Change of Plans - C.L. Blackwell Page 0,36

love and war. By the time Coach finished his pre game talk, the crowd was going wild. Bristol was on one side, fully in red, while we were on the home side, fully in blue and silver. Cheerleaders, bands, line dancers, mascots, the whole chi-bang, lined the stadium, pumping up the crowds. I tried to look for Allie but she was lost in the enormous crowd.

By halftime we were beating them 38-17, and the crowd was going roaring. Sierra was on the field cheering with a big smile and small skirt that caught everyone’s attention. Well, everyone’s but mine. I was still imaging Allie in one of those.

While Coach was talking, I finally saw Allie and Brody near the exit of the stadium. She was bundled up in jeans, a sweater and a scarf. She was looking my way, smiling and lifted her hand in a small wave. I waved back only to get smacked in the helmet by Matt, who was now trying to talk to the whole team. He could be such a pain in the ass sometimes, but he was pretty cool. After all, he didn’t run out of the house screaming when Allie told him that we could shift into wolves. When the buzzer blared, signaling that halftime was over, the cheerleaders scampered off the field and were replaced by the teams.

We won the game easily, finishing with a 55-17. We probably could have won by more, but we have to give the Bearcats some chance. When the final buzzer blew, the band, cheerleaders, and students flooded the entire field as always. Allie found me through the crowd and jumped to give me a large hug.

“You played great! Ugh, but you smell awful!” Her little nose scrunched up and I laughed, her senses were kicking up and she probably smelled it a lot worse than it was. There were some downsides to being a werewolf and I bet it sucked with a ton of sweaty football players. I learned to block it out a long time ago, but Allie’s still not there yet.

“Yeah, I think that might have something to do with the football game I just played in, but you never know,” I said teasingly. I pulled her to the sideline where my bag was and handed her my keys, “Why don’t you go wait in my car and I’ll take a quick shower and meet you there?”

“Okay,” she said as she leaned in to kiss me and then disappeared through the crowd.

I quickly showered and had just finished changing when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to find Mike with his hands jammed in the back pockets of his jeans. He rocked back on his heels and asked, “So you and Allie Underwood? How did you manage to pull that off? That chick shut me down more times than I can remember.”

I had to laugh at that. Allie would shut someone down again and again. Before me, she didn’t date. Her plans were to get out of this town right after graduation and a boyfriend would have held her back. Well, I guess everything changes when you’re a werewolf.

“Yeah, well some things are meant to be,” I responded.

“Is she going to the Grill with everyone tonight?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan.”

“Awesome, see you there.” Mark was cool, but was totally FTG (for the girls). He just broke up with his recent girlfriend, Katie, and was looking for a new one. If he even tried to make a move on Allie tonight, I was going to punch him. I nodded to him and walked toward the exit, passing Matt who gave me a slight nod.

Allie was in my car with the heat on full blast. “Jesus Al, are you trying to burn me to death?”

“Sorry, I’m freezing,” her teeth were chattering and she was curled up in a ball in her seat. I recently put on the doors and roof to my Jeep, but I guess that wasn’t enough.

“Yeah, side effect of the transition. I would just make sure to wear lots of layers to take on and off for the next week. It should calm down in a couple of days though. Are you still good to go to the grill?”

“Yes! I’m starving. I could probably eat a whole cow right now.” If she only knew. I went through at least twenty pounds of meat the day before my transition. I reached over to grab her hand, trying to rub some warmth in her and headed