Chapter Twenty-Five: Violet

It was a long week. Longer than any that I had ever lived through before. Monday, I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a train from my intense cardio session on Sunday. Each day after, it progressively got worse until I decided to just skip my Thursday classes and take a recovery day. Instead of school, I spent the day standing in the dorm showers, under the hot water, until my muscles felt like they had melted. They tightened back up after I cooled off again. For a couple of hours though, it didn't feel like they were made of concrete.

For a while, I debated telling my dad who it was. Then I watched the team scrimmage, and I saw how much Caleb loved the game. It was a reminder of how good he was at it, and my mouth snapped shut.

The worst part about the past four days was Diana. During the scrimmage the afternoon before, the cheerleaders were out to cheer them on. Her smug face, as she watched me run suicides along the sidelines, had me ready to gear up and tack