Chapter One of Pass Me the Ball (All's Fair in Love and Sports Series Book Three)

​Great news! Pass Me the Ball is now available on Amazon and FREE in Kindle Unlimited! -Julie
 “Hey, Skyler, who’s the new cheerleader?” With his elbow, Logan nudged me, which snapped my focus away from the center of the football field. The humidity hadn’t set in yet, and the dew-covered grass clippings clung to my practice cleats as he and I trudged to where our team was gathering.
The cheerleaders clumped into little cliques in their usual practice area near the bleachers, taking advantage of their tardy coach. If there had been a new student, they would all be gathered around her. Plus, I would have known about it. As captain of the varsity football team and star quarterback, I considered myself in the know about these things. I shielded my eyes with my hand to get a better look.
My girlfriend, Amberlyn, waved casually from across the field, and the girl beside her turned to look at me. My breath caught. It couldn’t be--
The girl standing beside Amberlyn was not a new cheerleader. She wasn’t new at all. Yet she was almost unrecognizable.
Her long, flowing blonde hair caught the morning sunlight and glinted in waves as it rested on the shoulders of her ratty practice jersey that looked exactly like the one I was wearing. Except where my jersey pulled against my pectoral muscles, hers pulled against—woah, I wasn’t going there. While the cheerleaders displayed their tanned calf and thigh muscles under little shorts, her white football pants, covered in grass stains from last season, hugged her hips and curves.
“That’s Jonnie,” I choked out, halting my march to the fifty-yard line.
“No flippin’ way,” Logan said. I swear his jaw dropped. How cliché. Mine was hanging open as well. I snapped my mouth shut and gulped.
Jonnie turned to give Amberlyn a quick hug, then pulled the scrunchie from her wrist, and gathered her long hair into a sloppy ponytail. She grabbed the duffle bag, shoulder pads, and helmet that rested by her feet and smiled as she jogged toward us.
“Hey, guys,” Jonnie said. Her exuberance at seeing us shone on her face. Was she wearing makeup? To football practice? No, she just had a sprinkling of freckles across her sun-kissed cheeks. “Did ya have a good summer? I haven’t seen you in months.”
Neither of us answered her, and I’m pretty sure our jaws hung open again.
“Guys?” Jonnie’s brow creased. “Are you okay?”
“I thought you were a new cheerleader,” Logan stammered.
“Yeah, right.” She pushed his shoulder and guffawed. “Could you imagine me as a cheerleader?”
“Uh huh,” Logan and I both answered. I finally gathered my wits and shook myself out of my stupor.
“Where’ve you been all summer?” I asked. What I wanted to ask was who was this beautiful woman standing in front of me and where did the old Jonnie go? Where was the tomboy who’d played on our football team for years? Where was my best friend?
“I went over to stay with my dad for eight weeks,” she said. From where we lived in Grand Haven, right on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, her dad’s house was two hours away near Central Michigan University, where he was a biology professor. “Bummer that I didn’t get to hang out at the beach, but the good news is, my dad totally threw me like a million passes, so I kept in practice.” Her voice rose at the end in a sing-song way that gave me goosebumps.
“In practice? For what?” Logan scratched his head.
“Touchdowns, you dork. What’s wrong with you today?” She shook her head at Logan and then turned to me. “You’ll be happy to know that I’ve been running between three and ten miles every single day, other than that week when we had, like, three feet of rain. But I ran a couple of 5Ks too, so it made up the difference. I won’t let you down, captain.” She punched me on the arm playfully.
“Touchdowns…” My voice trailed off as she ran toward the center of the field, calling out to some of the other guys.
“Jayce! Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen you in forever!” She ran right into his arms, and he lifted her up and swung her around.
“Chica! What’s up? You look amazing.” Jayce set her back on her feet, and then she hugged Conner.
“Hello, beautiful,” Conner said. “When did you grow up?”
“You’re so funny, Conner.” Jonnie laughed and batted at his arm like a… like a girl. Like a flirtatious, teenage girl.
“Oh, crud,” I grumbled as the whole team gathered around the girl who was not our new cheerleader. She was our best wide receiver. “We have a problem.”

Great news! Pass Me the Ball is now available on Amazon and FREE in Kindle Unlimited! -Julie
 

---