me excited to get to class. Once I saw a sliver of the real her, it was too late to turn back; I wanted to know everything.
“With who?”
“You don’t know her.” Despite his brows raising in suspicion, I didn’t want to tell him about Camilla. Not because I was embarrassed, but because telling Damon meant putting her on the entire school’s radar, and weirdly, I felt the need to shield her.
When we entered Miss Knowles’ class, I was disappointed when she wasn’t at her desk, but I knew she would show up solely because she’d had perfect attendance since kindergarten. Instead of heading over to my seat in the back of the room, I redirected over to Johnny Miller.
His brows furrowed when I stood over him. “What’s up, JP?” The last time he and I talked was in eighth grade, but he had the seat right next to Camilla, and I had to have it. “I’ll give you ten bucks for your seat.”
He scoffed. “You’re serious? Why?”
“Would you believe me if I said I wanted to be closer to the board to take notes?” His chest rattled as he belted out with laughter. “Hell no.” It was worth a shot, but I couldn’t blame him for not believing me.
“You want it or not, Miller?” His smile turned mischievous when I held out a ten-dollar bill. “Make it twenty, and you have a deal.” I knew I’d entered pathetic territory when I pulled out my last twenty-dollar bill, but it was the best money spent when I looked up and saw her enter right before the bell rang. The green ribbon in her hair complimented the plaid skirt emphasizing her long, tan legs. I didn’t know my heart could beat so fast until then. She was way out of my league, but I wanted her anyway.
I’d pay any amount of money just to relive the look of surprise when she saw me. “Are you lost?” I caught a whiff of her flowery scent when she leaned over and whispered.
“I had Johnny switch me. It’s a little hard to see from my seat back there.” I lied. She looked away, but not before I saw the beginning of a warm smile that made my insides twist into knots. I didn’t realize I was watching her until Damon’s voice pulled me out of my trance.
“It makes sense why you ditched us on Friday now.” His lips were thin with displeasure when I turned to face him, and since he’d said it loud enough for everyone to hear, Camilla tensed from all the eyes on us.
I felt the need to defend her. “Didn’t you throw two interceptions at the game? I’d worry about other things if I were you, D.” He’d been one of my best friends since preschool, so I knew the only way for him to back off was to hurt his ego. Everyone used to ask why I had a friend who was notorious for being an asshole, but he wasn’t always like that. We used to go down to the park every day in middle school to play football. We dreamed of playing in the pros together. He was just like any other kid, until he wasn’t. I guess I was always waiting for that kid to come back.
Camilla’s eyes said everything her lips didn’t when she held my gaze with a softness I’d never seen before, and I spent the rest of class hoping she’d look my way again, only to be disappointed. When the bell dismissed us, she darted out so fast, I had to chase her down the hallway and ignore everyone’s wide-eyed stares. “Camilla, wait!” I knew she’d heard me, but she kept her pace until I pulled her back. “Yeah?”
Just being near her made my palms sweat, so when I tried to speak, only one word came out. “Hi.”
Her lips tipped into a faint smile. “Hi. Now that’s out of the way, why are you chasing me down the hallway?”
I never realized how staggering our height difference was until I saw how she had to crane her neck to look up at me. “I wanted to see what you were doing later.”
“It’s a school night, so homework. Why?”
Spit it out. “I don’t have practice today, and I sort of like hanging out with you, so I was hoping we could do it again.” The words came out so fast, I wasn’t sure she understood until she broke out in laughter, which wasn’t great for my ego. “Julian, you can’t be serious. Friday was fun, but it was just a one-time thing.”
I shrugged. “What if it wasn’t?”
Her arms folded across her chest. “Damon was already making comments about us in class. What do you think the rest of your friends will say?” I knew what she was trying to do, but what she didn’t know yet was I never shied away once I wanted something. “Since when do you care about what other people think, Camilla Vega?” I smirked.
Her eyes widened. “I…I don’t. I just think we should keep our new friendship on school grounds.” She looked around at the people gawking at us. “Maybe keep our interactions to a minimum too. You attract attention wherever you go.”
I leaned against the locker and looked down at her. “And if I said I don’t like that idea?”
“I’d say that’s too bad.” Her hair nearly hit me in the face when she turned to walk away. I didn’t know why, but her persistence to keep me at bay only made me want her more.
I didn’t give a shit if the whole school heard me when I let my voice echo through the halls. “That sounds like another challenge, Vega!” My heart nearly leaped out of my chest when I caught the smile she threw back before disappearing around the corner.
* * *
After spending all of third period coming up with a plan, I realized I’d gone from borderline to full-on pathetic in one day with the lengths I was willing to go for Camilla’s attention.
My hands trembled as I watched the doors to the cafeteria. She thought she stayed invisible to everyone for years, but I knew she spent the first ten minutes of lunch in the library to check out books. I just had to wait.
“Why do you keep looking at the door, Perez?” Elijah nudged my shoulder as he joined me at the end of the table.
Elijah Fisher wasn’t my longest friend, but it always felt like I’d known him longer than anyone else. He was the head coach’s son, so he knew pressure even more than I did, but you never saw him crumble. It’s what made him the voice of reason in our friend group.
“I’m waiting for someone.”
“Camilla? I just saw her leave the library.” I looked around at everyone at our table, who was too busy with their own conversations to pay attention to ours. “How do you know it’s her?”
“I have eyes, JP. If you guys were trying to be discreet on Friday, you were shit at it.”
I chuckled. “Touché. Do you know her?”
“It’s Willow’s Cove. We all know each other whether we like it or not. I have her in biology, though. She’s smart as hell, cute too. It’s a shame she keeps to herself.” The more I looked around me, the more I understood why she preferred it that way. “Are you guys a thing now, or are you just stalking her?” he asked before chugging down milk.
“It’s more like I need redemption after she turned me down.” He nearly choked from his abrupt laughter. “That’s a first. Now I like her even more.”
I grunted with frustration. “We’ve gone to school together our entire lives, and before, she was just the quiet girl in class who let me copy her homework?—”
“Don’t forget your first crush,” he cut in. I wasn’t surprised he remembered when it was he who told me to send the note about her ribbon in kindergarten. “Now, she’s Camilla Vega, the girl I can’t stop thinking about. I don’t know what the fuck is happening.” I buried my head in my hands.
“You like her, JP. It’s not that hard to figure out.” How ironic she had me wrapped around her finger after one date, and she didn’t even know it.
“Well, I can’t exactly do anything about it if she keeps dodging me.” I’d never had to work so hard for a girl’s attention; I never had to work at all. If it were anyone else, I would have given up, but with Camilla, it never crossed my mind.
“Nothing worth it comes easy, Perez.”
My face twisted. “Did you just quote your dad?” Coach always said the same thing whenever we were losing a game.
He cursed under his breath. “Shit. Don’t tell him, or I’ll never live it down.” Our laughter halted when I saw Camilla walk into the cafeteria, Taylor at her side. She tried so hard to be invisible, but was completely unaware she owned any room she entered.
Elijah patted me on my shoulder. “Go get her, Perez.” I was more nervous walking up to her table than I was when I asked Summer Davis to be my girlfriend on the playground in the second grade. The closer I inched, the fuzzier the plan I’d thought so hard about got. “Fuck it,” I whispered right before sitting beside her.
Her face blanched at our sudden closeness. “Are you lost again? You sit all the way over there.” I was hypnotized by her flowery scent again as she pointed her green-painted fingernail to the table crowded with football players, who hadn’t noticed I was gone yet.
“I came to talk about our second date.” I faced Taylor, who sat across from us. “Hey, Tay.” Her icy stare told me how much she didn’t like being called that.
“Firstly, we didn’t go on a first date; I lost a bet. Secondly, I thought we agreed our friendship would stay on school grounds?” Her rose-tinted cheeks told me I made her nervous.
I shrugged and shot her a playful smirk. “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
“The answer is still no, Julian.” Her firm tone screamed defiance, but her ocean-blue eyes said something different. Any time I looked at her, I was reminded of what gentle, overwhelming beauty was, and her ability to keep me on my toes only made her more captivating.
“I’ll tell you what; since we’re friends, I’ll give you two options. You either agree to a second date, or I get on this table and ask you again in front of the entire school.” I smiled when I noticed her gulp hard.
“You’re bluffing.” She had a bad habit of underestimating me. “Sounds like you made your choice.”
I only got one foot on the table before she yanked me down. “Okay, you win. Where should I meet you?”
I glowed over my win. “It’s a date, Vega. I’ll pick you up.”
She groaned. “Do we have to call it a date? We’re just hanging out as friends, right?” It was definitely a date. I knew I only wanted Camilla Vega. I just had to wait for her to realize it.
I leaned over and ate one of her fries, as if I’d eaten lunch with her a hundred times. “Right. Friends.”