Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series

24. DEION

The weather was getting chilly as they days went by, but the heat emitting from my gear along with the sweat coating my skin made it seem like summer never left.

Practice had been getting harder and harder by the day, getting even more tiring by the second. But Coach wasn’t letting up on us, no matter how hot, sweaty, hungry, or in pain we felt. Him yelling at us in the locker room wasn't any better.

I took my helmet off once Coach had left, wiping my face and neck with a towel. “Coach is really not holding back on us, is he?”

“You know he only gets like this during big events,” Theo reminds me. “Remember how he was last year?”

“When he yelled at us for hours on end for losing the homecoming game last year to the point where half of the team had basically gone deaf? Yeah, I remember that.”

“Y’all are worrying too much about this game,” Aaron says as he approaches us. “As I said before, we’re gonna beat those Ravens and we’re gonna take home that trophy. No doubt about it.”

“Yeah, but what if we don’t win? Then what?”

Aaron pats Theo on the back. “There are no ‘ifs’ Theodore. We’re gonna win.”

“I told you not to call me by my full name, man.”

“Besides, we won’t be that stressed out about the game once the big party rolls around.”

“Oh, I forgot about that,” I say. “It’s probably gonna be even crazier than last year.”

“Of course it’s gonna be crazier than last year,” Theo says. “Apparently, something major always happens at this party for it to be the talk of every college that’s near us.”

Aaron lets out a laugh. “I don’t think anything will be able to top what happened at last year’s party.”

“You mean when Kevin had to go to the emergency room because he got the tube of the keg stuck in his–”

“Okay! That's enough,” I speak, my face contorting into disgust as I get up from the bench. “You two are gross.”

“Hey. Kevin should've never taken that dare,” Aaron chides. “But I still wonder what crazy thing is gonna happen this year.”

“It better not involve you.” I grab my duffle bag off of the floor, slinging the strap over my shoulder. “I'll see you guys back at the apartment.”

“Gonna go hang out with your girlfriend?” Aaron teases with a smirk.

“Bye,” I say, ignoring his question as I leave the locker room. I’m halfway to the doors of the stadium when someone calls my name from behind.

“Deion, wait up!”

“Deion! Wait up!”

I turn around, seeing Theo jogging up to me. “What’s up?”

“You talked to Aaron, right? About the…you know what?”

“Theo, you ask me this basically every day. I already told you that I would talk to him about it.”

“You keep saying that, yet you never actually do it.”

“Theo,” I sigh. “I don’t know why you’re so worried about it. It’s not your problem to deal with.”

“I’m worried about it because I know that someone is going to get hurt if this doesn’t end,” he explains. “You and I both remember what happened last year when this went down.”
“Theo, it’s gonna be fine,” I say. “Look, I’ll talk to Aaron later about it, alright? I promise that I will.”