Free Unbreakable (Accidental Crush #3) by Adrienne Torrisi

put their jerseys on over their uniforms, so Gretch has Ryan’s tied in a knot to show her skirt and mid-drift clearly. It seems like the players make sure they have girlfriends before the game, because almost every girl is wearing someone’s football jersey.
    “Nice.” I gesture to what Blythe has done with the jersey look.
    She shrugs and smiles. “I had to do something, and I know he’d kill me if I cut it up or did anything to it.”
    “Very true. Plus, he’s already in enough trouble.”
    She gives a guilty smile and then starts searching the crowd on the field for Brian.
    I turn to whisper to Shane whose gaze is locked on Johnny. “You should have worn his jersey. That’d be the perfect way to come out and make a statement.”
    “Funny, Ash,” he says, not laughing.
    “I’m serious,” I say, leaning back on the bleacher behind me.
    “She’s right, Shaney,” Sid says, figuring out what we are talking about. She’s on the other side of Shane, her eyes scanning the band to find Simon.
    Sid and Simon are still going strong. At least he’s not a senior, so they have lots of time left together. I start to feel bad for myself when Blythe and Shane interrupt my wallowing by both leaning into me.
    “I can’t believe he is here,” Shane says at the same time Blythe says, “Looks like we’ve got company.” As soon as Sid sees him, she grunts.
    I look up to see what they are talking about, and my eyes land on Casey standing at the bottom of the bleachers.
    When he gives me a head nod, I give him a small wave and a smile, but whisper back to them through gritted teeth, keeping my eyes locked on him. “Well, we are playing his school.”
    “Ashley Taylor,” he shouts in front of everyone, and my stomach does a flip.
    I know my cheeks are bright red. I instantly want to shrink down; instead, I give him a WTF type of shrug and pray to God the players on the field can’t hear him.
    “Come down here,” he continues to shout over everyone’s heads from the front of the bleachers.
    Thankfully, the game is starting and most people are paying attention to that. Unfortunately, Todd is on the sideline warming up, so even though he’s in the zone and doesn’t hear Casey yet, chances are pretty good it’s only a matter of time. I don’t want to do anything that could mess up this game for him, since I know how important it is, and he’s already sitting out the first quarter. As a result, I start to get up, knowing Casey won’t stop shouting.
    I feel Sid’s arm pull me back. “What are you doing?”
    At first, guilt flashes over me, but he is my friend, my teammate, and I should be able to go say hi without an explanation, so that feeling quickly transitions to anger.
    “I’m going to say hi.”
    Sid gestures with her head toward the field. I know exactly what she means without her saying a word. I also know there needs to be trust there, or this will never work, and I know Todd trusts me.
    I pull my arm away from her. “Don’t, Sid.” I try to make it as clear as possible with my look that she is overstepping, even if she is my best friend. Then I start to make my way down through the crowd of people to meet up with him.
    “Hey, Ashley Taylor.”
    “Hey?” I say with a questioning tone. “What’s up?”
    “I just wanted to say hi.”
    “We could have done that from where I was.”
    “Well, I wanted to say hi closely.” With that, he steps closer and sort of stumbles. I’m pretty sure he’s been drinking.
    My gaze instantly shifts to where Todd is warming up, and I see he hasn’t noticed. He’s pretty focused on his warm-ups, so my heart slows back to a steady beat.
    Casey sees the direction of my gaze and quickly tries to intercept. “Let’s go for a walk. Let me buy you a hot dog.” He wraps his arm around me and guides me toward the concession stand.
    I instinctively look up to the bleachers, and my eyes lock with Sid’s, her look saying everything I’m feeling. I know if Todd sees