Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High Book 5) Read online

  Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player

  BOOK FIVE

  in the Rock Valley High series

  LACY ANDERSEN

  DARE YOU TO CHASE THE SOCCER PLAYER

  Copyright 2020 by Lacy Andersen

  All Rights Reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High, #5)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Epilogue

  Excerpt From Dare You to Catfish the Hockey Player

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  Some kids were lucky not to have to hustle during high school. They got everything from their parents, including a plush allowance to pay for all their toys. No babysitting jobs. No pushing pizza slices. No busting their rear ends off to make a dime.

  I, Lexi Black, wasn’t one of those kids.

  According to my parents, if I wanted the new Artis makeup brush set, I was going to have to earn every single penny. I was getting close. Flipping through the dollar bills in my hand as I trudged down the ditch in a shortcut to my dad’s new house, I added up the dollars and cents in my head.

  Only fifty more dollars to go. Today’s birthday party had paid off. One of the parents I babysat for in the evenings hired me to do face-painting at their kid’s party. It wasn’t exactly the kind of stage makeup I wanted to do when I finally busted out of this dinky little town, but it worked for now. I had a pocket full of money and a pink and purple sparkly butterfly spread across my face to show for it.

  “And you thought those painting lessons wouldn’t pay off,” I said to myself with a mocking laugh. It was punctuated by the sound of rolling thunder in the distance, as if the heavens themselves were laughing with me.

  Dad had paid for my lessons two years ago—it was the summer I’d been convinced I was going to go on to become as famous as Andy Warhol. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that painting on a canvas was about as exciting as watching ice melt.

  But painting on a face? Now, that was fun.

  I pushed my long hair out of my face, annoyed by the fact that the humidity from an incoming storm had ruined my straightening job this morning. At least my brand new foundation was standing strong. Changing makeup brands was like setting the tone for a fantastic new year. I was about to start my junior year at Rock Valley High next week and everything was going my way.

  Thunder rumbled again in the distance and the raindrops that followed it seemed to argue differently. I clutched my face paint kit to my side and picked up speed. Running wasn’t exactly on my short list of talents, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do to keep her mascara from running. And as the rain began to fall harder, I broke into a sprint, altering course for a screened-in picnic shelter only fifty yards ahead.

  My gladiator sandals squelched through the field, which was quickly becoming gross and muddy. I squealed as my foot got stuck deep in muck. With the strap of my face paint kit hanging from my teeth and both my hands tugging under my knee, I managed to disengage it. However, another step forward had me slipping and sliding in the slick mud as if this were some kind of yard game.

  This time, there was no fighting it. The kids from the party would’ve yelled timber and giggled at my expense. Waving my arms crazily, I went down in an undignified mess of limbs and wet hair...butt firmly planted in a plot of wet grass.

  “Why?” I threw my head back to glare angrily at the sky above. “Was that really necessary?”

  Mud oozed through my fingers as I fisted the ground around me in defeat. I was just going to sit there and let the rainstorm wash me away. So long, cruel world. My older sister, Audrey, would jump at the chance to turn my bedroom into a music room for all her junk. Dad would probably use the college money he’d been saving for me to buy my new stepmom a MINI Cooper. Lucky her.

  At the least, I hoped there was a Sephora in heaven.

  But just as I was about to give up on life in general, the sound of feet stomping through the mud behind me had me twisting around to get a look. Was it the Grim Reaper, coming to take me away? I couldn’t be sure, but I definitely hoped so. A hooded dark figure with broad shoulders bore down on me, grabbing me around the waist and plucking me from the mud as if I weighed nothing.

  “Come on, let’s go,” he growled, ducking his head against the rain.

  I didn’t get a look at his face, but I could feel the strength in his arms as he pushed me toward the shelter. The rain was coming down in sheets now. I could hardly catch my breath. It wasn’t until we were inside did I finally manage to get a lungful of air.

  The stranger released me, and I dragged my sopping wet sandals across the dry cement floor. I was officially soaked from head to toe. Gone was the last bit of straightened hair. If I was lucky, the concealer I’d carefully put over my horrible acne scars this morning was still in place. I could only pray that if I didn’t touch my cheeks, it would all stay in place.

  If anyone saw me without my makeup, I really was going to need a Grim Reaper to put me out of my misery.

  I dropped my rear onto the nearest picnic table bench and pouted, waiting for my skin to dry. It wasn’t until I dragged my eyes up from the floor to look at my rescuer did I snap out of the self-pity and dove straight into embarrassment territory.

  “You?!”

  “Me.” My rescuer smirked at me, as if he were trying to keep from laughing. He shook his dirty blond hair, sending water droplets flying. “Nice to see you again, Lexi Black.”

  Every syllable of my name fell off his tongue like the electrifying sound of a guitar riffing. I knew that hair, just long enough to fall over his brow. The strong jawline and perfectly shaped nose. And most of all, those eyes so blue that a Robin’s egg had nothing on them. We’d met only a few days ago, at my dad’s work party for the new movie they were going to be filming at Rock Valley High this fall. I didn’t know his name, but I could pick him out of a lineup anywhere.

  The mystery boy.

  That work party was supposed to be all glitz and glamour, but had ended in me sitting alone sending snapchats to all my friends who’d abandoned me that night becaus
e it was so boring. The only not-boring part about that party had been meeting him...the boy who’d never given me his name and was now looking at me with a strange expression in his blue eyes.

  “What are you, some kind of stalker?” I shot him a nervous smile as I tried to nonchalantly smooth my hair out. It probably didn’t help. I was sure I looked like a drowned rat and half of my makeup was gone. It was just my luck that today of all days I had to come face-to-face with the most gorgeous boy I’d ever seen in my sixteen years of life.

  The side of his mouth quirked in disbelief. He pushed his six-foot-tall athletic frame onto the nearest tabletop and grasped the edge with his long, slender fingers. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been accused of being a stalker before. For the record, I was practicing my soccer moves before the monsoon came through and I had to rescue you from drowning. Now, I’m just waiting on my ride.”

  “Yeah, well, thanks for that.” I stared hopelessly down at my blouse which had been soaked through and flecked with mud. Much like my mom’s expensive blouse I’d stained the night I met mystery boy, it was ruined. “You’re a nightmare for my wardrobe, you know that?”

  He snorted and then smiled down at the ground, flashing his impossibly white and straight teeth. It was a nice smile, the kind that made a girl’s stomach twitch a little bit with the sensation of butterfly wings.

  When we’d met at the party, he’d been all serious and tense, first accusing me of being the paparazzi—as if that would ever happen in Rock Valley High—and then, out of nowhere, coming to my rescue after I’d destroyed my mom’s shirt. He’d disappeared into the crowd after that. I’d tried to look for him, but there was no sign of the mystery boy. I had started to believe he was a figment of my imagination, but now, here he was again. In the flesh.

  Definitely still a mystery.

  “So, what’s your name, anyway?” I asked.

  He froze, blinking at me as if in shock. “What? What do you mean?”

  “Your name, silly.” I gave him my most flirtatious smile. It was one I’d perfected on the boys at school. “You know, the question people usually ask when they meet someone new. You know mine. It’s only fair that I know yours.”

  “My name?” His face contorted as if I’d just asked him if the sky was blue. “It’s...Zane?”

  It seemed like he was anticipating some kind of fireworks show from me after he uttered his name in such a weird way, but I just shrugged. It wasn’t the weirdest name I’d ever heard. Actually, it was kind of cool sounding.

  “Thanks. I was getting tired of thinking of you as the mystery boy.”

  Disbelief turned into a suppressed grin as he slid off the table and came to take a seat beside me. “So...you’ve been thinking of me?”

  I threw my head back and laughed. Zane had some nerve. I liked it.

  “Thinking about how you ruined my chance to work on that movie crew.”

  He pulled his chin back and grimaced. “Hey! It wasn’t my fault you flattened that waiter and got shrimp sauce on your shirt.”

  I gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, well, I guess it doesn’t matter now. I wasn’t even given the chance to charm my way into the makeup crew. All my hopes and dreams, down the drain, because someone wrongfully accused me of being a no-good sneaky reporter.”

  “I’m really sorry about that, Lexi.”

  One glance at the side of his face, and my heart sank. I’d only been teasing him, trying out my best flirting techniques, but he was staring hard at the floor as if I’d just accused him of capital murder. I’d never seen a guy be so serious. Usually, they were too busy hitting on me or tripping over themselves. I nudged him with my shoulder, smiling when he looked up at me.

  “Hey, I haven’t given up yet. There’s a reason my sister calls me the most annoying person in the world. If I can’t charm my way in, plan B is to keep asking until they give up. No worries.”

  He pressed his lips together for moment and then sighed. “For the record, I don’t find you annoying.”

  “Yet.” I held up a finger. “But you barely know me.”

  “Yet.” His lips maintained a serious expression, but I could see the glint of laughter in his eyes.

  He searched my face and at once, all the air squeezed from my lungs. I didn’t usually get so nervous around guys. I mean, they were kind of a dime a dozen at my school. All fun to flirt with. Never worth getting serious for. I’d dated more than my fair share of the soon-to-be junior class boys and then parted as friends. Always leave them wanting more, that was my policy. They were as replaceable as the color-of-the-week lipstick tube in my purse.

  So why was Zane giving me heart palpitations?

  “Well, just remember that I don’t always look like this,” I said, patting my cheeks nervously. My skin had dried, but there was no telling how many of my acne scars were peeking through the washed-up concealer.

  “What? You don’t always walk around looking like a butterfly?”

  “What? No!” I wrinkled my nose. Shoot! In my anxiety over my foundation, I’d totally forgotten about the face paint job I’d done on myself before the party. Zane probably thought I was the weirdest person alive. “You know what? I’ve got a better idea. Just forget that you saw me today.”

  “Why?” Zane pressed his lips together in thought, his gaze still taking in every inch of my face. “You look just as beautiful as the other night when we met.”

  Electricity surged through my abdomen. I stared at him, waiting to see a hint of irony or sarcasm in his face, but he was as sincere as ever. I wasn’t sure how to respond. I’d never met a guy like him. This wasn’t flirting. He didn’t have an ulterior motive. That had been a true compliment. For the first time in a long time, blood rushed to my cheeks in embarrassment.

  “You’re sweet.”

  He shrugged and then pushed off the bench to walk toward the nearest window and stare out it. “No, just brutally honest. My dad says it’s a flaw I got from my mother. He says I need to learn how to bend the truth to my advantage.”

  I winced as I watched Zane grimace at the rain. Ouch. My parents went through a rough divorce, but they never said anything that harsh to us kids. I didn’t even know Zane’s dad, but I already didn’t like him.

  “Are you a crew member on the movie or something?” I stood up to join him at the window. The storm had begun to let up and the clouds had cleared in the distance. The beginning of a rainbow arched over a patch of bright blue sky. “That’s so cool you get to do stuff like that.”

  He chuckled softly, rubbing a hand over his chin. “Something like that. We move around a lot, so it’s not as fun as it seems. There are definitely sucky parts. You’re lucky to live in one place for so long. I’d give anything to experience a normal year of life.”

  “Like what parts?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and stared expectantly at him. I would’ve loved to travel around, working on movies. It was my dream. He was really going to have to sell it to convince me leaving Rock Valley forever wasn’t a dream come true.

  He shot me an amused grin. “Well, for one thing, moving around a lot means I never get to meet girls like you.”

  Oh, he was good. Real smooth. But I was, too.

  “I hate to break it to you, but there are no other girls like me,” I said, lifting my chin proudly.

  He arched a single eyebrow and then chuckled, plowing a hand threw his hair. “I’m pretty sure you’re right about that.”

  Biting back an approving smile, I leaned onto the window screen and inhaled the wonderfully fresh scent that only came after a hard rain. It was combined with the citrusy scent of Zane’s cologne. I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying it with every fiber of my being.

  What had started as a natural disaster had turned into an amazing time with a boy who seemed to give as good as he got. He was a bit more brooding than I usually went for in a guy, but I liked seeing his eyes light up when he looked over at me. I had the feeling he didn’t smile often, but each and every smi
le was worth the effort. I wouldn’t mind earning a few more...

  But then the rude buzzing of a phone broke the silence. I opened my eyes to see Zane pulling a phone from a pocket in his shorts, then grimace as he read the message to himself.

  “My dad’s here,” he said, nodding his head toward the parking lot where a black SUV had pulled up. “I’ve got to go.”

  He took a step toward the door, but I instinctively grabbed for his elbow. He couldn’t leave like this. Not when we were just beginning to get to know each other.

  “Wait—when will I see you again?”

  Something about Zane had me tied up in bows. I had to know that he’d be around. I wanted to know more about the mystery boy with the strange habit of saying exactly what he thought.

  “I’ll be around for the next couple of weeks.” He made a face and then shuffled his feet. “But I’m not really supposed to go anywhere. Especially with a girl. It’s against the rules.”

  Now it was my turn to make a face. I’d heard of girls not being allowed to date because of overprotective fathers, but I’d never heard of a guy not being allowed. His dad was something else.

  “Well, we could just hang, you know, as friends...”

  I gave him my most innocent smile and earned a chuckle from him.

  “I’m not sure that would be possible, Lexi.” He bit his bottom lip in a sexy way that had my insides melting. “You’re pretty irresistible and exactly my type.”

  For the second time in a matter of minutes, he had me blushing. I never blushed. It wasn’t a thing for me. Zane seriously had me tripping.

  “Fine.” I stomped my foot in mock frustration and then tapped my finger on my chin. “What if I happen to sit on a random park bench and you just happen to sit on the other side of it? Totally accidental. Would that be allowed?”

  He took a step toward me, bending his head to look at me, his lips holding back a smile. “I wish.”

  I stepped back, until my back was pressed against the window frame. “What if I happened to go eat at Pizza Ranch and you just happened to find a spot at the table next to mine?”