Chapter 11
“AFFORD IT” BY KEKE PALMER AND DIVA GURL
Pink. Everything was so pink when it came to Mustang.
I dragged my feet when it came to attending the rumored football try out of Pink Cleat McGee—Quinntessa Dawson—and her one woman show on the field. Olivia insisted I go with them to watch and give my support. Secretly, I suspected she wanted a reason to shove us together.
“She’s going to get eaten alive,” Erica groaned. “Why must we watch this?”
“I agree,” I grumbled.
I’d spent the last forty-eight hours trying to figure out how I wanted to murder this girl. I never considered throwing her to the wolves around Coven to do the job for me. There wouldn’t be much left of her afterward.
“You have to be encouraging,” Olivia mumbled, hugging her torso. “Quinns is one of us.”
“One of us?” Erica scrunched her nose. “I don’t remember her even introducing herself to any of us.”
“Oh, she introduced herself to me.” I rocked back on my combat boots and rolled my eyes. “You were right. Unstable.”
Erica spun around and shoved me through the fence. “I told you!” she exclaimed.
“Can you two cut it out?” Olivia practically shouted at us.
Bewildered by her outburst, Erica and I gawked at one another. There weren’t many times Olivia opted to argue with us. Usually, they were all for picking on me and the girls I tried to sleep with. Safe to say, I couldn’t understand what was different this time.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Erica snapped her fingers then tapped her temple, as if realization had dawned on her. “My uncle Bruno heard of the Dawsons through some connections?—”
I rolled my eyes as she lied straight to Olivia’s face. She was always trying to protect her, and though I agreed it was a lot for our friend to process, it sucked. I wish I could be more honest with both.
“And she’s totally unstable!”
“You don’t even know her.” Olivia shook her head and turned back toward the field. She hugged her stomach and weakly shoved her shoulders. “I think she’s much braver than the both of you, being true to herself and going after what she wants.”
Erica’s shoulders slumped. She turned to me, her mouth gaping for an answer, but neither of us were fast enough. Olivia pushed off the fence and walked down the track toward the locker rooms.
“Bitch, it’s not your job to sit there and look hot.” I poked Erica and tossed my hair in the direction Olivia was dragging her feet. “Go!”
“Why do I have to go?” Erica whined.
I pressed my lips together and didn’t bother answering. Her feet were already moving. She didn’t need me to tell her why she had to apologize for being a dick.
“You call that a hit? Both of you to the end of the line!”
Coach Steel was already red in the face by the thirty-minute mark. I eventually made my way around to the other side of the track to get a better peek at the players.
Fine. One player.
Quinntessa and I had made eye contact a few times. Besides me telling her to avoid fighting with Duke, we never exchanged words. She focused on the weird game she loved, and I observed how agile she was with a football.
“On the whistle!” Coach Steel readied the next pairing for a game of chicken.
Quinntessa had been paired with Duke, and I eagerly hovered near the bench, waiting to see how she handled playing with the boys. Duke was over six feet tall, and Quinntessa was nowhere near as strong as him, I was sure of it.
Yet, when the whistle blew, I could hear Duke’s huffing and puffing.
“Well, I’ll be dammed.” I crossed my arms over my chest and bit back a smile as Quinntessa growled loud enough that it startled Coach Steel.
Those tiny pink cleats shuffled in the grass like a chugging train, steam pushing her to keep going despite Duke making slow steps over the line. Quinntessa pushed against Duke with all her might, her cleats cutting up the grass into a muddy mess.
The only difference? Every step Duke took forward, Mustang ensured she made two. When he made three, she didn’t give up an inch until she made four.
So, when Duke finally had enough and tossed her to the grass to push her into their fake version of the end zone, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the big smile Quinntessa gave around her mouth guard.
She was perfectly stupid, with a neurotic love for something dangerous.
And for that, she gained a little more respect in my book. Only a little, though. Only a little.