The entrance is empty but as I get closer to the locker room door, the sound of muffled voices filters down to me.
I clench my fists as my excitement almost becomes too much to bear.
I slow to almost a complete stop outside the door, suck in a few deep breaths and run my fingers through my hair, pushing it back from my brow for a few seconds.
I want to remember this moment. The moment I show those assholes on the other side of the door that I’m not the nobody they think I am. That I’m not the loser captain of the Harriers who bombed out of the division every single year. That I’m not forever going to be held back by the shithole place I was unlucky enough to be born into.
I’m Kane fucking Legend and the Panthers have no clue what’s about to hit them.
I nod to myself and widen my shoulders and slam my palm down on the purple door.
The chatter gets louder for a few seconds as I step into the room. The scent of the air freshener dies out and is replaced by the familiar scent of sweat, mud and deodorant as slowly, almost every set of eyes in the room turn on me and the silence and tension becomes almost overbearing.
I look from each face to the next. Most are oblivious as to who I am and the importance of this moment but then I find a familiar set of eyes. They’re narrowed and filled with an anger I’m all too used to.
We’ve hated each other on and off the field for years. Despite the fact we’ve never actually spent any time together outside of a stadium, we both know that the mutual hatred and rivalry that festers inside of us will always stop us from being friends.
“What the fuck?” Luca barks, his lips curling in disgust as his fists curl at his sides.
“Don’t tell me Coach didn’t tell his beloved starting quarterback that he’s expecting a new wide receiver any day now.” The smugness in my tone rings out loud and clear through the locker room.
There are a couple of gasps from the few guys who know who I am, one in particular over Luca’s shoulders looks about ready to murder me right here on the spot—rightly so after the shit I’ve put his sister through, I guess.
“You’re lying,” Luca grits out as his sidekick and twin brother steps up beside him.
I smile at Leon although it’s totally insincere. I have no intention of making friends with any of these assholes.
I’m here for one reason and one reason only.
To play fucking football.
I was scouted during my first attempt at senior year. Our team might have been beyond abysmal, but I never was. I was the best thing the Harrow Creek Harriers had seen in a very long time, but even as good as I might be, my skill can hardly carry an entire team.
I did my best, and it was helped when Kyle, my little brother, stepped up to play with me but still, we were never going to turn the rest of the pilled-up, hungover, trailer trash that surrounded us every practice into a real team of winners, it just was never going to happen.
But without enough credits to graduate, I couldn’t accept my place as a Panther. So I retook the year, fucking bossed it, and was ready to make the move to Maddison until my little fucking brother got himself locked up.
But I guess, like they say, everything happens for a reason, because here I am about to claim my rightful place right alongside the Dunn twins as first string wide receiver. A position I’m sure many guys who are staring at me right now would give their left testicle for.
“Am I?” I ask, throwing my duffel down on the bench before me and unzipping my hoodie to reveal my Panthers jersey beneath.
“Y-you have to be. You can’t just turn up like this. That’s not how shit works.”
“Not in your world, maybe. But in mine, I’m right where I should be.”
Turning back to him, I find Luca’s lips pressed into a thin line, the muscles down his neck and across his shoulders straining to the point I wonder if they could snap, and his fist clenched, ready to throw a punch that I know he’s been desperate to land for a few years now.
My smile widens as my eyes hold his.
I take a step closer and I swear everyone around us sucks in a deep breath, preparing for us to go up against each other.
“Do you happen to know which locker is mine?” I ask innocently.
“This is not fucking happen—” His words are cut off as the door at the other end of the long room swings open and crashes back against the wall.
While some of the others around us go back to what they were doing before I entered and interrupted things, Luca and Leon don’t move, and neither do I. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I cower down to the fucking Dunn twins. So what, their daddy is ex-NFL. So what, they’ve got more money than I’d know what to do with.
“Ah good, I see you’re getting to know our new receiver.”
Luca’s eyes narrow to slits before he turns to Coach.
“Yeah, about that—” Luca starts marching toward the man in charge. “Do you know who he is?”
Silence once again descends on the locker room, most of them probably wanting to know the answer to that question.
“Yeah, the best damn receiver in the state. No offense, Dunn,” he says, his eyes briefly flicking to Leon.
“I don’t give a shit how good he is, he shouldn’t be here,” Luca barks, trailing after Coach when he turns toward his office.
“Get in there, Dunn,” he chastises. “Get your asses in the gym, ladies. Your muscles ain’t gonna strengthen themselves.” At his word, everyone jumps into action. “Legend,” he says, tilting his chin up in greeting. “Good to see you’re feeling better. Welcome to the team, son.”
I smile at him, it’s the most genuine one I’ve given anyone in a pretty long time.
I might not be wanted here by many, but fuck, I feel more at home here already than I have in years, even with the hate stares still being thrown my way from a few, mainly Zayn Hunter.
4
Letty
Everything feels different when I wake the next morning. I feel lighter, the tightness in my chest that I’ve become all too used to has lessened.
The guys took me to a bar and grill off campus and we spent the evening laughing and eating. It was the most normal night I’ve had in a very long time.
Every time one of them made me laugh, I felt the stress and loss of my past begin to melt away. It was such a freeing feeling after drowning under the weight for such a long time.
Flicking my bedside light on, I look around my room. It’s not unlike my dorm room at Columbia and that’s kinda comforting. The walls are an off-white with dirty marks where the previous occupant must have had posters up. As well as the twin bed I’m curled up in, there’s a single closet, a chest of drawers and a desk. Plus, and I’ve no idea how Mom managed to secure it at the last minute, a private bathroom.
I curl back up and think of how incredible yesterday was. From bumping into Luca and Leon, my classes, my roommates and the possibility of actually being happy here.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face as I finally throw my sheets off and plod through to my bathroom. The tiled floor is like ice against my bare feet and I hop around as I brush my teeth and wait for the shower to warm up.
The second I’m ready, I don’t hesitate in pulling open my door and joining whoever is already crashing around in the kitchen for breakfast. The scent of frying bacon is too much to resist.