Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
I am literally clock-watching the entire first period, anxious to make it to second and slip out of the school. As soon as the bell rings I dart to my locker, switch out books and go to class. Not having him walk me is like a hail Mary I didn’t know I needed.
Before the bell rings I order the Uber in advance, scheduling it for twenty minutes from now. I try to focus on my class, but it is futile and the minute I get the message saying my ride is here, I raise my hand to go to the bathroom.
My teacher gives me the pass and I walk through the Janitors closet, out the back door and around to the front of the school and get in. ”You’re going to Ninth and Butterfly Lane, right?”
“Yes, please.” For once I am so happy I have my own checking account. He gave me a card to his account, insisting he pay for anything I need and want, but I know if I charge any of this on his card he will know.
The ride is only ten minutes and not long enough to make me change my mind, but my heart is protesting this decision. “Good morning. Do you have an appointment?” The lady at the desk asks me. I can only nod since tears are now falling down my cheeks. “I know dear. It will be over before you know it.”
I wish I could believe her but a decision like this is only the beginning.
Chapter Three
Jocobi
Fucking morons. These alternates are crap. Pure fucking trash and coach knows it. I can see the disgust on his face as he calls out plays none of them get. We run them for an hour before he gives up, throws his hat and walks off the field. He knows at the end of the day me, and the rest of the team will carry another victory across the finish line on our damn backs if we have too.
Walking into the locker room, I see it is twenty minutes into the second period which means I have enough time to walk across the quad and make it to the south campus before my angel gets out of class.
Walking the ridiculous length of this high school I should be reflecting on my time here, reminiscing and looking forward to graduation but that is not what I am thinking at all. From the moment I claimed her in my mind and heart she is my every thought. Hell, I play football for her now. I am being scouted by some of the top colleges in the country, but last week, my coach also confided in me that I have a good shot at being drafted into the NFL fresh out. That would be major for Ripley and me.
See in my mind, I am going to propose to her on prom night and give her and my mom until the end of summer to plan the wedding. When I get drafted, she is going to come with me as my wife and God willing, with our baby in her arms or in her belly growing and showing. I sound crazy, I know. What eighteen-year-old is actively trying to breed his girlfriend before graduation? Hell, I should feel guilty about doing it in the first place, but I can’t bring myself to. There is something inside of me, something maniacal and visceral that needs to own her on every level. Fuck even right now, not being there when she went to her next class is like fucking purgatory to me.
Suddenly in a hurry to get there faster, I cut through the front of the school and stop dead in my tracks. “Is that...?” I stop my question because I know I have to be wrong but then I see her purse before she shuts the door of the car she just got in and everything is in question. I look at my watch making sure I didn’t see the time wrong. She could be going to her tutoring session, but when I see it is barely nine-thirty, I know I am not crazy.
Pissed and unsure what to do since my car is in the back of the school, I remember I have her phone's GPS synced up to mine. Jogging to my car, that is thumb print detected, I jump in and start it. I pull up the map and follow the dots. When it stops I try to picture where this is, but I can’t. I mean the only things in that area are office buildings, a few doctors’ offices and a bank. I think.
I pull up to the block and try to figure out where the hell she is. Parking the car, I widen the search on my phone and hit pinpoint on the app. “What the fuck?” I say out loud when I see where it says she is. I take off in a full-on sprint down the block and to the door of the Darien’s Women's Clinic. I pull the door open, the force of my anger and anxiety, swinging it into the concrete wall behind me.