Enemy Down - Cathryn Fox Page 0,3

who can stand on her own two feet—well, at the moment, on one good foot. As long as I can stand, I’ll do whatever it takes—anything—to stay in college.

Well, just about anything…

2

Christian

I pick my helmet up from the ground, and the coach comes over to me. He dips his head, and assesses me like he does after I’ve taken a hard hit on the field.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Not really,” I respond as Maize’s words beat against my gut. She blames me for ruining high school for her? Honestly, that’s news to me. After our seven minutes in heaven, when she pulled my pants down to my ankles, and opened the doors so all the girls could get pictures, I never spoke to her again. Yeah, I get it, the mean girls were hazing the skinny new guy. I never paid Maize much attention after that, and even though she left me standing in my boxer shorts, the rumors about her being an easy lay never seemed to ring true. Then again, she did take my pants to my ankles. But how was that me, ruining school for her?

But the past is the past and what’s happening now is far more serious than a stupid hazing prank. I might not like her as a person after that stunt—that doesn’t mean I don’t admire a beautiful girl when I see one—but I’d never forgive myself if she lost her spot on the track team because of my football.

Coach’s voice pulls me back. “Why don’t you go to the hospital, check on her.”

I nod, tap my helmet against my leg and glance around. My best friend Linc, and his girlfriend Steph, slowly walk toward me.

“Okay, guys back on the field,” Coach Meyers orders. He waves his hand and the guys all start back, and I nod as they check in with me.

“Fuck,” I say to Linc. “Her ankle is shit.”

He tears off his helmet and runs his fingers through his mess of dark hair. “That was Maize, right? From high school?”

“Yeah. That was Maize.” I shake my head and stare at Linc, like he can somehow make this all better, even though I know he can’t. He’s a good guy, and back in high school took me under his wing, on and off the football field. We’ve been best friends ever since. I was sixteen when we moved to So Cal, and a skinny kid at that. It wasn’t until eleventh grade that I filled out, and tried out for the football team. During my sophomore year, the girls might have teased me, splashed a picture of me with my pants at my ankles all over social media, but my status quickly changed when I excelled on the football field. Then I was moving in different circles, Maize’s stunt long behind me, and the pictures from the closet became almost legendary, something to be admired instead of ridiculed. How fucked up is that?

I wasn’t a fan of all the attention. I’m not one to flaunt or showboat around and as far as Maize goes, after the incident, she mostly kept to herself or hung out with Kaitlyn. I found out later she was a scholarship student. Maybe she had to focus on her running and classwork and didn’t have time for parties. That doesn’t change the fact that she was one of the mean girls—girls who never had anything to do with me until I was a baller. Of course, Chelsea Haverstock was a mean girl too and that didn’t stop me from sleeping with her in my senior year of high school.

“She looks different,” Linc says.

He’s right. She does look different. She was a cute sixteen-year-old, now she’s a tall, gorgeous college senior who excels in track. Impressive really, and now I might have taken it all away from her. Just because I don’t like her doesn’t mean I want bad things for her.

“Fuck,” I say again. I’m responsible for the accident and I need to at least see what I can do to help. “Listen, I’m going to go to the hospital.”

“I’ll come with you,” Linc says.

Steph slides her arm around Linc. “Me too.”

“Hey, what’s going on?” I glance up to see Kaitlyn coming toward me. Her ponytail bounces as she picks up her pace. “I was out front when I heard the ambulance. Who’s hurt?” She glances around the track, and her face pales as worry moves into her eyes. “Wait, shit. Where’s Maize?”

I jerk my thumb over my shoulder,