by Anthology
Day 3
Zach
All I could focus on last night was destroying John Ellis. I borrowed old tapes from coach, to study their plays from last year, because I refused to lose. Ever since I’ve become the team’s captain, we’ve been undefeated at home and that wasn’t going to change tonight.
“You ready for tonight, man?” Chris said.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good, I’m going to hit the gym after my last class to psyche myself up for the game.”
“Don’t burn yourself out Chris, this team is no joke. If we defeat them, we’ll be unstoppable!”
***
Zeke
“All right class, for today’s exercise I’d like us to try out a new technique. How many of you have ever been attracted to someone, that you knew you shouldn’t be?” Ms. Sheppard asked.
Half of my class raised their hands, including myself.
“Excellent. Now, I want you to envision that person right now, and write a letter to them, professing your love. The catch is, to let them remain nameless, but I want you to evoke as much emotion as possible. Pretend like you’re going to give it to them—anonymously. Oh and don’t sign who it’s from.”
Dear you,
There aren’t enough words in the English vocabulary to describe what I feel for you right now. A romance between us would be forbidden, but in my heart, it would feel right.
Sincerely,
-Me
***
Zach
Dear ?
You+me=a night you’ll never forget. Your eyes tell a story that my cock wants to listen too. Although you are older, that doesn’t mean I can’t keep up with you.
“Pens down everyone. I hope you all know how to follow directions because you will be turning these projects in right now.”
“Oh-no,” a vast majority of people said at once.
“What a bunch of idiots,” I said to Chris.
***
Zeke
After class I went straight home. The Mathlete’s didn’t meet up today, which gave me a free night to find out more about it.
Zach begged me to come to his game tonight, but football doesn’t really do it for me. Besides, I don’t need him gloating about how much better he is at everything than I am.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the lesson Ms. Sheppard gave us earlier today. I didn’t write nearly as much as I wanted to, in fear of giving my identity away. I had a sneaking suspicion that she’d collect this round of notes.
I don’t know why she had such a hold on me. I couldn’t get her out of my head and we’ve only had three days of school so far. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get through these next couple of months.
I wish my birthday was sooner, so I could explore these feelings a little more.
Chapter 4
Zach
“It’s almost game time. Are you ready, bro?” said Chris.
“You know it!”
Before every game, we had a ritual—a way to psyche ourselves up before the team huddle. We would all slap each other across the face, and punch the “lucky” gym bag.
“All right boys, take no mercy, and take no prisoners tonight. If you second guess yourself, coach will pull you out of the game. If you have a miss step, you’re out. It’s time for us to bring the fire and burn these losers to the ground.”
“One, two, three; Tigers.Eat.Prey—break!” We shouted together.
As we walked to the line to set up formation, I looked over at the cheerleaders dancing on the sidelines. They were sporting their orange and white tops with short black skirts, and watching them shaking their asses on the sidelines always gave me extra motivation.
Blue forty-two, blue forty-two, hike! The center snapped the ball back to me and my offense scattered across the field. I had to act fast because the Devils were coming for me—quickly. I spotted Chris, my tight-end near the 20 yard line and launched the ball as hard as I could. He caught it—flawlessly and jumped over the line. “First down,” the referee yelled.
So far so good, but from the tapes I studied, they usually stepped up their game around the third quarter. They were what we referred to as “last half hitters” which could be a good or bad thing, but I refused to lose.
We quickly set up formation at the 20 and it was time to get ahead—early. The center snapped the ball to me and I faked it, making their defense think I threw the ball, but in reality, I handed it off to my running back. Craig slipped through their line of defense and got us our first touchdown! The crowd went nuts with cheers, and I knew then, that this game was going to be a piece of cake.
***
Two hours later, we won the game 42-13. After every game, win or lose, we always went and shook hands with the other team. It sucks to come on someone else’s turf and lose, but hey, we came to win tonight.
I didn’t realize how tall John Ellis was until he approached me. He had to have been over six-feet tall, and his hair was all matted down from the helmet he had on. “Hey man, y’all came to play tonight and I can respect that. Next time we meet on my turf and I will even the score.”
“We’ll see. I’m sure I can beat you on any turf.”
He walked away and the rest of my team came over and lifted me over their shoulders. “Z-man, Z-man,” they cheered. This could never get old.
They brought me in back and coach gave his end game speech. Usually he bored us to death, but tonight he actually said something decent.
“There was a lot of hype surrounding that team, and yes, we did win—today. But we will be facing them again on their turf in six weeks, which could spell trouble. Offense was great tonight, but defense you will be practicing for an extra thirty minutes every night. We all need to be one tight cohesive unit. No weak spots allowed! Now hit the showers and get out of my sight!”
I only lived a few blocks away from the school and decided to walk to clear my mind. My eighteenth birthday was coming up soon and I wanted to do something epic. Not just your regular run of the mill, get drunk and party, something—more. If I could sleep with Ms. Sheppard on or by then, that would be the most epic thing I’ve done this year. I just had to figure out how I’d make that happen.
Before I reached my door, Mindy called me. She wanted to celebrate with me again, but I wasn’t really in the mood.
***
Zeke
“How was the game tonight, Zach?” I asked, pretending to care.
“We smashed the Devils, but I know you didn’t doubt your brother, right?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure. I did hear the Devils had a real strong defense.”
“They were okay, but we still pushed right through them,” he said with a smirk on his face, trying not to gloat.
“Well, good for you! The Z-man is untouchable.”
“You know it,” he said, slapping me on the back.
I was in the kitchen when he came home, making myself a snack. I waited until I heard his door shut before I went back upstairs. I didn’t want to hear anything else he had to say tonight.
I picked up my cell phone and saw a message from Rachel. She labeled herself as ‘bestie’ in my phone, and I never bothered to change it.
Bestie: Have u ever been in love?
Me: I’m not sure, y?
Bestie: Because I think I am, but I don’t know how to tell him.
I wasn’t sure what ‘him’ she was referring to, but it did make me a tad jealous, reading her message.
Me: Just tell him how you feel. It never hurts to take a chance once in a while.
Bestie: U r absolutely right. C-ya tomorrow.
Me: Night.
This year brought out a lot of different emotions for me. I never felt jealously over anyone before, and I never felt like I was in love with anyone until now. I did have feelings for Rachel, but I just couldn’t see her as more than a friend, yet I felt like I needed to protect her.
***
Rachel was acting pretty strange today. Us
ually, I could pin-point what was wrong, but today, I was getting mixed signals from her. One minute she was all over me, and then the next she was cold and distant. I knew I couldn’t have done anything to piss her off. Yet—I started to feel guilty inside.
I grabbed her by her backpack before lunch and demanded answers. “Rach, what’s going on with you today?”
“Nothing—what do you mean?”
“You’ve been acting pretty weird ever since your text last night.”
“Oh—well, I’m just a little distracted today, that’s all,” she said, looking past me.
I turned around to see who she was staring at, and it was Bobby Lund. I had to admit I was a little shocked, and hoped that I was the one she was talking about, but if I wasn’t, at least I gave her some courage.
“You’re in love with him?” I said, trying to hold back the jealousy.
“No. I just wanted to see your reaction, and I have to admit—it was pretty comical.”
“Ha-ha.”
She looked up at me with her crystal blue eyes and opened her arms for a hug. I bent down to wrap my arms around her body and she stood on her tip toes to give me a kiss on the cheek. “What was that for?”
“I’m in love with you—silly.”
Chapter 5
Zeke
After all these years of friendship, not once did I ever think we could fall in love with each other. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I couldn’t admit that I loved her back and it bothered me. I held her in my arms as long as possible and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
She broke free and looked up at me with a disheartening look. “You don’t feel the same, do you?”
“Do you want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“I honestly don’t know what I feel for you. I care for you a lot. You’re smart, funny, beautiful, and have taken care of me my whole life. So I most definitely have love for you, but I can’t say I’m in love with you.”
“I knew this was going to happen. I should have never opened my big mouth.” I could see the tears well in her eyes before she ran away from me. It felt like a knife jabbed me in the gut seeing her take off like that. I never wanted to hurt my best friend—ever.
***
Zach
“Mindy, what the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, pushing her away from me.
“I just wanted you to make me feel as good as you did in the park that night,” she said.
“I’m not in the mood.”
“Well, I can fix that. Let’s go somewhere a little more ‘private’, if you know what I mean.”
I’ve never been the one to complain about having sex with a girl, but Mindy was driving me insane. She’s stalked me after every class, before and after practice, hell—I swear I’ve seen her down the street from my home a few times. I had to get rid of her—fast.
“Tell you what, let’s go into the janitor’s closet and we can have some fun in there.” I grabbed her hand and tried to open the wooden closet door with my other, but it was locked. Damnit.
“I know a place we could go,” she said. “Follow me.”
She led me down a flight of stairs, into the basement of the school. There was a long hallway and an abandoned room in the corner of the wing.
I could tell she had been down here on more than one occasion, because of how well she navigated through this dark hall, but I refused to let whatever the hell this was to continue any longer. As much as I loved sex, I had to get Mindy away from me—for good.
She had become so annoying and clingy and it was starting to distract me from the more important things, like football and Max.
As we approached the door, I noticed there was a lock on the outside of it and I thought of the perfect escape plan. She shut the door behind us, turned the light on, and pushed me against the wall. She slid down to her knees and fumbled with the drawstring on my sweats.
“Mindy, wait. I think you should take your skirt off first—so I can really see you.”
She tugged at her hips, and slid the skirt down to the floor. She wasn’t wearing any panties and was smooth and bare.
She fell back to her knees and finally unfastened the string. I grabbed a hold of her hair and lifted her back to a standing position, and forcefully placed a kiss upon her lips. Using my free hand, I slapped her bare, tight, ass.
I spun her around and told her to grab her ankles, while slapping her ass twice as a distraction. I pushed her forward, grabbed her skirt off the floor and ran out of the door behind me.
“Zachary, you better not leave me in here like this!” she yelled, as she pounded on the door.
“Don’t worry, I’ll send one of your minions to come and get you. Oh-and Mindy? We’re done!”
I kept her skirt, fixed my pants, and ran back upstairs. I bumped into Amanda, the co-captain of the cheer squad and she asked me if I had seen Mindy. I told her I locked her in the sex dungeon in the basement and handed over Mindy’s skirt. “I think she’ll need this back,” I said with a laugh.
***
Zeke
I felt like a total jerk after Rachel confessed her love for me earlier today. I couldn’t get the image of her crying and running away from me out of my head.
It was almost time for our Mathlete’s meeting and Rachel was nowhere to be found. This wasn’t odd behavior for her at all; she always temporarily disappeared like this when she was truly upset.
I tried to call and text her one last time before I went into the meeting, but she wouldn’t answer.
Ms. Sheppard was already at the desk in front of the white board and no one else had arrived for the meet yet.
“Hi, Zeke. You’re early today.”
“Yeah, I didn’t have anything else to do after class, so I decided to come here.”
“Where’s your friend Rachel? The two of you are usually inseparable.”
“I know. She’s pretty unhappy with me right now.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” she said with a slight grin on her face. She got up from the seat and walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I can tell you’re a great guy, she’ll come around—eventually.”
Chapter 6
Day 4
Zeke
Rachel never showed up to the meet last night, and she never wrote me back either. However, she did show up to first period today, but she wouldn’t sit anywhere near me. It was obvious she was depressed. Her hair was in a messy bun on the top of her head, she had her thick frames back on her face, and her infamous plaid jacket was back.
I had hoped that she didn’t alter her appearance just for me. She was always beautiful to me, but her senior year makeover did make her more attractive.
After the class bell rang, I tried to catch up with her, but she just ran right by me. I ran after her and grabbed her backpack. “Rachel Marie, you will talk to me.”
She turned around and pushed her frames further up her nose. “What do you want? Haven’t you caused me enough pain for one day?”
“Rach, you know that’s not what I wanted.”
“Oh? Well it sure is what you did.”
“Listen to me, we’ve been friends forever. We always made a pact with each other, never fall in love, right?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t help it. You were always there for me and never once judged me for being—me.”
“That’s what friends do, Rach. I’ll always have a special place for you in my heart, but all we’ll ever be is best friends, and I’m okay with that.”
“Fine.”
“Good. Now tomorrow I expect the new, sexy Rachel to return.”
She smiled at me and agreed.
***
Zach
News about Mindy being locked in the basement spread like wildfire. The entire football team congratulated me for finally putting her in her place. I hoped this would be the last personal run-in I had with her.
So far, I’ve gone through three classes with no sign of her. I went to my locker to grab my
notebooks for Creative Writing and there was a note sticking out of it.
Zach,
I know I may have gone too far, but you didn’t have to lock me in the basement. All you had to do was tell me that you were sick of me and I would have left you alone. But don’t worry about that now. I’ve received the message loud and clear. I’ll only bother you during games to cheer you on and that’s it.
Goodbye,
-Mindy
That girl really was a piece of work. I took the letter, crumbled it into a ball, and shot it into the trashcan beside the lockers. “Nice shot,” I heard a familiar voice say from behind me.
I spun around to see Ms. Sheppard leaning against the locker behind me. “Thanks, I’m pretty good at what I do.”
“Good, I just might put that to the test in class,” she said, smiling at me, and then walked away.
On my way to class, I saw Mindy standing by her locker and kept walking. She didn’t even look twice at me and it felt weird, but good.
I took my seat in class beside Chris and waited for Ms. Sheppard to appear.
***
Zeke
Ms. Sheppard walked into the room and everyone took notice. I almost felt like she purposely waited until we were all seated to make her grand entrance.
She caught everyone’s attention the minute her heels hit the classroom floor. Today she was wearing a beautiful knee-length navy dress and matching shoes. No matter what sexy outfits she wore, I still appreciated the suspenders I saw her in when our paths crossed the first day of school. She seemed more innocent and down to earth like that. Not to say she isn’t the same person in these revealing outfits, I just prefer a more modern look.
“Today’s class will be about strengths. Some of you are athletic, some—not so much, but we all have strengths. Whatever you feel you’re good at, write about it in one paragraph—due by the end of class.”
“Well we all know what I’m good at,” Zach said.
“And what is that?” Chris said.
“EVERYTHING!” they said simultaneously.
“If you’re so good at ‘everything’, then why did you need me to tutor you in math last semester?” I blurted out, unable to contain it.