“There isn’t really anything to elaborate on.” Axel had given me his jacket last week. And he’d also held my hand. I wanted those things to mean something. But...it didn’t seem like they did. Axel had pretty much ignored me since Friday. After I told him I was going to give my first kiss to someone else.

Uncle Matt smiled. “Players don’t just give their varsity jackets out for keeps unless they’re dating someone. And I don’t recall Axel ever giving his jacket to someone. Even though he’s had quite a few girlfriends.”

He didn’t need to remind me how many girlfriends Axel had had.

“Just...” his voice trailed off. “Remember all I taught you, kiddo.”

Uncle Matt had taught me a lot of things. How to play poker. And how to own a table in pool. I was pretty sure I even remembered him teaching me how to play beer pong when I was little, sans the beer. I wasn’t sure which game he was referring to here...

“You deserve the world,” he said. “And don’t you ever forget it.”

Oh. Yeah, I guess he’d told me that a lot over the years too. But for some reason, the way he said it today sounded more like a warning.

He glanced at Jacob on the field and cleared his throat. “I need to start practice. But come over for dinner sometime soon. Aunt Brooklyn has a new cupcake recipe she’s trying out and I’m sure she’d like your feedback.”

“I’ll definitely take you up on that.” Jacob’s mom made the world’s best cupcakes.

Uncle Matt blew his whistle and walked onto the field.

“What was that about?” asked Sophie when I jogged up to her.

I shrugged. “I have no idea.” I looked back over my shoulder at the field. Actually, I was worried I did know what Uncle Matt was talking about. He was warning me to stay away from Axel Stevens.

“Think your dad will let me come over so we can study these rosters together?”

I hoped so. I needed her help more than ever since we had a JV and varsity list to go through now.

Chapter 18 – A Baker’s Dozen Men

Monday

My dad couldn’t exactly turn Sophie away when she climbed into his back seat. Right?

“Sophie, Scarlett is grounded until Wednesday,” he said.

Darn it.

“But we have a project we need to do together,” Sophie protested.

“What project?”

“A research project.”

My father looked at me in the rearview mirror.

“Please, Dad. We’re just going to be on the phone doing it anyway. It’ll be so much easier if we can be in the same room.”

Sophie buckled her seatbelt, nestling into the back seat.