Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High 5)

Seriously, what was I thinking? That boy made my insides go all silly. This speech was never going to work. Not when just being in the same room with him had my brains resembling scrambled eggs.

“I mean it.” He smiled and then sat on the top of the desk next to mine. “Did you rock your Shakespeare quiz yet?”

“It’s not until tomorrow morning.” My voice sounded like it was coming from far off, in a dreamy sort of way. “Mr. Garret is practically salivating every time he warns us about it. It’s going to be a tough one. I’m not sure what to expect.”

“You’ve got this in the bag.” Zane squeezed my hand. “You’re smart. And if I learned anything from making the mistake of challenging you on the soccer field, you’re aggressive. You’ll blow it out of the water.”

He was so supportive and sweet, it left me staring at him with heart eyes, forgetting the entire reason why I’d texted him this morning. Why couldn’t Zane just quit acting and come to live in Rock Valley? Why couldn’t he be the boy next door, instead of the man about to become a mega superstar in the acting world? The boy that I couldn’t have. It just wasn’t fair.

“Hope I didn’t get you in too much trouble with Charlotte and Beth last night,” he said, ducking his head and grimacing. With a peek in my direction, he smiled sheepishly and then ran a hand through his hair. It was an adorable move that had my heart pitter pattering. “Your friends are really nice. I don’t want them to hate me.”

“Why?” I bit my inner cheek and stared hard at him. “Why does it matter what they think about you? You’re leaving in a few days.”

Reality was pressing down on my chest like one of the barbells from the weight room. My lungs could barely inflate. Zane pulled back, as if I’d struck out at him. Confusion washed over his face.

“Well, because...because it matters to you.”

Dang it, he was perfect in nearly every single way—except for the fact that he was leaving. As soon as his soccer movie was done filming, he and every one of his little acting buddies would be gone. Yeah, I’d still see him in tabloids and online, but we’d be thousands of miles apart. And he’d still be playing the role of the heartthrob. There was no chance for us.

Beth’s words came flooding back to me. She was right. I was risking my entire future on a relationship that had no potential. And Zane was risking his, too. This thing between us never made any sense, no matter how much I’d tried to ignore that.

This was officially the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.

“Zane, I’m sorry.” I hopped down and stood in front of him. With his lanky legs hanging off the edge of the desk, we were just about at eye level. I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, hoping he could read the sorrow in my own as I said what needed to be said. “If things were different, I would be the first girl in line to give you her heart, but we know this can’t go on. And obviously, just being friends is impossible for us. So I’m going to have to end it here and now, before something happens that we regret.”

I expected to see a bit of anger in his eyes. It wasn’t an uncommon first reaction I got whenever pulling the plug on a relationship. But instead, the light in Zane’s eyes fizzled as he slumped slightly and then took both of my hands in his.

“I know.” He stared down at my hands in his, disappointment washing over his expression. “You’re right. I was just hoping we could fly under the radar for another few days. You know, I’m actually doing a movie next year about a secret fling. We could call it research.”

I laughed and squeezed his hands. Ugh, he was too good to be true. He’d officially ruined all the other guys for me in high school. And possibly college, too.

“I think we’ve got enough on our plates without adding that complication,” I said, slipping my hands out of his. “Your up-and-coming stardom...”

“And your award-winning makeup career,” he added with a sad smile. “You’re right, but that doesn’t mean I like it.”

“And who knows? Maybe we’ll meet up again in a few years.” I blinked back the surprise waterworks threatening to make an appearance. “And maybe you’ll be done with the whole heartthrob thing, anyway. You can take me out on a real date.”

“It’s a deal.” He took his phone from his pocket and opened the calendar app. Skipping forward, he created an appointment. “How does a date two years from now on September twentieth sound? I’m scheduling it in now. You better not stand me up, or I’ll never hear the end of it in the tabloids.”

I laughed at the stern expression he shot me, even as my heart panged with sadness. I thought I had breakups down to an art, but Zane had thrown me for a loop. Everything about him had been different. Unexpected. And now, we were saying goodbye sooner than we wanted. It wasn’t enough time.

“I’ll be there,” I said with the best smile I could muster. “But you’ll be a huge star by then. Maybe you’ll forget about me and stand me up.”

“Never.” He took my face in his hands and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to my lips.

It tasted like goodbye.

I wiped the one tear away that had dared to escape my eyelashes as the door behind us burst open. We both turned to see Zane’s dad hulking in the doorway, much like he had that day at the picnic shelter.

“Dad.” Zane slid off the desk and stood next to me, his demeanor changing al

most immediately from the sad boy I’d just broken up with into a type of steady confidence that oozed off of him. “I was just about to come find you.”

“Don’t worry, I found you.” His dad’s eyes flashed, and his lips pulled down into a near-snarl. I inhaled sharply as he stepped into the room and tossed a rolled-up magazine that hit Zane squarely in the chest. “Look what’s in the paper today. I hope you’re ready to deal with the consequences, Son, because my pull only goes so far.”

Too curious to walk away, my gaze slid over the glossy pages of the magazine as Zane unfurled them. When he got near the middle, I gasped as a familiar photo made an appearance.

“Is Zane Rees done with his bachelor ways?” Zane read aloud. It was printed in bright red ink above the cute shot he’d taken of us in the library. “Who is this mystery girl? Read more to find out about the budding makeup star Alexis Black...”