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

I was completely wordless. The blood had drained from my face. That was my name...in a gossip magazine. And my face. How had it gotten there? And more importantly, what was this going to do to Zane’s career?

“See what happens when you go against my advice?” Zane’s dad growled, the light from the hallway behind him making him look bigger, like he’d gone Hulk and ripped through his tailored suit. “They use you, time and time again. They don’t even care what damage it does to your career.”

I blinked once, then twice, as realization came over me. Mr. Rees blamed me for this article. He was accusing me of using Zane. That was so far from the truth. I’d never do something like that. Zane had to know that.

Turning toward him, I searched his face in desperation. Zane’s wide-eyed gaze lifted from the magazine to me and once again, that weight I’d felt earlier was back on my chest. But this time, it’d been placed there by the hurt and accusations in his blue eyes.

“Why would you do this?” His knuckled whitened as he crumbled the magazine in his hands. “Why would you send this to the paparazzi?”

His questions had me reeling. “I didn’t. I swear, Zane. I never sent it to anyone.”

“Then, how’d they get it?” Hurt leaked into his voice. For the first time since I’d met him, he couldn’t quite keep up his suave act. “You’re the only one who had it.”

I was pretty sure I looked like a guppy, with my mouth bobbing open and shut. I had no answers for him. It did look pretty suspicious to see me smiling so proudly on that page, my name in bold lettering.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Mr. Rees took a step farther into the room. He stared me down like I was a bug on his windshield. “She used you to jump-start her career. To get her fifteen minutes of fame. This is why I agreed to that clause in your contract. I know better than anyone how people in this industry can use each other. I was trying to save you, Son. But I guess it wasn’t enough.”

He was wrong. Totally wrong.

I clasped the sleeve of Zane’s t-shirt. “I swear. It wasn’t me. You’ve got to believe me.”

He stared at me for a long moment, his gaze drilling into mine. All of my desperation for him to believe me spilled into my eyes. He had to know I’d never do this to him. Finally, with a heavy sigh, he shook his head. “I believe you, Lexi. But either way, it doesn’t really matter now. The damage is done, and we have to do damage control.”

“Yeah, and we’ve got a video chat with the studio producer in five minutes,” Mr. Rees said, glancing down at the fancy watch on his wrist. “I have no doubt it’s about this very subject. Let’s just hope you’re not blackballed from the studio. I’m not sure your career would recover. It’s already all over social media.”

Fear struck me in the sternum. Zane couldn’t lose his career. That wasn’t fair. This was exactly what we’d wanted to avoid. The very reason why I’d come here to say goodbye.

“Sorry, I’ve got to go.” Zane strode to the door and shot me one last, pained look over his shoulder.

It was hard to tell if he truly believed me about that photo. I had no way to prove my innocence. After all—it was on my phone. But Zane was right. Either way, the damage was done, and we would both have to pay for it. I stayed glued to the ground as he walked past his father and onto his way to do damage control.

I expected Zane’s dad to follow close behind him, but he waited until the door shut to clear his throat and throw me another nasty look. “I think it’s safe to say that you’re relieved of service. You’ve done enough damage. You’re off the film. I’ll need your employee badge.”

A piece of my heart tore off when I lifted the lanyard from my neck and handed it to him. I’d expected this anyway, but that didn’t make it any less painful.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Rees,” I said in a small voice. “We really didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

He crossed his arms tightly, my badge dangling from his thick fingers. “Yeah, well, that’s the way Hollywood works. Reputations are made and shattered in seconds. Remember that, the next time you want to build your name on someone else’s.”

There was no doubt that he blamed me for Zane’s troubles. In a big way, I did, too. Maybe I hadn’t sent out that photo, but I also hadn’t stopped our friendship from happening and that was what had caused this whole mess to begin with. Beth had been right. I was stupid to cross that line and now I’d injured us both.

And as Mr. Rees marched out of the classroom, leaving me in the semi darkness, I gripped the edge of the desk behind me and desperately wished I could take back the past few days.

But there was no going back.

Chapter Nineteen

I couldn’t stay in that classroom forever. If there was any way I was going to survive this day, it was by getting through all of my classes and then running home to dig in the chocolate stores Mom kept hidden in the back of the pantry. Swiping under my eyes with my fingers to wipe away any lingering tear trails of mascara, I ventured out the door.

There was still a half hour to go before school started. The nearly empty hallways echoed with the sound of my sandals clapping against the waxed tile floor. I barely had the energy to do anything but stare at the squares ahead of me.

This was such a mess. I’d lost my job and the chance to have Alanis as an amazing reference. Zane could lose his entire career before it really took off the ground. And all the rest of the world knew about our relationship. There was no putting it back again. I almost wished my dad hadn’t gotten me this job...

I gasped in horror as I thought about Dad. Would he lose his job, too? All because of his selfish daughter who was too dense to think through the consequences of falling for someone who was totally off limits? That line of thought made my eyes burn once again. I was an ungrateful person, if there ever was one. Dad would hate me when he found out. He and Marie would never be able to look at me again.

I’d screwed up so bad.

It wasn’t until I was nearly to my locker did I look up to see the papers that had been taped along the walls. They were white, with big black letters and a colored picture printed at the bottom. At first, I wondered if it was something for school spirit week. Our football team was ramping up for a good season and Rock Valley High was big into showing their support. My sister had been the mascot last year and that was embarrassing enough. I wondered what the cheerleaders were up to this year. But as I walked up to the one taped to my locker door, my jaw nearly dropped to the floor.