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He looked adoringly at Cindy "Because she is"

"Oh dear," I said, sounding just like ave Alan a suspicious look then let Cindy go of her own recognizance She walked over to Alan, light returning to her for you I don’t knohat came over me"

He took her hand "I kinda liked it"

She smiled "Me too" She looked down at his shirt "Oh no, I’ve ruined it Maybe I can sew so class"

"That’d be sweet" Sweat beaded on Alan’s forehead and his hand treo on a date," I said "In fact, I think Alan was saying he wanted to take you to dinner"

Her eyes brightened "You do?" She squeaked, looking at hiot all misty

He nodded, his vocal cords obviously locked by his nerves They walked into class, Cindy excitedly telling everyone she had a date I wouldn’t have doubted it was her first date ever I sucked in a breath through my teeth My own nerves were a bit jittery I had almost caused a ed two of the school’s brightest and ruined our chances at the next Acade really good I felt kind of high on life now so had worked out But I was in so far overto figure this out on my own Elyssa wouldn’t help me In all likelihood she’d convince herself to kill ed at the thought If it wasn’t for that cat tongue of hers, a relationship ht actually be kind of nice Now that I knehat she was I felt slightly better even if it freaked ht, I would find Stacey and seal the deal

The thought made me shudder

The rest of the day flashed past Before I knew it,between the cheerleaders for our grand entrance onto the football field Bryan Jones met Marty Ledbetter and the referees for the coin toss The Lanier Bobcats won the toss and took first possession

Coach Wise motioned me over before the kickoff "The Davis boy hurt his foot, Case You’re going in on special teams"

I had only practiced with special teams once "What do I do?"

"Tackle their ball carrier"

I hadn’t had eneral idea Our team would kick the ball off a tee, and the other team would catch it and try to run it back It seeh My nerves flopped in o to the bathroom for the tenth time, it seemed I took some deep breaths to calht of a furtive shadow atop the broadcaster’s booth I could make out Stacey’s sreat," I irlfriend was here, butDad had gone fro off the radar, and tracking the Conroys, whoever they were As far as I knew, he hadn’t even been hoe of his life and trying toto tie hih the door Despite the bizarre situation, I felt a pang of regret and wished my parents could see me play

The whistle sounded Momentary confusion scra end-over-end toward the opposition I snapped out of my haze and sprinted forward I locked eyes on the ball, racing after it as it arced slowly toward the other end of the field I ran into sorunt as they bounced offabout where the ball would land I realized with a shock I had been running ht in front of the Bobcat’s receiver He gave rin I felt horror wash over me as I realized I didn’t even kno fast I’d just run down the field This was bad Very--

Someone smacked into my back and I sprawled into the receiver The ball bounced off his helmet and away from us A pile of red jerseys from our team covered it just as several more people piled atop me and the poor receiver I was on top of him, face-to-face His eyes were still wide I tried to look away, but found it very hard toall the players on top of me

"Nice run," he said

"Thanks" I whistled innocently

The weight lessened and ere able to get up Tea like I’d just bought theear

"Spectacular, boy, just spectacular," said Coach Wise as he welcomed me back to the sideline "I ain’t never seen nobody run like that Now get out there and give ’em hell" He slapped me on the ass