Tragic

Chapter Twenty-Two: Breach

Elliot

My eyes scan the bleachers while I jog in place. Hunter is seated right behind where Oliver is standing, and he smiles at me. Without thinking, I wave, and Oliver points his whistle at me with his stern coach expression. I roll my eyes and start to stretch.

It's already mid-season, and we're still in first place. For as competitive as Oliver and I are, we would like to keep it that way. I'm about to take my place on the line when I spot our typical crowd plus one person who shouldn't be here. Judah has a ball cap pulled low on his head with a hood over top of it. He must really think I'm an idiot not to recognize him.

Oliver jogs over to me. "Okay, Elle. You got this."

I nod toward the bleachers. "Judah's here."

He turns to look behind him and then back to me. A scowl forms of his face as he places his hands on my shoulders. "Don't let him distract you, okay? I'll be right here the entire time. I will walk you out when we leave. He won't get near you if you don't want him to."

I shake my head. "I'm not afraid of him. I just don't know what to say anymore."

"You said what you needed to say, right? It's up to him to accept it now."

"He's so broken because of me. I feel terrible."

Oliver scoffs. "He'll be fine. He's just having a hard time with all of the changes this year. I'll talk to him again tonight. Make sure he's okay."

I nod as I release a shaky breath. "Okay."

He gives me a smirk and pats my shoulder. "Hunter's here, too. We got this."

Even though I smile back, guilt swirls in my stomach. I would never forgive myself if Oliver lost his relationship with Hunter over this.

He releases me, and I go to the starting line. I exchange one last glance with Hunter before I take my mark. There's something about that moment before the starting gun goes off. Everything seems to fade out around me, and my vision becomes singular. The only thing I can see is the finish line, and the only thing I can think about is how fast I need to cross it.

The shot rings loudly, and I take off down the track. I never hesitate; it's such a natural reaction for me to surge forward when something is chasing me. My lungs are barely warmed up as I easily take first place several seconds before everyone else.

Ollie cheers louder than all the others. He also shouts some language that would typically get someone in his position fired, but for some reason no one ever questions him. I guess it wouldn't seem right if he didn't.

He raises his hand to me as I jog back to his side. "Elle, you fucking smoked them! Good job."

I laugh and return his over enthusiastic high five. He turns to verbally assault the rest of the team as I grab my water bottle.

Hunter winks at me from the bleachers, and I can't hide my smile. It's cut short as I watch Judah stroll down the stairs toward me. He's flanked by most of the current football team, which surprisingly includes Dylan.

Judah doesn't take his eyes off of me as he casually swaggers to the parking lot. It's like he's almost taunting me now. They are still his friends, but there's no reason for him to be home so much. That worries me. As disturbing as he's acting lately, I don't want anything to affect his performance at college.

My eyes drift over to Hunter who is visibly on edge. I think back to the conversation I had with Ollie the day I decided to go after him in the first place. The warning he gave me is still so prominent in my mind even though I have no idea what it means. I need to know what Ollie's not telling me if I have any chance at protecting him.