Fractured (Unreel series Book 1)

by Sanna Wolf-Watz

  “Last week you said no good Christian would ever go to a party like that.”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Reverend Charles and my parents were listening. They freak if I put a toe out of line. Of course I’m going. The question is,” she said leaning into him, “are you going to be the one to take me there?”

  He had to come up with some way to get around that promise. Wait, what was he thinking? He couldn’t go back on a promise!

  “Er…I would like to, it’s just that I can’t. Family thing,” he improvised and wished he could have said yes.

  “Oh,” she said and Thomas’s stomach dropped at the expression of disappointment that passed over her face.

  “But I can, you know, try to get out of it,” he heard himself say.

  Rachel smiled at him and he knew he had said the right thing. She leaned forward to give him a kiss that made him dizzy before she got out of the car and slowly made her way to her front door.

  He watched her go. The way she walked and the look of the dark ringlets of her hair bouncing on her back did nothing to clear his head. He could watch her forever.

  Mr. Jones frowned. The kids’ principal had been most uncooperative. He’d point blank refused to let them inside the school. Some rubbish about not wanting to expose his students to additional surveillance and undue attention. What century was he living in?

  They’d found a way around it, of course. It just irked him that he couldn’t watch it unfold and had to rely on second hand information.

  ”They will be working together on a project about television, like you asked.”

  ”And they agreed?” Ms. Hearning asked.

  The man seated in the chair in front of them laughed.

  ”Agreed? I’m their teacher. They have to do as I say or they won’t get their grades.”

  ”And you told them that...”

  ”I passed on the instructions you gave me. They’ll be contacting JBC within the next few days I should think. They’re both very ambitious.”

  ”Very good, Mr. Gilmore.”

  ”Yeah, yeah. I lived up to my part of the agreement, you’ll need to live up to yours.”

  Ms. Hearning raised an eyebrow at his tone. Mr. Jones raised his hand to hide the smile on his face. If he were the type to give advice he would tell Mr. Gilmore that speaking that way to Ms. Hearning was not a smart thing to do.

  ”The money has been deposited in your bank account.”

  ”And the meeting?”

  ”We’re working on setting a date. She’s a very busy lady, but we should be able to settle on something in a couple of weeks.”

  Mr. Gilmore frowned. ”I hope you’re not going back on your word.”

  ”I don’t enjoy having my word questioned, Mr. Gilmore,” Ms. Hearning said.

  ”Yeah, well, I don’t like waiting and you need me.”

  Ms. Hearning’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t speak until the teacher started to shift uncomfortably in his chair.

  ”We’ll be in touch,” she eventually said and the man shuffled out.

  ”We need him, huh?” Mr. Jones said.

  Ms. Hearning made a note on her tablet.

  ”We do. For another couple of weeks or so, though I’d prefer if we speed the process along. We’ll want them out of the school and onto our own premises as soon as possible.”

  ”Agreed.”

  11

  Lucky Losers

  Sofia asked Denise to repeat the rules again and this time she made sure to listen instead of playing around with her phone. She’d let Tessa win this round of Wordfeud.

  “Seriously, it’s not that complicated. I can’t believe you guys don’t have baseball.”

  “I’m sure we have it, it’s just not a big thing. We only do cool sports like floorball and curling,” Sofia said and Claire snorted with laughter. “We do have something similar to baseball, but with a lot less rules. We call it… well, if I translate it it’s ’burnball’.”

  Denise, Marlene and Claire collapsed in giggles.

  “Please tell me you told Jock that,” Denise said when she could speak again.

  Sofia grinned and tried to balance her hotdog and drink in her lap. “He said it sounded painful.”

  That set them off laughing again.

  “Why do you call it burnball?” Claire wanted to know when she’d finally stopped laughing.

  “Because when whoever is the ‘burner’ gets the ball they stomp their foot and yell ‘burn’. Whoever is the middle of two bases is ’burned’, like in baseball.”

  “So you don’t physically burn them?” Marlene asked.

  Sofia stared at her. “What sort of savages do you think we are?”

  “I’d like to burn our baseball team a little,” Claire muttered.

  “Claire! That’s awful!”

  “I said a little. Like singe a foot or a shoulder.”

  Denise looked up from her hotdog. “Have you been seeing Dave again?”

  Claire suddenly became very interested in her shoes.

  “Claire?”

  “Yes, okay, I’ve been seeing him,” she admitted.

  “Claire! You promised you wouldn't! He is not worth your time!”

  “He says he’s changed.”

  “How many times do you need to…”

  “That’s enough, Denise,” Marlene said loudly. “You know how persuasive he can be.”

  “He’s a psychopath,” Denise said loudly enough for the people in front of them to turn around and look at her.

  “Psychopaths are usually both persuasive and charming,” Sofia cut in. “Who’s Dave?”

  “Number 10,” Marlene told her, holding up her phone so she could look at a picture of a dark-haired guy she’d seen around Jock and Thomas.

  “He’s cute,” Sofia commented.

  “He’s evil,” Denise muttered. “He’s always juggling at least three girls at the same time and is awful to all of them.”

  “He’s not that bad,” Claire defended him.

  “You just said you wanted to burn him!”

  “I said a little! It’s not his fault. He… changes his mind a lot.”

  “He sounds like an asshole,” Sofia said and bit into her hotdog.

  “Yes, but he’s…”

  Sofia couldn't hear the rest of what Claire was saying because the school band started to play. Then the cheerleaders were dancing and everyone was gathering out on the pitch. Before she knew it the game was on.

  To her great surprise she didn’t find it all that difficult to keep up once it started. The game was surprisingly interesting. Especially since the two teams were tied so close it was difficult to tell which of them was going to win.

  When Jock managed a home run she was cheering with the rest of them and in the final seconds when Thomas was batting she was leaning so far out from her seat that she nearly fell off it.

  “What’s happening,” she asked Denise.

  “If he manages at least one point we win. If he doesn’t, we’ll lose.”

  “Will he manage it?”

  “He’s usually pretty good, but he’s not been at his best this eveni… No!” Denise said when Thomas swung wide. “Come on, Jefferson!” she yelled.

  “He’s got three attempts, right?” Sofia wanted to know.

  “Yeah, but it’s stressful to… No! No! For crying out loud, hit the ball!”

  On the pitch Thomas was shaking his head, getting back to bat. Sofia could see the tension in his shoulders and back all the way from where she was sitting. That couldn't be a good sign.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” Denise was muttering next to her.

  Everyone on the bleachers were holding their breath. The ball was thrown, Thomas swung and missed by a mile.

  “No!” Denise, Claire and Marlene yelled in unison.

  The visiting team shouted with glee, their supporters dancing on the bleachers.

  “At least we didn’t lose by much, right?” Sofia said as they made their way back to the pa
rking lot ten minutes later.

  “I hate it when Clearwater wins. They boast endlessly. They have a great basketball team and they always beat us on track because they have Jo Munro and she's amazing,” Marlene complained.

  “And Jefferson had it within reach! I don’t understand how he could miss like that!” Denise said.

  Sofia’s phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket.

  “Who is it?” Denise asked.

  “Jock. He wants me to stick around until he’s done.”

  “Alright, we’ll keep you company,” Marlene offered.

  Sofia looked up from her phone. “What? No! I’m not staying. He’ll be all sad and then he’ll want to talk through the whole game blow by blow. Remember that one training session I went to? I’m not going through that again.”

  “But he needs your support,” Claire said. “You’re his girlfriend and…”

  She stopped talking when Sofia held up her hand. “First of all, not his girlfriend. I’m his friend, who’s a girl. And secondly…”

  “Well, he needs a friend right now,” Marlene said. “Girl or not.”

  “He’s got loads of friends! Most of them are on that same team. They can obsess over the game together.”

  “You’re such a guy,” Denise said, then smiled. “I like it. Let’s head off.”

  “Denise!” Marlene and Claire protested.

  “At least say goodbye to him in person, give him a hug,” Marlene said.

  “Why don’t you go hug him if you’re so concerned about his well-being?” Sofia grumbled, but she let herself be pulled towards the boys’ locker room.

  “I don’t date guys like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Players. I have enough drama in my life,” Marlene said.

  “Is there such a thing?” Claire asked her.

  “Totally is. Especially now that I have rehearsals for the Christmas musical.”

  “There’s a musical?” Sofia asked just as someone came barreling into her.

  This time she managed to remain on her feet. She must be getting used to it. Soon she’d be able to join the NFL.

  “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” she yelled.

  The guy who had run into her turned around and she recognized Thomas Jefferson. He didn’t look like his old, arrogant self. He looked disappointed and… sad.

  Instead of answering her he turned back around and kept walking. She felt a twinge of sympathy at the pained look on his face and decided not to chew him out for running into her. At least not tonight.

  “Am I invisible?” she grumbled instead.

  “He looked so sad,” Claire said. “Didn’t he look sad?”

  “Maybe we should call it burnball, after all,” Denise said as they stared after Thomas.

  “Son of a…” Sofia cursed when another warm body smacked into her, but this one didn’t rush off. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug.

  “I missed you,” Jock said, burrowing into her neck.

  “I hope you’ve showered,” Sofia muttered back.

  Jock laughed and let her go, shaking his head so water from his wet hair flew everywhere.

  “Yeah, I showered,” he said with a grin, taking hold of her hand. “Thanks for waiting around. I knew you’d be able to cheer me up.”

  “Only because you believe everything I say is a joke.”

  “That’s why we work so well together, babe. A guy with a less developed sense of humor might lose heart at your sarcasm,” Jock said.

  Denise cleared her throat and for the first time Jock looked away from Sofia and noticed that they weren’t alone. “Oh, hi. Denise, Marl, Claire. How’s it going?”

  They mumbled a greeting and to Sofia’s great annoyance they were all blushing.

  “We were just going to see that you were okay and then head home,” she told Jock.

  “Well, I’m okay now that I’ve seen you,” he said with a quick kiss to her cheek which meant he totally missed her eye roll at his cheesy comment. “But it’s Friday and it’s still early. You can’t head home yet. Some of the guys are going into town for ice cream.”

  “That sounds great!” Claire, who as recently as last week claimed she had stopped eating dessert for life, enthused before Sofia could reply.

  “Isn’t it getting a little cold for ice cream?”

  Jock looked at her as if she was insane. “It’s never too cold for ice cream! Besides, I thought you were from a place with polar bears.”

  Denise laughed and Sofia glared at her. “Never mind that,” she told Jock. “Is Jefferson coming with you? He just went past us.”

  “More like into us,” Denise said under her breath.

  “I don’t think so. We’re not exactly talking anymore, but he was bummed after the game.”

  “Why aren’t you talking?” Marlene asked.

  Jock stared at her with raised brows. “After what he did to Sofia? I’m not talking to him until he gets his stuff together.”

  Sofia liked the display of loyalty, but it didn’t seem fair. “It wasn’t all his fault,” she grudgingly admitted. “I mean, it was mostly his fault, but not completely.”

  “You don’t rub pizza into someone’s face. Especially not if she’s your best friend’s girlfriend.”

  “I’m not your…”

  “So that’s what I told him,” Jock continued. “I also told him to apologize to you, which he hasn’t done yet.”

  Sofia shifted uncomfortably. “Listen, you’ve been friends with him for a long time and I don’t want to come between the two of you.”

  Jock put an arm around her and pulled her close. “And that’s another reason I like you. But you’re not between us. Or at least you won’t be once he gets his head out of his ass.”

  “Stop talking about yourself in third person,” Wayne said, catching up to them. “It’s creepy. Hi, Fia. Wzup?”

  Jock pushed at his shoulder. “Stop trying to flirt with her. She’s not interested.”

  “She can speak for herself,” Sofia said dryly. “Are you also going for ice cream?”

  “I am if you are,” Wayne said with a wide grin that turned into a grimace when Jock elbowed him in the ribs.

  “We’re all going,” Denise said and Wayne turned his grin on her.

  “Great. We can all get together and eat our feelings and pretend we’re not losers.”

  “Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad,” Sofia said.

  Jock and Wayne exchanged a look. “Do you know a lot about baseball?”

  “No, but I know the difference between a close thing and a thrashing in any game. It’s not rocket science.”

  “We still lost.”

  Sofia shrugged. “So? You’ll win next time and now you get ice cream. Who cares about baseball anyway?”

  Mr. Jones watched his employees disagree with a smile on his face. It was always enjoyable to watch a fight. He clearly wasn’t alone in thinking that. He’d built an empire on fights. This one was just getting interesting.

  “They are not the right couple for this operation!” Mr. Rosen loudly complained.

  “Why not?” Mrs. Ross argued. “They are inventive, they are smart and they are good-looking. They’ve also tested surprisingly well.”

  “They are loose cannons!”

  “I think we all need to take a step back,” Mr. Kudowski said calmly and Mr. Jones sighed with disappointment.

  Mr. Kudowski had a knack for killing an argument right when it was gettting good. Why did the man still work for him? Firing an executive would be good for the budget people were always nagging him about. He would have to talk to Ms. Hearning about what exactly Ryan Kudowski did for them other than ruin excellent drama at staff meetings.

  “They both have excellent grades, they’re physically and mentally fit. Good idea, to pass those tests out as Facebook quizzes, Ryan.”

  Mr. Jones frowned. So that was what they had Kudowski for. He’d hold off on firing him for the time being t
hen.

  “They might be mentally fit right now, but what about in six months time?” Mr. Rosen asked. ”Can you imagine the strain?”

  “It’s not going to go on for more than a month or two. They’ll be fine,” Ms. Matoba said dismissively.

  “No experience, no training. We’re going to have a law suit on our asses before…”

  “They’ll sign waivers. We’ll have to make sure we include mental health on them. It should be fairly straight forward,” Mr. Kudowski said.

  Mr. Rosen looked around the room, his already scarlet face becoming redder by the second. Even though Mr. Jones might enjoy watching his staff get wound up, he didn’t want anyone to die on the job.

  He scratched at his chin. Perhaps it had been a mistake to include Rosen on this particular project. He did tend to get worked up over things such as health and safety violations. Mr. Jones shook his head. In this line of business it didn’t do to get hung up on pesky little details like that.

  “Why don’t we use the same agents we normally do? Why do we need to drag these kids in from the street? It will never end well. They have no previous experience, no ambitions and no…”

  “They have plenty of ambition,” Ms. Hearning said, speaking for the first time since opening the meeting. “We need to make sure that we channel that ambition and are prepared to deal with the fallout.”

  “This is ludicrous! We can’t…”

  “Mr. Rosen. This project is going to happen and it’s going to happen with the players that we have already decided on. Now, I suggest we move on to the next thing on our agenda and don’t lose any more time arguing about it.”

  Mr. Jones pushed himself to the table, deciding to join now that most of the squabbling was over. “I want our best people on this,” he told them as Mr. Sims distributed copies of the newest edition of his game plan. “This is going to be the epitome of everything we’ve done so far. It’s going to be… transcending.”

  12

  Passing the Time

  Time can play games with you when you’re in a new place. Sofia felt as if the first two months of school had dragged on for an eternity and at the same time it was as if she had just stepped off the plane.