and practically dragged the kid from the pool by his hair before threatening his life—a twelve-year-old boy with braces. He told him he’d rip the braces off his teeth with his bare hands if he ever talked to Jacey or pretended to like her because of who her father was. Needless to say, that kid was never seen at our house again, and after Jacey was done having a meltdown of epic proportions, she had thanked our dad for sticking up for her.
My dad was fiercely protective over our family, and I respected it.
“Like I said, Carter, you’re only here because of your last name,” he spat.
I shook my head before sitting back down. That was literally all he had to say to me, and we both knew it was bullshit.
“Chance is here because he’s the best catcher I’ve ever seen behind the plate. You know it. I know it. Coach knows it. Hell, all the scouts know it too. You’re only here because your last name is played out, and frankly, it’s fucking stupid.”
“Fuck you, McAllister,” Dylan said to our best pitcher, Cayden, before sitting down and pulling the girl back onto his lap.
She squealed in delight, and before I knew it, they were making out, all conversations stopped.
“Thanks.” I gave a nod to Cayden.
“It’s all true,” he said, “but you’re welcome anyway.”
“Chance?” Mac’s voice dragged me back into the present. “You good?”
“Yeah, man. Sorry. Just got lost there for a second.” I went back to unpacking.
“So”—Mac grinned at me, and it was the kind of grin that told me I was going to hate whatever he said next—“end-of-summer party before school starts?”
“Are you asking me?” I cocked my head toward him because it had sounded like a question.
“I’m not asking, dude. It’s happening.” He wiggled his brows, and I realized that even though he was legit the most girl-crazed guy I’d ever met in my life, I’d missed hanging out with him.
“When?” I wasn’t in the mood at all to have a party at the house, but I knew I’d be in the minority.
The guys loved having people over. Correction: the guys loved having girls over. And girls were the last thing I wanted. If it were up to me, we’d never host any parties or have any single females here.
“Later.”
“Tonight?” I blew out an exasperated breath. All I wanted to do was sleep. I was exhausted.
“Yep. And don’t even think about staying in this room all night, or I’ll fill it with pussy. And I don’t mean cats.”
“Get out.” I pointed at my door with a laugh, and he stood up and walked backward, his hands in the air, still whispering under his breath.
After looking around at the things I still had left to organize, I fell backward onto my bed, knowing that Mac would follow through with his threat if I tried to hide in here without at least making an appearance.
Guess I have a party to get ready for.
Pre-Fall Party
Danika
“The guys are throwing a party tonight,” my roommate announced as she bounced into our tiny living room, where I had been sitting and reading a book quietly just moments before.
She was always ridiculously happy. I guessed that was what happened when you had a name like Sunny. You had to live up to it.
“What guys?” I asked because there were thousands of guys on campus, and without being more specific, I had no idea who she meant.
“The baseball team!” she exclaimed, and her smile grew even wider.
Like I’d said, Sunny was the epitome of her name.
If there were an opposite to her light, it would be me. Sunny was all blonde hair and fair-skinned, where I was dark-haired and olive-toned. She had been born and raised in the suburbs of Southern California, and I had been born and raised in the city of Manhattan. We were as different as night and day, but somehow, our friendship worked. What I liked most about Sunny was that she was genuine and honest—two things that I respected more than anything else when it came to girls who were my friends … or when it came to anyone actually.
“Okay. And your point is?” I folded my book, my hand tucked between the pages to hold my place as I waited for her reply. I couldn’t have cared less that the baseball team was throwing anything, much less a party.
Don’t they celebrate themselves enough?
It wasn’t that I didn’t like to go to parties on campus because I absolutely did. I