Sweet Sprint

Chapter 1I'd been crushing on Liam for five freaking years, and the moment I realized he was head-over-heels for freaking Brittany Miller, the head cheerleader, I knew I was done.I switched seats in class, ditched our lunch dates, skipped our study sessions, and walked home alone.Before my mom and I moved out of state, I shoved the scarf I'd knitted for Liam – the one I never had the guts to give him – into the desk of the girl who sat in front of him.I think you're a decent person, here, take it! I scribbled on a note.I never imagined I'd see Liam freaking Reynolds again.But when we did, the scarf that was supposed to go to some random girl was wrapped around his neck.And the second he saw the man standing next to me, his eyes went all bloodshot."Are you dumping me, Riley freaking Jones?"1The day of the freaking track meet, a bomb dropped that shook the entire school.Liam Reynolds, the ice-cold genius at the top of our class, and Brittany Miller, the freaking head cheerleader, were officially a thing.And me? As the so-called "friend" of these two freaking campus icons, I was bombarded the second I stepped back into school."You guys are always together, you have to know the freakin' inside scoop, right?"I stared at their eager, gossipy faces.Remembering the video I'd seen, a bitter taste rose in my throat.If Brittany hadn't collapsed on the freaking track during the 800-meter race, Liam wouldn't have been the first one to rush over and scoop her up in his arms, carrying her to the freaking nurse's office.The look of pure freaking panic on his face was captured on freaking camera.I had been so freaking blind.Liam had a freaking thing for Brittany.I probably should have seen it coming.I'd seen Liam looking at Brittany through the freaking window of the classroom. His eyes shining.How could I have been so freaking stupid?Liam and Brittany, with their freaking family connections and freaking perfect faces, were a freaking match made in freaking heaven.A freaking star quarterback and a freaking head cheerleader.Even if Liam liked someone, it should be Brittany.Maybe spending so many years walking alongside them had made me forget that I was fundamentally different. My mom worked for his family, so I was in the same circles for a while.The truth was, I never truly belonged.Brittany's shoes cost more than a month of my mom's salary.Liam never wore shoes that cost less than four figures…With that thought, I jammed Liam's freaking birthday gift into the bottom of my locker. I couldn't even look at it.My mood turned ice cold: "I don't know anything about their crap.""How could you not know?"Someone's tone was a little too sharp.Others chimed in: "Don't freaking hide it from us! We won't tell the freaking principal!""Yeah, the look on his face when Brittany fell! No way he doesn't like her!"Each question was like a punch in the gut, as they crowded around my desk.For the first time in two years, I was the center of attention.But I hated it.My control slippe...