Page 41 of Devious Knight
Sorry Lolita, you’re not going anywhere until I’m done with you.
Time to play a new game.
One that’s going to make you hate me just as much as you want me.
Chapter Ten
Isabelle
The things I do for my friends.
It’s eleven o’clock in the morning and I’m at the last place I want to be.
I’m sitting in the bleachers at the football stadium, freezing my ass off. I’ve been here for nearly three hours.
The appeal of watching seriously hot men run around on a football field is a fantasy shared by most girls I know—like the ones around me watching them.
However, it’s lost on me. I can’t say that I was never one of those girls because up until last September, I was. I’ll go as far as to admit that I would have been in the front row and right within Kade’s line of sight. Anything for him to notice me.
Today I’m here for Mackenzie. It’s the first time the captain of the cheerleading squad has allowed all the girls who made the team last semester to train during football practice.
The cheerleaders at Raventhorn are top-notch and no different from the professionals working for NFL teams like the Dallas Cowboys. Some of the girls on the team in their junior and senior years even have places with teams like that when they graduate.
So as good as Mackenzie was when she first came to Raventhorn, she still had to go through the trial period of rigorous training and assessments.
She was super nervous—which is quite unlike her—so she asked me to come along and watch her.
She knows my recent loathing for the team’s quarterback—although I’ve kept the crazy developments with Kade and his friends to myself.
But Mackenzie looked desperate, and I’m aware she’s worried about the whole marriage thing. When I read that worry in her eyes as she begged me to go with her I didn’t have the heart to say no. Or to lie and make up some excuse like I was busy. All our other friends are busy with actual work, and she knew I was free.
This week is the last easy week before we all become inundated with classes and assignments, but some of our professors have already started issuing prep work. Professor Belle, my art professor, is the only one who seems to be going easy on her students. That worked great for me, so I could focus on finishing my sculpture and prep for my interview with the Lord Chancellor.
But the free time is not so great for instances like these.
Although I’ve tried my best to stay calm, my focus has been split between watching her, watching Kade, and trying to look like I’m ignoring Kade when I catch him looking at me.
Being here is like walking into the devil’s lair. The moment he spotted me, I saw him and Dmitri whispering. Then they looked at me and the unwanted tension already coursing through my body wrapped around my nerves like a million ropes.
I hate feeling like this, and because the countdown to my departure is still so far away, the lure of leaving isn’t working.
At least one good thing happened—I got a text from Micheal this morning checking in for tonight. So it looks like our date is still on.
It made me wonder if maybe Kade had changed his tactics. But I don’t know, and I don’t think he has.
There was something about the way he was with me the other night that felt… different. Possessive different. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to describe the vibe I sensed from him but that’s how I felt.
"Go team, fight!” The cheerleaders chant, and I shift my gaze to them on the sidelines.
They stand in a line, vibrant and energetic, a stark contrast to the intense focus on the field.
Their navy and white uniforms displaying the team’s colors are bright and just as radiant as they are. With their pom-poms in hand, they begin a routine moving in perfect synchrony, their motions sharp and precise.
Their voices rise in the rhythmic chant, the words punctuated by jumps and kicks that show off their athleticism. Their enthusiasm is infectious. Even I in my sullen mood can feel it.
Mackenzie looks freaking amazing. Like she’s been part of the team all her life. The best part is knowing that what I’m seeing her do is just a taste of what she does in ballet.
I catch her smiling at me and I smile back, feeling proud of her. Yet I feel guilty at the same time.