Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

be all right. But just so you know, if you lose any games this season and make us cheerleaders look bad, I will disown you.”
    He laughed, “I’ll try, but there’s no guarantees.”
    “That works for me.” She stuck her hand out to shake on it.
    He laughed again and slapped his hand in hers. “You can’t just take my word for it?”
    “Nope, we gotta win some games.”
    “Hey y’all.”
    They both turned quickly at the sound of a familiar voice.
    “What are y’all doing in here?” Marissa Lou asked. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared between them, noticing the hand in the cookie jar look on their faces.
    “Hey, babe,” Daniel said quickly dropping Katie’s hand and walking up to her. He wrapped his arms around her for a hug and kissed the side of her head. She didn’t hug him back, but instead she kept staring at Katie.
    “This jerk came in here and pissed me off. You wouldn’t believe the stuff he was saying,” Katie said quickly, once she was able to speak. She knew she didn’t do anything wrong, but the look on Marissa Lou’s face made her feel like she did.
    “Yeah, I was just coming back here to check on her.”
    Marissa Lou pried her eyes off Katie and stared at him skeptically. He gave her a goofy grin, which made her instantly soften and smile.
    “How did you get back here anyway? You’re not exactly allowed behind the counter. Was there no one up front to stop you?”
    “I didn’t see anyone,” she said simply. “I just wanted to come and show support for Katie’s first day. Jess and Becca are here too. When I couldn’t find anyone up front I decided to jump the counter to find you. Sorry,” she whispered.
    He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to guide her away. “It’s okay, babe. Let me sneak you back up front though so I don’t get into trouble.”
    A moment later Katie regained her composure and followed after them.

Chapter 6
     
    A few weeks later, the roar of the crowd filled the night sky as Daniel caught the football from the lineman that Daniel had just thrown it to. Daniel was the quarterback so it wasn’t really his job to carry the ball down the field, but the moment it touched his hands again he didn’t think, not even to wonder if Matt was okay, he just ran. He clutched the ball tight to his chest and threw his free hand out to push away on coming players from the opposing team who wanted to steal it away. It was the final play of the game, with just thirty seconds left, and they were down by four. Everything depended on this one moment. He veered to the left, skirting the side of the field, passing his screaming team mates, fans and cheerleaders as he did.
    “Oh my gawd, he’s going all the freaking way!” Marissa Lou yelled in awe as Daniel passed them to run the entire length of the field.
    Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other cheerleaders looked between him and Marissa Lou, lost as to what to do. But in excitement, Marissa Lou must have given up on any hopes of a cheer and began jumping up and down, clapping her pom-poms together and screaming for him to go. Watching her, the other girls followed suit and chaos ensued.
    Fifty, forty, thirty, the lines were flying by and though Daniel’s legs were numb and his lungs ached for a break, he refused to stop. It confused him when the crowd grew quieter, making him wonder if someone was on his tail. Begrudgingly, he looked behind him, but there was no one there.
    Suddenly noise broke out again, it wasn’t a roaring blast of random words like before, but a unified chant; “ten, nine, eight…” They were all quiet in shock, but now they were counting down with the clock.
    Time was running out and he still had a couple yards left to go. Before the word “one” left their mouths Daniel pushed with everything left in his tired body and leapt in the air, the ball extended as far as it would reach in front of him. He didn’t know how long he had been airborne, but it felt like