Rags 2 Pitches: A Secret Baby Sports Romance Read online

  I gave my aunt my McDonald’s money just so my sis didn’t get raped or something by this guy. Something wasn’t right with him in the head, and Mum either, and the whole fucking situation had to stop.

  The next thing I knew there was someone ringing the doorbell, and I opened it and there she was, looking like the red-head from Desperate Housewives. “Ryan, is it?”

  I didn’t know why she had asked me that, she had been to the house a dozen times. “It’s me, Carol from Social Services. Is your mum in?” I nodded, thinking that this was going to be one big circus. I just needed a few months to get signed by a big team and then I could look after my siblings. I knew I could. But as they came in and started talking about taking them into care right then, I felt a cold chill run down my spine. It wasn’t going to wait a few more months, the whole thing was going to be sorted out right here and now.

  Chapter 4

  Nicola

  I’d been bunking off school so much lately that I felt that if I didn’t go in, then I would be lucky to pass my A levels, let alone get into uni. I needed to get out of the house. The fights between my parents were driving me mad. Mum had even turned to the bottle. She was just so obsessed with Dad, it made no sense, she just needed to apply for a divorce.

  Hayley’s mum had done it and so had Tara’s.

  My iPod had been my best friend, I seemed to have it on all the time just so I didn’t have to hear the noise in the house. I hated the British weather sometimes, it was only four thirty and it was pitch black out. School had finished around thirty minutes before, but I had wanted to stay late just so that I could study in peace.

  I knew that they would both be at home fighting as usual and, as much as I tried to block out the noise, I always managed to hear them rowing and it upset me.

  “Nicola you have to leave, it’s getting to five,” Mrs Campbell said.

  “Can I not stay thirty more minutes? I just need to get this section on Haloalkanes and then I’ve nailed it.”

  She sighed as she looked at me. She could probably see the desperation in my eyes. It was a topic that I always struggled to comprehend, and going over it again in silence was key. Especially seeing as it was one of the topics on my paper next week.

  “Thirty minutes, and that’s all,” her grey eyes were sympathetic as she moved to the other side of the library. I would be out by then. Go home. Shower and then hit the sack, that was my plan. But, as they say, life doesn’t always go according to your plans.

  ***

  I was walking only a few minutes from my house. The street lights were my only guidance as the odd car passed me. I’d stopped because my iPod wasn’t playing any tracks. I was looking at it trying to figure out if it was the ear-piece or something was up with it.

  That was when someone snatched my iPod out of my hand. I never even heard him coming. Then another grabbed my bag as I started to chase the guy that had taken my iPod.

  A couple just ignored me as I shouted out, “He stole my bag!” They were moving in the opposite direction of my house. But, I was a woman on a mission, until I fell down. That was when he quickly ran past me, the guy from across the road, the one that I saw every morning, staring at me.

  The next thing I knew, as I tried to stand up and he kept on chasing them, was he had the guy on the ground, and he was shouting at him, “Give her her fucking bag, you prick!”

  The guy who stole my bag was screaming back, “Leave me alone, you fucker!” They were wrestling for my bag. The guy threw a punch at my hero and he missed. I should have been scared for him, or even told him to forget it, but part of me found it so exciting. He must have seen me from across the street. My heart missed a beat as my hero held on to my bag. Most of my belongings were scattered on the ground, and I ran to them to pick them up.

  I didn’t care about my purse, there was only a tenner in it.

  I certainly didn’t care about the bag; I had a couple at home. I wanted my iPod because I had so many podcasts on it. Even my iPad, I didn’t even worry about that. When it was clear that the robber wasn’t going to win, he quickly jumped on a bike. The guy that had stolen my iPod was on it, telling the other guy to hop on, and then they left.

  My hero shouted, “Did you see the plates?”

  “What?” I was too busy trying to figure out if my chemistry notes had been left behind.

  “Stuff that, did you see the plates on the bike?”

  It was then that I realized what he was talking about. I had remembered that everything was on my Mac, so I didn’t need my iPod as much as I’d thought I did, or my iPad which the guy had conveniently picked up before he hopped on the bike.

  I sighed, “No.” I slumped down next to my notes. That was when the couple who were walking by, and others, started to gather on the street. I was annoyed that they’d never bothered to help when those guys were stealing my things, and now they wanted to be concerned.

  I hated foul language and rarely used it myself, but I was so damn mad I shouted, “What the fuck you looking at?” They looked at me in disgust and did the same thing that they had done when I was being mugged: they walked on by as if it didn’t matter to them, because it didn’t. It was my loss and my mistake and I knew that I would pay the price one way or another.

  Chapter 5

  Ryan

  “He fucking got on his bike. You should be more careful,” I panted as I ran back to her. She was acting like someone who had just had all their money thrown up in the air and they had to get every last note, before someone stole it.

  The only thing that was worth anything was her iPod. Shit, I’d always wanted one of them. I thought they’d stolen her tablet too, or it could have been an iPad. Either way, I knew while helping her pick up her papers that none of them were cheap. They’d cost money that I couldn’t even think about spending.

  She had tears in her blue eyes, and sadness washed over her face as she mumbled, “Thanks for helping me. My dad’s going to kill me.”

  Thoughts of my mum’s boyfriends and how they’d treated her rushed through my mind as I grabbed her arm and said, “I won’t let him.”

  She was prettier than she’d appeared from across the road. Tougher too; I’d laughed at her swearing at the couple who’d been watching her as she’d picked her papers up off the ground. No offer of help or anything, just watching as if they were bloody watching Coronation Street. I hated the way some people acted sometimes. One guy had decided to run with me and he’d said that he’d seen what they did and thought that he could help. He’d given me a piece of paper with the registration number on. He was her second hero of the night.

  I was just the guy who’d decided, after two years, to walk across the street and ask her out on a date - not that I had money for that. Then, while I had been talking to myself and trying to figure out what I was going to say, I’d decided that I would just ask her her name. I didn’t know what I was going to say, I just knew that I had to talk to her.

  Who knew why after all this time I’d decided to be brave? Maybe it was the crap with Mum and her boyfriend, or the fact that Social Services had said that seeing as my sister wasn’t in the house, they would just take my brothers into care. They wanted to take them, but then Nan came to the rescue to stop them from doing so.

  Loneliness crept through my skin from time-to-time, but something had made me feel bold tonight when I’d seen those scumbags steal her bag. I was happy that it made me feel that way, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get her bag back.

  “I don’t mean he’ll literally kill me,” she blushed as she said it, and the street lights shone on her as if she were a beautiful damsel in distress.

  She wiped away her tears, “Did you get the plates of the bike or something.? I saw you talking to that guy before.”

  Ryan to earth, I thought as I blinked a couple of times, trying to get my senses together. I felt stupid, thinking that she would have a pig of a dad, like one of my mum’s boyfriends.

  I nodded like a bobbing
toy. She sighed, “My dad will be happy at least there’s a lead and maybe we can get my stuff back?”

  I agreed, but I knew that wasn’t the case. The police didn’t give a toss about such crimes. Especially when they saw the likes of me. We walked and she didn’t stop talking all the way. The woman l had been crazy in love with for so long was walking by my side and having a conversation with me.

  I wasn’t ready.

  I felt like a wimp.

  I could deal with mum’s boyfriends. I could deal with the football team calling me scum. I couldn’t take it if the woman that I was in love with from afar thought I was an idiot or, even worse, a piece of scum. That was the thing that was bugging me. Every time I wanted to say something, this stupid voice kept telling me that I was an idiot.

  She had a posh accent, and a scent that I couldn’t even place. One thing for sure, it wasn’t a discount perfume from the supermarket. Fuck, it smelt so posh. Some of those perfumes are fucking vile, they’re so sharp or so polluted that they just smell like water with a dash of rose or something. There was something extraordinary about her; maybe it was the gleam in her eye when she looked at me. And then when we finally arrived at her house, I said, “Which number is your flat?”

  She laughed as she said, “The whole house is ours.”

  “What you, your mum and dad live in this house alone?”

  She smiled, “Yes.”

  I knew once again that my fear was a reality. I was nothing compared to her, my world was completely different. Her world was full of fancy perfumes and posh words. Mine was just full of scum.

  Chapter 6

  Nicola

  As soon as I got through the door, my mum was waiting for me with Dad in the living room.

  “Nicola, where were you? We were so worried!”

  I had to look around the room and wonder if they were talking about someone else. Sure, I’d left school like an hour after it closed, but for mum to be worried about me… Most of the time, I didn’t even think she noticed when I was in or out of the house.

  Dad adjusted his glasses, and his focus wasn’t on me, but on Ryan. “Who are you, young man?”

  That was when I found myself explaining what had happened to me, from the robbery to Ryan being so kind to not only try and fight them, but to take down the license plate number. The whole time, Dad wasn’t looking at me, his earth-colored eyes were fixed on Ryan. Mum was listening, but I expected her at any moment to look around the living room, take away her fancy ornaments and lock them up, away from Ryan.

  I had never been ashamed of my parents until now.

  My dad chuckled, a cynical laugh that I had only ever heard when Mum threatened to leave and divorce him.

  “So, I suppose, Rob, you think you’re smart?”

  Poor Ryan stood in the doorway.

  “Sorry, Dad, his name is Ryan.”

  He was trying to be smart and act as if he was talking to the gardener or the cleaner. Dad and being a snob went hand-in-hand, it was so natural to him. After all he came from a family of wealth, unlike Mum whose family wasn’t exactly working class, but compared to Dad’s they were poor.

  “I don’t care what his name is. Don’t you think it’s a bit convenient that he came to your rescue after his friends stole your things? What did they steal apart from your iPad? Your purse too?”

  I shook my head, waving my hands at Dad before he got any nearer to Ryan. I didn’t even know him, but I felt ashamed.

  “Mr. Willis, I can assure you that they are not my friends.”

  Ryan was trying to defend himself, but Dad moved me to the side annoyed by my presence and getting more angry by the second. “I told you that he helped me.”

  Mum interjected with her eyes half-open, which made me realize that, as usual, she was drunk.

  “Well, your father’s right. We don’t know, they could be in cahoots with each other. You know what people like him are like!” She ran to my dad’s arm as if he was a bottle of whiskey, hungry to fulfill her withdrawal symptoms for not washing it down in the last ten minutes or so.

  Ryan spoke to me. “Don’t worry, Nicola. Just take the plates and call the police. I’m sure they’ll help you. I’ll see myself out.”

  Dad shouted, “No, I’ll make sure you leave. Just in case you want to take anything else.”

  “Good idea, darling,” Mum said as she followed them towards the front door.

  I was walking behind them, talking to them and they were not listening as usual. I hated them both for the way Ryan looked as he stepped out of the door. Ashamed of who he was and for what my parents had accused him of being. I hated them both especially when my mum said as Dad shut the door, “What happened to the gold angel that was on the centre table?”

  She pointed to the centre table which served as a display and no one understood the point of it, especially me. Our house was too big for us, but my dad screamed my name and I ignored him as I marched up the stairs.

  I blurted out, “Mum, you probably drank it. You probably thought it was a bottle of gin or something.” I could hear her protesting my claims, Dad on the hand wanted to follow me and give me a piece of his mind. I didn’t care, because I hated the way they had treated the one guy that had paid me any attention in my life. I had decided that I would get to know him better. Not to wind my Dad up, but because he was a good listener. I hadn't told anyone else about the problems at home, but he’d listened and, to a certain degree, I felt as if he empathized with me. That was what I needed, and I locked my door and thought about Ryan Thompson. I needed someone to listen to me and make me feel whole again.

  Chapter 7

  Ryan

  We were from two different worlds and her Dad was right. When others see the likes of me, that is all they see: someone that would steal from them. A guy that would come into their world and bring nothing, but doom and gloom.

  I had nothing to offer her, and I looked across the street as I held my brothers’ hands and took them to school as I did every day of the week. I was thankful that Nan had come just in time when social services were going to take them. Nan said that she would help out in the house and make sure that Mum’s latest boyfriend was gone.

  She stayed that night, then the next day she was back on to her cleaning job to work the system. In hindsight Nan does work, she always does jobs that pay her cash, just so that she doesn’t have a reduction in her benefits.

  “Hey,” Nicola said, standing in front of me. I felt as if I had been running, because sweat started to pour from my forehead. Even though I only had a blazer on, not even a coat, and it was the middle of winter.

  “Hey,” I whispered and Rodney, my younger brother said, “Ryan, is this your girlfriend?” He asked so innocently that she blushed as she said, “No, I’m just Ryan’s friend.”

  “Pity,” Michael, his twin replied, “You’re really pretty. Are you going to take us to school too?”

  I didn’t think it was a question, more of a command as he took Nicola’s hand. She smiled. “Sure, why not?”

  I felt so nervous having her so near again, it was kind of like the Lady and The Tramp film. I knew exactly how he felt when he was around his lady. Insignificant and, although he was proud when he was in her presence, he felt like a tramp.

  I had purposely got up and left home a little earlier than usual, just so that I wouldn’t see her across the street.

  She moved her hair from her eyes and sighed, “Sorry about last night. My dad can be a bit of a pig sometimes.”

  “Really, your dad turns into a pig?” Rodney asked and it was clear by her laughter that we weren’t going to have any adult conversation.

  “You don’t need to apologize,” I said with a big lump in my throat.

  “What’s wrong, Ryan, have you got something in your mouth? Your voice is all weird.”

  I loved my little brothers, but they were only nine and had a tendency to say exactly what they were thinking all of the time. Which was great when it was happening to ot
her people, but right now with Nicola, it was fucking humiliating.

  “A cough, I’ve got a cold.”

  Rodney sighed, “That’s weird, you never had a cold this morning.”

  It was going to be a long walk to school. Not only were they annoying me, but they were watching my every move; something that they only did when they were suspicious about something.

  “Are you sure you’re not my brother’s girlfriend? He’s gone all quiet.”

  With those words I took Michael’s hand and said, “You two up front. I just need to speak to Nicola quickly.” They slowly walked in front as if their feet were stuck in mud or something. At the same time they were singing the kissing song, just to get on my last nerve.

  “Sorry about that,” I said.

  “I don’t mind, I could walk with you to school. Must be nice having brothers, I’ve always wished that there was someone else in the house apart from me and my parents.”

  I protested a bit too quickly and abruptly. “No, it’s fine. We pass your school to get to theirs.”

  “St. Christopher’s is not that far from Hitherfield.”

  She was telling me, not asking me, to let her walk with us. Just because I didn’t have a relationship with my dad didn’t mean that I wanted her to get in trouble with hers.

  “If you say so.”

  She replied quickly, “I do.”

  I didn’t know if winter had all of a sudden turned into summer, but I was so hot being in her presence. Then I told her that I was going to be a footballer, and she changed; it was almost as if she was proud of me. We ignored Rodney and Michael singing the kissing song all the way to school, and then I walked her back to her school.

  There was an awkward moment as we stood in front of each other, not knowing what to do next. She was late for school, but that didn’t seem to bother her and she kissed me on the cheek. I knew that it was my turn to do something bolder, something that meant that I wanted her to be mine. I placed my hand on her waist. No one was around, apart from the odd onlooker that would stare, knowing what two teenagers were about to do in front of the school gates. I pressed my lips delicately to hers and whispered, “Laters.”