Chapter Twenty : Wild

"Called it." Jane smirked at me with a cocky look in her eyes as she walked up to Dakota and I during lunch. When word gets out that the quarterback and co-captain of the football team are a couple, it spreads like wild fire.

Part of me already had a feeling that Jane knew long ago. Like I had said, her instincts were killer.

This morning was a nightmare. People I didn't even know were pointing at Dakota and I as we walked to first period, whispering back and forth. He told me to ignore it but I could see through him and it bothered him just as much as it bothered me.

"I can't believe this!" Gemma squealed, nearly deafening me with her high pitched voice as she sat beside me on the bleachers. I couldn't tell if she was angry or upset from the solemn expression on her face. She looked stunned for words.

"Believe it." Dakota said before shoving a handful of chips in his mouth and winking at me.

I only shrugged with a half hearted grin, mostly because I didn't know what to say. Dakota was playing it off as nothing on the outside but I know that on the inside, he wasn't as brave as he seemed.

I'll admit to myself that I was pretending too. I didn't want anyone knowing I was afraid because being afraid was a sign of weakness. A weakness that someone could use against me and I did not want that happening. So even though I was afraid, I had to put on a brave face and told myself I wouldn't let anyone give me or Dakota a hard time about this. Thankfully we hadn't run into Eva yet. Seeing Alex and Queenie was inevitable due to obvious reasons.

"I just can't believe this." Gemma muttered, more to herself. I gave her an apologetic smile and patted her back.

"Why do so many people care anyway?" Dakota rolled his eyes, getting irritated. The bell rang ending lunch break, and I was thankful it went off went it did. The awkward tension between the four of us was suffocating. It wasn't as if Gemma and I were a thing but she liked me. The night of her party, she looked hurt when Dakota blabbed about us to everyone. There's probably a million things she wanted to say to me but it wouldn't have mattered, because we never dated. It was the harsh truth.

I dreaded the thought of practice, hoping what Alex said wouldn't be true. Coach is crazy but kicking us off the team? I just can't imagine it. If he was open to aliens, he had to be open to two guys being together. Especially when one of those guys was the best player on the team and he assigned me as co-captain. I mean, there had to be a reason for that.

"Alright ladies, game night in one week. Let's show those bastar-"

"Coach." Dakota interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

"Alright, alright." He blew his whistle and we began the drills. I silently thanked Dakota for cutting him off when he did, if he hadn't he would of went on and on about the opponents, then it would turn into some conspiracy theory that made no sense.

"I wonder if coach knows." I said to Dakota, glancing over at him from across the field.

"Well if he does, he sure doesn't care." Dakota said and shrugged as we continued to stare at him. He was endlessly muttering to himself, probably something to do with the aliens, the end of the world, god knows what. I wasn't ready for what felt like everyone, to know about us. But it was out and there was nothing I could do about it except to pretend I was okay with it. Dakota tackled me, catching me off guard as we went reeling to the ground, pinning me down. I chuckled and shoved him off.

"We have to practice."

I pushed myself harder to finish the drills, wanting to show my mom how good of a player I could be at the next game and why I was assigned co-captain. I hadn't told her yet. Subconsciously, I did care what my mother thought of me. Most of the time I would shrug it off but in the back of mind, her words were always circling around, taunting me in a way. At the same time it bothered me that I even cared. Half way through Alex stopped doing the drills and everyone stopped to look at him, anticipating what he would say. So did I.

"Coach, are you really not going to say anything?"

"About what son?"

"Moreau and De Angelis, they're gay!" He said, glaring at us.

"I don't give a rats ass, now get back to practice." Coach spat solemnly and blew his shiny whistle, looking unfazed by what he'd just heard.

Half the team sniggered as Alex walked by, starting up the drills again. The other half were just like Alex, grimacing at us in disgust. I ignored it as Dakota and I looked at each other, holding back laughter.

"Coach is savage." Dakota whispered.

I was sat on the bleachers waiting for Dakota as he put in extra time for practice, the field was empty with just the two of us. I grabbed my water bottle and down the rest of it, glancing at him every now and then, amazed at how lucky I'd gotten making me want to work harder for him, for someone he can be proud of.

Coach's response to Alex earlier left an impression on me. How he was still a teacher, I will never know. It's a wonder how he got away with it. I guess that football scholarship is important to Alex, not like he can't afford it on his own but who am I to judge. I tried to keep a good mindset when it came to the team. If there were players that didn't like us, then they could leave.

"Want to come over for dinner?" I asked Dakota on our way home.

"Do you have to ask?" He chuckled.

As soon as I got home I showered, I brushed my teeth -twice and I put on deodorant. I picked out decent looking clothes from my dresser, but nothing too fancy. I couldn't let him know I was actually trying to look good for him. He'd hold that over me for years. I dropped my towel and began to change

"Mom, Dakota is coming over." I said as I walked into the living room.

"Great!" She beamed, putting down her knitting supplies and walking into the kitchen to finish up dinner. I sat down on the couch and turned on the tv, trying to pass time until Dakota came over. But time seemed to go by slow and the wait was killing me. I twiddled with my thumbs and kept getting up to look out the window. As soon as the doorbell rang and I shot up to answer, practically sprinting to it.

"Hey." I smiled at Dakota, who was also freshly showered and nicely dressed.

"Hey." He grinned and walked in, slightly brushing his hand against mine.

"The food is great Mrs. De Angelis." Dakota said with a mouthful of food. Usually seeing something like that would be gross but it looked cute on him. Like a baby with food all over its face, that's cute right?

"Thanks hun! I hear from your dad you're doing great as quarterback." My mom patted his hand with a proud motherly smile that I've never been given.

"Mhm." He nodded, still stuffing his face. Normally it would bother me that my mom was fawning all over him, but I was too busy doing the same to care.

"Did you hear that Luka is co-captain now?" Dakota asked, trying to shift the subject off of himself.

"How nice." My mom gave me a half hearted smile. I rolled my eyes and scoffed under my breath. Dakota gave me an apologetic look as we continued to eat. I thank him for trying but it was really no use when it came to my mom. I could become the next president and it still wouldn't measure up to her standards, whatever standards those were.

"What a day." Dakota said as he laid on my bed, rubbing his stomach.

"Right." I said and laid beside him feeling full to the brim and I thought back on today. It was a lot to take in, Dakota was always the one getting attention from everyone else, I was just in the background but now it's the two us in the spot light. Part of me actually liked the attention. I was thankful my parents hadn't found out. I still can't think of what would happen if they did, hell I don't want to.

"Come here." Dakota said pulling me from my thoughts and leaned over me, putting his finger under my chin as he pulled me closer. His gleaming hazel eyes bore into me, taking in every inch of me as I was doing the same before he closed his eyes and pressed his lips against mine. My body tingled from his soft touch as our lips moved in sync. The warmth from his breath was making me hot and bothered.

Dakota broke the kiss off, catching me off guard and only making me want more of him. I grabbed his waist and pulled him close.

"Your mom might catch us." He teased with a grin, sitting up.

"You're driving me crazy." I groaned.

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