The Player novel Chapter 20

Brielle

7:02 AM

"How did the talk go?" Sam asked, as she stopped the car in the school parking lot.

"It went really well!" I beamed, the large smile on my face showing my excitement. "I told him how I felt, and he has now made it his personal mission to," I used air quotes, "woo me."

Sam raised her eyebrows suggestively, causing me to whack her in the arm.

"Ow!" she exaggerated, rubbing at her arm. "What was that for?"

"That was for your excessively dirty mind," I scolded, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and hopping out the car. "But seriously, how do you think he's going to woo you?" Sam asked as we made our way into the school.

"Well he already took me to this really pretty lake on Saturday, but we were both busy yesterday." My eyes glazed over, remembering when we had a picnic on the shore. "So, I'm not sure what he has planned."

My thoughts were interrupted by exaggerated gagging sounds from Sam. "Sorry, all of your lovey-doveyness is making me sick."

I playfully rolled my eyes at her. "You know as my friend you're supposed to be happy for me, right?"

She let out a huff. "I know, just all of this relationship talk is making me feel lonely."

I placed my hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure that Christopher can find someone on the football team for you."

The gagging sounds returned. "I would rather cut off my big toe than date a high school boy. I need someone more mature and refined."

"Sam, for the last time, you are not going to marry Derick Shepherd or Mark Sloan from Grey's Anatomy!"

She crossed her arms, "A girl can dream," She let out a soft sigh. "They sure know their way around a body."

"You mean bodies that are in surgery!" I exclaimed. "I swear sometimes I worry about you."

"I know, that's your job."

She stopped at my locker and waited for me to get my books out. However, as I opened it, a gold balloon letter "D" flew out with a card attached. I grabbed onto the paper, reading it aloud.

"Day One: Chocolate."

Both Sam and I's face scrunched up in confusion. "What does that even mean?"

Sam grabbed the card from my hand, inspecting it herself. "Maybe you read it wrong?"

"Sam, it was three words." I deadpanned.

"Well do you have any clue what the balloon letter "D" means?" I shook my head, biting my lip in the process. "The only thing that I know is that Christopher is behind all of it."

I took the letter from Sam and placed it back inside my locker along with the balloon. "Come on, I don't want to be late to first period."

Halfway through my first class, I was nearly asleep thanks to the most boring teacher on the planet, Mr. Brown. Just when I was about to give up fighting to stay awake and lay my head on my desk, a knock interrupted our class.

Mr. Brown opened the door and was greeted by a freshman football player holding a heart-shaped box.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Mr. Brown questioned with his usual monotone voice.

"Yes, I have a delivery for Brielle."

I felt the entire class turn their attention on me as my face turned beet red. The football player made his way to the desk and dropped off the box before quickly shuffling out of the classroom.

Melanie turned around in her chair, her eyes shooting daggers at me. "I'm really happy for you! It's not every day that a girl like you finds a boyfriend blind enough to want to be with you!" She said fakely, her voice oversweet.

I rolled my eyes and flipped her the bird before redirecting my attention to the box in front of me. I lifted the lid off the container and was greeted with an assortment of different bite size chocolates. A note written in Christopher's handwriting sat on top.

Let the wooing begin.

~~~

It was halfway to the end of the day, and I already had more than enough chocolate than I needed. Every single period, another freshman football player would bring me boxes. At this point, I already had ten different packages.

Everyone was wondering who was sending me them, but no one truly knew. I know it sounds weird, but I liked the fact that me and Christopher were still a secret.

As I made my way to lunch, my thoughts were interrupted when a hand latched onto my wrist and pulled me into a closet. Before I could even process what had just happened, I was face-to-face with a smiling Christopher.

"How has your day been?" he asked, pulling me closer to him.

"Interesting, to say the least."

He arched his eyebrow, "Good interesting or bad interesting?"

"Chocolate is never bad." I let out a huff. "But are you going to explain to me what your planning because I'm really confused."

His mouth pulled into a cheeky smile. "Nope," he said, popping the 'P'.

"Why not?" I whined. He reached out bopping his finger on my nose. "Because you're cute when you're confused."