I looked up at him, laughing. His blue eyes were bright with laughter and his blonde hair flopped endearingly over his forehead. His arms were strong around me, and I felt stupidly safe and happy.
“Hey, Liam!” we heard a voice call and he angled us towards Dane.
“Hey, man,” Liam said, pulling us around and I found we were at the front of the crowd.
I spun in his arms, but he didn’t remove them and I found I was quite all right with that, even though I was the only girl and only person not wearing the Military College uniform, but a Netherfield one, on that side of the room.
“Hey, Lily, you defected?” Dane laughed and I looked into his brown eyes.
“Hardly! I’m not intimidated by you tall Military boys.”
“Good to hear. Loyalty’s a commendable trait.”
“I thought you wanted her to cheer us on next soccer match?” Liam asked, but I could tell he was teasing.
Dane shrugged. “Sure, that’d be great. But, hey, ultimately, which side of the room is she standing on?” Dane winked at me.
I saw Williams walking towards me, a scowl on his face. I smiled at him and his return smile was anything but friendly, but it looked like he was trying. He motioned me over and I excused myself from Liam’s arms. He seemed less than inclined to let me go, and I had to admit the feeling was mutual.
Before I was free of his arms, Liam took my hand and pulled me back to him. He leant down and kissed my lips briefly. My stomach fluttered and I prayed I wasn’t blushing as hard as I thought I was.
I walked over to Williams. “What’s up?” I asked.
Williams look over my shoulder to Liam and Dane, his scowl deepening. But, he said nothing about it. “We all heard how great you were on Saturday-”
“I beg your pardon?” I blurted out.
Surely, Austin hadn’t been going around telling the guys I was a great hook-up… And, surely, that’s not what had Williams talking to me now? Although, he did look pretty pissed off I’d been in Liam’s arms. Then again, they were fierce competition, it could be nothing more than-
“Lily?”
I blinked and looked back to Williams. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
Williams’ smile grew more sincere. “I saw you know your football and I was thinking maybe you could help us train?”
I blinked again, but this time from shock. “How…how could I be of any use to you?” I asked.
His smiled widened. “Because you aren’t afraid of telling us what we need to hear. We love Coach, but he’s so fecking old, and we don’t really have a spare man to sit on the sidelines and yell at us.”
I grinned. “I’m sure there are plenty of people who would be happy to yell at you.”
“That might be true,” he laughed, “but, no one else would have the guts to yell at Austin Cooper.”
I tensed slightly. “Ah, yeah…” I looked back to Liam for a moment.
“Yeah, they have their problems. But, as long as you don’t bring him to practice, Oz won’t pay any mind to it.”
I scanned the crowd and saw Austin and Jax on the other side of the pool, standing with two very leggy blondes. One was hanging off Jax’s arm and the other stood very decorously close to Austin. Jax look pained and desperately trying to hide it as he smiled at her. Austin didn’t seem to be trying to hide his annoyance at all. But, I didn’t think it was aimed at me for once as he was busy watching the races in the pool.
As I watched, the leggy blonde leant into his ear and whispered something. He smiled and put an arm around her. I couldn’t tell from that distance, but his eyes seemed hard and unhappy. I felt a sharp niggle in my stomach at the sight, but I pushed it away.
“Ah…that’d be the great Fleur van Wilhausen,” Williams said and I thought he’d actually shuddered.
“That’s Fleur?” I asked, swinging back to him.
She was nothing like I expected. She was beautiful. She looked like a bloody supermodel for Christ’s sake!
“That is the harpy herself.”
“Harpy?”
Williams shrugged ruefully. “She’s a bitch. I wouldn’t wish her on my worst enemy, let alone one of my best friends. Anyway,” he seemed keen to change the subject, “about your help?”
He looked at me so pleadingly, I wasn’t sure I could refuse him. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’ll do what I can?”
He grinned, then hugged me like I was an old friend. “Excellent. We’re training on the main oval, Wednesday at five. Can you make it?”
“I’ll be there.” I nodded.
He beamed. “Awesome. Thanks heaps.”
I nodded again as he ran off, not quite sure what I was getting myself into. Because I really needed an excuse to be around Austin more than I already was?
God…
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Anne’s messaged again,” Cassandra sighed.
I saw Jax’s look, but spoke before he’d have a chance. “So? What does she want?”
“She just wanted to know if I’ve seen Jax,” she replied, shrugging.
I looked between them and sighed. Honestly, it was like I had to do everything myself! Cassandra had been a sorry bore since the party on Saturday night and Jax had been worse since the day I’d told him to give up on Anne. I, meanwhile, was in perfectly good spirits for the first time in a long time. And, it had nothing to do with the fact that Lily had agreed to help us train that afternoon, but everything to do with the fact that I’d managed to avoid Fleur quite well with classes since the swim race on Monday.
“Can you not deal with it, Cass? What happened to the fearsome, no-nonsense Cassandra Morley? Girl voted most bitchy and likely to snap you?”
She glared at me. “I’ve been dealing with it, Austin.”
“Have you, though?” I asked. “What have you told her?”
She held out her phone and I took it, reading her conversation with Anne.
Anne: Hey, how’re things? Haven’t had a chance to talk to you guys for a few days
Me: Yeah, we’ve been busy. The van Wilhausens have been staying, keeping Jax and Oz pretty…occupied, if you know what I mean ;)
“Really, Cassandra? Insinuating we’re…sleeping with them or something?”
She shrugged again. “You said get them to keep their distance. It was the best way I could think of.”
I rolled my eyes at her and went back to her phone.
Anne: Oh, no, of course. They look like nice girls. Do you know them well?
Me: Not, yet, I’m hoping we’ll get to spend a lot more time with them before they go home. Although, there is talk of us returning to their estate for Christmas.
Anne: That sounds lovely. Will you say hi to Jax for me when you see him?
Me: You could message him yourself
Anne: Oh, his phone is working? I tried him, but got no answer…
Me: It’s working perfectly fine.
Anne: Cass, is he avoiding me?
Me: I wouldn’t usually side against him, Anne, you understand, but we’re friends and you’re a nice girl… If I were you, I wouldn’t wait for him. He and Claudine have been getting closer… I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends!
There was a long gap between that message and the next.
Anne: Thanks for letting me know.
Me: Anytime
“Jesus, you were…dealing with it.” I looked at her, surprised, but pleased someone had dealt with the nastiness of the situation.
As I held her phone, it buzzed again and I saw a message from Lily. I glanced at Cassandra and opened it.
Lily: He had better have lost interest and be the biggest coward I have ever met, or I swear to God I am going to rip you a new one! You could have at least been nicer. I get you’re the school bitch and all, but seriously, Cass! What the actual hell? You tell those arsehole brothers to keep their distance, and same goes for you! Friends…we were never friends with you; we were an unfortunate acquaintance at best which yo
u did your utmost to not even try with. I for one am glad we’re rid of your fake friendship!
I exhaled sharply and seriously considered deleting that message before Cassandra would see it, but she just gave me a curious glance and held her hand out. I passed her the phone and saw her eyes go wide. There was something akin to sadness in her eyes as she turned her screen off and put her trembling hands in her lap.
“What did it say?” Jax asked. “Was it Anne?”
At the same time, I said, “It’s not like you to be bothered by anything anyone says about you…”
We sat in silence for a moment.
“Was it Anne?” Jax asked again.
Cassandra stood. “No, it was Lily. Nothing about Anne. Now, you two need to get to practice. If you don’t beat the Military College boys on Sunday, you’ll need to hold me back from Anders.”
She stalked out and I could have sworn there was a tremor to her voice and that she’d wiped her eye as she slammed the door behind her.
“What’s up with her?” Jax asked.
I shrugged, not at all sure what had elicited such a reaction in our stony-skinned cousin.
I looked at the time and she was right. We did have to get to practice. Jax was changed and I pulled on my boots before we hurried down to the oval. I was entirely not looking forward to seeing Lily now. That is, if she even still turned up after Cassandra’s well-timed words…
When we got there, the team was stretching and Coach was watching us, bleary-eyed though beaming around at us. There was no sign of Lily and I positioned myself next to Williams.
“You sure she’s coming?” I asked.
Williams looked at me as though he was in on some secret joke, but, on seeing my face, only answered, “she just texted, said she was running a little late. Didn’t say why.”
I nodded and we continued stretching. Coach called us into two teams – which we barely had the numbers for. Jax, Williams and I were on the same team. It was fearsomely cold out, but we pulled our tops off – skins versus shirts; it was the easiest way to determine teams.
Coach blew the whistle and we started our practice match. A few minutes in, I heard Lily screaming to be heard on the other side of the pitch.
“Williams, I swear. You keep hogging that ball and I’m coming on that pitch myself to wrestle it from you!”
“I’d like to see you try!” Williams grinned.
“Would you really?” I heard her tone and we all turned. She had her hands on her hips, her red hair flying around her head like a halo in the wind, and a scowl on her face that could rival Aunt Celia’s.
“Right, on second, thought, no!” Williams replied and hurriedly passed the ball to me.
I felt it hit my feet, but I was still staring at her. Her scowl moved to me and deepened.
“Play on, then, Cooper,” she said, sternly.
“Williams, you sure this was a good idea, mate?” I asked as play resumed.
He looked at me aghast. “It was your idea!”
“Austin, get your head out of your arse and in the game. Williams, stop distracting him!” Lily shouted.
I chuckled, but it sounded hollow even to me. “Me, put myself through this, on purpose?”
“You always were a sucker for a pretty face.” Williams smiled apologetically and ran off.
True to expectation, Lily wasn’t easy on us, even Jax. Though, I knew why that was and I was a little sorry for the part I played in it. Jax wasn’t the bad guy here. No one was really the bad guy here, not with Anders nowhere in sight at least. I’d had to warn Jax off Anne now, or else the pieces of his heart I’d be picking up would be even smaller.
It wasn’t my fault if Lily took it personally. Perhaps she just didn’t see the situation as I did. It was plainly – painfully, more like – obvious that Jax was very into Anne. But, maybe Lily just hadn’t noticed Anne’s lack of…reciprocation? Lily was undoubtedly using it as an excuse to be rude to me.
Like she needed one…
I slid in to tackle Gerald and heard Lily yelling before I’d reached my target.
“Oz, if I have to tell you again! Pay attention!”
I looked around, realising I’d entirely missed my chance and Gerald had run right past me. I looked to Lily, legitimately chastened, but she wasn’t looking at me. Anders stood next to her as she waved her arm at Williams and Lucas, yelling something I couldn’t hear over the torrent of anger that bombarded me at the sight of Anders putting his arms around her.
A hand grabbed me and I caught my fist before it smashed into Jax’s face.
“Mate, you’ve done this to yourself,” he said, sympathy clear in his eyes. “You wouldn’t tell her; she only has his story.”
I gritted my teeth, trying not to yell in frustration. “She wouldn’t believe me, especially not now.”
“Cass tried to talk to her, didn’t she?”
I nodded. “Fat lot of good that did, though. Cass said she all but laughed in her face. Definitely didn’t believe her.”
Jax shrugged. “You’ll have to take it out on him on Sunday.”
I scoffed. “Oh, yeah? And get carded again?”
Jax grinned, but there was still a sadness in his eyes. “You could get the ‘most carded’ award for this clash.”
I laughed. “Sure, and then-”
I felt another hand on my arm and we turned to see a very angry redhead scowling up at us. My fingers twitched with the desire to smooth the lines from her face, to run through her curls, to bring her body close to mine again.
She cleared her throat and I blinked, brought back to the present. “Sorry.”
“You’d better be. I get you two are gorgeous as hell and probably richer than the queen, but that gives you no right to let your team down. We will be beating the Military boys on the weekend, whether you’re benched or not-”
“You’re going to bench us?” Jax asked.
Lily’s turned her glare onto him and he visibly quailed. “I will do whatever it takes to win. Your team is great, sure, and you two are by far the best players. But, Williams called me in here to help the team work better since apparently I can… I’m doubtful, but I’ll be damned if I don’t do what a friend has asked-”
“You call Williams a friend?” I interrupted.
I was, once again, the lucky recipient of her best glare. “I do, and you would do well to not interrupt me while I’m ranting again, Oz, or so help me…” She shook her tiny fist at me and I was tempted to laugh. The look on her face cured me of that pretty quickly, though. As did the way she said my nickname, though that gave me a whole bunch of other feelings. “Putting aside the fact that I hate the both of you quite spectacularly right now, I’ll be more than happy to play you if you two are going to actually be useful. Standing around laughing at your hilarious jokes isn’t going to beat the Military boys, is it? So, if that’s all the two of you are good for, then I will have you benched.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing I should back down, but not being able to keep quiet. “And, Coach is just going to listen to you and bench his two best players?”
She smiled sweetly, but it was somehow so much more scary and dangerous than the scowl. “He will. Now, pull yourselves together and stop being such self-centred wankers.”
She turned on her heel and stormed off through the teams, who were both looking at us with barely concealed smiles on their faces.
“For God’s sake, play on!” she yelled.
“I like her,” Lucas said with a laugh as he jogged past.
Anders was thankfully gone again and I forced all my energy into concentrating. If I could not give her a reason to insult me again, that would be great.
I managed to get through the rest of practice without giving her a reason to say anything to me. After, Jax and I walked to the showers in our dorm, heedless of the mud we trampled through the corridors.
We peeled off the rest of our uniforms and stepped into the showers. Williams was singing to himself as he bopped ar
ound with a helmet of suds on his head. I shook my head and stood under the blasting water.
I didn’t know what it was about Lily Brewer, but she antagonised me greatly. I was so mixed up in despising her family and her friends that I could usually ignore the effect she had on me. Not today, though. Today, I wanted nothing more than to have her in my arms and be kissing her again.
I groaned in frustration.
“You right?” Jax asked.
“No, no, I’m not okay,” I sighed.
“Dude, do you need reminding again this is all your own fault?” Williams called.
“Seriously, you too, now?” I turned to him.
He shrugged, grinning. “Oz, I don’t know the whole story, I know that. But, if there’s something she needs to know about him, then she’d better find out fast. He already kissed her the other day- Whoa!” Williams cried out as I hit the wall. “Oz, if you’re not going to tell her, then you can’t blame yourself if anything happens.”
“She won’t believe me, Williams. You’re such good friends with her, why don’t you say something?” I snarled, feeling much more riled up than I should or had a right to, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“Dude!” Williams said disapprovingly. “Don’t take it out on me because you screwed up royally. Lily’s a great chick, and I know you know it, too, so don’t go playing that ‘it’s just Anders, I hate’ card. Just because your actions ensured she wouldn’t believe a thing you said, it’s not my bad. And, I can’t tell her. I approach her with it, with the little I know? She’ll think you sent me and it’s all just some elaborate plot. Nope. You have to fix it somehow, mate.”
I scowled and threw a bar of soap at him. If only it was that simple…
Chapter Twenty-Three
I’d put the difficulty up on my game; I seriously needed something to take my mind off everything that had happened the last few days. Between Jax avoiding Anne, Cass being the one to break up their not even official relationship, then Austin’s attitude on the soccer pitch, I was livid.
I yelled as I got dragged under a horde of zombies and watched while I was slowly killed.
Netherfield Prep: A Modern Reimagining of Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice' Page 15