Free Scarlett White by Chloe Smith Page A

around his back, clasping her fingers together at his ripped stomach. She gently laid her head against Francis' back. Her heartbeat was already going about one hundred miles per hour, and the bike was only going zero.
     
    Francis cranked the bike and sped out of the parking lot. As soon as the wind began blowing hard against Scarlett's hair, she didn't feel scared anymore. She felt rather free. And she realized she was going to enjoy the new relationship with Francis Rogers.
     
    The final bell rang, and Tristan saw Scarlet scuttle out of the classroom as fast as her feet could carry her, which was pretty fast. He had no hope of extracting further information about their past from her. He had football practice, and she probably had a paper to write that was due next year.
     
    Tristan sulked into the locker room alongside the rest of his varsity football team.
     
    "Hey, Tris, what's got you down?" Kyle asked, taking in his grim expression.
     
    "Nothing," Tristan mumbled.
     
    "Awesome," boy, are my friends stupid? "So, for football practice today, can we...?" Football, football, football...is that really all you talk about, Kyle?
     
    Tristan just nodded his head, not really paying any attention to his clueless friend. Sometimes he wished that his friends really knew him. Tristan wasn't the actual Golden Boy that everyone thought he was. He didn't only care about football and popularity, though he did thoroughly enjoy the latter of the two. But still, Tristan cared also about his grades and his family and his videogames and a lot of other things that most of the students at Watson High probably didn't even know existed; for two examples: bonding with siblings and caring about people besides just you. Tristan wasn't as selfish as everybody thought he was. And by everybody, he mainly meant Scarlett. He didn't know why she thought he was so self-absorbed. What right did she have to think anything bad of him?
     
    And then he tuned back into Kyle's conversation with no one because Tristan obviously wasn't paying attention. Tristan realized that Kyle was still talking about football and tuned back out of what his best friend was saying. For some odd reason, he was losing more and more interest in sports and gaining more and more interest in...
     
    No, no, no! Tristan's brain screamed at him, you love sports, you love friends, you love popularity, and you love your life just as it is! She's just some girl who caught your interest for a tincey wincey second. Now snap out of it and get back to your normal life that revolves around football and only football. Think of nothing else; think of nobody else. Only football. You need that scholarship. Football. Football. Football. Stop thinking about her.
     
    I guess you're right. Just some girl. Just some girl. Just some girl.
     
    He repeated those three, simple words over and over again in his head trying to make them come true. Why did his mind keep wandering back to Scarlett? Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? He didn't even think about Alice this much, and she was the most popular girl in school.
     
    "Dude, are you okay?" Kyle asked as they began changing into their sweats for practice.
     
    "Yeah, sorry. I'm just stressed," Tristan said distractedly.
     
    "About what?" Kyle asked, prying into Tristan's personal business. Ugh, Tristan really didn't want to answer him, but felt obligated to since Kyle was his best friend.
     
    "Our next game," Tristan lied, naming the first thing that popped into his head.
     
    "Well, you don't need to be because we're going to beat those losers!" Kyle yelled into the locker room, and everybody clapped, cheered, and whistled their agreement with Kyle.
     
    The entire varsity football team filed into the boys' locker room and began changing into sweats for today's practice while Tristan and Kyle began getting all of the items they needed for practice today since their coach wasn't there.
     
    Just some girl. Just some girl. Just some girl.