Gracie | Cory Wilson

Chapter 1.4.1

"Gracie..."

I groaned and rolled further into my pillow.

"Gracie, we've got rugby practice," The voice I recognised to be Cory whispered in my ear, poking my face.

"We can be a few minutes late."

I had officially been Cory's girlfriend for two days now. Hayley, Raz and Chloe were ignoring me. Chloe was ignoring Hayley and Raz too. And, well, Hayley was ignoring everyone at the moment. As I had suspected, Chloe was angry that I had started dating Cory. She'd started tweeting cryptic and nasty things to get my attention, but I tended to ignore them.

"No," Cory started planting kisses all over my face, and I peeked an eye open. He was kneeling beside the bed, already in his PE kit. "We can't be late. We've got a match to win."

I grabbed his face to make him stop. He grinned down at me audaciously. Cory lowered his head and pecked my lips lightly, which I was glad for seeing as I hadn't brushed my teeth yet.

"Come on, then," He pulled away and held a hand out to me.

Reluctantly, I sat up and stretched. My pile of clothes was all the way on the other side of the room on top of my chest of drawers. My mum had freshly washed them, thank god. She usually made me do it, but when I told her Cory was coming over, she had wanted to make an effort.

"Can you pass me my kit?" I pointed to the pile. He happily obliged and moved over to the drawers to get them.

"You're whipped," I told him when he passed my clothes.

"Shut up and get changed," Cory laughed, making me smile.

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"Thanks for the lift, Mrs IG!" Cory called out, waving to my mum in the car.

"Is no problem, bebé," She shouted back in reply, waving his comment off and grinning at him affectionately.

I rolled my eyes.

"Why does my mum love you more than me?"

"What can I say?" he shrugged arrogantly and flung an arm over my shoulder. "I just 'ave that effect of women."

"Are you gonna dump me for my mum?" I laughed, throwing his arm off. "I'm not going to stand in the way of true love."

His smile flickered, but he maintained it.

"Whatever," He chuckled. "Mr Bell is waiting for us."

Mr Bell was standing on the field with the rest of the rugby team already, shouting over the boys chatting.

"I know they look intimidating in that video, but--"

"Intimidating?" Zain yelled back at him. "Sir, they're like a group of machines!"

"Oi, what's he on about?" Cory asked Riz when we joined the group.

"The video of St Mark's training," He informed us, handing his phone over.

Zain was right. They must've been built in a lab. No way could that many six-foot-tall rugby players all go to the same school. They did this intimidating warm-up routine to freak out their opponents. I felt frightened watching them through a screen.

"Mr Simpson, warm them up," Mr Bell ordered, and the younger teacher jogged away. "GiGi, I need to talk to you."

I assured Cory that I'd be fine and walked over to Mr Bell.