From my Bully to CEO

Chapter 14

PAST

GRAYSON’S POV:

Soccer practice was going about as well as you would expect when you throw together a bunch of hungry, over-caffeinated jocks with too much adrenaline pumping through their systems.

In other words, terribly.

Coach had called an emergency meeting after finding out our team captain was leaving town. And, of course, leaving Crescent High.

The news blindsided us. Jack Russo was the best the Ravens had ever had. Jack was in our year—a senior now—and a good friend.

Sure, we hadn’t seen him around since the school year started, but none of us thought much of it.

Maybe he was sick, maybe he took a last-minute trip. But walking away like this? That wasn’t Jack. Football was his life, and he’d been this close to securing a full sports scholarship.

Most of us still couldn’t believe it and none of us was ready to take Jack’s spot so quick, like he hadn’t spent the better part of his life sacrificing everything for the Ravens.

The air was thick with a kind of denial that hadn’t had the time to settle in properly.

Coach had been yelling at us for the past half hour that the one who performed the best in the first match of the season - agasint the Vipers - was going to be named the new captain of the team.

Maybe that’s why nobody was playing well.

Coach had almost given up and told us to run laps while he went to grab something from the gym.

No one ran. The guys broke off into little circles on different ends of the field, talking about the only thing anyone cared about right now.

“I still can’t believe Russo’s leaving,” Josh said, lying back on the grass with his arms folded under his head, eyes squinting against the sun. “And with only one year left.”

“But it doesn’t make sense,” Nate said, his back resting against the bleachers as he played with a spare football. “And how come he didn’t tell any of us?”

I shrugged. I was just as clueless as the rest of them.

“Maybe something’s wrong with him,” I said, legs folded beneath me. “Maybe we should go and check up on him.”

The boys nodded.

“But we’re a captain short,” Josh pointed out. “And the first match is less a month away. We’ll need a new captain.”

I kept my face impassive but my thoughts drifted back to that place they had when I’d first heard of Jack not returning to school.

I didn’t like it—how quickly I was already thinking about filling his spot—but I knew everyone else was too.

Once the shock faded and reality set in, battle would ensue. I was getting ready just a little earlier than the rest of them and there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

Spots like these don’t stay open forever and someone had to step in.

“You want it,” Nate pointed out, eyes fixed on me. “You want the spot.”

It wasn’t a question.

“And you don’t?” I countered.

Nate fell silent, considering my question before he shrugged.

“Wouldn’t mind it,” he said finally and I shot him a pointed ‘see?’ kind of look.

“What about you, Joshy boy?” Nate asked, turning to Josh.

“Nope,” Josh said without missing a beat, eyes still closed. “I like being a fullback. And seriously, don’t you both already have too much on your plates?”

“Like what?” I questioned.

He rolled on his side, cracked one eye open and gave me a look.

“Seriously? Gray, you’re running student council this year,” he began, ticking my extracurriculars off on his fingers. “You’re on the swim team. The MUNs are going to be brutal—Elena was warning me. You’re in the Gaming Guild.”

“And let’s not forget the Academic Decathlon we all get roped into every year,” he added. “Miss anything?”

I rolled my eyes.

Nathan laughed.

“Okay, fair,” he said. He was in almost as many extracurriculars as me, if not more. “But I think if we manage our time properly, we might survive.”

“You can drop the prom committee,” Josh suggested, a teasing lilt in his voice. “That’ll free up space.”

“And give the reins to that loser co-chair?” Nate shot back. “She’ll ruin the prom for all of us.”

“Oh, her?” Josh groaned, no doubt immediately changing his mind. “Yeah, you can’t quit, then. Not unless you want the gym covered in glitter and inspirational quotes about dancing like no one’s watching.”

“Exactly my point.” Nate pointed at him. “If I walk away, you’ll be attending your final year prom with a giant octopus floaty in the middle of the dance floor.”

Josh gave an exaggerated shudder. “And that is not how I want to remember senior prom. It’s our last year. I want something f*****g legendary. Something the school will never forget.”

Nate leaned back, smug. “See? Now you both appreciate my sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?” I snorted. “You like bossing people around.”

“True,” Nate said without shame, “but I also like saving you from a prom disaster.”

“By the time I’m done,” Nate continued. “people will be talking about this prom for years.”

Josh whopped a little too loudly, causing eyes to turn our way. “Talking because there was a fire department and ambulance present, right?”

Nate’s eyes glinted, like his life has been giving a purpose once again. “You know it.”

I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t about prom. It was about them wanting to leave their mark. To go with one final explosion that would echo long after we faded to just pictures in the yearbook.

I wondered how the conversation had drifted from Jack to prom.

I opened my mouth to steer the conversation back to seeing Jack after school but a figure walked into the grounds, snapping my attention towards them.

The sun casted long shadows on her face but I still recognized it too quick. It was the same face that had haunted my nightmares.

Selene Hale was walking towards the field, earpods in her ears, bags slung lazily across her shoulder. Totally oblivious to the fact that she had company.

But maybe she felt my gaze boring onto her back because she stopped and turned around, eyes meeting mine from across the field,

She blinked, her gaze sweeping across Josh—still lounging on the grass and Nathan, who’d chosen that exact moment to follow my line of sight.

He sat up straighter, his face lightning up with the promise of entertainment.

Selene had already turned around and was walking away when Nathan grabbed the ball he’d been playing with and aimed it just inches from her head.

I watched it fly through the air and wondered if I should’ve stopped him.