Love Begins with Fate (8 page)

“Tell me why we have to wait for your brother when he has a car
of his own…” Hannah questioned. She was obsessed with Ryder but she was eager to get away from the school.

“I had to drop him off today, so I need to pick him up.” Kelsey said as the two girls walked to the school door. “His car’s in the shop. I guess he is getting the windows tinted.”

“Wow…” Hannah breathed. “His car is sweet. With tinted windows it would be more amazing.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why he hadn’t thought of it sooner, but hey.” Kelsey shrugged. “He said we can wait for him in the bleachers. I don’t mind if you don’t, I got some homework I can work on.” Kelsey suggested.

“Sure…” Hannah replied “But you won’t be working on homework. Have you seen these guys practice?” Hannah questioned with one eyebrow raised up.

“Uh…
only before school why?” Kelsey replied.

“
Kels, they are just some of the hottest guys in the school and they will all have their shirts off.” Hannah sighed.

“Oh… well, I have seen enough guys with their shirts off lately.” Kelsey said remembering the guys in the gym class and the club incident with
PJ.

Thinking back about it, she was beginning to feel pretty horrible for evading
PJ. He had been working diligently searching for her. He had tried speaking on top of a lunch table in the cafeteria the other day, then on Wednesday he had spoke over the intercom asking for information on the mystery girl, and he had hijacked the morning television announcements. Today on the other hand PJ had been asking everyone who passed him if they had noticed who he was hanging around with at the club.

The thing was that Kelsey had changed her hair back to its natural brown color, alwa
ys wore her glasses, and very seldom dressed how Hannah had wanted her to. There didn’t seem to be much of a chance for him to notice her.

The two girls walked along the grass to where the bleachers were
set beside the football field. Sure enough there they were; all of the guys had their shirts off and were running suicide drills.

“Hey man.”
Colt elbowed Ryder.

“Dude?
Quit with the elbowing, what is it?” Ryder asked.

“Look at the hot chicks that just sat down to watch us.”
Colt grinned.

“Dude!”
Ryder snapped rolling his eyes at Colt before he turned and jogged over to the bleachers. Colt’s eyes trailed behind Ryder with wonderment. How he could simply run up to girls and flirt was just interesting.

“Hey
Kels, Hannah,” Ryder said as he approached them.

“Hey Ryder,
” Hannah cooed.

“Ryder.” Kelsey mumbled as she lifted her head only slightly to look up at him before shoving her head back into the book she was reading.

“Anyway… Kelsey I would like you to come meet the rest of the guys; you know the ones that couldn’t make it to the diner the other night.” He beamed.

“Love too.” Hannah squealed hopping up from the bleachers.

“Uh no thanks… I’m busy.” Kelsey protested.

“Hannah?” Ryder pouted. Hannah looked over to Ryder and smirked. It was as if they read each other’s thoughts.

Hannah gripped Kelsey’s book quickly, as Ryder grabbed her, and flipped her over his shoulder. “Ryder!” She yelled.

“Nope… today you’re going to enjoy yourself some. Let’s go introduce you to the
rest of the guys.” Ryder chuckled as he held her legs down from kicking him in the chest.

The rest of Ryder’s football buddies had stopped what they were doing and was staring at him in awe. Those who hadn’t been introduced yet wondered how Ryder could get away with just walking up to some random girl and hoisting her up onto his shoulders to carry
her away; while the others ogled Kelsey’s bum. They watched as the one girl seemed to calm down after a few steps while the other trailed along eagerly beside him.

“Guys,
” Ryder acknowledged.

“You put me down right now Ryder!” Kelsey squealed.

“No, I want you to meet the guys.” Ryder protested.

“Ryder! They will be staring at my butt!” Kelsey hissed angrily into Ryder’s ear.

If it was one thing Kelsey knew about her brother, he had possessive ‘older’ brother syndrome. Even if he was the same age as Kelsey, it didn’t matter.

Ryder stiffened and came to a stop as he slowly lowe
red Kelsey to the ground. “Fine, I’ll put you down.” Ryder said through grit teeth. “But you are going to come and meet the guys. I want you to go out with us, since dad isn’t going to be home anyway.” He told her finally.

“Fine,” Kelsey groaned.

Ryder grinned at his sister’s willingness and began to push her toward the guys. “Hey guys…” Ryder called again.

“For those of you who haven’t yet met her; this is my sister, Kelsey.”

Chapter 13

“I didn’t know you had a sister?” one of the guys said with confusion.

“Well it’s no wonder where you get your mad skills from.” PJ laughed.

Will
stood slightly stunned. Kelsey had believed it was because he continually tried to get her to join their team in gym. So much so, that he had even once tried to threaten her, he knew she was Ryder’s sister but for some reason he didn’t care not to bother her.

“She’s the
girl who beat you guys in gym the other day?” Ryder chuckled.

“Yeah man!” Will pouted. “And she won’t join our team.”

Kelsey looked back up at her brother then back toward the guys. Will was trying to get her through her brother, oh how low. “I don’t blame her for not wanting to be on your team.” Ryder said firmly. “I don’t want her on your team either.”

Kelsey couldn’t help but let out a laugh. To most of the guys it was a magical sound. The ones in her classes had been trying to get her attention all week, but seemed to fail miserably, most of them had figure that Ryder would pick one of them for her but they were all sadly disappointed when he had once again reassured them he wanted her not to date any of them.

“Anyway, this is Hannah; I’m sure most of you know her. Kelsey just moved here from a few states over, she lived with our mom.” Ryder explained.

“Hey girls,” The guys all responded.

“So… you ready to play?” Ryder turned to Kelsey with a wide grin.

Kelsey’s face dropped and she turned to glare at Ryder. She wanted to do her
read not play on the football field with a bunch of half naked guys. “Girls can’t play man.” One guy grumbled.

“Look what they’re wearing their going to just be a distraction.” Another guy complained as he looked Kelsey up and down. Kelsey had been wearing short
black fabric shorts today along with a tank top and sports bra; while Hannah had on short jean shorts and a very busty tank top.

“Nonsense,
PJ and I, will pick teams today.” Ryder called. “The girls would love to play right?”  Kelsey knew that was exactly Ryder’s plan. She just didn’t know exactly why. He liked to use Kelsey in his practices and fun time; she knew it was just to spice things up with the guys. She just had forgotten how much he enjoyed it or she would have never even considered waiting on the bleachers for him.

Hannah shook her head cheerfully. It would be fun to have so many guys with their hands all over her; all the while Kelsey frantically shook her head no.

“I get Kelsey.” Ryder called out.

“Hannah,”
PJ barked out.

It was now obvious to Kelsey that PJ was just as much of a captain as Ryder. They worked in very similar fashion. It also was
obvious why they were friends they were a lot alike.

The
guys had chosen one by one until the teams were defined. The field had been muddy from rain earlier in the day and some of the guys had already been full of mud. It was a playful practice, Kelsey had estimated.

“Okay line up.” Ryder called. “
Kels, you stand right there. And when I toss you the ball you run.” Ryder whispered as if Kelsey didn’t know what he was doing.

“I will enjoy guarding you.” Brandon waggled his eyebrows.

“Move it” Will’s voice said behind Brandon, “Hey princess.”

“Uh… hi,
” Kelsey choked out; it was strange having guys fight over her.

Everyone was ready. Hannah was pretending to be a guard for the opposing team. “You’re going down PJ!” Ryder
then yelled out a few numbers before he yelled out ‘hike.’ The ball snapped back to him. There was a blur of motion as Kelsey rushed toward Will. His smile quickly fading as Kelsey twirled around him and kept running.

He really was going to have to step up his game if he wanted to catch her this time. “Over here!” Kelsey yelled.

Ryder tossed the ball. Kelsey jumped catching the ball with ease and quickly running toward the goal. As she crossed over the line, she began to dance and twirl around tossing the ball into the ground and shaking her butt.

Turning around she came face to face with
PJ. “Isn’t that just the cutest sight ever,” He laughed.

Kelsey blushed and rushed back toward the far side of the field. She had thought that
PJ was not interested in any random girl right now… he was searching for the one girl in particular. Maybe… just maybe he knew it was her. Taking a deep breath Kelsey prayed he didn’t recognize her and hurried back to her side. “Great job Kels!” Ryder laughed as he smacked her on the back. The rest of her team chorused in happily and Kelsey grinned.

“This time…” Ryder said as he began the huddle.

The teams lined up again and this time Will was smirking even more devilishly than before. “Not this time, twinkle toes.” He chuckled.

Will
had been tackled at some point and mud now caked his bare chest and entire body. She could see she was in trouble. It made her wonder how this whole thing was going to play out.

“HIKE!”
When the ball was hiked this time, Kelsey rushed forward twirling to the right instead of the left. Will had caught on. His arms latched out and he whipped her around causing them both to fall to the ground.

“Nope.”
He said as he whispered just an inch from her ear.

It caused a shiver to run down her spine and a small groan to escape her lips. Quickly
, Will smirked again then he pushed himself up and ran after the person carrying the ball.

Kelsey was confused. She sat there wondering what she had done in her life to deserve such a strange life. A person suddenly appeared above her.

“What are you doing?” Ryder asked curiously as he extended a hand to her. “Did he knock you down too hard, cause I can kick his ass?”

Kelsey blushed shaking her head and accepting Ryder’s outstretched hand. “No.”

“Well come on then we’re winning, you’re doing a great job at distracting our opposing players.” Ryder grinned.

Eventually the game ended with Ryder’s team winning five to four. Everyone was tired, muddy, and sweaty. “I think we’re going to head home.” Ryder said to Kelsey.

“Sounds perfect” She admitted. The mud had begun to dry on her skin and it was irritating her.

“Hey, I’ll see you guys later.”
PJ said patting Ryder’s shoulder.

“Hey, did you ever ask Kelsey if she knows about your mystery girl.
Her and Hannah went out that night…” Ryder said looking over at Kelsey. “And I think they know who the girl might be.”

She stiffened, gulped, and looked down
, suddenly extremely interested in whatever she had in her backpack. Ryder became curious once again.

“No… I didn’t.”
PJ cocked his head slightly, “Hey girls.” He began as he walked closer to them, “do either of you know who or heard anything about the girl I was with at the club? If I do say so myself, I was a bit drunk, but I remember some parts very clearly,” He groaned remembering something.

“Uh no,” Kelsey said shakily
trying to hide the blush which was threatening her cheeks. That wasn’t what really caught Ryder’s attention though it was Hannah trying desperately to stifle a giggle. They knew something and he was going to find out exactly what it was this weekend.

“Nope
” Hannah smirked but didn’t turn around.

“Are you sure?” Ryder asked pushing some.

“I do vividly remember a tattoo of stars lining her ribs and hip.” PJ said.

Well Ryder was now relieved. He
knew Kelsey nor Hannah had any tattoos what so ever so that ruled them out. His sister and the girl he was going to go after this weekend.

“Nope, I don’t think I know anyone who has tattoos.” Kelsey shrugged not looking up at PJ.

“Oh, okay thanks.” PJ sighed. “See ya,” He said his shoulders slumped as he shuffled away.

“That boy’s so whipped,” Ryder chuckled “and he can’t even figure out what girl has gotten him so worked up.
I do have to say though I was worried that it might be you or Hannah but neither of you has tattoos.” Ryder had said as they walked away from the field.