Hey y'all! So hope you're all surviving this pandemic. Happy Easter. Hope it went well for everyone! Anyways, here's today's chapter.

###############

The sirens blasted in my ears, threatening to burst my eardrums. Covering my ears with my hands didn't help much either.

And the smell of smoke filled my lungs and the air.

Admittedly not the worst thing I'd ever put in my lungs, but this was involuntary.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and pulled it out, expecting a text from my mom or dad. Or maybe even Baylor. But I also wasn't surprised when I saw that it was from Dean.

Dean💛: Are you ok? Baylor said your school is on fire.

Me: I'm fine. The freshman foods class let a grease fire get out of control.

Dean💛: Good. I was worried about you.

I love how nice he is. He might worry a lot, but that's just because he cares about me. And he doesn't want anything to happen to me. Much like how I don't want anything to happen to him.

Me: Well this damn fire alarm is going to make my ears bleed. But other than that I'm fine.

Dean💛: At least you're not in class rn.

Me: If we're lucky, they'll send us home early.

Then I got another text. Which is odd considering that I have practically no friends.

Smith: God my Algebra class is boring.

Me: He hasn't died yet? I thought you said he was like 10000000000000 years old.

Smith: I know. I'm half expecting him to drop dead in the middle of class.

Me: Maybe he'll kill you first. You sound like you're dying of boredom.

Smith: Hopefully. I can't handle this torture anymore.

Smith: Shit. He caught me on my phone. Text ya later.

Me: Lol. Have fun dealing with that.

I already knew Smith was right when he told all the quarterbacks that we'd be best friends. I love texting him. He's supper sweet and funny.

The bell rang three times in a row, signaling that it was safe for us to go back inside.

I headed to my wood shop class along with all my other class mates.

"Okay guys." My teacher clapped his hands together. "Since part of the school burned down, you get to go home. But can we please clean up the classroom first?" He asked, wiping sawdust off his flannel button up.

As quickly as possible, me and fifteen other students, swept the floor, put away hammers, nails, clamps and glue.

I met Baylor upstairs at his locker. Down the hall I could smell the charred debris and smoke. The walls were tinted black from the flames.

Hopefully they get that fixed soon.

"You wanna go get some lunch?" Baylor asked.

"Yeah! I'm starving." I replied, a little too enthusiastically, causing him to laugh.

"How 'bout Popeye's?" He suggested.

"Oh that sounds so good." I bounced up on my toes.

###

"And you wonder why you're single." Baylor scoffed as I shoved my chicken sandwich in my mouth.

He sipped on Diet Coke as I glared at him.

I'm not in the mood to argue with him today, so I changed the subject.

"Where does dad need me to go again today?" I asked, sipping my drink.

"Lakewood High in New York." He replied, popping a fry in his mouth.

"Right," I nodded. "Jaiden Winchester, number seventeen. Practice isn't until later, I think I'm gonna go see Dean."

Baylor crumpled up his sandwich wrapper and slurrped up the rest of his drink.

"I'm gonna have to go back to school for practice later, or I'd come." He said as we stood up and threw out our trash.

I bid him goodbye and climbed in to my jeep.

Yep. Baylor and I drove here separately. We weren't really thinking.

###

I wandered the halls of Central Valley High in search of the cafeteria.

I assumed it was lunch period by all the people with lunch bags.

I followed a group of people to a set of large glass doors. Upon entering the crowded room I glanced around in search of Dean.

He sat at a table near the center, with his back to me. I could tell it was him by his tall frame and varsity jacket. McKinnley was printed on the right sleeve, and 19 on the left.

I headed towards him, dodging people and trash being thrown away.

"Guess who." I said, covering his eyes from behind.

"Bailey?" He replied, a little confused.

Smiling, I sat down next to him, crossing my arms on the table.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, knitting his brows together.

"Wow. I can't just come and visit?" I replied, a little over exaggerating my shock.

"He's rude, isn't he?" Parker Bryant, stated, giving Dean a fake glare.

I had known Parker for a long time. He'd been friends with Dean since they were in elementary school. Parker used to come stay with us for holidays along with the McKinnleys.

"That's not what I meant." Dean rolled his gorgeous amber eyes.

"I know." I laughed lightly. "You know that one of the foods classes caught the kitchen on fire, and we got to go home early. I decided to come say hi."

"Damn, how bad?" Parker asked, his blue eyes wide.

I shrugged. "Only the classroom and part of the hallway caught fire." I explained, stealing a carrot stick from Dean.

"Any news about the jerseys?" I changed the subject.

At this statement Parker's face lit up.

"Coach said that we'll probably be able to wear our practice jerseys." He explained.

Most schools couldn't use their practice jerseys as they didn't have names or numbers on them, and Central Valley High wasn't an exception.

"But your jerseys don't have your names or numbers on them. How are you gonna be able to wear them?" I questioned.

"My mom says that she'll get iron on patches or something for them. But we're not going to do anything about it until we know we can't find the jerseys." Dean expressed, throwing out his trash and sitting back down.

Parker nodded, checking the time on his phone. "Hey we should get going."

"Yeah." Dean agreed. "Sorry Bails, but we gotta go practice before lunch is over."

"I should probably get going too. I need to make it to New York." I replied, standing up as well.

"You gonna tell me who this quarterback is?"

"Nope. You'll just have to wait and find out."

I gave him a hug and waved goodbye to Parker.

###

How the hell have I gotten lost? I followed all the directions my gps gave me.

"You have reached your destination." Siri's voice crackled through the speakers.

I looked out my windows at the massive houses, and kids running around in the streets. I was in a subdivision, not a high school.

Great. Siri got me lost in some middle of nowhere town in New York.

Unsure what to do, I just kept staring out my windshield. Narrowing my eyes at two guys who carried huge hokey bags. They were both wearing purple hoodies with their last names on the back.

'Winchester' and 'Goulding'

No fucking way.

If this dude really was Jaiden then I was really lucky.

Deciding I had nothing else to loose, I got out of my Jeep and followed them.

"God I'm sore as hell." The one wearing the 'Goulding' sweater spoke.

Jaiden, or the guy I'm assuming is Jaiden, adjusted his bag and switched the hand that held his hockey stick.

"I know. I just want us to get in to the Junior Bowl. It's our last year here and last chance." Jaiden explained.

So this was Jaiden. Thank God I somehow managed to find him.

"It might not be your last year if you keep your grades this low." Goulding replied.

"Jeez Conrad, your sound like my dad." Jaiden groaned.

"I'm just looking out for you man. I don't want you to get kicked off the team just cause you won't do your homework." Conrad replied.

We turned a corner and a massive school came in to view. It was just a bit smaller than my school, but looked way nicer. The grey bricks complimented the large windows and purple accents.

A flag pole displayed a purple flag with the school mascot on it, and an American flag. And a sign informed me that 'Your Are Now Entering Hawks' Territory.'

Oh wow. I'm so scared.

Jaiden and Conrad crossed the street to the school, and I kept going straight. If they thought I was following them, hopefully now they didn't.

I crossed at the next intersection, and approached the field. Some players lingered by the fence, waiting to get in. And students filed out of the school, getting into cars and on to busses.

I leaned against the fence, scanning my surroundings. Easily I spotted the change rooms as the players exited from the door.

Then I saw Jaiden. I recognized his green eyes, freckles and dusty blonde hair. He was with two other guys, and they were laughing loudly at something one of them had said.

I pushed myself off the fence and approached him, letter in hand.

"Excuse me, are you Jaiden Winchester?" I asked, his eyes focused on me.

"Yeah. Why?" He replied, bitting his lower lip.

I handed him the letter. "This is for you."

He opened it, confusion gracing his and his two friends' features. But it slowly disappeared as he read the contents.

"Holy shit. Thanks." He breathed, running a somewhat shaky hand through his hair.

I smiled in reply and began walking away, as their coach opened the fence. I ducked around the corner of the school and pulled on my hoodie, before jogging to the change room.

The lockers had all the players' last names scrawled across the front of them with a dry erase marker. But they were locked.

Jesus. I have the worst luck.

Where am I supposed to find the combos?

Remembering that my school kept all the locker combos of students in the office, I decided that's where they most likely were.

There's no way I can get the combinations if they're kept in the office.

Unless...

I tried to open the coach's office door that was located in one corner of the change room. And it actually opened.

"Huh. Wasn't expecting that to actually work." I muttered.

I opened all the drawers of his filing cabinet and desk, still careful not to disturb anything.

"Bingo." I mumbled, pulling out a piece of paper with names and numbers written on it.

I headed back to the lockers and realized that, the combos and lockers weren't in the same order.

God this was going to make life so much harder than necessary.

I started at the first locker, with 'C. BARCLAYS' written on it. Scanning this paper in my hand I found the numbers 23-12-28 next to the name Caleb Barclays.

After putting in the combination it popped open. I snatched the jersey and shoved it in my bag.

I repeated the task a few times until I reached a locker with most of the letters wiped off. I could only make out the letters 'S. ICH A S'.

I checked the list and tried three different combinations before coming to the conclusion, this locker had to belong to Shane Micheals. Luckily I was right.

More than thirty minutes later I was done, a task that would normally only take me about ten minutes.

I put the paper back where I had found it and ran out the door.

No one was chasing me but I still sprinted the whole way back to my Jeep.

I'm gonna be upset if I'm still not in shape by the end of this week.

Because I feel like I've run several marathons.

###########

Thai chapter was almost as long as the last one. It was over 1900 words. Let me know if you guys are liking the longer chapters or shorter ones.

~Grace🏈