Free Offside (Pro-U Book 2) by Ali Parker

our girls grow in their leadership skills." Coach Rhodes reached over and tugged at my wrist. "Emily here is going to be trying out for cheer captain soon, aren't you?"
    "I think so." I forced a smile and kept my eyes on my coach. I wasn't sure what the purpose of introducing me to the head soccer coach was, but Rhodes always had an agenda - good or bad.
    "Excellent. I'll leave you two be. Don't keep her too long Carlos. She has a group of unruly teenage girls to whip into shape."
    He chuckled and turned his attention back on me. "Better you than me."
    "Right?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "What can I do for you, Coach Diaz?"
    "Firstly, we'd like to talk to you guys about having a smaller segment of your squad come to our soccer games this fall and help us liven up the crowd. I know it won't be like the football games, but if we could swing it a few times, I'd be grateful."
    "Depending on what the schedules look like for our previous commitments, we can do that."
    "All right. I'll e-mail your coach a list of our games for the fall, and you just make sure we get brought up at your planning meetings. We can meet sometime later this summer and talk about any dates that you'll be able to join us."
    "Okay. I like the sound of that. I love soccer."
    "Awesome." He slipped his hands into his pockets and glanced around. "So the other issue I'm having is that one of my players got pretty sick last night at the Omega House party. He mentioned a few people that were there, and your name came up."
    "What? I didn't drink or smoke or anything." Fear raced through me. I knew I shouldn't have gone to that damn party. It was going to be the end of me and Brody, and now it looked like I was going to hang for something I didn't do to top it all off.
    "No, of course not. I know you're known around here as a great girl, an upstanding student and such. The word on the street is that Jacob Wright brought in some type of date rape drug and slipped it into the beers at the party. Do you by chance know anything about that?"
    "No. I saw Jacob this morning and he was deathly sick, so I can't imagine it was him." I tilted my head to the side, studying the coach. I couldn't tell if he believed Jacob to be a villain or not. Either way, I didn't like it one bit.
    "One of the new softball players is putting up some pretty rough allegations, other than him spiking the drinks."
    "Have you spoken with him?" A cold chill ran down my body. Jacob might be a whore, but he would never hurt anyone. The night we'd spent together proved that.
    "No. He's next on my list, but I wanted to try and check out the story before laying the situation before him. He's got a lot going on, and the kid’s had a pretty rough life."
    "And this girl is claiming rape?" I didn't mean to blurt it out, but by the sad look on the coach’s face, she was doing just that. "No fucking way. I was with him last night. How could he have been with her?"
    The coach’s eyes widened a little. "Really? What time?"
    "I got to the party at eight, and I went home this morning around four or five, maybe? I would rather you not say anything as it was a total mistake to sleep with him, and I don't want to lose my boyfriend. He cheated on me last night and like an ass, I retaliated." I glanced around, not quite sure of what I was doing. Lying for Jacob was one sure way to get my own ass in hot water.
    What if he had raped someone? No way. I couldn't believe that if I wanted to.
    "All right. Thanks, kiddo. College is a bitch. Just keep your head above water and you'll be fine." He turned and paused, then turned back around. "And Emily... thanks."
    I nodded, getting the meaning loud and clear. He knew I was lying, but he had his alibi.
     
    *
     
    "This can't be real, right?" Natasha glanced over at me as we sat in Mersky's later that day, sharing a burger and basket of fries. She'd treated me to an early dinner seeing that there was no way I was going to eat otherwise.
    "It's real all right." I plucked