Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 260

Noah

The locker room felt louder than it should have.

Guys were shouting Pads were hitting the floor. Someone was already blasting music from a phone speaker like this wasn’t the end of something.

I sat on the bench, staring at my cleats.

Last game.

Last time pulling them off in this room

Jackson was two lockers down, shoving his gear into his bag like it was any other Friday.

Except it wasn’t.

I leaned back against the cold metal behind me.

“You know what I’ve been thinking about?” I said.

Jackson didn’t look up. “How badly you almost missed that block in the second quarter?”

“Shut up.”

He smirked faintly.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said before the game.”

That got his attention.

He paused mid–zip.

“Yeah?” he said casually. “Which part?”

“Small fish,” I said.

His hand stilled for a second.

Then he finished zipping his bag and shrugged like it didn’t matter.

“Oh. That.”

“Yeah. That.”

Jackson leaned back against the locker, towel still around his shoulders.

“It’s true,” he said simply.

But it didn’t sound panicked this time.

It sounded… acknowledged.

“I guess it’s starting to hit me,” I said slowly. “Everything changes from this point on.”

Jackson nodded once.

“Yeah.”

“No more being the guy automatically,” I continued. “No more knowing the system inside out. No more everyone looking at you like you’re supposed to win.”

Chapter 20

Jackson exhaled through his nose.

“That’s the part that’s weird,” he said.

“What?”

“I’ve always known who I am here.”

He gestured loosely around the locker room.

“Quarterback. Leader. Guy who carries it.”

He looked at me.

“In college? Nobody cares what you did in high school.”

There was no self–pity in it.

Just reality.

“I might’ve been the big fish here,” he said. “But there’s a hundred other guys who were big fish too.”

I nodded.

“Scary?” I asked.

Jackson thought about it.

“Not scary,” he said finally. “Just… real.”

That surprised me.

“Real how?”

He adjusted the strap on his duffel bag.

“Real like… this is where you find out if you’re actually good. Or if you were just comfortable.”

That hit harder than anything he’d said before.

Comfortable.

Ridgeville had been comfortable.

Predictable.

Even the drama was predictable.

I ran a hand over my face.

“You don’t think you’re good?” I asked.

Jackson gave me a look.

“I know I’m good,” he said. “But good isn’t special at the next level.”

He stepped closer, lowering his voice a little.

“I don’t want to just be good.”

There it was.

Not fear of failing.

+30 Bonus

2/6

Create 200

“She didn’t move.”

I smiled slightly.

“Nope.”

Jackson huffed.

“She’s not the same.”

“No,” I said. “She’s not.”

And that felt bigger than football for a second.

Bigger than college.

Jackson slung his bag fully over his shoulder.

“You know what’s wild?” he said.

“What.”

“All this small fish talk.”

He looked around the locker room one last time.

“I’m not scared of the field.”

I raised a brow.

“Then what?”

He met my eyes.

“I’m more curious than scared.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify