Scanning the locker room and the boys around him, Aaron Hotchner made sure no one was looking as he took the rosary from his locker and threw it into the trashcan. He had already been made fun of and harassed by his friends when he broke it off with his clingy girlfriend Haley that he didn't need them finding out he was getting rid of the religious gift she had given them on their second anniversary.
"Hey Aaron! Good luck in the game!"
Aaron turned and smiled to the nerdy teen waving at him from the end of the aisle. "You too, Marty."
"We're gonna do great!"
Itching his brow, the older teen shook his head. "Marty, remember your cup? Inside of your shorts."
Marty glanced down to the football uniform he had put on and his covered eyes widened. "Oh," he nodded, looking to the other guy through the lenses of his glasses. "Thanks Aaron."
Derek made his way over to his friend and slapped him on the back, handing the helmet to the quarterback. "Still lookin' out for Sanders, man?"
"He has no other friends and he's a nice kid," Aaron shrugged, not wanting to deal with his friend's antics before the first big game of the season. "You almost ready to head out?"
"Yeah, just as soon as coach comes in and talks to us. How you feelin', man?"
The brunette teen rolled his eyes at the question, knowing that the other high schooler was poking at the fact that he was newly single. "I'm fine."
Derek laughed. "You should be. Have you noticed all those girls throwing themselves at you since you and Haley broke up last week? I think I should be jealous, seeing as how I never get that many honeys in the course of a full year."
"It's nice I guess, but I don't want all those girls."
"You want true love," the darker teen drawled, rolling his eyes at the words that his friend had been using for the past few days. "Not just a high school romance, but something that can go on into your future. You don't seem to understand high school, man. These relationships aren't supposed to last like that."
Aaron shut his locker and took a gulp from his water bottle. "I think differently." He gathered with the other football players as the coach came into the locker room to give them their pre-game speech, and his mind slowly began drifting. Without his girlfriend, he was a prime target for those teenage girls that the school called vultures; they'd pick at each single boy, especially the popular ones, as if they were a piece of prime meat, and Aaron was back in their view.
It wasn't that he didn't love Haley, but he'd had enough of her becoming jealous every time a girl would look at him or offer him a drink at a party and her trying her best to keep track of him every second of the day when they weren't together. Being in a relationship meant that there shouldn't be secrets, but she had taken it too far by tracking his phone and even reading his text messages when he left the room.
"Aaron? Last words?"
The teen looked up from the helmet in his hand and nodded, smiling his best to the members of his team. "This is a team we've beaten before and we can beat them again, alright? Let's do this." He put his hand in with the rest and shouted their team's name, running out with everyone else to get out onto the football field.
"And here they are! Home game team, the Falcons!"
Once all the players were out on the football field after welcoming their rival team, fourteen points were earned for them right off the bat, and after twenty minutes, the existing players on the field were taken out for a quick water break.
"Hey man, there's your girl," a random teenager chuckled from behind him, gesturing to the cheerleaders with his water bottle in hand.
Aaron sighed, looking away from the girl in the cheerleading uniform who was trying to gain his attention. Just five minutes without her was all he was asking for.
He cursed, knocking into an oncoming body who was trying to hurry past him. "Geez I'm sorry," he rushed out, picking up the snacks of hers that he had accidentally thrown onto the floor when he bumped into her. "Are you ok?"
"Hey!" Timothy Mathers, the linebacker of their school team, practically sprinted up to the pair and put an arm in between them. "You trying to sabotage our star player? Back the fuck off."
Aaron pushed the other player off of him and shook his head. "Leave her alone, man. It was an accident." Waiting until the other member walked away, the teenager looked down to the girl he had almost tripped over. "I'm sorry about that, he gets really worked up during games. You ok?"
The brunette girl gave a nod, noticing the way the older boy was looking at her. "I'm fine. Sorry for crashing into you, I couldn't get back to the bleachers through the back."
"I'm Aaron," he spoke quickly, not wanting the beautiful teen to leave without introducing himself. "If I crushed your food, come find me later and I'll give you a refund."
Choking down a laugh, the younger brunette nodded her head to him. "Emily, and no worries. We wouldn't want your girlfriend over there getting the wrong impression," she snorted sardonically, backing away from the football player. "See you."
Aaron shot a glance over to the cheerleaders and noticed the blond glaring at him, and he shook his head. He couldn't even speak to another person without her flipping out and they weren't even together anymore.
He looked up to the bleachers and quickly found the cute girl he had spoken to, watching her split the bag of pretzels she had bought with a few other people on the same bench.
She was beautiful.