The next week at school, Elli totally ignored Jakob and gave him the silent treatment whenever he tried talking to her in the halls. She knew that he couldn't help that he was good enough to play early football for UCLA, but she couldn't believe that he hadn't told her earlier. She texted him on Thursday morning, saying that they needed to talk during free period that day.
At free period, Jakob almost ran to the classroom where it was being held. Elli was already there, waiting for him. "OK, so when did you find out about the offer?" "Um, on Wednesday." "And, you didn't tell me until Friday? Why not?" "Because, I couldn't see you the whole week after school to have enough time to tell you." "Well, you're not seriously considering the offer, right?" "Actually, I am. Because it's a great opportunity for my football career." "Why can't you just wait to play in two years from now, when we're BOTH in college?" "If I start to train now, I'll be in good shape for the pre-season training, and have a shot at being one of the best rookies on their team." "How are you going to be old enough to play, if they have an age limit of 18, and you're 17?" "Because, when I moved one year, they kept me in the same grade, instead of moving me forward, so I'll be 18 in May, and then old enough to play in August." "Oh, well then, if you're just going to leave me and all of our friends and, ruin the school's football team of getting to state, then I guess we're over. Bye Jakob." "Wait, Ells!" But his voice was lost as Elli turned away and walked down the hall.
When Elli turned her back to Jakob, the tears came out. He was her first and only love, and it killed her to break up with him. But, if he was going to leave her just so that he could play football, then she couldn't deal with that. Elli didn't have her car to drive home, so she had to wait for Nikki to be done with cheer practice so that she could ride home with her. But, because she had to wait for Nikki, that meant that she saw the football team practicing, including Jake.